Page 24

“ I t’s just weird,” I told Frank as I refilled my sparkling water from the Instachef in his living area.

He studied the piece of wrapper I’d given him. “Certainly looks like the other ones. There’s really only one explanation I can think of.”

“Same. It went out the airlock when our killer was trying to dispose of Navun’s body, which would have begun to open but stalled without the completion code. So this slipped out before the lock closed. The killer either didn’t realize the lock needed all three codes or was hoping the lock would open enough to allow the body through. Either way, they didn’t figure on leaving us a clue.”

“Not sure how much of a clue it really is.”

He turned the foil over in his hand. “If we could just figure out what candy this is from, we might be on to something. We could track the sales of it, see who’s bought it since we left Loessa.”

“Good luck with that. There aren’t any markings on the foil.” The water finished dispensing. “Also, Fathia came to see me at the library today.”

He looked up. “Anything happen?”

“If you mean did I ask her if she orchestrated the theft of the Star, I managed not to. She just got a library card and took some books out.” I took my water back to the couch. “But here’s the thing: She was really nice and got a little emotional when she was thanking me for our time together yesterday. She said she doesn’t have many close female friends that she can confide in and that our time together meant a lot.”

“You’re doubting her involvement.”

“I am. Sorry. I’m all over the place on this, aren’t I?”

“Hard to be anything but when we have no solid lead.”

I stroked Gracie’s feathers. She was on her perch next to the couch. “I’m probably letting my emotions get the best of me. I’m not thinking logically. That’s going to have to be your job.”

He smiled. “All we can do is come up with the most likely scenarios and follow them down. Which leads me to my next question. Do you really want to search Dr. Saetang’s quarters or lab?”

“I want to search them both. I know that depends on where he is. Did you find out anything?”

“There’s a decent chance he’ll be in his lab tonight. He seems to work there until about twenty-three hundred hours, sometimes a little later. But he doesn’t generally get in there until around twenty hundred hours.” Frank checked his wristband. “That gives us roughly thirty minutes of safe time to search his lab. Forty-five if we want to live dangerously.”

I set my water on the table and stood. “Let’s go. Right now.”

“Okay. Let me just grab my bag.” He retrieved a messenger bag from his office and slung it across his body. He lifted the flap and held the pocket open. “Gracie.”

She flew to him and climbed into the bag.

“Is she part of the plan?”

“She is.” His mysterious smile had become so familiar, I knew he wasn’t going to tell me anything more.

We took the elevator to Saetang’s lab. The entire deck looked quiet and dim. Didn’t seem like anyone was there.

Frank opened the bag and lifted Gracie out. “Go do your thing.”

With a flap of her wings, she took off and soared down the corridor.

Frank glanced at me, as cool as you please. “She’ll make sure neither he nor Davika are there.”

“A little recon. I like it.”

She zoomed back to us, wings outstretched like a tiny paraglider, landing on Frank’s outstretched arm. She shook her head. “Empty, Papa.”

“Good girl,” he said softly. “To your perch.”

She flapped her way to the small ledge that was a part of an air duct near the ceiling and settled in.

“Now,” Frank said. “If Saetang does show up, we have an early warning system.”

I smiled at Gracie. “Good girl.”

She gave a happy bob of her head. We moved down the corridor to the lab. It was dark. Once again, Frank used his green plastic key to get us in.

“We need to be quick and clean,” he said. “Leave no trace. If he is involved in this, we don’t want to spook him.”

“Agreed. Why don’t we work our way around toward each other?”

“All right.”

I went left; he went right. There wasn’t a whole lot to search. Some cabinets, which were mostly full of equipment I couldn’t name. Shelving units that held containers of various chemicals, none of which meant anything to me. A few worktables with drawers and more cabinets under them, but there was nothing in them remotely close to the Star.

I glanced at Frank to see how he was doing. He was at the computer station and seemed to be working on something. He was the right person for that job.

I kept peeking into every nook and cranny and finding nothing. I even went past Frank. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll finish the rest.”

“Thanks,” he muttered in that way that said he’d only partially heard me because of how hard he was concentrating.

He’d just let out a frustrated sigh when Gracie’s unmistakable screech echoed down the corridor.

Frank’s head whipped around. “That’s our cue. Follow my lead when we get out there.”

“Okay.”

He tapped something on the side of the computer and retrieved a pin drive, which he tucked into his messenger bag. Then he shut the machine down and we hustled out of the lab, Frank locking the door behind us.

We came around the corner, and Frank stuck his hands out. “Gracie, there you are.” Then he laughed. “Dr. Saetang, nice to see you again.”

Confusion clouded Dr. Saetang’s gaze. He’d been looking up at Gracie. “That is your bird?”

“My compdroid, yes. She escaped my quarters this morning, and we finally managed to track her to this deck. She loves to explore.” He held his arm out. “Gracie, come down here right now.”

She flew down to him, rustling her feathers and squawking as she landed, really putting on a big show.

“You naughty thing.” Frank petted her, his smile looking very much like he was happy to have her back, but I knew it was more that he was pleased with his little ploy. He was much better at acting than I was.

I smiled at Dr. Saetang. “How are you? Enjoying the cruise? Getting a lot of work done?”

“I am fine. Yes, the cruise has been enjoyable.” He glanced past me toward his lab. “I had hoped to be accomplishing more, but science rarely moves at the pace one wishes.”

“I never thought about that, but I suppose it’s true. Well, maybe you’ll get your breakthrough sooner than you think.”

His brows lifted. “That would be something.”

“Have a good night.”

He nodded. “You, too. I’m glad you were able to find your compdroid.”

