by M. D. Cooper
“Hopper from Rum and Cork was strangely quiet and unforthcoming,” Trey offered.
Reece nodded. “He was. But that might merely be his personality. I’m not convinced either way. I think the most likely of the bunch to be involved in illegal means would be Carissa from Haunting Spirits. She struck me as someone that never lets anything get in her way. But that doesn’t mean she’s involved.”
Schramm rubbed his thumb over his chin thoughtfully. “I’ve dealt with her before. She’s formidable. I could see her being involved. There’s no stopping her when she’s put a plan into motion.”
“Do you have any other personal knowledge about the suspects?” Trey asked.
Reece was glad he’d asked. She’d already pushed her boundaries, and she didn’t want to risk irritating Schramm.
“I’ve met Jillsen in passing at cocktail parties or other corporate events. I’ve never had any direct interaction with her. I wonder if anyone does. She seems nervous and timid.”
“We thought the same,” Trey said. “Too bad. I imagine with her experience and connections, she could be very successful.”
“She’s successful in her own way,” Schramm said. “She does her work in private, rather out in the open. I’m actually surprised you got her to attend that betting-lounge party.”
“Maybe she was bored,” Trey suggested.
“Or just curious,” Reece added.
“Maybe.” Schramm didn’t sound entirely convinced.
“Do you think there’s something there? Something worth looking into?” Trey asked.
Schramm smiled, looking like his regular self again. “That’s why we pay you two. It’s your job to figure that out.”
Reece added that detail to her ever-growing list of things to do, facts to check, and people to get background checks for.
“Then I guess you have no idea about the Matty guy referenced by the people who broke into H&P, either.”
Schramm’s mouth tightened. “We’re working on that. I’m waiting for the warrant for a chemical interrogation. They’re not easy to get.”
“I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t like them to be easier.” Reece didn’t even want to think about how many bribes Rexcare must be making to get a warrant like that on a nonlethal case. The amount would be enough money for her to retire, no doubt.
“I know what you’re about to say,” Schramm said. “And I’ll have two people in human resources put on dedicated duty to you, beginning this afternoon. They’ll message you their contact details.”
“Aw, you know what a girl likes to hear,” Reece teased.
Schramm rolled his eyes. “I’ll get a lead on this Matty person. Now get out. Go get to work and solve this headache for me.”
Reece leaped to her feet and gave a jaunty approximation of what she imagined a military salute would be. “Aye aye, captain!”
As they took the elevator down to the lobby, Trey smirked at her. “You’ve never seen anyone actually do that, have you?”
“Sure I have.” She leaned against the wall. “It’s just that the people who did it were actors.”
“Doesn’t count.”
She turned her head to look at him. “It’s as close as I intend to get to the real thing.”
“Because of your whole fear of other systems?”
“It’s not a fear,” she retorted. “It’s just an extreme preference for my home system. There’s nothing wrong with that. But my reluctance to go out to places the military patrols seems like a good self-preservation tactic. I mean, think about it. If the Orion Guard decides to jump a ship to this system, it wouldn’t be just one ship. It would be a fleet of them, and it would be because some really bad crap was about to go down.”
“I suppose. I can’t say my brief run-ins with military types have been good ones. Is that why you prefer Machete, then? Because the Guard tends to ignore it?”
“Sure, that’s probably one of the reasons. I like that we have sun and fresh air and enterprising people can move up the ladder, even if they were born on the bottom rung.”
“You know,” he said slowly, “not all places have the poverty that you have here. In some places with a military presence, that bottom rung of the ladder is a whole lot higher.”
“What’s the tradeoff?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“No society is perfect. None are even closer to perfection than others. They all suck, in their own special ways. It’s just a matter of what parts suck, and what parts are good.”
“That’s pretty damn cynical,” he said.
“Says the guy whose mother had his eyeballs forcibly removed.” As soon as she said it, she cringed. It hadn’t sounded that harsh in her head. “Sorry.”
He shrugged. “Don’t be. It’s true. I don’t tell myself lies about my family or about where I came from.”
“Still,” she said. “It wasn’t a nice thing to say.”
“Look at you, pretending you’re nice.” He leaned toward her and did that gentle forehead flick that irritated her.
She smirked. He was letting her off the hook and they both knew it. A change of subject seemed desirable. “How’s Dex?”
“Fine. He misses you.”
“Does not.”
“He does,” Trey insisted.
