Page 5

F rank blew out a breath. “Let me guess: No compulsion?”

“Not an ounce.”

“I think you know what I’m going to say.”

I did. “I need to tell Hazel?”

He nodded.

“I know.” I didn’t want to. I hated being the bearer of bad news, but this wasn’t information I could keep to myself. I looked over the railing to see if I could spot her, but I couldn’t. She was probably at her table, or near it, underneath the balcony.

I let out a soft sigh of resignation. “I have to go back down.”

“You want to do this alone?”

“No. Come with me. Because, after this, I’d like to go.”

“Fine with me.”

We went downstairs. Hazel was at her table, and while she looked less stressed than she had earlier, she didn’t look like she was having much fun. I didn’t want to pull her away without a lighthearted excuse. Nothing that would make the premier and his wife suspicious.

I came up with something as we went to the table. I smiled at everyone. “Sorry to interrupt. Do you have a minute, Hazel? I was hoping we could get a picture together.”

She nodded. “Sure.” She stood. “Excuse me, everyone. This is my mom, Ellis, and her friend, Frank.”

Everyone said hello or nodded. I nodded back, not interested in small-talk. Hazel took a few steps away with me and Frank. “This all right? Or somewhere else?”

“This is fine.” I dropped my smile now that we were out of earshot. “Are you aware that’s not the real Omega Min Star?”

She blinked. “What do you mean, it’s not real? Of course it is.”

“No, it isn’t. I don’t feel any compulsion off it.”

Frank stepped closer. “She felt it the moment she saw it the first time. The real one.”

“He’s right. I did. From that…” I wiggled my fingers at the fake. “Nothing.” I hesitated. “You know about the compulsion?”

“I do.” Hazel’s lips firmed into a hard, narrow line. I was about to say that wasn’t good for the small wrinkles already present around her mouth but held my words. Not the time. I got that. “You’re sure?”

“Positive. I don’t feel a thing.”

“This is…” She gave a little shake of her head. “Not good.”

“Where did that one come from?”

She nodded toward the pedestal. “The guards brought it back.”

I looked at it again. Not the slightest desire to touch it or possess it entered my body. I had no problem shifting my gaze to the guards. Something about them was off. I realized what it was. “Hmm. Those aren’t the same guards that were there before.”

“They must be,” Hazel said.

“They aren’t. The guard on the right had a small scar on his chin, and the guard on the left had dark hair. That one has no scar, and the other one’s a blond.”

Hazel muttered a word that would have gotten her sent to her room for a time out if she’d been under the age of sixteen. Her next word was, “Sorry,” accompanied by a baleful glance that told me she hadn’t forgotten the manners she’d been raised with. “I need a little time to figure this out.”

“Your gala, your call.”

“Don’t say anything to anyone about this. Either of you.”

I nodded. “Not a word.”

“Completely schtum,” Frank said.

“Will you do me a favor? See what you can find out on your own?”

“Of course. We’re headed out anyway.” I didn’t know if she meant about the missing Star, the change in the guards, or what, but Frank and I could look into all of it. If nothing else, maybe I could find a way to talk to the guards.

“Thanks.” She glanced back at her table, where the admiral was giving her a questioning look. She smiled and nodded as if everything was peachy before talking to me again. “I need to go. Tell me anything you find out. Anything. No detail is too small.”

“You got it.”

She left us. I turned to Frank, my thoughts spinning, but I wanted his input. “Where would you start?”

“I’d start by running my own sweep of the ship. I’d check all the lifepods, too.”

“What about the guest quarters where the guards were being housed? Not this pair, the first two.”

He nodded. “I can look up the room assignments. That’s easy.”

“Can we do that now? Can we get started?”

“Absolutely.”

We left without a word from the ASF officers still standing by the security checkpoint. Maybe Hazel had told them we were approved to pass without questioning, or maybe the idea of questioning everyone had been abandoned when the fake gem had been returned.

Exit interviews would certainly be hard to explain now.

We went directly to Frank’s quarters, where he greeted Gracie, his rose-breasted cockatoo compdroid, then opened the secret panel that hid his lair.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly a lair. It was just his office. But what an office it was. High-tech all the way, with his own server and storage bubble, an enormous screen on the wall, and a computer setup with which he could access any area of the starliner he wanted. Given enough time.

Breaking into the ASF database, for example, had taken him a day and a half. Not bad at all, considering no one was supposed to be able to get into it without the proper credentials.

He glanced at me as he settled into his desk chair. “Would you rather go to your place and change?”

“Is this one of those things that’s going to take a while?”

He used the retina scanner to unlock his computer. “No. This should be pretty quick.”

“Then I’m staying.”

He smiled. “I promise not to start investigating without you.”

“You want to change, don’t you? But you can’t unless I change, too, is that the deal?”

He took a breath. “Doesn’t seem fair otherwise.”

I understood. Frank was wonderfully old-fashioned when it came to things like that. “Okay, I’ll go change, but I’m coming right back.”

“I’d hope so. I’ll have the information by the time you return.”

“Wonderful.” I gave him a quick kiss and left.

I hustled back to my place and greeted Harry, who was in his charging bed, still watching the bird channel. “Hi, baby. Only home for a short bit.”

“M’kay, Mum.”

