Dead Man on the Moon (34 page)

"So he decided to take Wesley's place?" Karen said. "Sick bloke."

"Sick, yes, but not stupid." Linus leaned back in his chair. "Giacci planned the entire murder carefully and carried it off perfectly. Even the choice of victim was careful. Yard's parents are dead, and he has—had—a much older sister who he hadn't spoken to in years. No extended family he kept contact with. No girlfriend or boyfriend. In other words, no one would miss Wesley Yard or try to find him if he dropped out of sight. No one would try to call him and be surprised when someone with a different face answered the phone. No one would invite him to the annual family picnic and wonder why he didn't show.

"Giacci approached Yard on the shuttle flight from Tether Station and pretended to be surprised to see him. Old roommate! Old friend! Hey, let's talk, get caught up. How about someplace more private? I know—we can try that emergency airlock. No one goes down there, and we can talk all we want."

"So then Giacci cracks Wesley over the head to knock him out down by the airlock," Karen said. "That explains the wound I found in his skull."

"Exactly. Giacci uses his imp gun to erase Wesley's obie, though he's unaware the erasure isn't complete, allowing us to find the partial file that set Wesley's arrival at less than six months ago. Next, Giacci seals the vac suit helmet over
the airlock's sensor, goes to his work station, and hacks into the piloting program, easy enough for someone who helps oversee the shuttle's computer systems. He changes Adrienne Miao's numbers so the shuttle will overshoot and makes sure the keystrokes are traced back to her instead of him. When she notices the mistake and fires the burners to correct the course, Giacci orders the airlock to cycle. He also erases the computer's record of the event. But Wesley wakes up before the cycle is complete and claws at the door, trying to escape. It doesn't work. Wesley dies, and when the shuttle reverses course, his body continues going in the original direction. It goes out the airlock door in a long arc and eventually falls into the crater where those two students eventually find it. On the way, the body hits a communications antenna. One leg cracks and a shoe flies off in a different direction.

"Meanwhile, Giacci is busy at the computer again. As a computer technician, he has full access to passenger records. Giacci erases Wesley's DNA, his image, and everything else from the passenger file and replaces the information with his own. Later, when he hits immigration, the worker checks Giacci's identity against the file from the shuttle, and of course everything matches. Giacci simply gives his name as Wesley Yard, and no one here knows the difference. If he hadn't missed that time stamp when he replaced the files, we might never have caught him."

"And I assume he was the one who tried to cycle the airlock on us," Karen said.

Linus nodded. "Hector confirmed it. I don't know yet how Giacci found out we had learned about the crime scene, but he still has friends in International Flyways, so maybe he found out that way. Or maybe he just saw you and me heading for the shuttle and figured it out on his own. At any rate, Giacci used a University computer terminal to access the shuttle's computer. He still knew his way around the system, though he had to hack his way past the security, and he didn't have time to silence the alarms or
erase his digital footprints very well. Hector said it was good work, considering how little time Giacci had, and then he complained that I owed him extra crepes for arresting one of his most promising students. Go figure."

"Except what did Giacci plan to do when he was done with his graduate work?" Karen asked. "He'd have problems continuing on as Wesley Yard back on Earth, wouldn't he?"

"Maybe so, maybe no," Linus said. "After spending two or three years here, he would have built up quite a history of himself as Wesley. The only people who'd check his bio-metric data would be doctors and law enforcement people. The original Yard didn't have a criminal record, so his DNA wasn't on file with the law, meaning Giacci would be safe there, even if he were arrested. And he'd have a few years of medical records from Luna to take to a new doctor back on Earth, so no worries there, either. Or maybe Giacci was planning to apply for Loony citizenship. After everything he went through to get here, it seems likely he wouldn't want to leave."

"So how come no one missed Donato Giacci? He couldn't just vanish from his job."

"Actually that's exactly what he did. Once he arrived on Luna, he notified International Flyways that he was resigning to attend grad school at Luna University. International Flyways didn't bother to check up on that. Why would they? It happens every now and then—someone gets a job on the shuttle for the sole purpose of getting a free ride to Luna. International Flyways has a policy of not rehiring such people and of giving them poor references, but that didn't matter to Giacci. He was going to spend the rest of his life as Wesley Yard, Loony U graduate. He was all set."

"Except that Giacci knew nothing about lighting systems," Karen pointed out.

Linus smiled. "Yeah. Giacci had put in a request to transfer to a different secondary job, but Roger Davids wouldn't let him go without a replacement. So Giacci was stuck pre-
tending he knew what he was doing. Poor Noah caught the brunt of that."

At that moment, Linus's obie chimed with an incoming call from a familiar source. "Speaking of the kid," he said, and put the call on speaker.

"Linus, it's Noah,"
came the familiar voice.
"Are you down at Security?"

"Sure am," Linus replied. "What's up?"

"I've solved the murder of Viktor Riza.
"

Holograms and flat images lay spread across the white evidence table, along with sets of reports and summaries. Gary Newburg stood seething in one corner but said nothing. Noah ushered Linus and Karen into the room like a butler showing guests into a dining room.

"Gary was involved in the arrest?" Linus asked.

"Yeah," Noah said, "but not in any way you might think."

"You've had it in for me ever since I caught you screwing up," Gary snarled.

Noah kept his temper without even trying. "You're so cute when you're angry, Gary. Maybe we can get some coffee together after this is all over."

"Fuck you, Skyler."