“Fine. We can work at your apartment tonight.”
“What?” Trey feigned surprise. “We have to work again tonight? We just worked last night. And this morning. And right now.” When she snorted, he grinned. “I’ll order in some food, since I don’t have an Aunt Ruth to shower us with tasty treats.” Then he added, “Poor me. So sad.”
The elevator door opened, saving her from having to respond.
Outside, she said, “I’ll get background checks run as soon as those HR people contact me. In the meantime, I’ll do some digging of my own. I’ll let you know if I hear from Sage.”
“You think you won’t?” Trey asked.
“I don’t know him well enough to assume. Yet. He’s first on my list.”
“All right. I guess I’ll do some research on the companies and give Nizhoni a call.”
Reece felt a wave of relief. “Good. The security team’s reporting to me on a regular basis, but I wasn’t looking forward to contacting her.”
“Really?” Trey asked. “You dislike her that much?”
“Not at all. But I’m pretty sure she dislikes me.”
“Aw.” He pretended to be sympathetic. “Does that hurt your feelings?”
She laughed. “No. But I don’t want her in a bad mood when making my whiskey. Might give it some bad anima or something.”
“Yeah, whatever, weird girl,” Trey scoffed. “Come by at six. I’ll have food.”
“It’s not the worst offer I’ve had in recent months.”
“I’m sad for you.” He gave her a pitying look before marching to his waiting taxi and getting in.
Not many people would tease her the way he did. As she hopped in her own taxi, she was smiling.
CHECK UP
DATE: 05.06.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Ohiyo, Akonwara
REGION: Machete System, PED 4B, Orion Freedom Alliance
“You’ve been busy.” Kippy started to pour some whiskey, but Reece raised a hand.
“Just a taste. I still have a lot of work to do today. I just wanted to pop by and check up on you.”
He poured a splash of whiskey into the glass, then pushed it across the bar to her. “I’m surprised you came by if you have so much to do. Something wrong?”
“No. Well, kind of. Maybe. It’s this case I’m working on. It’s so…I don’t know, formless. Usually, I can nail down what I need to do and just get it done. This thing has all these facets, and I don’t have any prospects that are particularly promising.”
“Hm.” He leaned against the bar, resting his chin on his fists. “Sounds very disorganized.”
“Yeah.” She wet her lips with the dribble of whiskey.
“
Do you think something’s wrong with the job? That there’s something more going on?”
“That’s my worry,” she admitted. “Schramm was unusually secretive about Rexcare’s interests. I mean, sure, there are times I don’t get all the details, or the names of the bigwigs involved, but I know the facts. I feel like too much is being hidden.”
“And that’s why you aren’t as focused as you’d like?”
“Maybe. It’s hard to get to the bottom of something if I don’t have all the facts.”
Kippy shrugged. “So get the facts.”
She tilted the glass and let the whiskey pool in one corner. “What do you mean?”
“It’s your job to figure this out, right? If you fail, that could put your job in jeopardy, right?”
She nodded slowly.
“So,” he continued, “that means it’s your job to figure out what Rexcare doesn’t want you to know, if that’s what you need in order to figure out what’s going on.”
She looked up at him. “Investigate my own employer?”
He nodded. “If that’s what it takes. They’re not employing you out of charity. If they’re keeping you from doing the job you depend on, then you’ll have to go around them. After all, they’d go around you if they needed to.”
“It would be dangerous.” She poured the whiskey past her lips and held it up against the roof of her mouth with her tongue. She inhaled slowly through her nose before swallowing.
“Life’s dangerous. But isn’t it more dangerous not to protect your livelihood? Why wouldn’t Rexcare want you to have all the facts so you can get the job done?”
“You think I’m being railroaded?” She hadn’t thought of that. Did someone at Rexcare want to have cause to fire her?
“The question is, do you?” He reached across the bar and tucked her hair behind her ear.
It wasn’t impossible. “I guess I’ll have to find out. I’d rather lose my job for overstepping my bounds than for letting myself get backstabbed.”
“So, do what you have to do to save your job.” Kippy nodded. “There, solved your problem. You’re welcome.”
She smiled. “I wish it were that simple. But I’m glad to have one more angle to work. Maybe it’s what I’ll need to crack this open.”
She stood and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. He moved unexpectedly, and she accidentally brushed his lips. She laughed. “Sorry.”
“I’m not.” He smiled and swung a bar towel over his shoulder as he straightened. “Let’s try it again sometime.”
