Martinez was struck by the contrast between the elaborate presentation, the painted frame and red curtain, with the ordinary domesticity of the scene. The red curtain, the red bowl, the red pajamas. The young mother’s round face. The sulky cat with its ears pinned back. The odd little fire in the middle of the room, presumably on an earthen floor. He kept looking at the picture while wondering why it seemed so worth looking at.
There was a movement in the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Perry in the door.
“Your dinner’s ready, my lord,” he said, “whenever you’re ready.”
“I’ll eat now,” Martinez said, and with a last glance at the painting, made his way to the dining room, where he ate alone at Fletcher’s grand table with its golden centerpiece and its long double row of empty places.
After dinner he reported to Michi for a report on the status of the investigation. Kazakov was there already, still in full dress, sitting next to Xi, who looked even more rumpled and abstracted in comparison. Garcia arrived a few minutes later with a datapad and his notes.
Xi began with a report on the fingerprints found in Fletcher’s office. “Most belonged to the captain,” he said. “The rest were those of Marsden, the secretary, and the captain’s servants Narbonne and Buckle, who had cleaned and tidied the room the previous day. Three prints belonged to Constable Garcia and were presumably left in the course of his investigation.”
Xi’s face screwed into an expression that probably intended to express wry amusement.
“Five stray prints belonged to me. And four prints, the fingers of the left hand, were found pressed under the rim of the desktop at the front of the desk.” He made a movement with his hand, palm up, in the direction of Michi’s desk to show how this could happen.
“The prints belonged to Lieutenant Prasad. Of course they could have been left at any time, since the servants wouldn’t necessarily polish daily under the rim of the desk.”
Or,Martinez thought,the prints could have been made when Chandra held onto the desk with her left hand while slamming Captain Fletcher’s head into it with her right.
Michi betrayed no evidence that this idea might have occurred to her. “Make anything of the hair or fiber evidence?”
“I haven’t had time, but it’s not going to prove anything unless we already have a suspect.”
Michi turned to Garcia. “Any information on the movements of the crew?”
Garcia consulted his datapad, an unnecessary gesture considering the contents of his report. “My lady, aside from the few on watch, most of the crew were asleep. Those on watch in Command or Engineering vouch for each other. Of those in bed, the only people who admit moving at all say they were visiting the toilet.”
“No reports of anyone moving outside the crew compartments? None at all?”
“No, my lady.” Garcia’s tongue flicked anxiously over his lips. “Of course, we only have their word for it, and that’s all we’re going to get…” He cleared his throat. “…unless we find an informant.”
Michi’s eyes hardened. Her fingers drummed on the desktop. She turned to Kazakov. “Lieutenant?”
Kazakov’s tone was faintly apologetic. “It’s the same situation with the lieutenants and warrant officers, my lady. Those on duty vouch for one another, and those asleep were”—Kazakov began to shrug, then stopped herself—“asleep. I have no information that contradicts their stories.”
“Damn!” Michi’s right hand made a petulant clawing motion in the air. She glared at each of them in turn. “We can’t leave it at this,” she said. “There’s got to be something else we can do.” She gave a snarl. “What would Dr. An-ku do?” She didn’t mean it as a joke.
“We can search the ship,” Martinez said. “And search the crew.”
Michi frowned at him.
“There was a little blood,” Martinez continued. “Not much, but some. It just occurred to me that the killer might have got some on a shirt cuff or a trouser leg. Or he might have wiped blood off his hands with a handkerchief. He might have used a weapon on the captain and only slammed the captain’s head into the desk afterward, and the weapon might be found. Or the killer might have taken a souvenir from the captain’s room and hidden it.”
“The captain might have fought,” Garcia said, “at least a little. He might have marked someone.”
“Alert the people in the laundry,” Kazakov said. “They need to check every item.”
Michi stood very suddenly. She looked at the others as if surprised to find them still in their seats.
“What are we waiting for?” she said. “We should have done this yesterday.”
SearchingIllustrious and its crew was the work of a long afternoon. Martinez and Kazakov called all off-duty crew into their sleeping quarters, organized the officers and petty officers into gangs, and subjected everyone to a meticulous inspection. Lockers and storage areas were searched for anything that might have been taken from the captain’s quarters. Lastly, the officers were searched, by each other. Martinez stood in the corridor outside the wardroom with Lady Michi and waited for the results.
Michi had been growing more irritable as the afternoon progressed and the hoped-for evidence failed to appear. She stood with her hands clenching into fists and a scowl on her face, rising on her toes quickly and then dropping, over and over again.
Martinez decided to distract her before the jerky movement drove him mad.
“This is going to upset the crew,” he said. “We should settle them down as soon as possible. Perhaps tomorrow we could schedule the maneuver that was postponed today.”
Her heels stayed on the floor as she gave him a thoughtful look. “Very good. We’ll do it.” Another thought struck her, and she frowned. “What am I going to do for a new tactical officer?”
“You don’t want to use Coen or Li?”
She shook her head. “Not seasoned enough. All their experience is in communications.”
A vague sense of obligation compelled Martinez to make a suggestion. “There’s Chandra Prasad.”
Michi looked at him suspiciously. “Why Prasad?”
“Because she’s the senior lieutenant after Kazakov, and I can’t spare Kazakov. Not now.”
Which certainly sounded better than,She wrung a promise out of me to help her, and much, much better than,If she didkill Fletcher, we could try being very nice to her and hope she doesn’t kill us.
Michi frowned. “I’ll ask her to design one experiment. I’ll ask the other lieutenants too. We’ll see if any of them have a talent for it.”
When Kazakov and Husayn came to report that no evidence had been found in the wardroom or the lieutenants’ quarters, Michi accepted the news without comment and then turned to Martinez.
“You’re next, Lord Captain.”
“Next?” Martinez said through his surprise.
“You’re a suspect, after all,” Michi said. “You’re the one who benefited most from Fletcher’s death.”
He hadn’t looked at the situation in that light. He supposed that, objectively, she had a point.
“I wasn’t even aboard when Kosinic died,” he pointed out.