'What other information do we have?'
'Little enough. Damage was extensive. We can assume that they were willing to kill this individual rather than risk his capture.'
'Have they ID'd the body?'
'The coroner's report has not yet been released.'
If I never spoke to Dr. Morrow again it would be too soon. I was tired of sifting through the details of dead lives. I screened his office and asked him what the delay was. He was having trouble determining if the body had been dead before the explosion or not. I told him to make the ID priority one. He asked me to wait and I watched his pleasant pastel hold patterns. Hunter grew impatient and left to pursue his own work. Fifteen minutes later Morrow was back on with the results.
I thanked him and screened the file. K8DH3N37-Klein, Maximillian H. Graphic designer, unmarried, thirty-four standard years old, fifth generation Swarm Belter. No previous arrests. He'd lived his whole life on Tiamat and worked for Canexco, a large shipping company. A bell rang in the back of my head. Miranda Holtzman's fatal cargo container had been shipped down to Wunderland aboard the Canexco Wayfarer. Perhaps there was a connection? I called up Max's employee file. He worked in corporate communications-nothing to do with the handling of tranship boxes but his company ident did include access to both hubs.
But what was a graphic designer doing in the container bays of the down-axis hub, with or without access? Was he involved or just caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? On a hunch I screened the composite holo created from Machine Technician's description. It was a rough match, not good but not bad considering the sketchiness of the source. Was he the one who'd sold Miranda's skin? Insufficient data. What was a graphic designer anyway? Presumably some sort of visual artist.
It occurred to me that I'd never seen a file listing 'Artist' or 'Musician' or 'Gardener' as a profession on Tiamat. This airless rock was made fit for life with advanced technology and maintained by technologists. It exists solely to provide Alpha Centauri system with products of the very highest sophistication-products whose manufacture demands zero gravity or unlimited high vacuum or Gigawatts of solar power. There's little room for someone not directly involved in survival-physical, economic or, since the kzinti came, military.
Of course the best engineers saw their work as art, even as the best artists refined their skills to a science. Maybe in this totally technical atmosphere, it wasn't surprising that people saw things through a technological lens. Idly, I punched up the work roster for the parks on the 1G level. Maybe I'd find at least a gardener.
The roster was full of eco-engineers and environmental control technicians.
I blanked the screen. It was a meaningless exercise. A rose was a rose, whether it was tended by gardeners or botanical techs. I had a feeling the difference was important, but it was too subtle to put my finger on. What's in a name? Maybe nothing. What does it mean when a society insists on calling an artist a graphic designer?
My mind was wandering. It was early morning and already I needed a break. I gave up trying to work and let my thoughts drift to Suze. She was beautiful, intelligent, sensuous, exciting, graceful, uninhibited, warm. Adjectives did her poor service. If I'd been able to find the words, I might have written a poem. Instead I called up her file again. When the computer screened it, I blew up the ID holo and dumped it to the printer.
Dossier holos never do anyone justice but her radiance came through the bad image. She was wearing her characteristic high-energy smile. Her hair was longer when the holo was taken, a burnished auburn river flowing down over her shoulders. Her eyes were a dancing, sunny brown-lending just a hint of devilishness to her look.
I froze, cold horror seeping along my spine. Unnoticed facts clicked into place and my thoughts locked into a paralyzed frenzy of revelation and denial. I sat and stared for a long time. Then I commed her apt.
'Hi, what's up?'
I could hardly meet her gaze. I strove to keep my voice animated. 'Care for brunch?'
'Sure, when where?'
'Meet me at the office and we'll figure it out. Fifteen minutes?'
'Give me thirty and you've got a deal.'
'See you then.' She smiled her dazzling smile.
I rang off and waited as the minutes dragged by. I had the shakes under control by the time she arrived; even so I still couldn't bring myself to meet her gaze. Instead I tossed her the holoprint. She took it and stared at it uncomprehending for a moment. Then her face hardened. She dropped the holo and looked up. This time I forced myself to look her in the eyes. They were ice blue. Miranda Holtzman's eyes were ice blue.
Her voice was as cold as her gaze. 'Now what?'
'You tell me.'
'Name a price, you'll get it. I'll just walk away.'
'In counterfeit?'
'In cash. Or credits if you like. You name it, you'll get it.'
I didn't answer her directly. Instead I asked a question. 'Why?'
She turned my words around. 'You tell me.'
'You're an Isolationist.'
She nodded.
'You're a mining engineer. I'd guess that makes you their explosives expert. Something went off in your face. They can't put you in hospital so you wind up with scars, and of course they have to get you a new set of eyes somewhere or you're out of action.'
'Wrong.' The bitterness in her voice ran deep. 'I got my scars from the UN mining consortium just like I told you. They hand out defective equipment and when there's an accident, it's just too bad. All they care about is the damn production goals for the damn war. I was one of the lucky ones. Luckier than my parents.' I could see the rage cross her face at the memory. 'That's why I'm an Isolationist.'
'And your eyes?'
'I caught a laser bounce in a Provo raid.'
'So you become the first beneficiary of the Isolationist transplant program.'
'Not the first.'
Of course not. 'How did you expect to get past a retina scan?'
She laughed. 'I think you'll find my file matches my prints. Someone forgot to update the holo-they'll pay for that.'
'And that night in the Inferno?'
'I started going there as soon as I could see again. I knew you'd come after Weiss's stupidity. You or someone like you.'
A vague unease tugged at the edges of my awareness. She was volunteering information too easily, too calmly. I forced it down. 'Weiss messed up?'
'He couldn't get all of Miranda in the freezer. The dolt dumped her body in the transport tunnel instead of getting rid of it properly.'
'And the hub last night, that's where you went from my apt.'
She tipped an imaginary hat in reply, as if accepting a compliment. She was a professional. She took pride in her work.
'There was some evidence. It's not important now.'
'And Klein?'
'Just a go-between. He got in the way.'
I had one more question. 'Why Miranda?'
'We needed a universal donor, and I've always wanted blue eyes.' She smiled, briefly.
'Now what?'
Her voice was as hard and cold as steel. 'How much do you want?'
My heart sank and I shook my head. 'I can't let you go.'
Suddenly there was a gun in her hand, a jetpistol. Designed for zero-G combat, it had virtually no recoil. It fired miniature rockets designed to mushroom on impact. They would turn a living body into hamburger. It was almost totally silent, small enough to conceal easily and had no power source or metal to trigger security alarms. She had chosen her weapon well.
'I don't think you have a choice.' She smiled. She was right. The choice was hers and she'd already made it.
