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N ow I really had to act normal. “Hi, there. What a nice surprise.”

Fathia was all smiles. “I wanted to see this library of yours. It’s marvelous. You must love working here.”

“I do.” My brain felt like it was short-circuiting. All I could think of was confronting her about why she’d stolen the Star. To show her I hadn’t been taken in by her games. “Would you like to sign up for a library card and check out some books?”

She nodded, still looking around. “Yes, why not? I’m a fast reader.”

“Wonderful.” My goal was to get her through the process as quickly and civilly as possible, then get her out before I could no longer hold my tongue. I could not allow that to happen. “Won’t take but a few minutes.”

Halfway through signing her up, my wristband vibrated. I checked the screen out of sight of Fathia. A message from Frank. Still nothing on O and N.

Which meant he hadn’t found any traces of either guard being paid off. I stifled a sigh and went back to work, finishing up her application and sticking a card into the reader to imprint it with her info. Once that was done, I held it up. “Would you like me to recommend some books? I can add them directly to the card.”

“That would be wonderful, but I’m afraid I don’t read English as well as I speak it. I prefer to read in my native tongue, but perhaps I could try one? Something short, maybe? It would be good for me to attempt it.”

“All right. Do you have a genre preference?”

“Oh, I like all sorts of books. Biographies. Romances, the sweeter ones. A good mystery is always entertaining…”

I bet she liked a good mystery. “How about a collection of short mysteries by one of Earth’s most famous writers, a woman often considered the mother of the genre, Agatha Christie?”

“Sounds marvelous,” Fathia said. Her gaze dropped to my throat. “You’re not wearing your nebulite pendant?”

I touched the bare spot on my collarbone. “No. It’s in my safe. I thought it was too valuable for everyday.”

She smiled indulgently. “You should wear it. What good are nice things if they can’t be enjoyed?”

“Fair point.” I added the Agatha Christie anthology to her card, along with several untranslated Loessaian novels, and handed the card to her. “There you go. Plenty of reading to keep you busy. Have a good afternoon. You’ll have to let me know how you get on with the Agatha Christie.”

She took the card, eyeing me in a way that might have been slightly suspicious. “Thank you. I should let you get back to work since you seem busy. I hope we can get together again before this trip is over.”

I forced a smile. “I hope we can, too.” Mostly so I could confront her about what she’d done, but she didn’t need to know that yet.

Suddenly, she laid her hand over mine. “Thank you again for yesterday. I have few close female friends, and because of my position, deep conversations are … difficult.” She swallowed, her eyes damp. “Yesterday meant a great deal to me. I appreciate your kindness more than I can say.”

“You’re welcome.” Had I been wrong about her? That had seemed like a genuine display of emotion. A woman truly hurting. Not a woman currently masterminding a theft and a murder to take her husband down.

With a nod, she went toward the door.

I turned to see Harry watching me, his eyes like slits. “You think she was being real?” I whispered. “Seemed genuine to me.”

His brows raised ever so slightly as if in agreement, then he closed his eyes and feigned sleep.

Itzak returned, and I took my lunch break, which was a protein muffin and a cup of tea. I had them in my office, at my desk. Harry joined me. I was two bites in when Frank called. I was always happy to see his face on my holoscreen. I swallowed. “What’s up? Something good, I hope.”

He shook his head. “If any kind of deal was done with Olan or Navun, I can’t find any trace of it. Not even a recommendation that they be promoted. Nothing. And nothing in any of their immediate families’ histories either. That’s looking like a dead end.”

“Crap.”

“Exactly. On top of that, I still haven’t been able to find Paval. I even went so far as to run a facial recognition program using his college picture with some age progression to see if it might match up to anyone who boarded the Athos in Loessa. Nothing there either.”

Exhaling loudly, I tipped my head back and groaned.

“I know, trust me, I’m right there with you.”

I looked at my holoscreen again. “We have nothing. Time is running out, and we have nothing.”

“I went back into Navun’s autopsy report and compared time of death with the known locations of our current suspect pool. The premier and Fathia were in their quarters, as was Davika, but Dr. Saetang was supposedly in his lab.”

“Supposedly?”

“I can’t confirm it, and because those labs are temporary assignments, they aren’t monitored like normal departments. I can’t say for sure, basically.”

“He doesn’t really make sense as a suspect, unless we think he was doing it for Fathia, which could be possible.”

I decided to save my doubts about her until Frank and I were face to face. “Are we thinking he took the Star? Murdered Navun? Or both?”

“Who knows. Might not hurt to search his lab. And his quarters, but I don’t think that one will be as easy. Unless we know he’s in his lab.” Frank’s smug expression almost made me laugh. “There is one other thing.”

Somehow, despite the bad news, I was feeling marginally better. That was all Frank. “What’s that?”

“I was able to access the ASF files from the cargo bay. Mainly I was interested in what evidence was collected and if forensics found anything.”

“Oh, good. Anything worthwhile?”

“Nothing that jumped out at me. I’d like you to look at them, too, but remember how there was something by Navun’s hand that we couldn’t make out? We thought maybe it was a piece of the blade he’d been stabbed with?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“As best I can tell, it was another piece of wrapper like the one we found in the guards’ quarters.”

I frowned. “That’s so strange. And random.”

“I know. I don’t know what to make of it, which is why I wanted to tell you about it. Just something to ponder.”

