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H e waited until we were seated at Space Wok to tell me anything. “Fathia left as soon as I came in, and Saetang is hiding something.”

I scanned the code to bring up the menu on my wristband’s holoscreen. “Did you ask him about his gambling debts?”

“I did. He said that was old news and that those had been paid off a long time ago.”

“But you don’t believe him?”

“I don’t know what to think.” He pulled up the menu, too. “We should order before we get in too deep. I’m getting the Singapore noodles with shrimp.”

Shrimp sounded good. It wasn’t something that showed up on the menu at the dining hall very often. “I think I’ll do the shrimp with snow peas.”

“So many vegetables,” Frank said.

I grinned. “Snow peas aren’t bad. Broccoli’s still the devil, though.” There were carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots in with the shrimp and snow peas. None of those bothered me. Carrots were sweet, mushrooms were meaty, and the rest were crunchy and did not taste like punishment.

“Agreed.”

When the robot server came by, we ordered a pot of jasmine tea, two waters, and our entrees.

I glanced around. “This place is cool.” It had an almost comic-book kind of techno look to it. Neon blues, pops of yellow, lots of rounded edges and bold lines.

“The food is good, too.”

“Thanks for bringing me here.”

“You’re welcome. Much better than coming alone.”

The server returned next with two glasses of water, a steaming pot of tea, and two small, handleless cups. The robot slid the tray onto our table, bowed its head, and reversed several inches. Its oval face screen showed a smile. “Can I get you anything else before your food arrives?”

“No,” Frank said. “We’re good.”

It motored off.

“So.” Frank poured tea for each of us. “About Saetang. Remember I mentioned he had a daughter at that Sessutian Academy?”

“Yep.”

“It’s not what I thought. At all. It’s not so much a school as it is a group home for kids with learning development issues and disabilities. His daughter was born with all kinds of issues, and that home not only provides an education but physical therapy, round-the-clock care, and basic lessons in life.”

“Wow,” I said softly. I took a sip of my water, knowing the tea would be too hot. “It must be hard for him to be away from her.” I couldn’t imagine being away from Hazel. It was a big part of why I’d made the decision to join the Athos crew.

How much worse would it be to be separated from a child with special needs? I felt for Saetang, but I also understood his motivation for doing his job. Keeping his child in a good environment had to be his driving force.

“I’d say so from his reactions as he explained. It’s very expensive. The gambling was an attempt to raise funds. That obviously didn’t go well, but he said his current position, which he was just promoted to three years ago, has provided him with the means to not only pay those debts off but ensure her place at the academy.”

“That’s good. Do we want to take him off the suspect list then?”

“I think we can. I doubt he’d jeopardize his daughter’s future for anything.”

“I wouldn’t think so either. Do you have any idea what he might be hiding?”

“I don’t know, but if I had to guess, the gambling isn’t completely behind him.”

“Hmm.” I lifted my teacup, blew across the surface of the fragrant amber liquid, then took a sip as I pondered that.

The robot returned with our soup, placing the bowls carefully in front of us. Little rounds of green onion floated on the surface while three fat dumplings rested in the bottom of the bowl. I picked up the long spoon and tried the broth. The layers of flavor were astonishing. I could have had the broth alone and been happy.

Frank gestured at me with his spoon. “What about Davika?”

“I don’t think she was entirely honest with me. At least not about Paval. She said she hadn’t talked to him since the trial, but that felt like a lie.” I scooped up a dumpling, bringing it to the surface to cool before I took a bite.

Frank straightened, eyes narrowing like something had occurred to him. “If she’s talked to him recently, it could be connected to the Star.”

“I think so, too. We need to do a background check on him. See what he got up to after he served his time.”

Frank nodded. “First thing we do when we get back. We’re still within range of Loessa, so I should be able to tap into their systems and retrieve that info.”

“Fantastic.”

Our entrees arrived in shallow, oblong white bowls with stainless-steel chopsticks, the aromas making my mouth water and my stomach rumble. I was hungrier than I’d thought. “This looks great.”

“Yes, it does.”

We ate, sharing a few more thoughts about the case.

Frank picked up a fat, pink shrimp. “Do you really think that Fathia is just Saetang’s patron?”

I hesitated, a water chestnut halfway to my mouth. “Are you suggesting that they’re fooling around?”

“I don’t know. Saetang’s a widower. And Fathia might be lonely. The premier’s pretty busy. It’s something we need to consider, I suppose.”

I ate the water chestnut. “It would be awfully convenient. Her being his patron, I mean. But does it have anything to do with the Star’s disappearance?”

He shrugged. “Not in a way I can immediately connect. But if they are fooling around, it’ll probably come out. Collateral damage from the rest of what’s going on. Something that could easily get exposed because of the Star’s disappearance.”

