Chapter Five
--- Late Monday night, early Tuesday morning
Lois finished typing up her notes for the Planet assignment and saved her files on her laptop, then turned on the station news channel. There was information on a quarter-gee handball doubles tournament – that sounded interesting, like a ballet starring hippos and llamas would be interesting – an announcement that two of the common shower areas would be closed for renovation next week, some blurbs about the upcoming pro football season and how one could purchase viewing rights for one or more games, a commercial about a stockbroker on the station, and a profile of one of the shuttle captains.
But there was no word on Claude Guilliot’s murder. Not a single mention of it.
Lois wondered how that could be. Even though this wasn’t Metropolis, surely there were people all over the station who knew he’d been killed. Since it was the station’s first murder, it had to be big news. So why wasn’t the story being reported? There were enough talking heads on the station who could read a story. Surely one of them could write one.
Well, she thought, this won’t be solved tonight. Karen would know why the news didn’t seem to be news.
The chronometer read twelve-thirty-seven. Best get some sleep before the new day. She had a hunch she’d need it.
--- Tuesday morning
Lois’s alarm woke her at seven-twenty. She gazed blearily at the chronometer, wondering why she was getting up this early, then remembered she was now a fully recognized member of the station’s law enforcement team. She jumped up and dressed quickly, grabbed a can of liquid breakfast from her miniature refrigerator, brushed her teeth, and managed to present herself at the security office at three minutes before eight.
She stepped inside and smiled at the sergeant behind his desk. “Good morning, Matt. Or should I call you Sergeant Walker?”
He smiled back professionally. “Whatever you’re most comfortable with, ma’am.”
“Good. Matt you are and Matt you shall be. Is the major here yet?”
“Yes, ma’am. She’s expecting you.”
Lois pushed through the inner office door and saw Karen typing furiously. She glanced up and called out, “Lois! Glad you’re here. You ready to roll?”
“Whenever you are.”
“Just one more second – there.” She hit a key, then closed the file she was working on. “You have to take your oath of office before we send you out on your own.”
“Okay. What is it?”
Karen stood and called, “Matt, can you step in here for a minute?”
He did so. “What can I do for you, Major?”
“You can witness this. Lois Lane, do you solemnly swear to fulfill the office of Special Investigator, with the temporary rank of Inspector, attached to the law enforcement and security division of Space Station Prometheus, to the best of your abilities?”
Lois nodded. “I do.”
“Do you also solemnly swear to obey the lawful orders of the officers assigned to said law enforcement and security division?”
“I do.”
Karen handed Lois a light brown folding wallet. “Here’s your badge. You are now fully authorized to snoop where you’re not wanted, poke your nose into other people’s business, and make a general nuisance of yourself in the pursuit of your duties.”
Lois grinned at her. “Now that sounds like a job description I can get my teeth into.”
“Just don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
Matt smiled and Lois groaned. “Ouch. A pun, albeit a really bad one. At least now I know how the Philistines felt when Samson attacked them.”
Karen frowned slightly. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember the Bible story? They were slain with the jawbone of an *** .”
Walker turned beet red with the effort it took him not to burst out laughing, then managed to grind out, “If that’s all, Major?”
Karen stared at Lois, who was wearing her most innocent expression. “Yeah, that’s all, Sergeant. You can go.”
He made it back to his desk before the spluttering laugh escaped his lips. Lois lifted her notepad and asked, “Did you want to see Maria Gomez or Mark Wayne first?”
The major locked gazes with Lois for a long moment, then exhaled deeply and shook her head. “You like dancing right next to the edge, don’t you?”
“It’s one of my most engaging characteristics. It’s right up there with dangling recklessly above the jaws of death.”
“Uh-huh.” Karen turned and picked up a belt with a nightstick hanging from it. “I think we should have a talk with Mark Wayne.”
Lois lost her smile. “You think you might need that stick?”
“You can’t ever tell what kind of mood Mark will be in. And I don’t like to take chances if I don’t have to.”
--- Tuesday, mid-morning
Mark Wayne was approaching his quarters just as Karen and Lois found his door. “Something else I can do for you, Major?”
