It Was Murder Read online

  Marshal Harry sighed. “Chunglie, I want to be your friend, but you are a nightmare for people like me.”

  8.

  Whodunnit?

  I bent over backwards one last time and let the marshal crawl over me and onto the kitchen level. As Emgeenie crawled over my head, I said: “You’re trying too hard to impress her.”

  “I don’t know what you mean?” he lied, badly.

  “Yes, you do. I’m not even a mammal and I can tell you’re trying too hard. I can smell she’s attracted to you. Just let it happen.”

  That should keep him helping the marshal.

  Emgeenie walked along the elevator bank until he found an open panel and stuck his head into it.

  “The power lines have been cut,” he said. “With something like an axe.”

  He slumped against the wall and then slid down into a squat.

  “I don’t understand this,” he said. “Someone joined our group and keeps trying to kill us, but it can’t be Letsin because he’s definitely not onboard. Then there’s the casino. If this is all about the casino, why are you and the fat man and those little people aboard?”

  “That’s right,” Marshal Harry said. She walked to a wall, licked a fingertip, and started scrawling groups of symbols on the paint. They disappeared as soon as she made them, but they seemed important to her.

  “Are you okay?” Emgeenie asked. “We’ve all been under a lot of stress, what with the murders and the crashing and so on. Maybe you should sit down for a breather?”

  “That’s right, groups of murders,” she said, scribbling. “I really need something to write with.”

  The marshal stepped back, staring at the now blank wall.

  “I’m nearly there. I was right, this whole thing is a twofer. Two killers. Two masterminds with different goals? That’s what I don’t know.”

  “Let’s go talk to the witnesses again,” she said to me. “I think I know the right questions to ask, now.”

  “I’m glad someone does,” I said. “You lost me at twofer[MVN5].”

  We separated and Emgeenie headed for the navcomp while the marshal and I returned to the kitchen area. We found a pool of blood on the floor in front of the cool room.

  “Oh no,” Marshal Harry said.

  “It’s just one of the bodies leaking,” I said. “Mammals do that sometimes.”

  “Dead people don’t bleed.” The marshal hauled the door open and we looked down at Albert Koosa, flopped across the pile of gangster bits. The back of his head had been bashed in, and from the way his clothes were dragged about, his grav harness had been removed.

  “He’s started to cool,” I said. “Looks like someone grabbed a toong mootrick from the shelf there and smashed his brains out with it.”

  The marshal examined the row of large green lumps on the shelf.

  “What are these things?”

  “They’re a kind of nut native to Smuds,” I said. “Tasty, but they’re not edible until they turn brown. You notice someone took his anti-grav harness?”

  “The killer maybe plans to float up to the twenty-eighth floor,” the marshal reasoned. “Probably thinks we’re still trapped in that elevator car, so let’s go spoil someone’s day.”

  “Works for me.”

  We walked into the kitchen together. The automatics were off. People sat around on the work surfaces, staring at their feet or at the walls. Soh Lukt and William Faa had arms wrapped around each other. Now they were married, she had an interest in Faa’s estate. Motive for murder?

  Albert Koosa’s two wives, Frances and Maya sat on opposite sides of the room, Frances with her shoes on the counter beside her. I couldn’t see why either one would slaughter the management of a casino. Unless Koosa was the real target all along?

  Sarah Kody sat with Ummen and Leebris. If the murders were a takeover of the casino, maybe an accountant would have the skills to pull that off?

  The marshal strode to the centre of the room and looked around the suspects one by one. I hoped she knew what she was doing because I hadn’t a clue who the killer was and I was in the mood to bite someone.

  Ummen climbed to his hooves.

  “Well, did you find a way off this boat?”

  “We found a one-man lifepod on deck twenty-eight,” the marshal said.

  “In that case, bye.” Ummen strode towards the kitchen exit.

  “Which I ejected into space.”

  Ummen swung around, grabbed Marshal Harry by the throat, and I bit him in the leg.

