The fronts of the file drawers were attached to the drawers themselves with simple screws, which Emikai’s multitool made quick work of. The cabinet was considerably shorter than Blue One, but it was deep enough that we were able to put him inside in a sort of half-sitting, half-crouching position that would probably have been pretty uncomfortable if he hadn’t already been asleep. After that it was simply a matter of putting the drawer faces back on and wedging them into place, turning the cabinet on its back onto four of Minnario’s thrusters, and we were ready to go.
Or so we thought. We had maneuvered the cabinet nearly to the door when it suddenly gave a hard twitch to the side and settled to the floor. “What happened?” I asked, reflexively grabbing for the side of the cabinet. “Minnario?”
[Yes, I set it down,] he said, frowning at his chair controls. [But I didn’t make it twitch. There’s something not right here.]
“What sort of something?” I asked. “Are the thrusters losing power?”
He shook his head. [No. Something seems to be interfering with the control signal.]
I looked down at the cabinet, the back of my neck tingling. Our first night here, when the Jumpsuits had gone crazy trying to find a non-missing Minnario, he’d mentioned that the locator in his comm interfered with his chair’s controls. “Emikai, you did relieve our friend of his comm, right?” I asked.
“Of course,” Emikai said. “It is over there on the side table.”
“Yeah.” I held out a hand toward him. “Multitool, please?”
We found the extra tracker pinned to the inside of Blue One’s inner tunic lapel. “Very cute,” I said, taking the device across the room and setting it beside the comm. “Minnario, how’s it running now?”
[It seems all right,] Minnario said, sending the cabinet on a few tango-like maneuvers around the living room. [Yes, that was the problem.]
“Good,” I said. There was a wafting of air as Bayta came up beside me. “Emikai, would you mind putting the drawer faces back on?”
He nodded and set to work. “So we were supposed to walk into a trap?” Bayta murmured.
“Or else they were just being careful,” I said. “Do you recognize our friend, by the way?”
She nodded. “He was one of the Filiaelians at the interrogation Usantra Wandek took us to. Do you think he was the one who killed Tech Yleli?”
“Could be,” I said. “I was trying to steer the conversation that direction when the noise from the funeral started up again and he tried to take me out.”
Bayta shivered. “If there isn’t a trap waiting out there now, there will be soon,” she said quietly. “They’ll be furious when they discover what we’ve done.”
I shrugged. “Just gives us more incentive to figure out how they fit into the murder, and then find a way to nail them for it.”
“Logra Emikai’s only giving us one day.”
“It’ll be enough,” I assured her. “If not to nail the Shonkla-raa, at least to persuade Emikai to give us more time.”
Emikai finished wedging the last drawer face in place and straightened up. “Are we ready?” he asked.
“We’re ready,” I confirmed, taking Bayta’s arm and rejoining the others. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Where exactly are we going?” Bayta asked.
I looked at Minnario, busily maneuvering the file cabinet into line with the door. “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll find something.”
* * *
The bullet trains would have been the fastest way to get back across the station. But they would also harbor more prying eyes and idly inquisitive minds than I wanted to have staring at our party and our cargo. So instead we took the back route, traveling the regular corridors and hallways and avoiding even the major traffic lanes and glideways.
We did what we could to disguise the oddness of our party by letting Emikai walk alone beside the floating file cabinet, with Minnario hanging back at the very limit of his control range, while Bayta and I and the watchdogs hung back even farther.
The marching order was helpful, but it was also open to exploitation by any Shonkla-raa who might have tumbled to what had happened and managed to track us down. I kept a close watch, but while we got plenty of curious looks from the other pedestrians no one started any trouble.
And finally, we arrived at the hiding place I’d had in mind ever since Bayta and Minnario had first showed up at Yleli’s apartment.
Minnario’s room.
“I do not like it,” Emikai said flatly as I started pulling the drawer covers off the cabinet. “It is well known that you are Attorney Minnario’s client. This is the first place his allies will look for him.”
“The second place, actually,” I corrected, taking hold of one of Blue One’s arms. “The first place they’ll look will be my room. Give me a hand, will you?”
Together, he and I got the sleeping Filly out of his makeshift coffin and up onto the couch. He didn’t fit on this one any better than I had on the one in my room, but I wasn’t particularly worried about how comfortable he would be with his feet hanging off the end. “Good,” I said, reaching behind him to confirm that his wrist restraints were still secure. “Phase one, complete. On to phase two.”
“Which is?” Emikai asked.
[To prepare for trial,] Minnario spoke up. While Emikai and I had been getting Blue One out of the cabinet, he had settled in at the computer and was peering at the display. [I’m informed your next hearing will be tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.]
“I thought Chinzro Hchchu wanted me to investigate Tech Yleli’s murder,” I protested. “How am I supposed to do that while I’m sitting around listening to lawyers?”
[Obviously, he thinks you can,] Minnario said, gesturing toward the display. [The message is very clear. Ten o’clock tomorrow.]
So much for Emikai’s grace period. Depending on how much legalese Chinzro Hchchu decided to pull out of his sleeve, Minnario and I could be stuck there the whole day. “In that case, I’ve got the rest of today to figure out who Blue One is and find a connection with Tech Yleli. Do either of you have a camera I can use to take his picture?”
[I do,] Minnario said, pulling a small, flat disk from his chair pouch. [You call him Blue One?]
“Only until I get his real name,” I said, taking the camera and getting a few shots of Blue One’s face from different angles. “When we first met, he was wearing a blue tech’s outfit.”
“You did not say that you and he had previously met,” Emikai said, eyeing me oddly.
“It just hadn’t come up yet,” I assured him. “I wasn’t hiding it, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“What were the circumstances of this meeting?” Emikai persisted.
“Usantra Wandek wanted to ask me about Asantra Muzzfor’s last hours aboard the super-express,” I said. “Blue One was part of the audience. End of story.” I turned back to Minnario. “Did you and Bayta—?”
“That is not the end of the story,” Emikai interrupted. “You have not even told me all of what happened to Asantra Muzzfor. What did you tell them?”
“I told them the truth, the same as I told you,” I said. “Besides, all of that is irrelevant. You heard Minnario—we’re dealing with the New Tigris incident, and no one has any business looking at anything else.”
Emikai’s blaze darkened. “I am not a member of the court,” he rumbled. “I choose what is relevant to me.”
“Fine,” I said. “You come up with some questions, and I’ll be happy to answer them. But later. Right now, I have to get back to my room and my computer and see what I can dig up on this guy.”