Karen nodded sharply. “Yes. This is Lois Lane. She’s a special investigator who’s helping me with a case. We need to ask you some questions about the man you knew as Claude DuBois.”
Wayne almost missed a step, then recovered. “Didn’t he turn up dead yesterday morning?”
“Yes.” Lois wondered how the man knew. Then she wondered what he knew.
Mark gave an Elvis-like sneer. “And you’re taking a poll on how many people are really going to miss him, right?”
Neither woman answered the muscular big man. Mark keyed in his access code and the door slid open. “I’ll save you the trouble. I didn’t kill him, but only because somebody beat me to it.” He waved them in. “And you know why, Major.”
Karen didn’t move. “After you, Mr. Wayne. These are your quarters, after all.”
He shrugged and walked in. “Make yourselves at home. I’ve already put away the good china, so we’ll have to make do with what’s available.”
Karen followed him in. “You need to tell us where you were night before last.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What hours?”
“Basically during Gamma shift.”
“Ah. That’s my normal rotation now. It keeps me out of people’s way. You know, the well-meaning people who want to comfort me but don’t know how and are almost afraid to get too close to me. Besides, it nice and quiet. I can do the data entry and validation without getting distracted.”
“So you were at work night before last during Gamma shift?”
“The whole night. You can check the computer time log.”
“We will.”
He turned and leaned towards Karen. “That’s nice, Major. Thank you and goodbye. We’ve had such a pleasant chat. We’ll have to do it again soon.”
Karen’s hand crept towards her nightstick. “No, Mark, I don’t think we will.”
There was too much non-verbal communication between Karen and Mark, and Lois wasn’t learning enough. She stepped forward and said, “Mr. Wayne, you and the major obviously know what history you had with Claude Guillot, but I don’t. Would you mind filling me in?”
Wayne looked blankly at Lois, then at Karen. “You didn’t tell her?”
Karen crossed her arms loosely. “I thought she should hear the whole story from you.”
“Right. Get the story from the unbiased, disinterested party.”
Karen drew in a deep breath, but Lois stepped in before she could respond. “Will somebody please tell me what’s going on here? You. Mark Wayne.”
“What?” he growled.
“Your name was mentioned in connection with a woman named Trixie Witherspoon. Pretend I don’t know anything about anything except your name, Trixie’s name, and Claude’s name, and tell me the story from the start.”
He glared at her for a moment, then nodded. “About eleven months ago, I started my first two-year contract. One of the first people I met was Trixie.”
“Where did you meet her?”
“You want me to tell this story or what?”
Lois’s eyes narrowed. “Cut it out, Mr. Wayne, or we’ll have this conversation in the security office.”
He hesitated, then looked into Lois’s face and backed off. “Okay. I met Trixie at work.”
“What kind of work?”
“Astronomy section. We did near space observations of Earth and Luna.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lois noticed that Karen had slowly taken two steps back, effectively taking herself out of the conversation. “Sounds interesting. Tell me more.”
“You’re that interested in planetary bodies?”
“About you and Trixie.”
He shrugged. “I liked her from the first day I saw her. She was tall, athletic, trim, easy to be around, and she had a beautiful smile. We were engaged within four months.”
Her voice was softer this time. “Please go on.”
“We talked about whether we wanted to get married here, or wait to go back down. Her family wanted her to wait, and I didn’t mind, because I kinda wanted to settle in Australia. That’s where she was from,” he added.
Lois nodded and he continued. “We were happy, or, at least I was. Then Claude started sniffing around her. I told her he was no good, that he didn’t care about her like I did, but she started seeing him without telling me.”
“Sounds like Claude’s pattern.”
“Yeah,” he snarled. “I found out about it and challenged him to a fight, anywhere, anytime, any weapons or bare hands, whatever he wanted to use. The coward didn’t want anything to do with me, and he convinced Trixie that I was a hot-headed idiot who didn’t deserve the honor of her company.”
Lois nodded. “I think I know what happened next, but tell me anyway.”