She laughed again, then paused uncertainly when he didn’t laugh with her.
He snorted. “Got ya.”
She balled up a napkin and tossed it at him. “Oh, that was mean! You made me worry there for a second.”
He waved her off. “Go. Solve the mystery, save your job. My birthday’s coming up and we can’t have you going unemployed.”
“Right. Thanks for the advice.”
“All part of the friendly service at the Ringtoad. Come again soon.” He tipped an imaginary hat at her.
Shaking her head and chuckling, she went back out into the heat to begin anew at figuring out what the hell was going on with her job—and to pretend that Kippy hadn’t just made a pass at her.
* * * * *
Reece took the call though she was in a cab, not wanting to waste any more time before digging deeper into the job.
“Hello, this is Tabitha from Rexcare. My colleague Broderick and I have been assigned to assist you until further notice. What would you like us to do?”
Reece had been on her way home, but she instantly changed her mind. “I’d like to meet you in person and discuss the work with you. I’ll be at Rexcare in twenty minutes.”
“Very good. We’ll see you then.” Tabitha’s crisp, professional tone was followed by silence.
“I’m guessing you heard that?” Reece asked the driver.
“Yes, ma’am. Should be able to get you there in eighteen and a half minutes, in current traffic.”
“That’ll do. Thanks.” She settled back into her seat and began plotting her next moves.
* * * * *
After a long pause, Trey responded.
* * * * *
“I’ve already sent you the list of people I’d like you to investigate,” Reece said.
Tabitha and Broderick shared a temporary office located on the data floor for the duration of their assignment with her.
Reece was impressed at how efficiently all this had been arranged. Rexcare knew how to throw resources at a situation.
She intended to do the same exact thing.
“Are you looking for anything in particular?” Broderick asked. He was the youngest of the two—maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. He must be really good to have landed a position at the Rexcare headquarters at such a young age.
“Anything that ties these people to one another, to Rexcare, or to Hatchet and Pipe Distillery. Anything, even if it’s a distant family tie or people who went to school together. Also, watch for any connections with a person who could be called Matty. Could be a Mathias or Mateo or any other variation. And then, I want you to cross-reference the people recently brought in for interrogation. Schramm can give you details about their identities and current whereabouts.”
Tabitha nodded. She had light brown sun-streaked hair, but no tan at all, which seemed to indicate that the streaks were purely cosmetic. She carried herself with a professional demeanor and a pleasant tone of voice. Most importantly, she seemed efficient.
“We’ll start immediately. Is there anything else?” Tabitha asked.
“Time is of the essence. I want you to put in as much overtime as Rexcare will approve.” Reece frowned, pretending to consider something important. “Actually, if you can get me access to the archives, I can do some digging while I’m here.”
“Mr. Matthews has authorized you for Level A-3 clearance, so that’s no problem,” Tabitha said. “Is there something particular you’re looking for?”
“Well, I’m supposed to hear from someone at Smooth, and I’d like to do some homework on them beforehand. So I’d need access to A-1 level contracts, if we can get it. I need to make sure there are no conflicts of interest.”
Broderick nodded. “I’ll have to get approval, but it sounds like temporary A-1 access is warranted. Would you like a member of the legal team to assist you?”
“Having one on-call for questions could be a help, but there’s no need for them to waste time babysitting me. A good idea, thanks.”
Broderick smiled, pleased. “I’ll put that through for you now. Shouldn’t take long to get a determination.”
“Great. I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll just set up in one of the temporary offices down the hall while I wait for clearance. Might as well get some research done while I wait.”
�
�Room 1701 is free,” Tabitha said. “They were going to put us there, but it’s not enough room for two.”
“Perfect. Thanks.”
“We look forward to working with you.” Tabitha smiled professionally. Of the two of them, she typified a corporate HR employee far more than Broderick. Maybe it was his youth.
Reece didn’t toil for long in 1701 before her archive access was granted. She’d started to wonder what was keeping Trey, though. He was twenty minutes late.
Finally, he sent her a message.
She let seven minutes go by so he had enough time to get to HR and engage them. Then she slipped out of the temporary office and went up to the twenty-eighth floor, where the archive databases were maintained.
She didn’t actually need to go there. She could have accessed the archive from her temporary office. Doing so from within the actual datacenter would not only make her work faster, but also avoid creating a data trail to a place she’d been known to use.
