The Cultist's Retreat (The Erik Midgard Case Files Volume 4)

Chapter 9

Kairos was careful to still sound nervous when he asked if he could do his laundry. Eleusinian said yes, though he removed Despoina's spyeye from above the door and - with obvious pleasure - crushed it under his boot before Kairos went in. The rest of us walked in silence back to the lobby.

Eleusinian headed for the lounge, humming as he typed something - probably his official report on Despoina's regulations violation - on his wristcom.

"We need to finish the teleporters," said Jake.

"Sure," said Mirabi. Her look that made it very clear that me being undercover was the only thing stopping her from making me tell her what had really just happened, but that that time would come. They headed back to the conference room.

As soon as I was alone, I relaxed, and realised I could not remember when I last had. But the frustration still chewed. After this, I probably did not need to worry about anyone else deciding to do laundry - even if Despoina's plan had worked, the killer had probably been scared off already by so much activity on the stairs - but I was no closer to them or to the backstepper. On impulse, and because I could not hang around in the empty lobby, I went upstairs to look at the crime scene myself.

There was nothing new to see since last time. Okuninushi's body was still concealed by the force dome, the table was still knocked away from the wall, the brochures were still scattered and the creditcom was still lying face down on the floor, where Kairos must have replaced it exactly where he found it, though Arturo was trying to pick it up with a multi-grip on the end of one of his extendable arms that clearly was not dexterous enough.

"Leave it where it is, please," I said as I passed. The killer had probably only touched it quickly while getting the charging cable - or possibly for longer if they had been sure they could fool Thor's line tracer - but the rule of keeping a crime scene intact was a good one. I stared at the force dome, trying to remember exactly how Okuninushi's body had been lying beneath it. Another good rule was that even digital crimes had crime scenes. You could do something and make it appear that it had never happened, but that did not change that it had. There would be something else here somewhere, just probably too small to detect without a forensic scanner. I had missed my unigun already today, but now I missed my helmcom and wristcom...

My thoughts broke as Arturo rolled past me, holding the creditcom up in the air to stop it slipping out of his multi-grip.

"No. Stop!"

Arturo ignored me and kept going. I hopped over the force dome and followed. I should have guessed he would not be programmed to obey all instructions from guests - which might lead to them monopolising him - or that he would not have the level of AI to understand that objects out of place could be anything other than a mess that needed tidying up. I tried to grab the creditcom, but Arturo sped up. I hissed through my teeth and dashed after him. He must have decided the creditcom was or might be damaged, and was taking it wherever he was supposed to for repairs...

As I finished that thought, I saw what was wrong with it. Arturo was not taking the creditcom to the robot lift. He was taking it in the other direction, towards the dead end of the corridor, where there was nothing but the wall and the closed doors of the currently unoccupied rooms...

I saw what was wrong with thought that even faster. The door of one of the rooms was open, but sliding slowly and quietly closed as Arturo turned towards it holding out the creditcom. I saw a shadow - cast by a human being - move on the wall inside it.

I could not let the door close. I jumped behind Arturo and kicked him as hard as I could. He skidded forward half a foot on his wheels, stopping halfway through the doorway as the door closed on him, pinning him in place. I jumped through it sideways, crashing into the man who was crouching inside. A palmcom - which he must have been using to summon or remote-control Arturo - went flying.