He turned and drew a glass of water. “I helped convince her that he was right. I told her that if she was stupid enough to get involved with a pus-filled sludge-ball like Claude DuBois, I never wanted to see her again.” He took a big drink and stared at the glass. “Sure enough, he was through with her in about six weeks and shacking up with our resident Amazon. I was still mad and I refused to talk to her. I found out the day after she left that she’d broken her contract and gone back down.”
He stopped and squeezed his eyes shut, then he put the glass down beside the sink with a whack. “I sent her e-mails. I tried to call her. I even sent a hand-written letter, and you know how expensive that is.”
Lois didn’t, but she nodded as if she did to keep from derailing his narrative. “And she didn’t respond?”
“She couldn’t.” He opened his eyes and sniffed. “She never got them. Two nights after she arrived at the Metropolis spaceport she stepped in front of an outbound express freight train leaving the city. She also left a note that explained how badly she’d screwed up her life by dropping me and taking up with Claude, and she regretted that she’d ruined my life too. She hoped – hoped I’d move on with my life. Find someone I could respect enough to love, that kind of thing.” He took a deep breath and wiped his eyes. “The policeman who – who sent me the message said she didn’t feel anything. It was quick and it was over in a snap.” He turned and faced Lois. “Unlike the great lover Claude. When I told him what happened Trixie, he shrugged and said, ‘What a waste. She was so very enthusiastic.’ So I slugged him.”
Karen scraped one shoe. “That’s when we put Mark under arrest for two days. I thought he was going to beat Claude to death right there in the common room. We made him sign an affidavit swearing that he would avoid Claude in the future, as long as both of them were on board the station. Claude agreed that not seeing Mark was best for his health, too, especially after he found out he had no legal grounds to sue that would stand up in Station court.”
Lois nodded. “How long has it been, Mark?”
He crossed his arms. “Fourteen weeks, three days, six hours since he killed her.”
“He didn’t actually push her in front of that train, you know.”
“You’re defending that sorry excuse for a non-sentient life form?”
“No. I’m just stating a fact.”
“The effect is the same. She’s still just as dead.”
“And you would’ve taken revenge if you’d had the chance?”
“Yes. But I didn’t. I was at work all shift last night, the night before that, and the night before that. I simply didn’t have the opportunity to kill him. Besides, I promised the Major that I wouldn’t kill him on the station.”
Lois nodded again. “We’ll have to verify your story with your co-workers and your supervisor.”
“Of course you will.” He snorted. “Check out my alibi, make sure I didn’t sneak out and snap his slimy little Gallic neck for him.”
Karen said, “We’re going to find out who did this, Mark. Is there anything you can tell us that might help us do that?”
“Like I care who killed him. No, wait, I do care. Let me know when you find out, so I can buy that person the most expensive steak dinner in New Troy when we go back down.”
“Okay, Inspector, that’s all we need. Thanks, Mark. We’ll be in touch.”
“Don’t wait so long between visits next time, okay?” He blew a kiss at them as they moved towards the door. “I’ve missed our little chats, Major. Do come and see me again sometime.”
Karen stepped back and let Lois leave before her. “I’ll call you right after the first.” She stepped through and palmed the door close panel. “Right after the first comet soft-lands on Luna, that is.”
“Friendly guy.”
“He has a reason for the way he feels, Lois.”
“But he doesn’t see that if he doesn’t let go of his anger, he’ll always carry it around with him.” She shook her head. “Poor guy. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
“Give him some time. Maybe he’ll come around.”
“Maybe. I hope so.”
“Me too, but it’s his life, not mine.” Karen led off at a brisk pace. “I can’t control him, but I can control me. I refuse to allow people who hate that much to make me so angry that they control me.”
Lois hurried to catch up. “Do what?”
“Saw it on a church sign a few years ago: ‘Whoever makes you angry controls you.’ I decided then and there never to allow anyone to make me that angry again.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Where are we going now?”
Karen stopped suddenly and looked around. “I don’t know.” She put her hands on her hips and sighed. “I guess whatever makes a good personal philosophy is also difficult to live up to sometimes.”
“It usually is. Why don’t we kinda take our time going to see Maria Gomez?”
“I’ll be fine by the time we get there.” She looked up at the markings near the ceiling. “Let’s see, it’s – yeah, this way, about a quarter-ring.”
