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Uncharted Waters (Chapter 11)
🕑 Added 2023-01-22 21:16:38 +0000 UTC“Does it hurt when you move?” Airon Galespi, the chief Rune Investigator, asked.
When a human went through an accident, or beating, they’d normally be sent to a hospital or health clinic. In the case of law enforcement, they might ask a medical examiner for assistance. Me, I was sent to the Rune Investigation unit, since they had the greatest knowledge on the subject. The whole thing was only partially awkward for everyone involved.
People at H-Sec weren’t used to having a fully naked uncharted in their offices, especially in transparent form. On my end, relying on help from people I’d publicly humiliated in the last few days made me realize the importance of toning things down a bit.
“Not much.” I replied. “I don’t know what they zapped me with, but it was heavy duty.”
“Looks like military issue.” Airon moved away from me. “I can run some tests, if you’d like, but I’m fairly certain it’ll only confirm it.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” I didn’t particularly care what had caused the damage, rather the people who’d ordered it. “Do I get to live?”
“Expect the pain to continue for a while. I’d avoid eating for at least a day. If it was military, it’s made to get worse when eating. It should dissipate in a few days.” He went back to his desk, where holopanes with research results and daily reports were flickering. “You can stop being transparent now.”
“Are you sure, doc?”
This time the reaction got a reaction. I wouldn’t call it ice breaking, but at least it was a start.
“Get dressed then stop being transparent.”
I went to the chair where my new H-Sec suit was waiting. What was left from my previous one was bagged, tagged, and sent for analysis.
“Anything new on the charms?” I asked casually as I slowly put on the clothes in human fashion.
“Nothing that you don’t know already,” he said, his back turned to me. “The process follows one of Ellcron’s patents. Of course, they have hundreds of those involving charm creation, ten times as many, if you include rune tech. There is residual essence suggesting that it might be linked to the mysterious missing container, but nothing that would hold up in court.”
In other words, we had nothing. Not surprising considering we were dealing with corporations, but still annoying. Even if we caught the thugs that beat me up, I doubted we’d be able to link them to Ellcron.
“You know, we’ve met before.” Airon turned around all of a sudden.
“Oh?” I thought back. “You were in Duty and Customs?”
“No. I was a rookie at RI when they brought you here.”
I didn’t expect that. There were too many people back then to remember. Besides, I wasn’t in a particularly good state.
“I didn’t do much, just one of the gophers that were bossed about by the bid shots. Most of the time, I wasn’t even allowed in the room. I still remember the commotion, though.”
“Yeah, that many deaths all at once… it was a pretty big deal.”
“Not the massacre. Afterwards. Dozens of people came straight from Earth itself. People in full space suits with tinted visors that skipped quarantine altogether.”
“Oh?”
Supposedly, it took half a year of medical procedures to prep someone from Earth to the local environment. The trip back was longer, which was why going to Earth had come to be known as a one-way retirement trip. In urgent cases, though, people would put on a spacesuit and drop by directly in a matter of hours.
“If I knew I’d be that important, I’d have given a few autographs.”
“It’s better that you didn’t. Anyway, take it easy for a while. If there are any other problems, let me know.”
That was the polite way of him indicating the conversation had come to an end. I finished putting on my clothes, changed my skin texture to what was appropriate, and left his office. As tempting as it was, I didn’t make a memory crystal of the conversation. At a later point, I’d make sure to have a follow-up, though.
“What did he say?” Nixen asked. She and Clayton were waiting for me in the corridor. The fact that they were here and not anywhere else suggested that all of our leads hadn’t panned out.
“I’ll live.”
“Good. Up for another visit to Ellcron?”
I tilted my head. Seems I didn’t give them enough credit. Considering less than six hours had passed, I didn’t expect them to be allowed a second visit this soon.
“I won’t embarrass you?” I teased.
“Waters, this is one meeting I’m counting on you doing your worst.” The woman smiled.
“Clay, I don’t think you’ve been a good enough influence on her.” I smirked. “Just say when.”
The “when” turned out to be “right away.” We quickly went to H-Sec’s parking lot, where I took my usual seat in the back of the rune carriage. The detectives went in front, quickly whooshing us up and away towards the Ellcron building. I could instantly tell that this would be one big fishing expedition by the public manner of our approach. Even from the window, I could see the sides of the carriage flashing. The only thing missing was the sound of sirens to give the impression we were going on a raid.
Ellcron’s response was appropriate. From the moment we landed in their parking lot, we were escorted by a cordon of security personnel, thoroughly checked for charms and tech, then brought to the same guest office we had been before. The only difference was that instead of one lawyer, now there were ten. My good old favorite “dragon shoes” was also there—I could; sense the essence of dragon skin long before we went inside. To my personal surprise, the cleaner agent I’d met at the crime scene was also there. Could it be they were offering him as a sacrificial chip?
“Nice to see you again, detectives and mister Waters,” Saura van Buren said with a polite smile. The minute wrinkles near her eyes and on the side of her mouth suggested that she was all but happy with our visit. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“There have been a few recent developments on the case,” Clayton began. “Since they involve Ellcron directly, H-Sec considered that we come and inform you immediately.” There was a slight pause. “In person.”
“How very thoughtful.” The woman sat down at the end of the table. The remaining lawyers and her head of security did not. “Please elaborate.”
“It has come to our attention that mister Kode has been producing custom charms using patented Ellcron technology. An omission I’m sure on your part, so we came for a clarification.”
