Nightmare

Giday’s blood on the sleeve. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to locate this student.'

'She,' Rashid said. Ara had expected him to get excited that they had a suspect, but he seemed perfectly calm. 'You think the killer is a woman? The one you showed me in the Dream?'

'We aren’t sure,' Tan admitted. 'Her disappearance is highly suspect, of course. So is the blood on her shirt cuff. But as Mother Ara once pointed out, a smart killer-as this one seems to be-wouldn’t keep a shirt that might have picked up the victim’s blood. She may have disappeared because she was murdered by our real killer, who’s trying to throw us off the trail. In any case, we’re still trying to find her so we can have a chat.'

'I see,' Rashid said. 'I think it’s obvious we’re both looking for the same person, in any case. I notice that your victims are all Silent women connected to your organization. Since some carried the title ‘Mother’ and others the title ‘Sister,’ I assume their ages varied. This fits the profile of our victims as well-females of varying ages connected with our organization. Did your victims have any connections with each other? Common friends or people they knew on the job?'

Tan shook her head, making her long braid whisk back and forth like a broom. 'We checked extensively. Nothing came up. What about yours?'

'Only one,' Rashid said. 'Polly Garvin, the first victim, was an acquaintance of Riann Keller, the third victim. But we weren’t able to draw any other connections. Perhaps we should trade files and see what we find.'

Computer pads came out and the transfers were made. Ara nibbled on more salmon-cream cheese canapes and glanced about the luxurious office before opening anything.

What a place this would be to work, she thought. A view of the universe and people to make you little dainties. Then she remembered the dark, narrow warrens that probably made up the majority of the residences and workplaces on Dream Station. Slavery was perfectly legal here, and Dreamers, Inc., owned many thousand of them, some Silent, some not. It might be fine here for the people on top, but the ones holding up the bottom had a hard time of it.

With a sigh, Ara opened the file on Riann Keller’s death. Tan and Rashid were already reading silently, pictures and text mixing on their holographic screens. Tan pointed to one part of a picture and it magnified. Ara caught a glimpse of a pair of dead, filmy eyes staring at nothing. She shuddered. Someone-Dorna? — had left a trail of death and sorrow across an entire galaxy.

A pile of text appeared on Ara’s screen and she found she couldn’t bring herself to read closely. Too much pain, too much sorrow, too much death. How did Tan deal with this? Although the Dream stalker was Bellerophon’s first recorded serial killer, Treetop City and the other city-states had their share of violent crime. Otherwise the Guardians wouldn’t exist.

Ara’s eye wandered across the text, not lighting long enough to read more than a word here or a phrase there.

…psytonin levels indicate. .

…complete loss of. .

…suspect must have attacked the victim. .

…named Dorna, and a son. .

…found approximately two hours after. .

Ara gasped and scrolled frantically backward. Had she seen-yes, there it was. The victim had two children, a daughter named Dorna and a son named Cole.

It suddenly occurred to Ara that she and Tan had never mentioned Dorna’s name to Rashid. There was so much information to trade, it was easy to leave things out, even obvious facts. Ara called for Tan and Rashid’s attention and quickly explained.

'I remember the daughter,' Rashid said excitedly. 'Is there an image of her in your files? The image you showed me in the Dream was too wavery for a good identification.'

Tan called it up for him. Dorna’s head and shoulders appeared, her identification holo for the monastery. Rashid studied it a moment, then addressed the computer. 'Reverse aging on this holograph ten years.'

Dorna’s face changed. Her cheeks became rounder, her features larger, until she looked to be fifteen or sixteen. Rashid’s eyes glittered. 'That’s her! That’s Rhiann Keller’s daughter.'

'So she is the killer,' Ara murmured. She should have been glad, even excited, at the confirmation, but all she felt was a lingering disappointment.

'Who was the father?' Tan asked.

'None on record,' Rashid said. 'We do know, however, that Rhiann Keller was known for having many …casual male acquaintances.'

'Let’s draw a scenario, then.' Tan cracked her knuckles, the first time Ara had seen her do such a thing. 'According to my sources, serial murderers and people with multiple personalities are always abused-even tortured-as children. That’s why some of them kill, displacing anger from their parents to innocent bystanders. Dorna Keller was one of these, abused by her mother. As she grew older, she took Polly Garvin-a friend of her mother’s-as her first victim because Garvin was available, easy to get to. Then she stalked and killed Minn Araq before getting up the courage to kill her mother Riann Keller. But naturally that didn’t satisfy her. It never does. So she killed Liss Padel. But then what happened to her?'

Rashid was holding himself rigid in his chair, clearly controlling both pain and anger. Ara wanted to say something to him, but something made her hold back. She suspected Rashid no longer wanted sympathy. He was seeking justice-or revenge.

'It’s in the file,' Rashid said. 'Riann Keller had a gambling problem and a history of petty theft and larceny. We were about to fire her, even though she was Silent. She signed a contract with Silent Acquisitions.'

'Slavers?' Ara said incredulously. 'What for?'

'Her children,' Rashid said in a flat voice. 'Dorna and her brother Cole were both Silent. It’s legal here to sell yourself or your underage children into slavery, and it appears that Riann Keller needed to clear a few debts with some …unsavory moneylenders.'

Ara’s blood chilled. Her mind wouldn’t quite accept the idea. Selling your children into slavery to cover your own mistakes? She tried to imagine fastening a shackle on Ben’s wrist and ankle before handing him over to a total stranger. The picture wouldn’t come.

'Riann was killed two days after signing the contract,' Rashid concluded. 'At first we thought her death might be connected to the local underworld, but the missing and reappearing finger belayed that.'

'Why didn’t she try to sell them to Dreamers, Inc.?' Tan asked.

'I’m not sure,' Rashid said. 'There’s no record of her making an offer. It may be that their continued presence on Dream Station would remind her of what she had done, or perhaps she thought she would get more from Silent Acquisitions.'

Ara took another sip of brandy, trying to push away the images of a woman coolly selling her own flesh and blood.

'So if we add this to our working scenario,' Tan said, 'it may explain how Dorna got up the courage to kill her mother-she was spurred by the news of her sale. Chief Rashid, when did your wife die in relation to Riann Keller?'

Rashid’s face looked carved from stone. 'Five days. We wondered about that. Several months passed between the other murders, but Liss was killed less than a week after Riann.'

'More rage,' Ara murmured. 'She killed her mother, but was still too angry to hold off killing again. She slowed down after that, you’ll notice. Liss was the fourth victim, and Prinna Meg was the tenth, if the numbering is accurate. That means that in the last ten years, she ‘only’ killed five other people.'

Tan toyed with her braid. 'This doesn’t help us find Dorna. And none of it-except maybe the blood-is hard proof. Any decent defense lawyer would serve our heads to the judge. Chief Rashid, are there any files on Dorna? School records and such things? We might get an idea from them.'

Rashid was tapping at his pad when Ara felt something brush her mind.

— Ara,~ came a familiar voice. ~Ara, can you hear me? ~

Startled, Ara sat upright. ~Ched-Hisak? What’s going on?~

— Your student Kendi wants to see you in the Dream. He asked me to contact you because he has not yet learned to do so. According to him, the matter is urgent, and I agree. Can you come? ~