I thought about that. “They’d have to know that, right?”

“I would think so. But people having extramarital relations aren’t always thinking clearly.”

“Good point. Still, you’d think they’d want to be careful. Keep their noses clean, so to speak. Other than the affair, obviously.” I picked up a shrimp for my next bite. “Speaking of affairs, Davika has been seeing one of the guards assigned to the Star. A young man by the name of Navun Kiat. She’s not that into him and plans to break things off when they get back to Loessa.”

“Why?” He expertly snagged a mouthful of noodles with his chopsticks and devoured them.

“Because he likes her more than she likes him, and she said he’s clingy and that it’s too much.”

Frank nodded. “A young man in love rarely knows when he’s going overboard. She’s smart to wait until they’re back home to end it.”

“That’s what I said. All that drama in an enclosed space?” I shook my head. “That could get messy fast.”

“Her relationship with him does give her access to the Star, though. She could be using him. Telling you she plans to break up with him while stringing him along. Getting him to do things for her, like making the Star disappear. Could she have made the counterfeit?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask her about the jewelry-making hobby. I should have, I guess.” I poked at a slice of crinkle-cut carrot. “She told me her family relies on her. She didn’t say for money, but that was my assumption.”

“We might need to consider her more closely. Talking to the guards would be a great idea, as well as finding out more about Paval.”

I sighed as I ate the carrot. “We are not going to solve this by Monday.”

“Day’s not over yet.”

I smiled. “No, it’s not.”

Frank was getting the bill when my wristband vibrated with the arrival of a text. It was from Hazel. Come to Cargo Bay 3-3 as soon as you can.

There was a whole section of lifepods accessible from that deck. I wondered if that had something to do with her request. I looked up from the message. “Hazel wants us at Cargo Bay 3 as soon as possible.”

He tapped his wristband to the robot’s paydeck and nodded. “Tell her we’re on our way.”

Because it was a Saturday and the whole ship was out and about, the elevators were backed up. But taking the stairs or the escalators, which were also mobbed with people, wasn’t going to be faster.

It was nearly fifteen minutes before we were on Deck 3 and headed for the cargo bay. ASF officers blocked the entrance. If we were headed inside, this wasn’t about the lifepods.

I lifted my chin. “Ellis McFadden and Frank Kitson, Special Envoys.” I could just see Frank’s smirk in my peripheral vision.

The officer scanned our wristbands, then stepped aside so we could pass.

The cargo bay was cavernous. I’d never been in one before. I’d seen inside them, just in passing, but that didn’t do the space justice. Like walking into a football stadium. That happened to be filled with cargo pods. I had no idea if they were empty or still held supplies.

The pods were stacked three high, which took them nearly to the ceiling. Rows and rows of them, just waiting to be selected by one of the supply managers, people in large robotic suits that gave them the power to lift and move the pods.

It was fascinating. But what drew my attention now was Hazel and another FAN officer, along with two uniformed ASF officers, standing near the hull wall. One of the ASF officers was looking into the space between the pod and the wall. From my angle, it didn’t look like more than two feet in width. Enough to walk around the pods but no more.

Had they found the Star? I needed to know. “Hazel?”

She turned, gave us a nod of recognition, and then dismissed the ASF officers with a few words. They passed us on their way out. The FAN officer disappeared behind the pod.

“Thanks for coming,” she said as we approached.

“What’s going on?” Frank asked.

She frowned. “We found one of the missing guards.”

I read the look on her face and grimaced. “Why do I think he’s behind that storage pod? And not breathing?”

She glanced at Frank before answering. “Because he is. And he’s not.”

Frank put his arm around me. I was grateful for the support. Dead bodies and I were not a great combo.

An ASF officer hustled toward us, interrupting the conversation. “Ma’am, we found blood in the airlock.”

“Any record of it being opened?”

“We’re checking now.”

Stern-faced, Hazel nodded. “Let me know ASAP. Meanwhile, seal it off and get a second forensics team in there. And where’s the first team I requested? They should have been here by now. Busy with another body I don’t know about?”

“I’ll check, ma’am.”

She turned back to us. “I’m guessing he was a part of the theft, maybe didn’t want to give up the Star. There was a fight, an attempt to throw someone out of the airlock, that failed. He got killed, accidentally or otherwise, and the other party hid the body here.”

I took a breath. I supposed there weren’t many people who were comfortable being in close proximity to a corpse. “What’s the guard’s name?”

“Just a second.” Hazel took a few steps toward the pod and called out, “Captain Stuedecker?”

The FAN officer who’d been with her earlier emerged from behind the pod. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Do we have a name on the deceased yet?”

He checked the tablet in his hands. “Just came back, ma’am. Navun Kiat.”

Frank whistled softly, brows arched. “Well, that takes care of the breakup.”