“How far is that in people steps?”
Karen chuckled. “The ring is about twelve hundred meters around, and there are four habitat levels. Ms. Gomez occupies the third level down, and since we’re on the first level, we’ll take the first tube down that we find.”
“I suppose she’ll have a very interesting Claude story, too.”
Karen paused and said, “At least she’s still alive.”
--- Tuesday, late morning
Maria Gomez was not in her quarters. Officially, she was assigned to a dual-bed room which Lois envied until she found out that two people were supposed to live in a space barely half again the size of hers. Maria’s roommate was not very helpful.
“Dang, lady, I dunno where she is! She come when she want, she go when she want, I ain’t her momma or her parole officer! I don’t even like her all that much!”
Lois was determined to be polite. “Ms. DeSilva, if you could give us any idea where – “
“Hey, honey, I done told you I don’t know where she be! Sometime she sleep here, sometime she don’t, and she don’t fill out no permission slips or agendas, okay? Now I got a date coming in a hour or less and he – “
Karen pushed forward and into the open doorway. “Look, Monique, you’re going to be spending time in my office if you don’t help us find Maria Gomez. Now, let’s pretend the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes people have come by with a twelve-million dollar check for her and a nice finder’s fee for you. Where do you tell them to look?”
Monique opened her mouth but Karen stopped her with an upraised index finger. “Wait! Before you say anything, remember that I rent my brig by the word, so the number and type of words you say will determine how much time you spend as my guest.”
Monique clicked her mouth shut. Her eyes flashed as she ground out, “You try Benny Zimmerman up on Hab 2. If she ain’t there I got no idea. Now if you’ll kindly excuse me?”
Karen smiled and nodded, then turned to leave. “Thank you, Ms. DeSilva. I’ll be sure and come back by to let you know where Maria was.”
“Yeah, you do that, pig.”
Karen spun on the balls of her feet and lurched into Monique DeSilva’s personal space, her eyes level with Monique’s chin but boring into the taller woman’s brain. She spoke with intense casualness. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Would you mind repeating yourself?”
For a long moment, no one said anything, then suddenly Monique blinked. “Nothin’. I didn’t say nothin’.”
“Really?” Monique nodded once and Karen eased back an inch. “I guess I was just hearing things.” She stepped backwards. “Have a good date.”
Lois palmed the door closer as soon as Karen was clear, then she stepped off down the passageway. “Come on, I need to find an emptying station.”
Karen plodded behind her. “Slow down, okay? There’s one about ten meters ahead of us.”
“Good. Can’t get there too quickly.”
As Lois hit the stall door, Karen said, “What did you think I was going to do, start a fight with her?”
“The thought crossed my mind, yes.”
“No way. She did exactly what I expected her to do. Besides, I know that Cajun woman. She’s all talk and no walk. Her boyfriend probably won’t get to second base with her tonight.”
Lois laughed. “’Second base.’ I haven’t heard that one in quite a while.”
“My mother used to talk to me and my sister in sports analogies. First base lips, second base – “
“My mother told me the same thing, she just said it a little more clinically.”
“Oh? How’s that?”
“My dad was a doctor, my mom was a nurse, my dad chased women and usually caught them, my mom drank a lot instead of dealing with him about it, and one night when she was soused out of her mind she told my sister and me in very explicit and clear detail all about the birds and the bees and men and women and our dad and his girlfriends and then she fell asleep and when she woke up the next day she denied saying anything.”
Lois stopped and took a deep breath. “Lucy was only nine at the time and didn’t understand everything she heard, but I did. I always wondered if Mom actually didn’t remember, or if she just felt bad about being so R-rated with her daughters.”
Karen spoke over the flush of the commode. “Sounds like you had a real interesting upbringing.”
“You could say that.” Lois washed her hands and decided that was enough personal revelation for the moment. “So what’s the quickest route to Benny’s front door?”
If Karen was disappointed by the turn in the conversation, she didn’t show it. “There’s a vertical tube about fifteen meters further along. We’ll go down one level and come back about thirty meters.”
“What if she’s not there?”
“Then we’ll find her. We need her to locate Claude’s next previous conquest.”
