K’anal’orb was talking again, starting to rebuild his rhythm and his momentum. “…all the flowery phrases cannot disguise the fact that the alien was the one plotting with P’tar’houn-Hoc to write the pornographic book, the alien was the one attempting to corrupt the public morals, the alien was the one standing over the body when it was found lying in a pool of blood—”
Dinh started to say something, but Rabinowitz quickly cut her off. “We have never denied that Bian went to the house at about that time. But the murderer had already been there and left. Bian was so shocked by what she’d seen that she broke the telepresence connection and returned home in a panic.
“But let me tell you all about another event that happened that night, an event most of you are unaware of. Bian and I were together on our world at a… public event, when suddenly we were attacked by an alien’s rented body. We have many witnesses that this alien attacked us, but we fought it off. According to the records from our police, the alien who rented that body came from right here on K’tolu’tan—and the charge account used belonged to none other than K’anal’orb himself.”
A buzzing went through the audience, but K’anal’orb was well prepared to parry this thrust. “Yes,” he said casually, “the police indeed questioned me about this. At the time this attack occurred, I was on stage lecturing before more than five hundred people. I could not possibly have committed such a preposterous act.”
“I don’t need to believe that K’anal’orb would dirty his own hands with such a deed. He has many assistants, and even more ardent followers, all of whom would be more than happy to do his bidding. His hatred of all things alien has been quite evident here today. He ordered one of the faithful to kill Bian—”
“Lie!” K’anal’orb bellowed.
“—and when that failed, he ordered the murder of P’tar’houn-Hoc instead.”
“Lie!” K’anal’orb repeated, even louder.
“Did you have to offer him money,” Rabinowitz continued relentlessly, “or were spiritual rewards enough?”
She tried to wave her claw at K’anal’orb, and nearly unbalanced herself. She resolved not to overdo the dramatic gestures. “There!” she exclaimed. “There is the man ultimately responsible for the murder—the man who so adamantly insists on placing the blame elsewhere. K’anal’orb. He alone is responsible.”
One of the disciples in an aqua sash leaped forward onto the stage. “No, he is innocent,” he declared. “It was I, and I alone, who did these things. K’anal’orb is innocent. I am the one you seek!”
The courtroom was thrown into turmoil at this new and unexpected development. The man, whose name was Ari’stoc, described how K’anal’orb’s speeches about the vile alien had so inflamed him that he was determined to silence her. He called Earth and saw the message on Dinh’s service—a holo of her explaining she’d be at a public eating ritual. As a member of K’anal’orb’s inner circle he had the use of the charge account; it was an easy enough matter to teep to Earth, rent the alien body and then find Bian Dinh at the ritual. He described the attack in such detail that Rabinowitz was convinced he was indeed the perpetrator.
He grew more vague, though, when he came to the description of P’-tar’houn-Hoc’s murder. He merely said that he realized P’tar’houn-Hoc was the ultimate culprit and that if he was silenced, the book project would come to an end. He went to the victim’s home, had an argument with him about the book, stabbed him, and then fled back to K’anal’orb’s contingent.
“Well, I’ve heard enough,” Dinh said on the private channel. “The true murderer has been unmasked and I will be cleared of these ridiculous charges.”
Rabinowitz was standing still, trying to concentrate. “It’s not right,” she muttered.
“Of course it’s right,” Dinh insisted. “P’tar’houn-Hoc was murdered by the conservative forces of repression, as we’ve always said. We can go home now.”
“Do you want this imbecile to become a martyr? That’s what K’anal’orb will turn him into.”
“Debs, he confessed.”
But Rabinowitz ignored her and turned instead to face the crowd. “I would like to ask this man some questions.”
K’anal’orb looked outraged. “You have no further interest in this matter.”
“As I said, my people have a passion for the truth, which I haven’t completely heard here.”
“I warn you, Deborah,” F’tim whispered beside her, “don’t go further with this. Leave well enough alone.”
Rabinowitz ignored him, too. “Ari’s-toc, can you please describe in detail the room in which the murder took place?”
The self-confessed killer became hesitant and confused. “It was a very ordinary room. There was a table there for eating. The knife was lying on it. We argued, I picked up the knife and stabbed him. I was in a very agitated state, I can’t remember more than that.”
“How did you know where to find him?”
“His… his address was listed in the public directory.”
“But you didn’t go to the door of his address, which would be the logical place. No one mentioned seeing you. How did you know to go directly to the private dining building behind the house?”
Ari’stoc was silent for a long moment. “Well, where else would he be, a man like him—?”
“I’m sure even a man of his proclivities doesn’t spend all his waking hours in a dining room. And the door was locked. It had a private passcode. How did you get in?”
“He… he let me in.”
“Just like that? You, a total stranger in a very agitated state, and he just lets you into the most intimate room of his home?”
“Debs, what are you doing?” Dinh asked, frightened.
“I threatened him,” Ari’stoc replied.
“He was safe behind a locked door.”
“I mean, I threatened his family. I said I’d hurt them if he didn’t let me in.”
“He had a phone in the room with him. He could have called the police and stalled for time. But he made no such call.”
“He… I…” Ari’stoc was clearly going into mental vapor lock. Rabinowitz turned her body slightly so she could catch a glimpse of K’anal’orb. He was not at all pleased with her. If he couldn’t convict a perverted alien for the crime, the next best thing would be to hold someone up as a martyr, someone who murdered an evil man to keep the world pure. But even that was being taken away from him.
A vision of her Gloucester came unbidden to Rabinowitz’s mind. Well, with his crab-like posture, K’anal’orb did sort of look like a hunchback. But at the moment he was the cornered Gloucester, realizing things might not always go his way.
Is the chair empty? is the sword unswayed? Gloucester asked.
“The chair,” she muttered suddenly. “Of course. The chair.”
She turned to F’tim, so abruptly that she almost fell over. “Were there any females in this Food Society of yours?”
F’tim recoiled in horror. “Of course not.”
Rabinowitz turned more slowly back to face Ari’stoc. “I am convinced,” she announced loudly, “that you did indeed commit the attack against Bian and me on Earth—but I’m equally convinced you had nothing at all to do with the murder of P’tar’houn-Hoc.”
“Debs,” Dinh pleaded on their private channel, “if he didn’t do it, then I’m back to being the main suspect.”
Rabinowitz looked over the crowd until she saw the police officer who’d given the earlier testimony. “Officer, who reported the murder to the police?”
“The victim’s Wife.”
“So she was the one who discovered the body?”
“That’s what she told me.”
“Could you refresh my memory? How many chairs were in the room of the murder scene?”