The Domino Pattern

I raised my eyebrows at Kennrick. “Kennrick?”

“Go ahead,” he said firmly. “Whatever you think you’ve found, I can already tell you there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.”

I pulled over a pair of chairs from an unoccupied table nearby. Kennrick shifted his seat toward Muzzfor to give us room, and Bayta and I crowded in across from them. “I’ve been told you had a meeting with Master Colix the night he died,” I said without preamble. “I was wondering why you never mentioned that.”

“I did,” Kennrick said. “I told you I was there that afternoon to—”

“Not the afternoon meeting,” I interrupted him. “Later, after dinner, when you swapped out his keepsake blanket and his lozenges.”

A muscle in Kennrick’s cheek tightened. “Oh,” he said. “That meeting.”

“Yes, that meeting,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell us about it?”

Kennrick seemed to wilt a little in his seat. “Because I’d been ordered to stay away from him and the other Shorshians.”

I flicked a glance at Muzzfor. He was watching Kennrick, his expression set in that neutral mask so beloved by prosecutors eyeing potential witnesses, or lions checking out a herd of elk. “Ordered by whom?” I asked.

“Usantra Givvrac,” Kennrick said. “He thought I was spending too much time back in third and told me to give it a rest.”

“Were you?” I asked. “Spending too much time back there, I mean?”

Kennrick looked sideways at Muzzfor. “I didn’t think so,” he said. “Others obviously had different opinions.”

“You also spent a great deal of time with them aboard the torchliner from Earth,” Muzzfor said.

“But not because I was trying to influence their votes,” Kennrick insisted. “I just happen to like Shorshians, that’s all. And Shorshic food, too. It was just natural that the five of us liked to spend time together.”

“Especially on the torchliner, where there aren’t any travel-class barriers between passengers?” I asked.

“Exactly,” Kennrick said, looking back at me. “I was just trying to keep up those friendships here, that’s all.”

“To the point of defying Usantra Givvrac’s orders about staying away from them?”

Kennrick grimaced. “The only reason I went back there was to tell Master Colix why I wouldn’t be able to share the halfway-celebration meal with them,” he said. “It didn’t seem right to just disappear without explanation.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing, because I didn’t tell him,” Kennrick said. “When I got there he wasn’t feeling well, and I decided it wasn’t the time to drop this on him, too.” He winced. “If I’d realized he was dying …anyway, I got his blanket down for him and put his lozenge bag in its place, and said good night.”

“Did you lock the upper compartment before you returned his ticket to him?” I asked.

“Of course.” Abruptly, Kennrick’s eyes widened. “I’ll be damned. Logra Emikai!”

“What about him?” I asked.

“His locksmith’s bypass mimic,” Kennrick said, his eyes darkening with anger. “He’s the one who sneaked in and stole Master Colix’s lozenges.”

“Interesting thought,” I said. “Why would he do that?”

“How should I know?” Kennrick growled. “The point is that no one had to have Master Colix’s ticket to get in there.”

I looked at Bayta, eyebrows raised. “Bayta?” I said.

“Logra Emikai’s device doesn’t work on Quadrail locks,” she said. “The Spiders have tried it on several, and it won’t even read them, let alone duplicate the trip codes.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Kennrick said. “Do you have it?”

“At the moment, yes,” I told him. “Why?”

“I’d like to take a look at it,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Why?” I repeated, making no move toward my pocket. “You heard her—the Spiders have already concluded it’s useless here.”

“That assumes the Spiders actually know the mimic’s whole potential,” Kennrick countered, his hand still outstretched. “But there could very well be another tech layer below the surface that you can’t reach unless you punch in an access code.”

“And you know what Logra Emikai’s code might be?”

“I already told you, I know a little about these gadgets,” Kennrick replied. “Give me an hour, and I’ll bet I can find the next level down.”

“Interesting thought,” I said again. “I’ll ask the Spiders to have another go at it.”

For a moment Kennrick and I locked eyes. Then, reluctantly, he withdrew his hand. “Fine,” he said. “Whatever. But if you want my opinion, you’ve got the thief and the killer already tied up.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” I said. “Thanks for clearing that up. We’ll let you get back to your meeting now. Good day, Asantra Muzzfor.”

“And to you, Mr. Compton,” Muzzfor said, inclining his head. His face, I noted, still had that lion/elk expression.

Bayta waited until we were out in the corridor before speaking again. “Do you believe him about Usantra Givvrac’s order?”

I shrugged. “It’s plausible enough, I suppose, especially if Givvrac thought Kennrick was trying to unduly influence the three Shorshians back there.”

“I wonder if Mr. Kennrick really does like Shorshians and their food that much,” Bayta murmured.

“That part does seem a little thin,” I agreed. “And of course, with Givvrac now inconveniently dead, there’s no way to confirm any of it.”

“I also find it strange that he disobeyed Usantra Givvrac and then didn’t even tell Master Colix what he’d supposedly gone back there to say.” Bayta hunched her shoulders. “You think we should ask the Modhri what they actually did talk about?”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” I told her. “Besides, there’s also the possibility Kennrick thought he might be able to change Givvrac’s mind enough to at least let him host the halfway celebration they were planning. In that case, he also wouldn’t mention his new marching orders.” I glanced behind us to make sure no one was within earshot. “Personally, I’m more interested in Kennrick’s ideas about Emikai’s mimic. Could it have another programming layer to it?”

“I suppose that’s possible,” she said. “I’ll have the twitters look into it.”

“Thanks,” I said. “By the way, it sounded earlier like you were having doubts about Aronobal starting that rumor about us clobbering Emikai and throwing him off the train. That still true?”

She looked suspiciously at me. “Why?”

“Because I agree with you,” I said. “More intriguing is the fact that Kennrick’s IQ seems to have dropped a few points today.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s being remarkably slow at picking up on the obvious,” I said. “First there was your suggestion that Aronobal should be trying to find out what we know instead of starting a rumor to keep us away from her. The obvious counterargument is that Aronobal is the amateur part of the team—amateur in the skullduggery aspects, anyway—and hasn’t got the chops to brazen out a role like that. That should also have occurred to Kennrick, only apparently it never did.”

I nodded back over my shoulder. “And now it only just occurs to him, after a whole bunch of hours, that Emikai’s mimic is the perfect solution to the mystery of Colix’s vanishing lozenges.”

“Maybe he’s just not as good at this as you are,” Bayta suggested.

“Or maybe there are other reasons,” I said. “Such as hoping we’ll think of the mimic ourselves so he doesn’t have to look like he’s grabbing on to the first diversion that comes along.”

Bayta pursed her lips. “So if Dr. Aronobal didn’t start the rumor, who did? And why?”

“Not sure about that,” I admitted. “On the surface, I can’t see what sense it makes.”

“Maybe it doesn’t make sense because there’s no sense to be made,” Bayta said hesitantly. “Maybe Usantra Givvrac was right, that the killer is just insane.”