“Maybe one of them has a sweet tooth and takes candy everywhere they go? I still don’t see how it’s relevant, but who knows what might pop up, hmm?”

“My thoughts, too.” He yawned, following it with a laugh. “Sorry. Didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

He shook his head. “Not really. It’s all right. This is important. Might grab a nap this afternoon, though.”

“Then can we visit Saetang’s quarters tonight? And maybe his lab?” I was ready to do some more snooping. “Unless you’re too tired. I suppose I could do it myself. Either way, I’m going to put in for tomorrow off.”

Concern immediately filled his face. “I don’t think searching Saetang’s spaces is something you should do alone.”

“I’ll take Harry.”

Having heard his name, Harry lifted his head from his loafing and meowed with an undeniable eagerness.

Frank laughed. “Thanks for volunteering, Harry, but you’re not exactly the companion I had in mind.”

“Can you take another day off?” I quickly shook my head before he could answer. “Never mind, I shouldn’t ask that of you.”

“I’ve already taken tomorrow off. We’ll go together this evening. I don’t want you in any potential danger. Or a compromising position. That won’t help your daughter’s case if her mother is found looking through a guest’s things.”

“Yes, but I’m a special envoy.” I was definitely feeling better. “I’d rather we go together anyway.”

“Maybe we could even do it tonight after dinner. You’re eating with the girls, right?”

“I am. Do we have any way of knowing where he’ll be? I’d love to search his lab. I feel like that’s the most likely place for him to keep the Star. If he’s got it.”

“He’s either going to be in his lab or his quarters. Unless he’s out, which he might be.”

“We need to know. I don’t want to be surprised mid-search.”

“I’ll work on that. In the meantime, finish your lunch and have a good rest of your day. I’ll see you tonight.”

“I hope you find something.”

“So do I. Bye.”

“Bye.” The holoscreen disappeared. I ate the rest of my muffin while filling out the form to take tomorrow off. I then emailed Laura, one of the other librarians, to see if she could pick up my shift. I never wanted to leave the library understaffed.

She responded that it would be no problem, and I offered to take her Saturday shift so she wouldn’t be left with only one day off. It would mean a shorter weekend for me, but I didn’t mind.

I could probably still have lunch with Frank.

The day stayed busy, which I was glad for, and before long, it was time to head home. The corridors were filled with familiar faces, people I saw at the library. Most of them seemed happier to see Harry than me, smiling at him and giving him little waves, but I wasn’t bothered. I knew how cute he was. He strutted along, tail high in the air.

I pressed my hand to the printlock to open the door to my quarters. A vuum zipped out before we could go in. At least the floors would be clean. Harry went ahead of me.

The door whooshed shut behind us, and I went straight into the bedroom. The nebula was now directly outside of my window. I paused for a moment to take it in. I didn’t think that view would ever get old. Shame such a beautiful thing had been marred by a theft and a murder.

I swapped my jumpsuit for a comfortable pair of navy drawstring pants and a T-shirt, then put my cardigan and flats back on. Maybe because I’d just been staring at the nebula, maybe partially because I wanted to show it off to the girls, I decided to get my new pendant out of the safe and wear it to dinner.

I fastened it around my neck, feeling the strange awareness of it that filled my senses. It fit neatly in the opening of my V-neck T-shirt, and the yellow of my cardigan highlighted the golden tones of the gem.

It really was beautiful. Just like the nebula. Again, it was a shame that such awful things had attached themselves to these wonders of nature.

Frank and I had to figure this out and bring the perpetrators to justice so that the badness could at least be somewhat erased. I’d always think of Navun’s body lying behind that storage pod when I looked at this necklace, but if I could also think about how we’d put his murderer behind bars, that would help.

I kissed Harry’s head on my way out the door and, for once, was headed to the dining hall a little early. I made a small chicken Caesar salad and got a bowl of leek and potato soup, which was all I felt like, then snagged our usual table.

I was so early, I was the only one of us who’d arrived. Zanya showed up a minute later. She’d gotten the tofu stir-fry, which was the vegetarian option this evening. It did smell good, but to me, eating tofu was the culinary equivalent of dining on upholstery foam.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Zanya. How was your day?”

“Good. Busy. But I like busy.”

“So do I.”

Vashti was the next to arrive. She looked exhausted.

I frowned. “You okay?”

She nodded as she collapsed into her seat. “Crazy day. We had a three-year-old with an allergic reaction. Touch and go for a bit there. Not fun. But he’s through the worst of it now.”

“Good for you. You probably saved his life.”

She smiled. “Maybe. Much better than it could have been, that’s for sure.”

Benni was the last to show up. Her tray held a big plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes, both covered in gravy, along with peas and a buttered roll on the side. She was still in her jumpsuit, the one she wore under the exoskeleton suit she sported outside the ship. “What a day.”

“Lot of that going around,” Zanya said. “What happened to you?”

She shook her head as she took a bite of the roll. “Standard stuff. Space dust on the collection panels. Seems thicker than usual, which makes me think either that’s from the nebula or Loessa had a lot of volcanic activity in its past. Oh, and this weird thing.”

She shifted and dug into one of her pockets. “Here, Els, you like space junk.”

It was true. I did find it fascinating. The last thing she’d given me was a space rock. I held out my hand, eager to see what she had for me this time.

She put her hand over it and opened her fingers. I didn’t feel a thing, but when she pulled her hand away, there on my palm lay a shiny shard of what had to be a candy wrapper.