Lois led through the doorway. “You don’t think she’s a suspect?”
Karen’s eyes turned granite. “I already told you. The only person who I know for a fact didn’t murder Claude Guilliot is me.”
--- Tuesday, just before noon
Lois pressed the announcement button on Ben Zimmerman’s quarters. “Major Katrina Vukovich, station security, and Inspector Lois Lane, Special Investigator, to speak to Maria Gomez.”
After a moment the door slid open, revealing a slight young man holding a bath towel around his waist. Lois forced herself not to blurt out, “I said nine I thought you’d be naked!” Besides, he didn’t hold a candle to Clark in the bare-chest department. But then, he obviously didn’t have Clark’s multiple advantages, either.
In her best just-the-facts voice, Karen asked, “Are you Ben Zimmerman?”
“Yes.” He hesitated, then asked, “Why do you want to talk to Maria?”
Karen answered. “You know that Claude DuBois died under suspicious circumstances two nights ago?”
“Yes. Wait. Do – do you think she – “
“We have to talk to her, Mr. Zimmerman. Is she inside?”
“Yes. But she’s, um, she’s not, um –“
Lois looked past his shoulder and saw a woman’s bare upper body slide out from under the covers. She held up her hand. “Tell you what, Ben, you two get dressed and we’ll wait for you out here.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” He looked down at himself. “Sorry. We’re on our honeymoon.”
He closed the door. Lois turned to Karen and said, “Honeymoon? You have weddings up here?”
“Enough to keep a couple of ministers on call all week. Low-gravity honeymoons are going to be a selling point before much longer, too. The suits back down expect it to be a cash cow.”
Lois almost made a smart-aleck crack about her own anticipated honeymoon, then she remembered she hadn’t exactly said ‘yes’ yet. So she changed tracks and said, “You know the blushing bride?”
“Not to call her by name. I’m sure I’ve seen her, but I couldn’t tell you what she looks like.”
“But you knew where Zimmerman’s quarters were without looking up his address.”
Karen cut her eyes at Lois. “I’m in a position to know. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t be doing my job, now would I?”
Lois grinned to herself. Sounds like Perry, she thought.
The whooshing door cut off their banter. A short, mousy brunette wearing round wire-framed glasses and a rumpled dark green coverall stood in the doorway. Ben Zimmerman, now dressed but still barefoot, stood fidgeting behind her right shoulder.
“Please come in,” she said, her voice quiet but firm. Lois entered first, followed by Karen. The room was a single, and was covered with clothing cast in every direction. The bedcovers were pulled out from under the mattress, a feat Lois would have doubted was possible. The desk held the remains of a quickly prepared meal. The room smelled faintly like a girls’ locker room, like perfume and sweat socks.
Or like a very frantic honeymoon, she mused.
Karen palmed the door control from the inside. “I suppose congratulations are in order, Mr. Zimmerman.”
He accepted Karen’s vise-like handshake. “Thank you.” Lois was glad he’d found the navy blue coverall.
Karen turned to Maria. “And to the bride, best wishes.”
Maria didn’t extend her hand. “Thank you. May I ask the reason for your visit?”
“Didn’t your – husband mention it to you?”
The eyes behind the glasses twitched slightly. “You say ‘husband’ as if you don’t quite believe it.” She turned and reached for a folder stuck to the wall by a quarter-sized magnet. “Here’s our marriage license and letter of completion, all completely legal.”
“It would have to be, wouldn’t it? I mean, given that you’re a lawyer and all.”
“Yes.” As Karen glanced over the contents of the folder, Maria turned her pale gaze on Lois. “I haven’t met you.”
Lois assumed what she hoped was a sufficiently correct ‘parade rest’ stance. “Inspector Lois Lane. I’m a Special Investigator attached to the Station Security office.”
“Really.” The woman gave her a quick once-over. “I would have assumed by the color of your garment that you were assigned to the cargo section.”
Lois leaned closer and almost whispered, “I’m undercover.”
Maria’s mouth twitched but she didn’t actually smile. “I see.” She turned back to Karen. “Tell me, Major Vukovich, do we pass muster?”
