Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 10

Singh was back in Gaulle's cabin for the second time that day. This time the old man was dressed for business in a suit and a tie. It was bit of an anachronism given the times but many fell back on it as convention. It wasn't as if he should talk since most of the clothes he wore followed an Indian design as befit his background.

"I told Adisa and Adjani to get some rest. They have patrolled up and down the ship and detected nothing."

"Just the passenger levels... not the crew or cargo areas?" Gaulle asked. He took a seat that was newly formed at the foot of his datadesk and pointed for Singh to sit in the other chair. "Do we have access to those areas?"

"No, I can passively monitor security but the moment I start overriding certain areas, the ship's AI will become aware," said Singh. "If Adisa and Adjani had more to go on, they probably could detect whatever it is we're looking for. To be fair, we didn't give them much to go on."

Gaulle shifted uncomfortably and then sat forward. "She is here."

Singh responded with astonishment. "Surely not. She has to be dead. She is dead."

"I'm not so sure," Gaulle said. "We never found the body."

"Cause it was blasted into space!" exclaimed Singh. He didn't like the idea of her being alive one bit. "She killed Azi and managed to evade capture till we blasted her out an airlock!"

"She tricked Azi which led to his death," corrected Gaulle. "And I have been going over the security footage of that night. We see her go into the airlock but the video cut out."

"The video went out because she was trying to claw her way out," Singh said firmly. "And we did a thorough search after. Ms. Chen oversaw that and she doesn't miss a thing. Not to mention Adisa and Adjani. They would have torn her apart limb by limb. We all searched. You did as well."

Gaulle's forehead creased. "I know."

"You are subscribing powers to her that quite frankly we never saw her exhibit before," said Singh.

"I need an object that was hers to know for sure," said Gaulle. One of his particular gifts was pychometry, the ability to derive information from a person or object intimate to a person such as jewelry,"

"Whatever was hers went out the airlock. She left nothing in her room."

"I was thinking of something in Aubrey Chase Chen's room," said Gaulle.

This made Singh sit up. "Do we even know that she was in the room? And you'd need an intimate object. A lot of evidence was collected and removed."

"I was thinking of something that belonged to Ms. Chen."

Singh was gobsmacked. "You think an intimate object of Ms. Chen's will reveal her killer?"

Gaulle said nothing for a while. "It is a roundabout way of finding the truth but it could work."

"We would still have to find something that was Ms. Chen's," said Singh tapping his chin thoughtfully. "The room was torn up, many pieces removed. Is there anything left to find?"

"I remember the video you showed earlier," said Gaulle. "There was a side table next to the bed."

"Yes, I remember," replied Singh.

"There was a hairbrush there," stated Gaulle. "I saw just the handle of it near the floor. If we're lucky, it is there. The brush was quite dear to Ms. Chen. She took it everywhere."

"And you think you can get a reading from it?" questioned Singh. There was no reply from Gaulle. "I think we both know who'd be the perfect person to get the brush if it is still there."

"It is time to call in Goroshenko," said Gaulle.