  “You nasty little fu...” He dropped to the floor.

  “I did everyone a favour there,” I said. “His language would only get worse.”

  The marshal staggered, grasped her throat, and coughed until she got her breath back. Made me feel lucky that I don’t have lungs.

  “Why did you eject the lifepod?” Sarah Kody asked. “We could have drawn lots, so at least one person survived this!”

  “Is Ummen dead?” the marshal asked me.

  “Probably not,” I guessed. “I didn’t unload my full venom sack in case I need to bite someone else.”

  I raised my body and pointed my head at Sarah Kody. She was my pick for the killer. There must be something wrong with a person who doesn’t like invertebrates. I can’t stare because I don’t have eyelids, but she got the message and sat back on the work top.

  “That lifepod was the killer’s way off the ship,” Marshal Harry said. “And ejecting it ensures she doesn’t escape.”

  “She?” Frances noted.

  “We found a sealed bag of clothes in the lifepod.” The marshal held up the bag. “Going by the sizes, I’d say we’re looking for a woman.”

  I’ve always found the notion that female mammals are smaller than males hard to get my head around, because invertebrate females are usually larger than males.

  “What’s the point in trying to work out who the killer is if we’re all going to die, anyway?” Frances demanded.

  “Emgeenie has accessed the navigation system,” Marshal Harry said. “He’s started the engines.”

  “I don’t feel anything.”

  “The ship’s engines have to warm up first. Checklists and so forth.”

  “I can follow a checklist,” Soh Lukt said as she stood. “I will help him speed things along.”

  “Unless you are the killer?” the marshal pointed out.

  “I’m no killer,” Soh Lukt said. She was about the same height as Marshal Harry. Her eyes were red and leaking clear fluid. “Come on, do I look like a killer?”

  “Well, no, but in my experience, killers rarely look like killers,” the marshal pointed out. “Can you prove you were in the hold with the rest of us? Because we know the killer was getting rid of the crew at that time.”

  “I was there. I heard those two huge thugs giving you a hard time,” she admitted. “But it was too dark to see, and I was too scared to move.”

  “So you kept quiet?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Sorry.”

  “Seems like everyone else kept quiet, too,” the marshal said. “But at least it proves I was there, so I can’t be the killer?”

  “But,” Frances pointed out, “we were talking about that horrid experience while the marshal and her friends were away. So you knowing about it proves nothing.”

  It surprised me when Leebris raised a paw.

  “Yes?” the marshal asked.

  “You know I amn’t the killer, sho can I go help that guy with the nav shyshtem?”

  “Can you help him?” Marshal Harry asked.

  “I know how to run checklishtsh and shtart drive shyshtems.”

  “Okay, I guess you want to live us much as the rest of us?”

  “Damn right,” Leebris said, and off he trotted.

  “Now,” Marshal Harry rubbed her hands together, “next item for discussion. How come no one noticed Albert Koosa slip away from the group and get murdered?”

  Mammals are really noisy. Now they were on their feet waving arms arou
nd and talking. Maya howled and collapsed on top of me, sobbing. I reared round, mouth open to bite, and caught the warning look in Marshal Harry’s eyes.

  “Sorry, reflex,” I said. Marshal Harry darted over and hugged her.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hit you with it like that,” she said, rocking the woman. On top of me. I felt my carapace bend along the top.

  “Can I go to him?” Maya asked.

  “Please do,” I said.

  “Best not,” Marshal Harry said, drawing me another look. “It was messy.”

  Maya howled again. Sarah Kody hurried over and wrapped arms around the poor woman. My fourth segment started to give way.

  “I hope someone has a mop,” I pointed out. “Because there’s about to be a large yellow splat on this floor.”

  Sarah Kody helped Maya to her feet and over to lean against a table.

  “The man weighs over a thousand kilos and no one noticed him slip away?” Marshal Harry asked. “And can someone stop those two humping? It’s getting on my nerves!”

  They convinced Rooni and Kveen to take a breather from their funeral rites.