A small vein appeared on dragon shoes’ temple. He was clearly nervous.
“Hmm. That’s quite an accusation. I’m sure that the media and quite a few judges wouldn’t appreciate you dragging the good name of Ellcron and a valuable deceased employee into the mud.” Van Buren quickly switched to playing Clayton’s game. “No one wants a huge scandal related to this unfortunate matter.”
“Oh, my mistake,” Clayton quickly backed off. “There seems to be a misunderstanding here.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. We’re all human, at least most of us. Mistakes happen and I’m certain that—”
“We’re talking about Celsius Kode,” Nixen interrupted. “The son of the deceased and also one of your employees. At least we were led to believe, so buy the Code’s appointed lawyer.”
Everyone looked in the direction of the dragon shoes lawyer. For a brief moment, even I felt pity. Being part of a shoal of sharks was all good, up to the point that one was seen as a dead weight and liability.
“You’re accusing him of producing charms?” Saura responded with something between shock and laughter.
“With the intent to sell,” Nixen lied. While H-Sec and Summer were looking into that angle, there still weren’t any confirmed cases. “It has been documented that the son had issues with his father. You, yourself said so last time we were here, I believe. Plus, he’s a deviant.”
The number of coughs from the corporate lawyers told me that he might not be the only one in the company.
“Not illegal, of course, but speaks to motive,” Clayton stepped in again. “Our working theory was that Celsius used his father to gain access to a portable charm press which he used to create charms for himself, others in his circle, and when he was found out—to kill his father.”
“Nonsense!” the dragon shoe lawyer snapped. “He doesn’t even use charms!”
“Victor.” The smile remained on Saur van Buren’s face, but it had transformed into that of a snake who’d just found its latest meal. “That’s a rather surprising development, I’m sure. Of course, we’ll have an internal investigation on the matter and bring you the results at our earliest convenience. Say a few weeks?”
Clayton was just about to continue, when he was preemptively interrupted by van Buren again. “Naturally, we cannot allow any external contact with mister Kode while our internal inquiries take place. You are free to see a judge with claims of exigent circumstances, but I suspect you’d only be losing your time. Now, if that is all.”
“Actually, it isn’t.” Now it was my turn to shine. “Less than an hour after finding out about the charm press, I was attacked. Quite a nasty experience, my door was blown out, a group of thugs with military grade stunners came rushing in.”
I paused, giving the woman a chance to react. The fact that she didn’t immediately accuse me of wasting her time strongly suggested that she was the one behind this. Likely she somehow had the crime scene watched and noticed me finding Jasan’s hiding place for the item.
“I’m sure you’ve heard similar things happen in slums. The odd thing was that other than the military grade equipment,” I stressed heavily, “they seemed to know about the device. Not only that, but they told me to drop the investigation.”
“And you think that’s linked to my client?”
“I don’t know. How often do thugs attack people with the H-Sec emblem on their clothes?”
This caused exactly the commotion I knew it would. A few of the lawyers quickly engaged silence charms to discuss the implications. Business practices were one thing. Attacking H-Sec directly was a whole different matter.
Seeing Saura’s smile fade slightly was an added bonus.
“Well,” she said, giving herself time to think. “I’m glad that you brought these incidents to our attention, detectives. In fact, your visit coincides with the conclusion of an internal investigation of our own. It appears that mister Denil Overton, whom you’re familiar with from the initial crime scene, has betrayed the company’s trust. While tasked with protecting Ellcron property, he has disrupted a crime scene prior to H-Sec’s arrival, stolen valuable equipment for personal gain, and, as it appears, hired street muscle to cover up his crimes. Such behavior will not be tolerated by Ellcron, which is why he has been fired since last night and voluntarily agreed to turn himself in.”
I’d never seen a lizard cut off its tail faster. The moment the man was ordered to attend, he’d probably seen the writing on the wall, although he didn’t expect “attack of an H-Sec agent” to be added to the charge.
“Denil Overton?” Nixen asked in a skeptical tone.
“That is his legal name. Now that he’s no longer our employee, Ellcron has no reason to maintain his work covers. Are there any other incidents H-Sec would like to inform us of?”
“Not at this time,” Clayton said. “If something comes up, you’ll be the first to know.”
“We appreciate it and are thankful for your understanding, just as you appreciate Ellcron’s cooperation.”
The standard exchange of goodbye threats. They were nowhere near as subtle as exchanges in the slums. Then again, Ellcron didn’t have to worry about every conversation being recorded and used as evidence. They probably had enough layers that could prove that the meeting we just had never took place.
Clayton took custody of “Denil.” The unfortunate man was publicly cuffed and taken out of the building under the concerned gazes of lawyers. While it was fun seeing a corporation be brought down a peg, this was a hollow victory that didn’t help one bit with the case. The cleaner would no doubt confess to a lot of things, deny others, leaving Ellcron clean. As for the murderer… The only suspect we’d eliminated was the same one we’d publicly accused moments ago.
“Tough luck,” I told Denil as I joined me in the back of the car. “Tell me, did you ever sleep with any of them?”
“Fuck anyone from that crazy family?” he laughed. His sophisticated accent was completely gone, making him a whole different person from the one that had been interviewed two days ago. “No thanks. The mother’s obsessed with making it seem she’s having ten affairs to prop up her social standing, and the daughter… I’d seen snap dragons less crazy.”
“Hey, at least she’s not a deviant like her brother.”
“Sure, tell yourself that.” He looked out of the window. “For my money, the kid’s the sanest thing the family has.”
