Justice (18 page)

“
Well?” she asked Cal.

“
Personality indicators suggest he is a blunt and
straightforward man. It is likely that if he lied my systems would
easily be able to detect it. However, Piero June has a strong
motive for wanting Geron dead.”

“
He sure does,” Nova said, rubbing her temple. “I don’t know
if he did it though; it just doesn’t seem like his
style.”

“
What would you suggest is his style?”

“
Bashed to death in a dark alley perhaps, or maybe locked in a
basement in a building set for demolition. I don’t know. Something
face to face; not poison.”

“
Probability calculations suggest similar
circumstances.”

“
He definitely paints a different picture of Geron Feders to
the man we’ve come to know and love,” Nova said, her tone dripping
with sarcasm.

“
Indeed,” Cal replied.

“
If what Piero said is true, then Geron almost deserved what
he got.”

“
One would suggest caution with such statements, given your
own suspicion in the murder,” Cal warned.

She waved her
hand at him. She would get to the bottom of Geron’s death.

“
I have also been in communication with the dome’s maintenance
bots.”

“
And?” Nova asked.

“
The power outage was caused by a small explosion in the
transformer room. Sabotage.”

“
Premeditated murder.”

“
Probability indicators would suggest so.”

“
And the Cypris plant?” Nova said, thinking of the deadly
nature of the plant. It wasn’t something that someone could acquire
easily.

“
A deadly weapon, and painful.”

Nova threw up
her hands in frustration. The more she learned of this
investigation, the more it kept turning around in circles. Everyone
seemed guilty, but there was no sure suspect. She clenched her jaw
and stared down at the investigation notes scrawled across her
desk. Piero was just one more suspect to add to the list.

Leon Statin
walked into Nova’s makeshift office with his feet dragging. His
puffy red eyes matched his ruffled shirt. It looked like he hadn’t
slept for weeks. His tangled hair looked out of place and Nova
suspected that it was usually immaculate, just like his perfectly
smooth and modified skin.

The man
collapsed into a chair without being asked and stared glumly at his
hands where they lay folded in his lap.

“
Leon, thank you for seeing me,” Nova said, not sure what to
make of the man.

Leon nodded
but didn’t look up.

“
Leon, can you think of anyone who would want Geron
dead?”

“
Why would anyone want such an amazing man dead?” Leon’s voice
burst from his throat.

“
So you liked your boss. I don’t know why you’re this upset,”
Nova said, gesturing at Leon’s tear-stained face.

“
President Geron trusted me with everything. We were best
friends. I knew him better than anyone, even his bitch of a
wife.”

“
You don’t like Meaghan?”

“
She’s a lying, cheating, gold-digger. No, I don’t like her
and I’ll never understand why Geron gave her so much attention.
Poor, poor Geron.”

“
You were Geron’s top servant? He spent most of his time with
you?”

“
I’m a
Personal
Assistant,
” Leon said with emphasis. “And
yes, I’m the one he trusted the most. Except for the harlot, he
didn’t even speak to the other servants.”

“
What harlot?” Nova asked. Beneath the table her hand gripped
the armrest of her chair.

“
Miss Rosemary Hines herself,” Leon said as he rolled his
eyes. “Everyone knows she only got the job because she showed the
interviewer her…… assets.”

Nova raised
one eyebrow.

“
It’s true, everyone knows. The way she prances around. She
never does any work you know. But all she had to do was pout her
lips and Geron did whatever she said.”

“
Did Meaghan know?” Nova asked.

“
That woman wouldn’t notice a brick hitting her forehead. No,
I’m certain she had no idea. Of course it was up to me to make sure
she never found out. As much as I hate that harlot, Meaghan’s just
as bad you know. Women! If Geron had just stayed away from all of
them, none of this would have happened and he’d still be
here.”

Leon sobbed
into a soggy piece of cloth he pulled from his pocket. His
shoulders shook as he buried his face in the material and gasped
for breath.

“
If Meaghan found out, would it be reason enough for her to
kill Geron?”

The question
made Leon’s tears halt. “I suppose… if she were to ignore all the
instructions I gave her, she could have walked in on them.” Leon’s
eyes roved back and forth. “I bet she did! That witch! This whole
mess stinks of Meaghan; she killed Geron!”

“
Could she have found Geron and Rosemary together the day of
the ceremony?”

“
What do you mean?” Leon asked, his voice ringing with
excitement and anger.

“
Did they have a tryst that day?” Nova asked, leaning
forward.

“
My dear, they had trysts every day! Yes, right here in the
dome while Meaghan was only a couple of rooms away. She could
easily have walked around and found them. Oh, it all makes so much
sense now!”

“
Let’s not jump to conclusions.” Nova bit her lip, her stomach
clenching. Infidelity was motive enough for murder. “Tell me about
the day of the ceremony.”

“
I woke up early as usual and brought Geron his breakfast. It
was up to me to organise everything for the trip; transportation,
food, staff, a nightmare really. When we got here I unpacked all of
Geron’s things, hung his clothes in the closet and such. A little
after that Geron came to me and asked me to arrange a meeting with
Rosemary, then he walked off.”

“
What time was that?” Nova asked.

“
Around 3pm I’d say, a little after we landed.”

“
What did you do?”

“
The same thing I always do when he asks me to do something I
don’t want to; I gave myself a pay rise.” A smug smile spread over
Leon’s face.

“
You stole from the President?”

“
Oh no no no; the President trusts me completely. I'm in
control of my own pay; he sees it as him not having to worry about
it and of course he trusts me to pay myself fairly. In return I do,
and when he asks me to go outside my job description I give myself
a bonus, it's all above board.”

