Stars Rise

XX. One Last Round of Interrogation

Leander broke in, hands out to calm Nova. "Louis Reveur didn't say who was behind the assassination attempt, or who's responsible for the takeover tomorrow."

Mr. Potestas's argument that the current president's restrictions kept magic safe were compelling. Justin Marius, according to Nova, sounded as if he wanted to take that even further. Cristo's purpose had been revealed: to pin the assassination attempt on a candidate who wanted to keep this civilization safe from magic's potentially dangerous consequences.

"The investigation will be thorough. We'll gather the evidence before we make any accusations," said Leander.

"Riiiiight," said Cristo, slowly, trying out with multiple syllables a combination of disagreement and hesitation in opposition to the word's meaning. "But there's two separate issues: a criminal investigation that may take weeks or months to determine who was behind an attempt to murder Ilan Potestas, and an election happening at dusk tomorrow in which the person responsible may become the president of an infinitely powerful company. If Marius is using a hit to take the presidency, we need to be watching him."

"But with nothing to tie Mr. Marius to the crime, there's no probable cause to investigate him," said Leander. "The only basis for your accusation so far is that he's the most likely candidate to win an election tomorrow if Mr. Potestas is taken out of the equation. That's speculation."

"I'm not talking about a criminal investigation. I just need to know about any interactions Marius might have had with Gaia Solin's supporters. Any opportunity he may have had to coerce, bribe or blackmail any executives at the company."

"Under what authority are you gathering that information?"

"As a private investigator. Hopefully on behalf of Constellation's Invernali branch at the request of Exequi Ilan Potestas, into possible election fraud at the company."

The obvious question came too easily: "Do you have a private investigator's license?"

Cristo turned to the boss as if Leander were an annoying house fly, and instead of answering he waited for something from Potestas, arms folded in front of him, seething.

The boss said, "If you don't have a PI license, I will gladly accept your tip and open an investigation immediately. Your involvement won't be necessary."

"Tomorrow I'm going to the Constellation central office to uncover how Marius is manipulating voters, and you can  help me. I came to you because I know you'll do anything to preserve Gaia Solin's presidency."

"Oh, you want private information on Constellation executives from Invernali's director? Is that all?" said Nova.

"No," said Cristo, and he turned to Stephen Potestas. "I need one other thing. It's a big ask, and I'm getting the sense that you don't exactly trust me. That's okay, because I don't need to be directly involved. I'm concerned that something might go wrong with the security features on the star dial after the election. Control over star dial capabilities and development needs to be handed over to a new president when one is elected. It needs to be done carefully, because the star dial is the source of immortal life."

Something funny happened when he said that. Cristo paused for no reason that Leander could see mid-speech and took a swallow as if he had just said something he wasn't supposed to, and everyone else broke eye contact and looked away. This was the first Leander had heard that these people were immortal. He wondered what the awkwardness was all about.

The silence lingered for a few seconds before Cristo shook his head and went on with his point. "Even if Gaia Solin is reelected, something could go wrong in the future. Another election, perhaps. Aurelian Potestas, I'm asking that you locate the proprietary connection to the star dial that provides immortal life to Soliara's citizens, secure it, and develop a spiritual backup."