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Post by Amy81 on Nov 8, 2006 6:26:34 GMT -6
Abby sat there, taking a deep pull on the fumerette this time. You could see the paper recede as the tobacco flamed red. She inhaled deeply before forcing the smoke out, the effect not unlike the dragons of myth. She looked Urdea in the eye. "You can't be serious" she said in a cold tone. "You investigated me, all the while I was leaving you messages?"
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Post by LucianG on Nov 8, 2006 7:12:27 GMT -6
Urdea had known this would be the tough part. Now, though, he was finding it even tougher than he’d expected. He started, “Abby, it wasn’t like that. I KNEW you didn’t do it. The problem was, I had to prove it to everyone else.”
Seeing that the expression on her face wasn’t changing, he could tell he wasn’t making much progress. While he wanted to protect her, he decided to be blunt. “Let me explain. From an investigator’s standpoint, you were an obvious suspect, and my investigators jumped all over that. You had been in a verbal altercation with Elmer just a short time before his death. You really didn’t have an alibi for part of the death window since you wandered around the ship for a little while after leaving him. In the eyes of a trained investigator, facts such as these jump out as little red flags. To make matters worse, you told a Fleet Security Officer—me—that you’d just left him, just a little while before we found out that he was dead. That’s almost like a huge neon sign proclaiming, ‘Look at me! I did it!’ Well, I knew you didn’t do it, so I kept that part out of the investigation, not telling anyone on the investigation team, which violated just about every policy in the handbook. I did that because I was trying to protect you, since if it became known, you would have been, at minimum, questioned unmercifully at a terrible time in your life. If, by some chance, I was wrong, it had been a murder instead of a suicide, and you had been the culprit, then it would have been the end of my career, but I knew I wasn’t wrong and I didn’t want to put you through all of that. However, it took a tremendous amount of effort to prove to everyone else on the investigating team that you didn’t do it. I had my officers interview nearly half of the people on duty aboard the Callisto during that shift, and a lot of people who weren’t.”
She’s at least listening, he thought. “Fortunately, you are considered ‘striking,’ ‘beautiful,’ ‘gorgeous,’ or one of a number of similar terms by most of the males aboard this ship,” he said, resisting the urge to add, ‘including this one,’ “and a lot of them recalled seeing you. Even a number of the women remembered seeing you walk by, so we were eventually able to construct a thorough trail and timeline of your movements during that shift. It proved to everyone else what I already knew, that you couldn’t have been in the Colonel’s quarters at the time of Elmer’s death. Some additional investigation on the financial side showed that you couldn’t have hired anyone to do it, either. Therefore, I was able to cross your name off the list right before we lost contact when I went on assignment.”
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Post by Amy81 on Nov 8, 2006 7:31:20 GMT -6
Abby sat back, trying to see the big picture. What was most unsettling to her was that she kept jumping to conclusions, first about Urdea not returning her messages, and now about being looked at as a suspect.
Had she been out of touch that long, that she had such a thin skin?
Or was it because of how everything was falling down around her? Elmer's death, and Urdea, so lost and untouchable for so long now suddenly within her grasp. Her best friend Em betraying her, and the things she learned about Ange.
And how Amy was acting toward her. That part really bothered her. Now that Brie had pretty much talked her out of telling Amy the truth, she hoped that she could repair things with the girl and make up for so many mistakes over the yarhens....
The fumerette was down to it's last embers. She butted it out, reached for another, holding it unlit as she thought. "I understand" she said at last. "It was just your job, and with all the complications you risked a lot to protect me." She smiled. "Forgive an old fool?"
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Post by LucianG on Nov 9, 2006 8:05:18 GMT -6
He smiled at her and replied, “Abby, the only old fool around here is the one who sent you away all those yahrens ago and has been paying for it ever since.” The smile faded as he continued, “Really, there’s nothing for you to forgive. It’s me that owes you the apology for not telling you sooner. I’m sorry I had to keep it from you as long as I have. I knew I would have to tell you someday, and that it would hurt you when I did, but I figured that it would hurt a whole lot less now than it would have then with all you had going on at the time.” He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Unfortunately, there’s more to the story, and I think you need to hear it from me before I make the arrest in Elmer’s death.”
“Arrest?” she asked, her eyes widening.