  “Your funeral rites look a damn sight more fun than mine,” I said.

  “Why? How does your species prepare the body for burial?” Kveen asked.

  “Shove it through the family wood chipper,” I said. “Makes it easier to rake you into the mulch.”

  “That’s practical, I suppose,” Kveen said. She stood with her arms crossed, hands holding her elbows. I’ve seen mammals comfort themselves like that. Right then, I wished someone would comfort me.

  “Okay, let’s start with this,” Marshal Harry said. “We know it couldn’t be me because Ummen and Leebris threatened me in the baggage compartment. Chunglie here intervened, so it couldn’t be him. That’s four possibilities ticked off. Can you prove you’re not the killer?”

  “Rooni spoke and I saw him on my infrared, hanging off the door handle,” I pointed out.

  “So that’s five.” The marshal looked at her fingers. “Wish I had a notebook.”

  Frances pulled open a drawer and took out a palmtop, turned it on, and handed it to the marshal.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Found this earlier. Should have thought you might need it.”

  “Thanks. After we left the baggage compartment, our killer joined the group.”

  Unfortunate turn of phrase in the circumstances, I thought.

  “I’ve been wondering why?”

  “Well,” I said, “doesn’t she have to wait for the ship to get near enough to the planet before launching the lifepod?”

  “But why not wait on the twenty-eighth floor and deactivate the lifts?” the marshal asked.

  “She didn’t expect us to escape the baggage compartment when we did?” Kveen realised. “So... she poisoned the crew and took her time heading for the lifts?”

  Rooni looked impressed with his missus. So was I because I hadn’t spotted that one.

  “Right, and another point,” the marshal said, “They stripped us of our weapons and cybernetics.”

  “So?” Frances asked, pointing at her head. “They turned off my law apps, too.”

  “But they left our translators and artificial voice boxes intact, so we could still talk to each other.”

  They made those big Os with their mouths and pointed eyes around the room.

  “Look, it’s obvious,” I said. “Whoever set up this ship to crash has gone to a lot of trouble. So she planned to gloat over you before escaping in the lifepod and leaving you all to die.”

  “Why would anyone do something that nasty?” Maya asked.

  “We are collateral damage, you idiot,” Frances said. “They were after the gangsters all along.”

  “Please, let’s not start insulting each other,” the marshal intervened.

  “It’s okay. She always talks to me like that,” Maya said. “I’m used to it.”

  I began to think Maya was the killer because she was nice. I liked her and they say it’s always the last person you suspect.

  “But what about us?” Rooni asked. “I don’t do business with those gangsters or Koosa.”

  “Why are you going to Smuds?” the marshal asked.

  “Partly for a second honeymoon. This is the breeding season for us.” He pointed eyes at his mate.

  “We noticed,” the marshal said.

  “And partly to inspect our investment in the Smuds and Boolymooth Shipyards,” Rooni said. “That’s why I thought it was funny that Koosa was in shipbuilding too.”

  “I wish I could follow that connection up,” Marshal Harry said. “Talk to the management of the shipyard and look over their records.”

  “You can’t,” Sarah Kody said.

  “I know, I’m just saying I wish—”

  “You can’t because it’s not there anymore. I worked on their bankruptcy. We saved some parts of the business but sold the main campus for redevelopment.”

  “But- but-” Rooni stuttered. “I was there two years ago.”

  “Snap. I was there two years ago,” Sarah Kody said. “Selling the place off.”

  “Oh no,” Kord Rooni said. “I invested half the family fortune with them.”

  Kveen looked down. “Well, that’s the end of the second honeymoon.”

  “If you want revenge on the fraudsters,” I said, “I can work cheap if you get my guns out of hock.”

  “Chunglie, please,” Marshal Harry said. “Don’t talk like that in front of a marshal.”

  “Sorry, just trying to line up a job.”

  The marshal pointed eyes at the two wives. “Did Koosa have money invested in the Smuds and Boolymooth shipyard?”