“Looks good to me.” She handed the folder back to its owner. “I was hoping we could ask you a few questions.”
“What about?”
“Claude DuBois.”
Ben Zimmerman’s face flashed with anger, but his wife only nodded. “Yes. I wondered when you’d get around to interviewing me.”
Lois frowned. “I didn’t see anything on the station newscast this morning. How did you hear about it?”
Maria flicked her gaze towards Lois. “A sketchy report came out on the news channel around nine this morning, and station gossip being what it is, I would imagine that everyone now knows something about it. There was little detail in the newscast about the death, except that foul play is suspected, and that his real name was not DuBois.” She looked back at Karen. “I’m a little surprised you took this long to find me.”
“We’re here now. Could you tell us about your relationship with Claude?” Karen looked pointedly at Ben. “Or would you prefer to come to my office? We’d have more privacy.”
“That won’t be necessary, Major. My darling Benjamin knows the whole story.” She turned and looked around the room, then shrugged. “I’d ask you to sit, but we’re a bit short on chairs today.”
Karen waved one hand back and forth. “No problem. If you’d just tell us what you know about Claude, we’ll get out of your way.”
“Yes.” Maria pushed her glasses up on her nose and reminded Lois of her junior high school librarian, Miss Wilson, who had harassed students into silence with the same quiet air of no-nonsense iron control that Maria Gomez – or was it Zimmerman now? – was displaying. Lois didn’t know if she had killed Claude, but she believed the woman was certainly capable of it.
Maria’s dry recitation brought her back to the present. “I met Claude soon after he arrived. He was visiting the legal office one day on a matter of property rights and convinced me to go to dinner with him.”
Karen nodded. “How’d he do that?”
“The same way men have seduced women from time immemorial, I would suppose. He was patient, he was persistent, and he lied convincingly to me about everything.”
Maria seemed to be opening up to Karen, so Lois did what her partner had done earlier and slowly stepped back and out of the conversation. Instead, she watched Ben and Maria closely as the story came out.
Karen nodded. “Did you know his real name?”
“Not at the time. I learned only today that his real name was Guilliot instead of DuBois.”
“How long were you in a relationship with him?”
Instead of answering directly, Maria showed the first signs of humanity Lois had observed. “You have to understand something about me, Major. I was thirty-seven years old and I’d never been with a man. My mother kept me away from boys while I grew up, and by the time I’d entered law school I’d convinced myself that I was too plain and undesirable for any man.”
“I don’t think so!” Ben interjected. “I think you’re beautiful, Maria!”
She turned and touched his face gently. “Thank you, my darling, but there is no need to defend me. The Major needs to hear this story.” She faced Karen again. “He was the first male outside my family who’d paid any personal attention to me since I was in high school. He convinced me he was on the rebound from a disastrous physical relationship and wanted something more intellectual with me.” She frowned and exhaled. “Of course, the relationship didn’t remain intellectual.”
“Knowing Claude’s reputation, I’m not surprised.”
“No, I suppose not.” She crossed her arms and canted her hips. To Lois, she looked like a mannequin someone had posed in an attempt to make her look seductive. “He introduced me to sex, Major. I know it sounds odd that I would be a virgin at my age, but it was true. And after the first few nights with him, I couldn’t get enough of him. To begin with, I’d slip away from the office to meet him at his quarters. Then we started meeting in passageways, in storage areas, in the null-gee labs, once in a women’s emptying station – there was no place on this station I’d refuse to have sex with him.”
Karen nodded. “Kinda crude, but nothing you’d be arrested for.”
Lois controlled her reaction to that statement. Maybe Claude’s sexy book idea wasn’t so far out after all.
Maria nodded. “After about nine or ten weeks of this, he started backing away. I didn’t understand what was happening. I thought we were going to be together forever. I assumed that he’d do the honorable thing and marry me.” She snorted in disgust. It was the most emotion she’d displayed since Lois and Karen had entered the room.
“Was there anything else about the relationship that seemed odd, either then or now looking back on it?”
“Yes. After about four weeks, he started asking questions, lots of them. Not the ones you’d expect about living on the station, or about my family and my past, but about the love lives of the people up here. For some reason, he was convinced that our behavior was the norm on the station.”