“Yeah, I’ll get to that in a few moments. You need the rest of the background first since at least part of it is important. There were some other people originally named by the investigation team and just as quickly eliminated as suspects. First named, and please don’t get upset, was Amy, who was known to have long had a strained and stormy relationship with her father, until I pointed out that she had been in a coma ever since she arrived back on the Callisto. Several yahrens ago, Amy was severely disliked, even hated, by most of the officers in the Callisto’s security office. It was eventually proven that she wasn’t responsible for the problems for which she’d been blamed, and most of the officers eventually overcame their issues with her, but a few who’d been close friends with an officer who was killed still seem to hold a grudge against her. Major Brie was named next since she was considered by at least one or two Fleet Security officers to be Amy’s ‘puppet master’ and guardian angel. I had her name taken off the list just as fast because she was in the Brig at the time of Elmer’s death. I know for a fact that it upset at least one person in particular that she waited until after Elmer's death to escape since she had an ironclad alibi."
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Post by Amy81 on Nov 9, 2006 18:43:21 GMT -6
"I realize your staff has to be complete in it's investigation" Abby said shaking her head, "but to suspect either Amy or Brie was just absurd. Brie was on trial and in custody at the time, and we both thought Amy was dead when I last saw Elmer. And even if Amy came back before anything happened, she was deep in a coma for a very long time." Abby stopped, remembering the girl lying still as death in a life chamber... "It's good that you realized that before a lot of time was wasted."
"But Brie? She had no opportunity, and no reason either." Abby thought about that a little. There might have been a reason, though it would be the longest of stretches to even believe it was possible. But there were things even Urdea didn't know about Brie and Elmer, and about herself too. And it was just as well that these things stayed buried deeply. "So go on, what else did you consider?" Abby tapped the fumerette on the armchair, one side, then the other, then back again.
Urdea didn't like what he was about to say, but he had to let her know, "Well finally, and this one is very intrusive, the investigating team felt that the last of the original suspects was possibly, ahem, Elmer's unknown, unnamed girlfriend or lover, or possibly, your unknown, unnamed boyfriend or lover."
Abby stopped tapping. She put the fumerette to her lips, and with a glance at Urdea reached into her purse for the lighter. It took all her effort to stay calm, to try not to jump to conclusions. She lit the fumerette and inhaled deeply. Sitting back, she looked at Urdea through the smoke. "So tell me" she said, struggling to keep her voice even. "What did you find?"
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Post by LucianG on Nov 10, 2006 6:41:49 GMT -6
Urdea took a breath. He was hoping he’d made the right decision on the way he’d handled the investigation. Here goes, he thought. “Abby, please understand. Our experience in Fleet Security over the yahrens has been that if the spouse isn’t involved in a murder, an outside lover or love interest, or one party or the other, often is. With everyone locked up in these ships with little room and next to no privacy, some people get the idea that they can gain the person of their dreams if only that person’s spouse or special friend would disappear. When that happens, fortunately, the killer is almost always caught, usually quite easily. Unfortunately, this scenario has happened enough times that we can’t eliminate the possibility without checking it out." His voice dropped a bit lower as he said, "For the sake of your privacy, I had one of my most trusted officers look into your background to prove that wasn’t the case, and to see if Elmer was having some kind of dalliance on the side. She found no evidence of infidelity of either of you, no probability that a love or potential love interest had been involved.”
Abby breathed out a stream of smoke, but remained silent as Urdea continued, “I stayed away from overseeing this part of the investigation since I didn’t want to find out anything about you that you didn’t want me to know. I looked through the report on Elmer’s activity, or rather, lack of outside activity, but I had an independent Opposer review your file with my officer so I wouldn’t have to look at it unless there was a problem. He confirmed that there were no issues. Fortunately for me, my name didn’t come up as either a long-ago boyfriend or a potential future one, so I was able to stay involved overseeing the investigation. If it had, I’d have been off the case, and probably been, say, a janitor on a garbage scow by now.”
He thought he saw a hint of a smile at that one, but wasn't sure. His voice was very soft, apologetic, as he concluded, almost in a whisper, “With the file having no bearing on the case and nothing of importance to the investigation, I had the independent Opposer seal the file so neither I nor anyone else could look at it. After the case concludes, it will be returned to you so you can destroy it.”
