Chapter 17

A few hours later, after Colette and I had eaten some dinner and she had fallen asleep on the couch, a young, handsome man named Erick arrived with an archaic piece of equipment. It was like a secret agent suitcase, this enormous radio-looking computer with dials and digital readouts and a monitor in the middle. He did his engineer thing, setting it all up.

“We’re all set to go, Mr. Brennan,” Erick finally said. He had me sit in front of the monitor, and explained that the camera was in the monitor, so I didn’t need to worry about where to look. “The Sirian official you need to talk to is named Bogg Rhul. He’s a cop, sort of, and he’s leading the investigation into Rindilosk’s death.”

“Ok, great. Let’s go.”

He placed the video call, talked to some people in their own language (he speaks Sirian?!), and finally got a tall Geelan-looking guy on the other end. This guy looked mad, though, the way his cheeks were puffing in and out. But maybe that’s just the way Sirians look when they’re concentrating. “Go ahead,” Erick whispered to me, getting out of the way.

I leaned forward and stared into the monitor at the alien on the other side. “Bogg Rhul? My name is Sean Brennan. I believe we have some information to share with each other concerning an investigation of yours.”

He just kept staring at me, his cheeks puffing. That damned, Sirian zombie stare, the look that Geelan always gave me that tickled my heebie-jeebies. I reminded myself that this guy was a cop, not a crook.

“I’m contacting you because I’m thinking we might be able to help each other out. I understand you are investigating the death of a Sirian lawyer, one named Marff Rindilosk?”

“Yes. What can you tell me about his death?”

“Well, nothing actually. I didn’t know him. I was headed to Sirius IV myself to find him, to interview him about one of his clients. Before I got there I found out he had died under mysterious circumstances. So the meeting never happened. But I happen to have found myself in an unfortunate relationship with one of his clients. I’m wondering if you can tell me whether that individual has a criminal record. And if so, it might help to explain Rindilosk’s…untimely demise.”

“What client?”

“His name is Geelan.”

“That name sounds familiar.” Bogg’s cheeks fluttered in and out at a furious rate. He looked down and consulted something. “Yes, I have him here as one of Rindilosk’s clients. We’ve been interviewing his clients one by one, but we haven’t talked to Geelan yet. We haven’t been able to locate him.”

“I can tell you where he is. Well,” I amended, “I can tell you where he was a week ago.”

“Where?”

“Let me ask you first, does he have a criminal record?”

Bogg looked back down, consulting whatever he had in front of him. He finally looked back up at me. “No, he doesn’t. Some of the businesses he has started or been involved with have been legally questionable, but he has never been charged with a crime. What is your relationship to him?”

I told him the short version of my Geelan experience, the fact that he had conned me into a business deal that he never showed up to consummate, and had walked off with hundreds of millions of my credits. I mentioned that Rindilosk’s name was the only thread I had to pursue, but that it had been cut short by Rindilosk’s death, no pun intended. “And I can tell you, Bogg, Geelan was here on Gaia a week ago, and again a week before that. I don’t know what he’s been doing here, but I don’t think he’s up to any good. My guess is that he was cleaning up loose ends, and Rindilosk fell into that category. Incidentally, how did Rindilosk die?”

Bogg paused. “The exact cause of death is unknown. There were many wounds inflicted by a variety of means. He was found in the cellar of an old house in the countryside. Our assumption is that he was…tortured.”

I stopped short. Tortured? Or just given a long, painful death by a vicious killer? The image of Geelan – his white skin and that zombie stare – shot a chill down my spine. Maybe that sniveling little alien packed more than a simple confidence game. It sounded like he sported a disturbingly violent streak.

“Do you know where Geelan is now?” Bogg asked me.

“That I don’t know. We saw him come in a week ago, but we haven’t even figured out when he left.”

Bogg seemed to ponder this information. “I would like to arrange a visit to Gaia. I would like to pursue this matter further with you.”

I shrugged. “Fine with me, but it’s not my planet. I’m a visitor here myself. You’ll have to get here through your own channels.”

“I am very grateful that you have contacted me with this information.”

“Don’t mention it. And if you have any additional information you can send me, based on what you’ve found so far, I’d appreciate it. I’ll gather what I can from this end in the meantime.”

Bogg swooped his hand in front of the camera, then shook his head roughly. The image winked out.

Erick had been watching the whole thing. He whistled behind me. “Wow, man. That was a trip.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “And that’s just how they say goodbye.”

The video monitor up on Colette’s wall warbled, and she jumped awake. Erick and I stared at her in surprise as the monitor warbled again. Colette grunted, shaking off the cobwebs, and called out, “Answer.”

The monitor flashed and the image of Sash filled a quarter of the wall. “Colette, Sean,” he said by way of greeting. He then turned to speak to me directly. “Well, Sean, you needn’t worry about where Geelan might have run off to. It appears he never left.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve run through the Atlas surveillance network since Geelan last arrived, and searched every public camera log. We can’t find any record of Geelan ever leaving the mining facility since he entered a week ago.”

“Outstanding,” I said. “We know where he is, and we can take him down if and when he leaves.”

Sash’s eyelids closed briefly in acknowledgment.

I frowned, though. “What the hell is he doing there? Hiding out?”

“It would be a safe place,” Sash offered.

“Yeah, and now the Sirian authorities want him as well. I’ve invited them over. They want to talk to him in connection with his lawyer’s death. They say Rindilosk was tortured. If Geelan did it, that bastard must have a real mean streak. Christ, I would give anything to be able to get into that facility and pin him to a wall. Find out what’s really going on. I’m sure the Sirians would like that too.”

Sash looked at Colette. I looked at her. I swear to God I didn’t see her move an inch, but Sash’s face shifted slightly, as though having received approval for a silent request. “We may be able to accommodate you with that need,” Sash said gingerly.

“You can get me in somehow?”

Sash looked at Colette again, and I plainly saw her nod this time. “We…have assets in place already,” Sash replied. My eyes went wide. “We infiltrated the facility months ago. We have a couple of very well-trained individuals acting as our eyes and ears on the inside.”

“No kidding! That’s great! Have they seen Geelan?”

“They haven’t mentioned him. But they’ve been instructed to find out what they can.”

“Brilliant,” I chortled. “You guys are fucking brilliant!”