“
Seems like you have a pretty good deal here.”

“
Oh I did, I did, but now what will I do? I'll probably have
to go and live in the slums of some Outer Galaxy planet!” Leon’s
eyes grew large as saucers, as if the thought of his now defunct
job had not yet occurred to him.

Nova very much
doubted that Leon would be left stranded in the slums. No doubt he
had already given himself a healthy nest egg. She kept her thoughts
to herself, her face frozen in an expressionless mask.

“
And after that?” she asked.

“
Mostly, I just made sure everything was ready for the
ceremony; food and drinks because the catering people are terrible,
seating, everything. When it was time, I laid out Geron's suit and
walked with him and his family to the stage. I stood just off to
the side, in my rightful place.”

Nova nodded
for Leon to continue, not daring to question his assumption that he
deserved a place of honour in the planet-opening ceremony.

“
I saw that rotten fool Piero glaring up at the President. He
was staring at Geron with so much hate I thought the stage would
catch on fire! I don’t know why that man has such resentment for
the President. Mister Feders only ever did what he had to do, what
was best for the company. Piero is just some low-life who had no
right to run the company like he did.”

“
And then?”

“
Then the lights went out of course. I followed Geron's voice,
but I lost it amongst the crowd. I knew where he'd head though;
straight back to his second room where Rosemary was
waiting.”

“
She was waiting for him?”

“
Mmhmmm, he was going to make up some excuse after his speech
for a little bit of fun time, you know? Anyway, we all thought it
was an attack, the power going out like that, so he ran straight to
Rosemary. I guess to make sure she was okay, pathetic girl. Didn't
quite make it though, the blood you found on the floor was right
between Rosemary's room and his wife's!”

The hysteria
returned to Leon’s voice.

“
How do you know about the blood?” Nova said, her voice
terse.

“
I know everything that goes on around here,” Leon said. “The
medbot answers to me so I only had to ask what was going on in the
investigation.”

Nova frowned
and made a note to be more careful about what she said and
where.

“
Meaghan and Rosemary had rooms next to each other?” Nova
asked.

“
Yep. Classic Geron. Especially after he found out what
Meaghan had done.”

Leon’s
tear-filled eyes lifted to glance at Nova.

“
What’s that?” Nova said.

“
I’m sure from your expression that you already know, but very
well. The fake pregnancy of course.”

Nova nodded.
“Did Geron confront Meaghan about the fake pregnancy before he
died?”

“
Who knows? He was with Rosemary for most of the time. Could
see it happening though, confronting her in a rage, threatening to
leave her with nothing and then, oops he’s dead.” Leon’s previous
despair seemed to have been replaced with something else. There was
a gleam to his eyes, a scheming.

“
Do you have any more information for us?” Nova asked, sure
that Leon had spilled all he was going to.

“
Only that Geron should have seen this coming. I’m the only
one he should have trusted. Everyone else was trying to get
something; I only wanted to serve.”

Leon stood
from his chair with a flourish and strode from the small metal room
with his head held high.

“
Well, that was… enlightening,” Nova said once Leon’s
footsteps faded away and the door slid shut behind him.

Cal circled
the room at a slow steady pace as his internal processers whirred
into action.

“
Voice analysis suggests Leon was telling the truth, although
mixed emotional signals were detected,” Cal said as he passed
Nova’s desk.

“
I could have told you that. He’s obviously upset, but it also
seemed as if he was smug, like he’d seen this coming all
along.”

Cal hovered
past her head on another lap of the office. “There seems to be a
case of too many suspects, rather than not being able to find
one.”

“
Yes, and now I have someone else to talk to. Rosemary Hines,”
Nova said.

“
Meaghan didn’t seem to have any knowledge of the woman,” Cal
said.

“
Or if she did, she kept it very well hidden. Cal, I swear if
you don’t stay still I’m going to strap you to the
floor!”

Cal came to a
halt in front of her desk. His red camera eye zoomed in on her
face. “Detectors suggest you are in need of rest,” he said
matter-of-factly.

Nova sighed
and tapped the desk with her index finger. Cal was right. Her eyes
felt covered in coarse sand and her thoughts kept chasing each
other in circles. Frustration seeped into her skin. So far today
she’d only managed two fruitless interviews. Maybe if she rested
for a moment she’d come back and be able to crack the case.

“
We’ll have a short break, but we have to get this solved
before the whole dome cracks apart into riots.”

Nova was now
well aware of the undercurrent of tensions that had surrounded
Geron; the unhappy wife, the mistress, the unappreciated PA, the
scorned business partner, and the ignored son. As she thought on
it, it was almost a miracle that Geron hadn’t been killed before
now.

Nova trudged
out of her temporary office and locked the door. Cal trailed along
behind her to the main eatery. Nova held her face down so as not to
attract attention and took her small plate of food to a dark corner
of the room.

She sat with
her back to the wall. Many of Geron’s inner circle were here as
well. Off to one side, Meaghan spoke in hushed whispers to Geron’s
head of security, Bruce. Nova couldn’t make out what they were
saying but it seemed important. At another table, almost as far
from Meaghan as they could get were Dustin and Piero. Their heads
were bent close together and Nova had no doubt they were already
planning the take-over of Geron’s company, and probably Drigoon as
well.

But the person
who most caught Nova’s attention was a pale young woman who sat in
a far corner. She was all alone and her eyes were red and swollen.
The woman’s blonde hair reflected the yellow lights of the hall.
She would have been pretty under normal circumstances. Now, she sat
huddled under a cloud of depression. The woman’s eyes kept flicking
up from her uneaten meal to the various members of Geron’s
family.