“Do you know who his previous girlfriend was?”
“Claude claimed that his most recent companion had been Earth-bound. I believed it then, but I don’t now.”
“Why not?”
“He lied about everything else. Prevarication was a way of life for him. Why would he tell the truth about this one small thing if he could lie and present himself as a more tragic figure to one such as myself, who had no experience with men like him? Or with men at all?”
“I see what you mean.” Karen crossed her arms and exhaled. “Was there anything else about that time that stands out in your memory?”
Maria frowned in apparent thought. “Not that I remember, no. Except that his ardor towards me cooled at about the same time he ran out of questions.”
Karen nodded. “Where were you during Gamma shift night before last?”
She reached back and entwined her fingers in Ben’s. “My husband and I were here, enjoying our first night of marital bliss together.”
Karen looked Ben in the eye. “That true?”
He straightened and returned her stare. “Yes. It’s true. All of it.”
“You two were here all that night?”
“Yes, both of us. All night.”
“Neither one of you left the room for any reason?”
“Why should I leave? My wife was here. Leaving would’ve been really stupid.”
“You sure? The records say you opened the door sometime early in the morning.”
Ben blushed. “That was me, Major. I just opened the door to let some cool air in.” He smiled and took Maria’s hand. “It was pretty warm in here, and I needed a quick breather.” He gazed into his wife’s eyes and his voice took on a dreamy quality. “We’ve applied for married quarters. I hope we get them soon.”
Maria smiled at Ben, then turned back to Karen and said, “Is there anything else, Major?”
Karen shook her head. “Not unless you have some witnesses who’ll testify that you two were indeed in here all night that night.”
Ben blushed, but Maria only quirked her mouth to one side. “There were no witnesses to the consummation of our love, Major Vukovich. None were needed.”
She nodded. “Okay, thanks for your time. Please get in touch with me if you remember anything else.”
“Of course, Major.” To Lois, she said, “Pleased to meet you, Inspector.”
Lois nodded shortly. “And you, Mrs. Zimmerman.”
To Lois’s surprise, the woman beamed. “Yes, I am, am I not? It is quite wonderful to hear myself addressed in that fashion. Thank you. I believe you are the first to call me ‘Mrs. Zimmerman.’”
“I doubt I’ll be the last.” Lois turned and pressed the door control.
As they traveled down the corridor, Lois set the pace. “That was productive.”
From behind her right shoulder, Karen added, “Weird, too. I wouldn’t have expected any of that.”
“How did you know he’d opened the door?”
“I didn’t. Matt hasn’t finished the power consumption survey yet. I was just taking a shot in the dark.”
“You hit the target.” She waited a few strides to allow a couple walking in the other direction to pass them. “You think that marriage might be a cover for murder?”
Karen shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. It would be a pretty good cover, though, if that’s what it is. And being the husband of an important, though older, key legal staffer would keep the young, impressionable Ben from talking.”
“At least for now. If there is anything he’s covering up, Maria would be his reason for doing it.”
“True. And I don’t like how clinical and unemotional she was about her affair with Claude. I’d think a woman who had no experience with men would be more damaged by someone like him, even if she is a lawyer.”
It was Lois’s turn to shrug. “It looked a bit odd to me, too, but maybe that’s the damage talking. I can’t say she absolutely wouldn’t react like that.”
“Neither can I. I suppose we’ll keep them on the list.”
“Yeah, we haven’t crossed many names off – Wait a minute! Lists! Nuts!“
Lois stopped and Karen bumped into her. “What’s wrong? What did you think of?”
Lois turned. “You know how you suspected me because you knew I had a history with Claude?”
“Yes?”
“Passenger list!”
Karen looked puzzled. “Are we playing word-association games now?”
“What if someone else on the shuttle also had a history with Claude but didn’t cause a riot in the airlock? You wouldn’t know who that person was.”
Karen looked stricken. “Oh, great! That means we need Kent’s help again.”
Lois frowned. “That’s a bad thing?”
“Not because of Kent. Because I’m stupid and didn’t think of it. Let’s get back to my office now.”
