laugh. The woman stiffened up and glared at me. I got up to leave but felt a strong arm on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a three hundred pound brute hovering over me.
"The lady asked for a light," the brute said.
"Yes, I know. But I don't have a lighter."
The brute looked down at the telepathic modulator. I don't know if it was the booze or a death wish, but I started to laugh again. The brute began to crush my shoulder. A river of pain shot through me. I struggled to get free but his grip was too tight. Instinctively I squeezed the TM.
When I awoke my shoulder was killing me. I rolled over and discovered I was engulfed by a soft white substance. It was a sofa, a very comfortable sofa. The room looked familiar—ultra Tarizonian. In the corner I saw blinking lights from a giant control panel. It was Kulchz's office or home or whatever he called it. I sat up.
"Stan. How are you feeling?" a voice from behind me said. I turned quickly and saw Mo mixing himself a drink at Kulchz's crystal bar.
"I don't know. My shoulder feels like someone branded me. What happened?"
"Your security team had to rescue you from a bar room brawl. That's not like you, Stan. I didn't even know you were a drinker."
"I wasn't, but times have changed. My son is being held hostage and my wife won't talk to me. I have to lie to my partner a dozen times a day and now I find out you and Kulchz have been deceiving me. I thought Jill was on Tarizon?"
Mo shook his head. "I told Kulchz we should tell you the truth, but he was sure the body wouldn’t be found."
That piece of information gave me comfort. It told me that Kulchz and his people were not invincible. They made mistakes; they were only human after all. I got to my feet feeling a little less pessimistic but still mad as hell.
"So, what happened? Why is Jill dead?"
"There was a malfunction," a distant voice said.
I looked over to where I thought the voice had been coming. Kulchz, dressed in a white gown, strolled toward us.
"What sort of malfunction?" I asked.
"It's hard to explain in your language," Kulchz said, "but if the ship can't land, people are brought aboard through a transporter tube. It's a device that creates an electronic stream that acts almost like one of your conveyor belts. It allows a person to float very quickly up to the ship. Unfortunately, there was a malfunction when Jill was being brought aboard. She fell to her death."
"Why didn't you retrieve the body and take her back to Tarizon?"
"It was dark and the ship was behind schedule. The pilot decided he couldn't afford to hang around and look for the body. He reported the incident and we sent in a search team the next day, but for some reason we were never able to find the body. We think an animal must have gotten to her and dragged her away."
I shook my head. "I can't believe this. That poor little girl is dead. She had her whole life ahead of her."
"It was an accident. Unfortunately, accidents happen," Mo said.
"Do you know how hard it's going to be to clear Charlotte now? They have a body and the rest of the family is missing. I don't know if I can get her off now."
"You must try," Kulchz said. "It's our obligation under the treaty."
"I know. I want to get her off. If I don't she'll probably be executed. It's just that there's so much evidence against her. I'm going to have to come up with some kind of credible alternative to what Shepard thinks happened. The problem is I can't imagine what that would be."
"You'll think of something," Mo said. "But you've got to stay out of bars."
I laughed. "Yeah, well when you don't have anyone to talk to, telling your sad tale to a bottle is about the only alternative."
Mo looked at Kulchz. Kulchz took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes, not having someone to talk to is difficult. Mo and I have been discussing that problem."
"You have?" I said looking up at them.
"Yes, it isn't good to keep all of your anxiety within you," Mo said. "It will eat at you and ultimately destroy you. That is why Kulchz is going to assign you a guide."
"A guide?"
"Yes. We use them on Tarizon to help guests adapt to our planet," Kulchz said. "The concept works well there and I think it will work well here."
"I don't understand. What's a guide?"
"It's a companion of the opposite sex. In your case it will be a woman from Tarizon. She will stay with you and you can talk to her freely. She'll be the outlet you need to cope with your stressful life."
I just stared at Kulchz in amazement. "Wait a minute. I can't be hanging around with another woman. I have a wife."