“Thanks,” Frank said.

We walked on to the elevator bank while Dr. Saetang continued to his lab. Once inside the elevator, doors shut, we had a little laugh.

“Nice work, Gracie.”

“I’m a good girl,” she tweeted.

“Yes, you are,” Frank said.

I poked him in the arm. “You two are sly.”

He just smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

We went back to his place, where he deposited Gracie on her perch, then we headed right back out. This time to Saetang’s quarters, now that we knew it would be empty for a while. As he was on one of the cruiser decks, there was more traffic.

We were going to have to hope no one noticed we were going into quarters that weren’t ours. In theory, that shouldn’t be too hard. None of these were permanent residences, since the cruisers came and went.

But who knew when the nosy neighbor across the hall might suddenly take an interest in the comings and goings of the guest in 3205?

To give Frank some cover, I stood in front of him with my wrist lifted and my holoscreen up, checking the entertainment schedule like a cruiser might do.

When I heard the whoosh of the door opening, I slipped in behind him. He quickly tapped the button to shut the door, not willing to wait for it to close on its own.

We looked around. Not an inside cabin but not a suite either. Dr. Saetang was pretty much in quarters that replicated my own. Still very nice when you considered he was only supposed to be on board for about a month.

“How about you take the bedroom,” Frank said. “I’ll take the office. Then whoever finishes first can look out here.”

“Done.” I went into the bedroom. It was odd to be in a strange man’s personal space. The soft, patchouli-like musk of his aftershave permeated the area. It wasn’t bad but certainly not a scent I gravitated toward. I preferred the clean, citrusy scent of Frank’s cologne.

I rifled through Saetang’s dresser drawers, looked in the closet, checked under the bed, even pulled out his luggage and searched it. No sign of the Star, although I did find an autographed picture of Ayronina in one of the outside pockets. It was signed to Leyla, so maybe his daughter? Frank had researched the doctor. He’d probably know.

The door to the safe in the closet was ajar, and there was nothing in it. So much for that.

I went into the bathroom next, which felt like even more of an invasion than the bedroom had been.

Nothing of note. Standard toiletries and one that wasn’t so standard. A black kohl eyeliner. Was that something he used? I hadn’t really noticed, but Kaffi used one. Next time I saw Dr. Saetang, I’d have to pay attention. I also found a prescription patch for blood pressure, still in its sealed pouch, which meant he had one on currently and this was the replacement.

Not so odd in a man his age, I guessed.

He was neat, which I approved of. I went out to the living room. Frank was busy in the office with a computer. A tablet this time.

I looked under the couch, dug through the cushions, opened the small fridge and all the cabinets. He had quite a stash of fig rolls, vanilla sandwich cookies, and chocolate bars. None of them were in wrappers that matched up to the pieces we’d found.

I was standing in the middle of the living area, doing a slow turn to be sure I’d checked every available space, when Frank came out. I shook my head and sighed. “I didn’t find anything.”

“Neither did I, but I now have two computers’ worth of information to search. Let’s go back to my place and have a look.”

I nodded, disappointed that our daring escapades had led to naught so far. We slipped back into the corridor, once again hoping to be unnoticed.

Frank adjusted the messenger bag he still carried and moved closer to me to slip his arm around my waist. “I know it wasn’t the bonanza you’d hoped for. No big find, no glaring evidence, but the computer data may yield something.”

I nodded, trying not to feel like we’d failed again. “I know.”

“I can make some hot chocolate.”

I looked at him. “You think that’s how to solve my mood?”

He shrugged. “Isn’t it?”

I let out one soft chuckle. “It wouldn’t hurt.” I exhaled, trying not to let the crankiness I was feeling seep out. “What are we missing?” I muttered softly. “Who else should we be looking at?”

“I wish I could answer that.”

Back at his place, he made me hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows, and it did help. Chocolate was miraculous like that. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not a superfood.

He plugged in the first pin drive from the lab and started scrolling through the information. It was very technical stuff. Charts and graphs and equations that made my head spin. Might as well have been another language, which most of it was, since Saetang’s notes were in his own tongue, not English.

The tablet’s contents page was more interesting to me, mostly because he kept his entertainment on it. Books, music, games, and movies.

As Frank scrolled, I leaned forward. “Hang on. Go back to the music.”

Frank obliged, opening the file that contained Dr. Saetang’s audio selections. Loessaian music, none of which I recognized. I wiggled my finger at the screen. “Do a search for Ayronina.”

Frank typed her name in. Nothing.

“He had an autographed picture of her in the side pocket of his suitcase. It was signed to Leyla. Any idea who that is?”

Frank nodded. “His son’s daughter. Saetang’s only grandchild.”

“So he’s not a fan, but he made sure to get her an autographed photo. That was sweet.” I leaned back, tucking my hands behind my head. “Not at all murdery. In fact, nothing about him seems murdery. Sadly.”

“I’ll send a spider through both of these drives just to be sure we don’t miss anything, but I predict we’ll be crossing him off our list tomorrow.”

“Hang on now. What about in his email? Anything from Fathia? There must be some communication if she’s his patron.”

“I’ll have to run it through the translator. Give me a few.”

While he did that, I finished my hot chocolate and took the cup to the sanitizer. I was about to make a comment concerning work tomorrow, then remembered I’d taken the day off.

“Here,” Frank said. “I’ve got everything that’s come from or been sent to her email address, all of it translated. It’s a lot.”

I kept my cup out of the sanitizer. I was going to need more hot chocolate. “Well, we have time. Let’s divide it up and start reading.”