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Post by Amy81 on Nov 11, 2006 19:34:04 GMT -6
Abby breathed a little easier, but still had a fairly stern expression on her face. "I don't pretend to understand all the legal aspects, but I suppose it falls under just cause or something. And I could have told you that you'd find nothing, but I understand why you didn't drag me into it with a lot of questioning and such. You were in a tough position, and you handled it all as delicately as you could."
"I suppose it's best to just put it all into the past." She inhaled on the fumerette and sat back, letting the smoke out slowly. "So where did your investigation lead then? Amy was so convinced that Elmer.... well, you know..." Her voice trailed off.
Even though they'd been discussing it, that didn't make it easier to put into words. And every once in a while they caught in Abby's throat....
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Post by LucianG on Nov 14, 2006 6:53:22 GMT -6
Urdea nodded, “There a few other possibilities that were eventually considered…and later disproved or abandoned. Most importantly, there was some discussion of Elmer’s death being an assassination related to a food conspiracy, possibly by one of the underground criminal organizations, but there was never any evidence developed to support either the assassination theory or the related conspiracy theory. The investigation also indicated that Elmer had almost no debts, no significant gambling issues, and no known enemies.”
Abby was nodding in agreement at the assessment, so Urdea continued, “He rarely traveled around the Fleet, so he didn’t seem to have a lot of contact with outsiders.” He kept his head down and his nose to the grindstone, along with the noses of all around him, thought Urdea, wondering if he’d really been as controlling as the bio that had been developed had seemed to indicate. He hoped that Abby and Amy hadn’t been permanently scarred through Elmer’s actions.
“Therefore,” Urdea concluded, “it appeared that either Colonel Charybdis is a murderer, or at least, an accessory to the death, or Elmer committed suicide. I had a theory based on some of the information developed during the investigation, but the issue was cloudy enough that there would never have been adequate proof to prove anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. That is, until I went on Tigh’s mission, during which I made a discovery that I believe has cracked the case. I was about to send Commander Sheba a note requesting a meeting with her, Colonel Charybdis, and the rest of the investigating team at the start of First Shift tomorrow. Abby, I can’t tell you any more at the moment, but I’ll include you on the guest list if you’d like, so hopefully, you’ll finally be able to understand what happened and then be able to move on with your life.”
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Post by Amy81 on Nov 14, 2006 8:52:31 GMT -6
"I'd like to be there, yes" Abby said. "I'd like to know first hand. Whatever I thought of Elmer over the yarhens, he didn't deserve to die. If anyone is responsible, they should be brought to justice. Thank you for all you've done."
She relaxed a little, crossed her legs and rested her hand with the fumerette on her thigh. She watched the smoke curling up toward the ceiling. She was happy the topic seemed closed for the moment. It was a necessary thing to deal with, but so much clamored for her attention these days.
And the one thing she wished she could focus on was right in the room, sitting across from her. She looked at him like he'd just walked into the room, a pleasant, fond look on her face.
"How have you been, Urdea?" she asked, happy to perhaps talk about something more pleasant. And she wanted to know how he was, anything aside from work and cases. Lords knew she had enough of a work load herself, and she wanted to put it all away, if only for a short time.
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Post by LucianG on Nov 22, 2006 6:22:42 GMT -6
With Abby's acceptance of his explanation, Urdea sighed, the exhaustion and worry slowly melting away from him like the water, on a warming winter morning, dripping from icicles hanging on the eave of his rustic little house outside Kenkillen. Still, during his time undercover and away from Abby, he built up a lot of both, so the relaxation didn't come easily. He kneeled in front of where she sat, and looking into her eyes, said, "Abby, the past few sectars have been very...very difficult...and...I appreciate your understanding. The good news is that," he said as the worst of the worry left him and his expression turned to a beaming smile, "I'm doing much, much better now that I'm back here with you." He took her hand, the one without the fumerette, and brought it to his lips for a little kiss. He saw her smile at the attempted gallantry, probably remembering him more as he was more than half a life ago rather than as he actually was now, possibly even imagining themselves together on one of their outings long ago when he had actually been a reasonably gallant young Warrior.
The beeping of the comm unit on his desk abruptly reminded him of where they were, what he was, and the heavy responsibility that never really lifted off his shoulders. Glancing at his chrono as he rose, he said, "I need to take that, and I have a couple of quick things I have to do before I can get out of here. If you can give me a few centons, I'd love to take you to dinner where we can put all of this out of our minds and just talk. Are you up for that?"
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