"Have a seat, Gary," Linus said. "You'll have your say."

"What's going on, then?" Karen asked.

"All right, let me start from the beginning. I was actually one of the last people to see Viktor alive after I threw him out of my apartment, along with Crysta Nell and Bredda Meese. Crysta told me the three of them went down to the Dome and hooked up with a stranger who seemed to be selling Blue. We later learned the dealer goes by the name Indigo. Crysta said Indigo and all the Blue creeped her out, so she went home. Bredda and Indigo, meanwhile, went to work on Viktor. They have a little scam going. Bredda comes on heavy to men but only agrees to go all the way if the guy uses Blue, supplied by Indigo. The plan is to get the
guys addicted to the stuff and provide Indigo with a long-term customer.

"Viktor hadn't used any Blue in the orgy back at my apartment, but my roommate Wade had, and Bredda used that to persuade Viktor—see what a good time Wade had, and all that. Indigo gave Viktor the Blue, probably for free or at a greatly reduced price, and the three of them headed down to the fish tanks, which is one of the few places you can find privacy around Luna City."

Noah thought about Ilene and her private apartment. She still hadn't returned his call. A twinge whipped through him, and he hurried to continue.

"Down at the tanks, Viktor got high on Blue. One of the trio walked away—" Noah pointed at an image of purple footprints "—and the shoe size matches Indigo's feet. I'm guessing Indigo and Bredda staged an argument that would give him an excuse to leave Viktor and Bredda alone. Bredda would then persuade Viktor to take more Blue. That was when things went wrong. Viktor was high and horny, but he apparently kept his head enough to refuse more Blue. Bredda eventually lost her temper and forced more on him. They struggled at the edge of the tank, causing these water splashes." Noah indicated another image, this one showing purple smears all over the floor around the tank. "Normally Viktor would have had the advantage, but he was on enough Blue to slow down a football team. Bredda shoved him over the edge of the tank—I found her hairs there—and held him under until he drowned. Then she walked over to join Indigo, who watched the entire thing. You can see that his footprints reappear here, at the edge of the crime scene, and Bredda's join him. They left him to die, but a late-night maintenance worker found Viktor and called the paramedics.

"Bredda was staying with Indigo, which is why her roommate hadn't seen her in weeks. Later, when I slapped paint on Indigo and Bredda in the park, they ran to Crysta and hid at her place. She lied about not knowing where they were, gave them new clothes, and helped them try to
get the paint off. That was when Gary and I showed up, and when Gary deliberately screwed up the arrest."

Gary jumped to his feet. "What the hell are you talking about?
You're
the fuckup, Skyler!
You re
the—"

Linus held up a hand. "That's a stiff accusation, ki— Noah. Especially when you consider the history between you two."

"I don't have
any
history with Gary," Noah said. "But he has one with me. He claimed that I made mistakes out at the crater crime scene when
he
was the one who messed up—and yeah, I know it's my word against his. But I
do
know that either Gary doesn't know a thing about restraining someone or he deliberately let Indigo go."

"Explain," Linus said before Gary could shout again.

Noah allowed himself a small bit of triumph as he picked up the plastic sheet and unrolled it flat. Little flecks and fibers were scattered across it, backlit by the lighted table. "I sprayed Gary's shirt with evidence film and tore it off right after Gary fought with Indigo. The only fibers on it are from Gary's shirt. None from Indigo's. I also couldn't find any significant DNA traces from anyone but Gary. This indicates that Gary held Indigo so loosely that no fibers or DNA were transferred to Gary's clothing. Either Gary is laughably incompetent at restraining perps or he deliberately let Indigo get away."

Gary opened his mouth, then clamped it shut, hard.

"I understand what you're saying," Linus said slowly, "but the obvious question here is why Gary might do such a thing."

"I wanted to know the same thing," Noah admitted. "I'd never even met Gary until we processed the crater scene together, and he seemed to have it in for me from the start. So I did some digging and learned something very interesting. Did you know that Gary applied for the Aidan Cosgrove Memorial Grant?"

Linus shook his head. "But I only judged the final round of candidates."

"I know." Noah shot Gary a penetrating look, and a flash of anger tightened his chest. "He was eliminated from the candidate pool in the semifinal round. Gary doesn't hate me specifically—he'd be just as pissed off at anyone else who got the Cosgrove grant. I don't know whether he's trying to sabotage me because he's hoping I'll lose the grant and he'll get another chance or if he's just holding a grudge, but he
is
trying to sabotage me."

"I see." Linus turned to the seated deputy. "Gary? Your response?"

"He's making it all up," Gary said tightly. "The so-called evidence Skyler gathered is all circumstantial. He screwed up at the crater, not me. I fought with that Indigo guy, but I was caught by surprise and just didn't have a chance to get a grip. It happens to everyone. Yeah, I was turned down for the Cosgrove grant, but that doesn't prove anything, either."

Another wave of anger washed over Noah, surprising him with its intensity. His hands curled into fists that itched to smash Gary in the face. He forced himself to turn his back on Gary and stare at images of fish tanks and purple footprints while Linus considered.

"Gary seems to be correct," Linus said at last, and Noah's heart sank. "I don't see any hard evidence that he's attempting sabotage."

Gary smirked at Noah and rose to his feet.

"However," Linus continued, "I should the matter investigate more thoroughly. While this is going on, Gary, you'll be assigned to desk duty."

"Desk duty?" Gary squawked. "For how long?"