  “I cannot discuss that,” Frances said, “without a court order. As his lawyer, I still have to protect his estate.”

  Maya stood up straight in front of Frances. “I wasn’t his lawyer, but I was his PA until our third child came along. He owned thirty percent of the shares in the shipyard.”

  The marshal toppled slowly until she lay on the table, pointing eyes at the ceiling.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She closed her eyes. “I’m thinking,” she said. “I’m thinking the crew were low-level help poisoned to get rid of witnesses. But someone was so familiar to Big Bill Faa’s bodyguards he walked up and shot them all at close range... But he can’t be on the ship or William would recognise him.”

  The marshal sat up.

  “There isn’t anyone here you recognise?”

  “Just Frances. Her firm did work for the casino.”

  “Did your father have any money invested in Smuds and Boolymooth?”

  “I doubt it,” William said. “He had very little money invested outside our moon.”

  “Right. For one partner the gains are all about the casino, and the other partner is all about this non-existent shipyard... and if it is a woman that narrows it down to Sarah Kody, Frances, or Maya.”

  “Me?” Kody spluttered. “I only worked on the bankruptcy of the shipyard. I didn’t have anything else to do with the place.”

  “You can’t suspect me!” Maya squeaked. “I’d never have the nerve to kill anyone.”

  Marshal Harry pointed eyes at Maya for a long time. The woman sniffled.

  “Sorry, yes, of course,” Marshal Harry said. “I should have known who the killer was outside the baggage compartment...Frances. I don’t know your motive, though. Would you mind filling us in?”

  “Me?” Frances stood. “What makes you think it was me?”

  “Well, answering a question with a question,” Marshal Harry pointed out, “is a bit of a giveaway. Liars do it to give themselves time to invent an answer. But it was the shoes that tipped me off in the end.”

  Frances glanced at the red straps she had left on the worktop.

  “Outside the baggage compartment, you ran in to help Mr Koosa, holding your shoes.”

  “So what? Have you tried walking in these things?”

  “I like them, they
make me tall,” Maya said. She walked over and picked up Frances’s shoes. “How do these prove she murdered my Bubby?”

  “Only a complete idiot would call that massive lump of lard Bubby,” Frances spat.

  Sarah Kody went up in my estimation, when she stood between Frances and Maya and said: “Don’t talk to her like that.”

  “I woke up in the baggage compartment without shoes,” Marshal Harry interrupted as she pulled off one of her boots. “I barked and bruised my toes tripping over things.”

  The marshal pointed the sole of her foot at Frances.

  “The decades of crap on the floor cut my soles. Even those heels would’ve been better than nothing.”

  Up till then, I’d no idea that part of a leg had a name of its own. Humans overthink their bodies.

  “Let us see the soles or your feet,” Sarah Kody demanded.

  “That’s hardly evidence that will stand up in court,” Frances said.

  “You took the shoes off before we came in,” Marshal Harry said. “Because you knew Mr Koosa was dead, and you didn’t have to please him anymore.”

  “Did you smash in Uncle Stormen’s head?” William demanded, shoving his face up against Frances. He was shorter by a nose, so it wasn’t easy for him. The marshal got an arm between the two. “He wasn’t a bully like my dad. He was just a paper shuffler.”

  “Why would I do such a thing?” Frances said. “I didn’t even know the man.”

  “But you didn’t need to know him. He didn’t drink the wine,” Marshal Harry said. “Leebris and Ummen admitted they drank it, so when you and your crew opened the door, he woke up and fought back? We’ve seen how you react when someone spoils your plans, so you picked up something heavy and attacked.”

  “Rubbish. I’d never do something like that.”

  “I think you would. You’re very buttoned up, very controlled,” the Marshal said. “Makes me wonder what you’re like when you lose it.”

  “Terrifying,” Maya whispered hoarsely. “Never to Fey. But to the rest of the family, she has been brutal. We used to have a nice family unit, until she came along.”