Demon’s Revenge (High Demon #5)(20)
Author: Connie Suttle

"Thanks, Supervisor Steeb," I said. This one was looking at me the whole time. Ry had already sent mindspeech, telling me she preferred women. I’d figured that out quickly on my own. Bel had certainly left a box of tangled objects inside the cubicle. Maris’ comp-vid, Lethia’s comp-vid and a few other things were lying on a steel table inside, along with clothing and other evidence. The box Doras Steeb mentioned was in a corner of the room. Usually, evidence was sequestered in a basement, inside a much smaller space. A killing such as this, as odd and as violent and deadly as it turned out to be, rated its own cubicle above ground.

"Look at this—there’s at least six comp-vids in this box." Ry held up one of the small, rectangular electronic devices. I stared at it; it looked as if it had been gutted, with the back missing, the battery pulled out of it and what looked to be part of a data chip hanging out and damaged.

"You think Bel was hard on his comp-vids?" I asked. "We can pull up the registration on all of them to see for sure."

"I’ll do that, you get into the comp," Ry jerked his head at the chair. I scooted into the padded seat and booted up the desk comp, entering my clearance codes as soon as the screen appeared.

"Here—it looks like Maris was working on files submitted in that Prekisule Company case," I said, reading through information on the screen.

"The one that said they were not only making the screens for the comp-vids, but the cases as well, even though the case company is listed under a different name?"

"Yeah. That other company is Meldrim Enterprises; it’s mentioned here, too. The case was dropped in the last three weeks from lack of evidence," I said.

Everything was in the file that I’d pulled up from Abinger’s Legal Firm. Someone from Meldrim had come to the ASD, claiming that the two companies were actually owned by the same conglomerate, which couldn’t be. It violated the anti-trust laws of the Reth Alliance. The chips were manufactured by Schuul Enterprises, the screens by Prekisule, the cases by Meldrim, and other parts and pieces by this company or that, not all of which were on the same worlds. Prekisule and Meldrim were certainly not on Surnath, I knew that much.

"So, Maris was doing the legal legwork on that, then," Ry grunted, digging through Bel’s box of stuff.

"Looks like it. And then she went crazy and shot up the office." I turned to her comp-vid next; it was carefully labeled as such. A bit of dried blood was on it, too. I handled it gingerly, although it had already had any fingerprints scanned by the locals. Syncing it with the larger system in front of me, I entered my security codes to get the larger comp to sort out Maris’ passwords. They pulled up quickly—someone had already done this, as I’d expected. Likely, it had been Bel. I scrolled through personal messages Maris had sent and received just before the murder; there wasn’t anything unusual about any of them, so I worked my way backward, until I came to one she’d sent to her sister two eight-days prior to the murders.

I saw him with her again. At Starshine. Maris had sent to Lethia.

He’s scum, Lethia had sent back. You need to dump h sied to dim.

Thinking about it, Maris had replied. I can do better.

"Faldin was fooling around," I held up Maris’ comp-vid and turned in my chair to look at Ry, who was trying to piece a comp-vid back together. This one looked as if Bel had stomped on it.

"Big surprise," Ry muttered, trying to force pieces of the case together again.

I went through other messages, back two months, at least, and didn’t find anything else worth mentioning. Faldin was correct in one sense; he and Maris weren’t that close. Only a handful of messages were recovered between the two of them and there was nothing noteworthy in any of those.

I turned to Jaske’s comp-vid next. I got a hit from the girl he was seeing right away—she’d sent him something only a few clicks before he went crazy. The message made me lift an eyebrow in surprise. See you tonight at Starshine, she’d sent. Poor Jaske had sent I love you as a reply. Those were the last words he’d sent to this girl, who apparently meant so much to him.

Images were compiled in the comp of all the dead, both shooters and victims. Jaske wasn’t that much to look at. I went searching for the image of his girlfriend, Sedra Prade, finding it at the end of the others. Sedra was very pretty, with shoulder-length, dyed red hair with blue tips, cut unevenly at the ends—one of the current styles popular with the younger ones. In the image, she was dressed in a shiny red top that had a Starshine logo printed on the left breast.

That told me immediately that Sedra worked for the most popular nightclub in Quezlos and likely on all of Surnath. Some called Starshine little Stellar Winds and all the popular and wealthy among the younger set went there to meet and mingle. Opening later in the evening, it remained open until nearly dawn, with loud music thumping through the place while alcohol (and drugs, more than likely) flowed freely.

A legal brothel was onsite, too—licensed by the Surnathan government, of course. Some drugs were legalized in the Alliance, but employers weren’t allowed to let their employees work if they were under the influence. Most had scanners nowadays, located at employee entrances. If an employee set it off, they were sent home. Too many times being sent home and they lost their job. There was always some abuse, but the businesses faced very stiff fines and regular visits from the local constabulary if found in violation.

Personal hovercraft was also equipped with the same type of scanners. You couldn’t drive on manual if you’d imbibed—either alcohol or drugs. Jail time was assigned if the sensors were tampered with in your conveyances. Most people didn’t own anything like that, choosing to depend on public transportation instead.

"Tell me why this girl would be seeing Jaske," I said, moving aside so Ry could get a look at Sedra Prade, and then flipping over to Jaske’s image.

"He looks like a nerd," Ry nodded. "Not that stranger things haven’t happened," he was still working on the comp-vid, I think, trying to shove parts back together. Finally, he gave up and used his extensive warlock gift. The thing floated in midair and went right back together, as it should be. "There," Ry grinned and floated it to me.

"Why didn’t you do that to begin with?" I wrinkled my nose at him.

"You know, we men have to try brawn first."

"Uh-huh." I turned back to Sedra’s image. "You know, since Maris saw Faldin at Slik Faldintarshine with someone else, and Jaske’s girlfriend works there, I think we should go out tonight," I turned to look at Ry.

"Sure. Do you have a hip outfit and dancing shoes?"