voted. We rode with the windows down. The night air ran through my hair, drying the sweat on the back of my neck as well-to-do houses with manicured gardens ticked by.
The driver pulled into a driveway. I told him to wait for us. We ambled up the stone path, which had been freshly torched and was still dusty with blackened moss. Vlotsky’s house had carved wood columns on either side of the door and a glassed-in porch with a rooftop cooling unit to the left. A plaque by the door read “Neimenans.” I remembered how Rose had told us he’d just bought a new house. He must not have gotten around to changing out the plaque.
The door was opened by a heavy man in a freshly starched suit with bulk-minimizing vertical stripes. His face was a blank mask.
Maggie held up her badge. “Hello, I’m Detective Maggie Orzo, and this is Detective Juno Mozambe.”
“Yes, we’ve been expecting you. Please come this way.”
We trailed sooty footprints into the sitting room. Offworld artwork hung on the walls-pasty-skinned nude women lying on settees and prim horsemen surrounded by hunting dogs. One of the paintings shifted from a group of Victorian women on a garden stroll to a foo-foo picnic scene with dainty ladies and jaunty chaps. The Vlotskys had expensive tastes-digital art wasn’t cheap. It worked off the same premise as Maggie’s digital paper, but added color and texture. Very expensive indeed.
Peter Vlotsky dropped his mass into an armchair and took up a sweaty drink in his meaty hand. Jelka Vlotsky sat with her legs crossed and didn’t get up to greet us. Her hair was pulled back, so taut that when you looked at her dead on, you couldn’t see her hair at all.
“We are so sorry for your loss,” I opened.
Mrs. Vlotsky met my eyes with an icy glare. “Where have you been? Our son was murdered this morning, and you waited until now to come?”
“Didn’t you get a call from the chief of detectives, Diego Banks?”
“Yes. He called to tell us our son was dead.”
“I know it’s hard to hear that kind of news over the phone. We’re sorry we couldn’t be here earlier, but we needed to wrap up the crime scene first. We have to gather the physical evidence while we can.”
“Are you telling me that the two of you are the only police officers in the entire Office of Police? Surely that must be the case, or you would have assigned other officers to that task while you came to tell me my son was dead.”
“I understand how you must feel at a time like this, but I want you to know that the Office of Police is giving your son’s case the highest priority. Chief Chang has taken a personal interest in this case, and he won’t rest until it’s solved.”
Mrs. Vlotsky turned away from me; she made no attempt to hide her contempt.
Mr. Vlotsky spun the ice around the inside of his glass and took a quick sip. “Please, Jelka. I’m sure they are doing the best they can.” Focusing his attention on us, he said, “What can we do for you?”
“If it’s not too much trouble, we’d like to ask you some questions.”
“Ask us anything if it will help you catch this savage.”
“When was the last time you saw your son?”
Mrs. Vlotsky answered with a tone clipped as tightly as her hair. “Yesterday afternoon.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“No.”
“Does your son have a girlfriend?”
“No, not currently.”
“Has he received any threats?”
“No.”
“Can you think of anybody who might want to hurt your son?”
“No, of course not.”
“Did he tell you about the other members of his unit?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you about the operations he’s been involved in?”
“No, that’s classified. He couldn’t talk about it.”
“Did he seem nervous or agitated yesterday?”
“No.”
“How about you, Mr. Vlotsky? Do you have anything to add?”
Peter Vlotsky looked lost in thought until my question brought him back to the conversation. “No, I’m afraid not. I wish I could be of more help.”
“I understand you work for the city?”
“Yes, I do.”
“What do you do?”
“I chair the board that issues business licenses.”
“And you, Mrs. Vlotsky?”
“I don’t work.”
“Does your son have a room here?”
“Yes. It’s upstairs.”
“Can we take a look around?”
“Yes, but I don’t think you’ll find anything.”
“Why’s that?”
“We just moved in two weeks ago. Most of his things are still boxed up. This was the first time Dmitri had been here. He didn’t bring much more than a bag.”
“Still, we’d like to check it out.”
I hit the lights. Geckos dashed under the floorboards.
Vlotsky’s room was sparse, nothing but an unmade bed and an Army-issue bag on the floor. Maggie looked at the bag tentatively. I nodded, as if to say, “Go for it.” She pulled the drawstring and dumped the contents on the bed. Mostly clothes. I searched the pockets-nothing but condoms and a matchbook.
I looked out the window and checked out the new car in the drive. New house, new car, offworld artwork… Mr. Vlotsky had another source of income. Nobody who worked for the city made that kind of scratch. I should know.
We hopped back into the cab and rode shoulder to shoulder.
The mils were going to make it red-tape tough to proceed on the investigation. They weren’t going to let us interview any soldiers until they figured out what was going on. They’d protect themselves first, and for once, they’d have good reason-Army officers high on O, POWs set free, an entire unit sicced on the enemy with sabotaged weapons and left for dead…
Lieutenant Vlotsky learned a lesson in that alley last night. If you were going to set somebody up to die, you’d better make sure it worked. We had ten members of Unit 29 with a murder motive. Number one on my list was ringleader and ex-con Jhuko Kapasi.
“What now?” Maggie asked.
“We call it a day and start fresh in the morning.” I didn’t tell her about my banquet plans.
“Where do we start?” Maggie’s voice was flat. Her face was shadowed, but I could see the way her shoulders were slumped in fatigue.
“You’ve got a good nose for this; why don’t you tell me?”
She looked at me, searching my face, looking for a trace of sarcasm. I meant what I said. I hoped she could see that. It must’ve been too dark to read me since she answered cautiously. “I think we need to talk to Kapasi. He has to be our top suspect.”
I played the devil’s advocate. “But Jimmy Bushong told us that the whole unit wanted to kill Lieutenant Vlotsky.”
“Yes, but Jimmy also told us that most of them answered to Kapasi. If one of them did it, my guess is Kapasi put him up to it. It sounds like they don’t do anything without his say-so.”
“What do you think of the Vlotsky family?”
“Mrs. Vlotsky is a cold woman. How do you lose a son and not shed a single tear? Mr. Vlotsky is hard to read.