I went into the bedroom and slipped out of my dress, a little sad I hadn’t gotten to wear it longer. I hung it up, kicked off my embellished satin slippers and grabbed black leggings and a black tunic top. Once they were on, I slipped into a pair of black woven flats.

I kissed Harry on the head and was out the door again. I returned to Frank’s to find him in jeans and a flannel shirt, which was pretty much his uniform when he wasn’t in his work jumpsuit. I sighed, the memory of him in his tuxedo just that. A memory.

He frowned. “What?”

I shook my head as I came in. “Nothing. Just thinking about you in your tux.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure another opportunity will arise for me to wear it.”

“One can only hope. Any chance you checked for a missing lifepod while I was gone?”

“I did, and there aren’t any.”

So much for that. “Did you find the guards’ housing?”

“I did. It’s going to mean going into enemy territory, though.”

“Cruiser deck?” The cruisers weren’t our enemies, not even remotely, but there was definitely an us-versus-them vibe at times.

“Yep. Interior rooms for both pairs. Deck 33, Corridor B.”

“Taking the stairs between Decks 39 and 33 would be no big deal for fit young men, and it would be faster and less conspicuous than taking an elevator or escalator.”

“Correct on all counts.”

“You have everything you need?” I was specifically referring to the little tool he had that allowed him to bypass a residential keypad and open a door.

He pulled the small rectangle of green plastic out of his shirt pocket. “You mean this?”

I grinned. “That would be it. Let’s go.”

We made our way to Deck 33. The elevator was empty, but the deck had some activity on it. Most of the cruiser levels, which were Decks 30 through 39, always had someone around. It seemed there were some cruisers who never went to bed.

Not that it was very late yet. But the good news was most cruisers were more focused on themselves than their neighbors. If anyone witnessed us accessing the guards’ quarters, they’d probably just assume we were starliner staff.

Which we sort of were. Although we weren’t in uniform. Hopefully, that detail would be overlooked by anyone who saw us.

We checked the directional signs in the corridor and found our way to the first room.

“Not sure if this belongs to the missing pair of guards or the ones still on duty, since we don’t know which names belong to which pair,” Frank said. “But either way, the room should be empty unless the guards have returned.”

“Good. I’ll keep an eye out while you get the door open, just in case the party breaks up sooner than we expect.” I stood next to him, facing out so that I could watch the corridor in both directions.

It took him less than thirty seconds to unlock the door. “After you.”

I slipped inside. He followed and closed the door.

The faint smell of aftershave and coffee lingered in the air.

Interior rooms weren’t necessarily small, but this one was. It had two single bunks with a slim four-drawer dresser between them, one small chair, and a fold-down desk. Above the bed was a screen presently doing double duty as a window, since there wasn’t one. The current view was the nebula.

If the occupants wanted to watch something for entertainment purposes, they’d have to lay with their heads toward the door. That felt awkward to me, but they hadn’t come on board to watch movies, had they.

At the entrance, a full bathroom and small closet created a jog in the layout. Around the side of that notch was a first-gen Instachef like what we had in the library, along with a cube refrigerator.

Livable but in no way luxurious. Thankfully, the two guards who were staying here were tidy. No mess to sort through. Even the beds were neatly made. I appreciated the effort and resolved to keep it that way.

I opened the closet and found two hard-shell rolling bags bearing Loessa insignias on their sides. Two uniforms had been hung, and a backpack sat on the floor. There wasn’t much else at first glance.

“All right,” Frank said. “You take the right side, I’ll take the left. Search it top to bottom. You can have the dresser, and I’ll do the closet and bathroom.”

We went to work. I lifted the first pillow, then patted it down in case there was something tucked into the case. I did the same with the mattress, lifting it and feeling around the sides. I ran my hands over the blanket.

I looked under the bed, where I found a pair of trainers with socks tucked inside them. I pulled out the socks and shook out the shoes. Nothing.

Fifteen minutes later, that hadn’t changed. I’d gone through the dresser, which had held nothing but more socks, some underwear, T-shirts, and gym clothes for both of the guards. While Frank tackled the bathroom and closet, I searched the fridge: half a sandwich and two oranges, along with a bottle of what I assumed to be some kind of alcohol.

I held it up. “Is this contraband?”

Frank leaned back from going through the rolling bags. “I don’t know what their rules are.”

“Might be worth finding out. If they’re willing to break one…”

Frank nodded. “Good point.” He lifted his wristband to his mouth and initiated a search before going back to work.

We finished up, having found nothing more exciting than that bottle, which Frank’s search had revealed was allowed. I stood, arching to stretch my back, which caused me to look up. Something caught my eye.

“Frank?” I pointed. “The vent. It’s a great hiding spot.”

He nodded. “It is. I’ll check it.”

He positioned the chair beneath it, then climbed up and used his broken utility tool to pry the cover loose. He switched on his wristband’s light and took a look. He shook his head. “Empty.”

He replaced the cover and the chair, then we did a quick scan to make sure nothing was out of place.

We moved on to the second room. It wasn’t nearly as neat as the first one.

“Do you get the feeling someone was in and out of here in a hurry?”

“Maybe,” Frank said. “But it could also be they’re just messy.”

“True. Same sides?”

“Same sides.”

I went to the right and started by pulling the covers off the floor and onto the bed. Something small and shiny fell out of the linens.