"You can't talk freely to Rebekah even if she would talk to you. Your guide will be intelligent and fully knowledgeable about your assignment. You can discuss everything with her without concern for confidentiality. She'll cook for you, listen to your problems, entertain you, and take care of your every need."
"But I have a wife,” I protested. “I'm not going to betray her even for the CIA."
"You don't have to sleep with your guide, if you don't want to," Mo said, "but I think you need someone to talk to. She'll be much better than a bottle."
I started to argue some more, but the idea of having someone to talk to felt good. It had been very lonely since Peter had disappeared. I felt isolated and depressed. Having someone who understood what was happening would be great. I took a deep breath.
"Okay, I guess she could be my intern," I reasoned. "I could tell everyone she's planning to go to law school and working for me to get experience. That way if we are together a lot no one will be suspicious."
"Yes," Kulchz said. "That's good. Fortunately, there is a ship due tomorrow and there's a guide aboard that we can reassign to you."
"That soon?" I said anxiously. I wondered what she would be like. As I was picturing her in my mind I heard Kulchz' voice.
"In the meantime this might make you feel better."
A monitor above my head flickered and came on. The scene was a restaurant where many people were eating. The camera moved in on a table with an elderly man and two younger people. Tears began to well in my eyes as I recognized Peter. He was eating what looked like pizza with a pretty young woman. The elderly man was talking to them and they all seemed very happy. The monitor flickered and went off. I looked at Kulchz.
"You see, Peter is fine," Kulchz said. “He’s having a good time on Tarizon, so you don't have to worry about him. The man you saw is a counselor. That's like a judge here on Earth. Peter is to be his aide. He'll be doing important work."
I started to ask the question that had been bothering me since I’d seen the first video. How could Kulchz get a video file from another solar system so quickly? Even if the signal traveled at light speed it would take months or even years to get to Earth. But Peter looked so real and I wanted to believe he was alive, so I kept my mouth shut. I had to assume they’d somehow developed almost instantaneous communications with their planet. This whole affair was mind boggling to me anyway. Kulchz turned and walked away. Mo grabbed my arm and motioned that we should leave. On the long drive home all I could think about was Peter. He did look okay and he seemed to be happy. If only I could tell Rebekah. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. She had a right to know her son was alive. I had to tell her.
12
Other Suspects
Paula Waters
My canvass of the Collin Commons neighborhood didn't produce any witnesses to the fire, but I did get a lead on another suspect. It seems there were rumors that Mr. Brown had been involved with a young divorcée, Ruth Willis. They had met at a company picnic and sparks flew between them almost immediately. For the sake of convenience, Ruth moved into a condominium just down the street from where the Browns lived. That made it easy for Chester to slip away and be with Ruth a few hours almost every day. Apparently Gladys Brown suspected something and hired a private investigator to follow her husband. Infidelity opened up a number of possibilities which Bart and I were discussing one morning at
breakfast.
"One of the neighbors told me all about Ms. Willis' divorce," I said. "Before she met Chester Brown she was happily married. But her husband cheated on her, so she kicked him out of the house. He still loved Ruth and didn't want the marriage to end, so he pleaded with her to forgive him, but she wouldn't. It got pretty silly with Mr. Willis coming to the house banging on the door demanding to be let in and flower trucks coming almost daily with deliveries that Ruth refused to accept. When she went out, he'd follow her and eventually confront her. Finally she got a restraining order to keep him out of the neighborhood and away from her job. When that didn't work she finally had to move."
"So, you think he found out about Chester Brown's affair with his ex-wife and decided to do something about it?"
"It's a possibility," I said.
Bart considered that and then said, "I've got another possibility too."
"What's that?"
"It turns out Mr. Brown is a software engineer for Technology Institute or TI as it's called. His company is doing work on a top secret project for the defense department. Apparently Mr. Brown's services were in high demand and security at TI was very tight."
"Really?"
"Yes. Unfortunately since his work is classified, nobody would talk much about what he was doing exactly. I suspect if other companies wanted his services and couldn't get them, the next best thing would be to knock him off. That would, at least, even the playing field."
"Hmm. That's hard to believe. I mean, this is America. We don't have to worry about being