A small enameled pendant in the form of a tree with green and red blossoms, hanging from a chain of bright metal links.
'I think there was a group of Narayanists on Illustrious,' Martinez explained to Michi Chen. 'I think Captain Fletcher was one of them. He wore a Narayanist symbol around his neck, and he had a huge statue of Narayanguru in his sleeping cabin. I think he adopted the pose of a collector of cult art so that he could collect Narayanist artifacts legally, and he covered his activities by collecting artifacts from other cults as well.'
'If you insist on that theory,' Michi said, 'You're going to have trouble with the Gombergs and Fletchers, maybe even a suit in civil court.'
'Not if I'm right, I won't,' Martinez said. 'If there are Narayanists in either of those families, we won't hear a word from them.'
Michi nodded silently. 'Go on,' she said.
He had asked Michi into his office on a confidential matter, and she had been surprised on her arrival to find Marsden and Jukes present.
'I think I know why Captain Fletcher was killed, but you'll have to be patient,' Martinez began.
'I've been patient so far,' Michi said. Martinez could have quibbled with that, but decided against it. He called to Perry to bring out coffee and snacks, and ordered Marsden to record the meeting and take notes.
'I think there were, perhaps still are, a number of Narayanists aboard,' Martinez said. 'Captain Fletcher protected them. Somehow Kosinic found out about at least some of this, though possibly he didn't know the captain was a part of the arrangement. As Kosinic's knowledge was now a menace to the cultists, one of them-Thuc-killed Kosinic.'
Michi nodded. 'Very well,' she said.
'It was a masterfully done murder, and we would never have found out about it if Captain Fletcher wasn't killed the same way and made us suspicious.'
Perry and Alikhan arrived at that moment with coffee and little triangular pastries, and Martinez fell silent while everyone was served. He took an appreciative taste of the coffee and felt heat flush at once to the surface of his skin. He could feel his theories boiling in his skull, and he wanted to let them escape; he was so impatient that it took an effort to compliment Perry on the coffee. Finally the two left the room and he was able to continue.
'We know that Thuc was a Narayanist because he, too, wore a Narayanist medallion. I think that once Kosinic was killed, Captain Fletcher began to realize that he was in a bad spot. All it would take would be a little indiscretion on the part of a petty officer, and Fletcher would be implicated in the death of a fellow officer-and not just any officer, but a member of the squadron commander's staff.
'He couldn't indict Thuc, because any public proceedings would expose his own membership in the cult. So he used his officers' privilege and executed Thuc during the course of an inspection. You didn't see him do it, but I did-and it was very clearly premeditated, and very cold-blooded. He'd obviously practiced cutting Thuc's throat many times before he performed it.'
Michi's eyes flickered as Martinez said this, and she turned to Marsden.
'You were there, Mister Marsden. Do you agree with this assessment?'
Marsden had been listening with his bald head bent over his datapad, and his stylus poised to make corrections on the transcription of the conversation that his pad was automatically making. He looked up with a face that might have been carved of flint.
'The lord captain was not accustomed to leave anything to chance,' he said.
Michi listened to this, and slowly nodded. She turned back to Martinez.
'Go ahead, my lord.'
Martinez gave a little shrug. 'Everything from this point is completely speculative,' he said. 'I think Captain Fletcher was intent on eliminating every member of the cult in order to protect himself, but I can't be certain that he wasn't just after Thuc. In any case, one or more other cult members assumed that Fletcher was going after them, and they acted to kill him first.'
Michi absorbed this quietly. 'Do you have any idea who those other cult members might be?'
Martinez shook his head. 'No, my lady. The only people I'm inclined to exempt from suspicion are Weaponer Gulik and the crew of Missile Battery Three. Fletcher inspected them on the day of his death and didn't execute any of them.'
'That still leaves something like three hundred people.'
'Though I would start with those among the crew who are from Sandama, like the lord captain, or who are Fletcher's clients. Doctor Xi, for example.'
'Xi?' Michi was startled. 'But he's been helpful.'
'He helpfully explained away his own fingerprints that were found in Captain Fletcher's office.'
'But he was the one who proved that Captain Fletcher was murdered in the first place. If he'd been part of the conspiracy, he would have kept silent.'
Martinez opened his mouth, then closed it. Doctor An-ku I'm not, he thought.
'Well,' he said, 'let's not start with Doctor Xi, then.'
She held his eyes for a moment, and then her shoulder slumped as she seemed to deflate slightly. 'We're no better off than we were. You've got an interesting theory, but even if it's true, it doesn't help us.'
Martinez took the two pendants, Fletcher's and Thuc's, in one large hand and held them dangling over his desk. 'We searched the ship once, but we didn't know what we were looking for. Now we do. Now we're looking for these. We look in lockers and we look around necks.'
'My lord.' Martinez and Michi both turned at the sound of Marsden's flat, angry voice. 'You should check me first, my lord. I'm from Sandama, and I was one of Captain Fletcher's clients. That makes me a double suspect, apparently.'
Martinez gazed at Marsden and his annoyance flared. Marsden was offended on Fletcher's behalf, and apparently on behalf of the crew as well. A search of the crew's private effects was an insult to their dignity, and Marsden had taken it to heart. He was going to insist that if Martinez was going to violate his dignity, he was going to violate it personally, and right now.
'Very well,' Martinez said, having no choice. 'Kindly remove your tunic, open your shirt, and empty your pockets.'
Marsden did so, a vein in his temple throbbing with suppressed fury. Martinez sorted through the contents of Marsden's pockets while his secretary pirouetted before him, arms held out at the shoulder, showing he had nothing to hide. No cult objects were detected.
Martinez clenched his teeth. He had degraded another human being, and for nothing.
And the worst part of it was that he felt degraded himself for doing it.
'Thank you, Marsden,' Martinez said. You bastard, he added silently.
Without a word the ship's secretary turned his back on Martinez and donned his tunic. When he had buttoned it, he resumed his seat and put his datapad on his lap and picked up his stylus.
'The last inspection was too helter-skelter,' Michi said. 'And it took too long. This next has to be more efficient.'
The two of them discussed this matter for a while, and then Michi rose. The others rose and braced. 'I'm going to dinner,' she told Martinez. 'After dinner we'll confine the crew to quarters and begin the search, starting with the officers.'
'Very good, my lady.'
She looked at Marsden and Jukes, who had spent the entire meeting sipping coffee and eating one pastry after another. 'You'll have to dine with these two in your quarters. I don't want news of this getting out over dinner conversation in the mess.'
Martinez suppressed a sigh. Marsden was not going to be the most delightful of dinner guests.
'Yes, my lady,' he said.
Michi took a step toward the door, then hesitated. She looked at Jukes, her brows knit.
'Mister Jukes,' she said, 'why exactly are you here?'
Martinez answered for him. 'He happened to be in the room when I had my brainstorm.'
Michi nodded. 'I understand.' She turned away for a moment, hesitated again, then returned her gaze to Jukes.
