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Bleah. I caught Ky's cold, and it's been no fun getting out from under, I assure you. Still filling lots of Kleenex with snot, but I managed to write today. Woohoo!

What else can Tori uncover before her meeting with the commissioner on this episode from Executioner's Gambit?

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Tori looked up from her strand when Sese approached the crime scene. “Did you get Asui all squared away?”

“Yeah,” said Sese. “I dropped him off at his dad’s office, and told him to contact security for an update in an hour or two.”

Tori blinked. “You didn’t tell them about Nija?”

Sese’s ears drooped. “I … didn’t want to get stuck there long, in case you needed help.”

Tori sighed. “Yeah, I wouldn’t have wanted to deliver the news either. That cub is gonna need therapy when he gets through this.”

Changing the subject, Sese pointed at Tori’s strand. “Whacha doin’?”

“I’m searching through timestamps, trying to find the last log entry where Nija wasn’t present at this location,” said Tori.

Sese looked confused, so Tori lowered her voice and explained, “A big friend wrote me a utility that checks wireless logs and can tell who was near a location at a given timestamp.”

The taller officer’s muzzle hung open. Silently, she mouthed, “Daskatoma?”

Tori nodded. “Tipohee will have an aneurism if he realizes I have this, so kindly keep this information in your pouch,”

Sese nodded.

“My working theory is that the killer planted the evidence, tipped off the chief, then waited until he saw us start our search. Then, he tipped off Nija and told her that he saw the three of us entering her apartment.”

Sese’s eyes lit up. “We need to check her messages and call log!”

“Yeah, I’m presuming Tipohee can do that once he enters her strand into evidence,” said Tori. “The killer knew that Nija would run to her son as soon as the chief accused him of murder, so he waited for her here and smacked her with the pipe when she came by.”

Confusion settled on Sese’s ears. “That doesn’t make any sense. You said The Executioner was using Asui as a patsy, so he could escape prosecution. That doesn’t work if he keeps killing. It proves Asui was innocent.”

“Yeah, I realize,” admitted Tori. “Either he was hoping the change in M.O. would make this look like an unrelated murder, or I was wrong about Asui being a patsy, and this was all just a trick to lure Nija to her death.”

“Or this really is an unrelated murder,” suggested Sese.

“I suppose, but you gotta admit that Nija was a candidate for The Executioner’s hit list. I know an electrician who actually bet money on her being the next victim,” said Tori. “If Nija wasn’t a victim of our serial killer, then we’ve got a copycat on the prowl too—one of the crew emboldened by what The Executioner has done.”

That thought made Tori’s stomach ache. A second murderer? Would that look like a revolt?

“Anyhow, if he was lying in wait, he should have been here for an extended period, and then Nija was here for an extended period, those two time periods only slightly overlapping. He would have left as soon as he’d killed her,” said Tori. “Looks like ten-hundred hours is the first timestamp I’ve got where Nija was nearby, and so this list from oh-nine fifty-five might contain our killer.”

Sese’s ears spung up. “Who was it?”

“Looks like two dozen suspects,” said Tori. “I’ll cross-reference them against the log I saved from Inspector Rae’s murder. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Sese opened her muzzle to voice another thought, but the officer who had secured the crime scene—Officer Ihai—interrupted, “The medics are ready to take the body.”

Tori nodded. “Have you gotten all your photos? Collected all your evidence?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Ihai. “The pipe is in evidence, and I photographed everything.”

Tori nodded and waved for the medics to cross the tape boundary. They ducked beneath it and set up their stretcher beside Nija’s crumpled remains—trying to avoid stepping in the large pool of blood around her head. But when they rolled the body over, Tori spotted something she hadn’t seen earlier—a crumpled envelope hidden beneath the body.

“Wait!” shouted Tori with palms upraised. She hurried closer.

Sese knelt beside the envelope. “I think she might have gotten a piece of him! There’s blood on the blade.”

With heart racing, Tori took command. “Ihai, new evidence,” she said, “take a photo, call for someone to come bag it.”

“I can bag it…” he said, but Tori had already shifted her focus to the medics.

“Search the body for stab wounds.”

“Ma’am?” asked the closer medic. “They’ll do that during the autopsy. We’re just here to fetch the body.”

She glanced at the time and cursed under her breath. “No, time is of the essence. Search the body right here, right now.” She tapped her strand against his, sharing her contact information. “I need to know if this is the killer’s blood or if he managed to turn the knife back on her.”

The medic looked around at the gawkers standing behind the tape line. His ears hung low in obvious discomfort, but Tori spoke with urgency and authority, so he acquiesced without a fight.

“Sese,” she said, turning to her friend, “call every med bay. Warn them we’re looking for a suspect with one or more stab wounds seeking treatment after ten-hundred hours this morning. Presume the suspect is armed and dangerous. Tell them to call security but not try to apprehend.”

“On it,” said Sese, pulling out her strand.

“And have security start checking all the ship’s med kits,” amended Tori. “If he can’t find a doctor, a med student, a nurse, a medic, someone to help him, he’ll resort to some sort of self-fix.”

“There’s hundreds of med kits throughout the ship,” said Sese as she tapped a search into her strand.

“I realize that. It’s a lower priority. Warning the med bays is your top priority.” She turned back to Officer Ihai, exchanging contact information with another tap. “Next, I want you to begin a search—starting here, looking for blood droplets. If Nija did manage to stab her attacker, he might have left a blood trail. Find it. Track him. Contain but don’t confront.”

“Ma’am?” he asked.

“Call for backup first. I want to know who financed these hits,” Tori explained. “To get both criminals, we need to take him alive.”

Tori glanced at the time once more and groaned. “I’m late. You guys take it from here and call me. I have to meet with the commissioner.”

———

Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D4Hdivz0bnbpMt0Wadzwxsip9ZxnJp_vKQ5Nj7Ibp9g/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?