No waiting around in the lobby this time. Porter greeted me almost as soon as I stepped through the main entrance.
‘Mr Helmqvist, delighted to see you!’ he said in his best Bertie Wooster.
‘Is there some place private that we can speak? Preferably not your office?’
‘Perhaps there is a free conference room,’ he answered, taken aback by my enigmatic response. ‘Allow me to confer with the receptionist.’
We walked over to the giant desk and he conferred away.
A few seconds later, he looked up at me. ‘The second floor conference room is available. Would you like to follow me there?’
I nodded and followed.
‘What is this all about?’ he asked as soon as the elevator doors closed.
‘Not here, Porter,’ I replied without looking at him.
Behind the security of a locked conference room door, I cycled through the apps on my MAX smartwatch until I found a noise generator of my own design. Once I felt confident in our privacy, I told him everything that had happened since our last meeting.
His voice strained to contain his indignation. ‘My assistant, Lyric, was a part of this whole scheme?’
‘Unfortunately,’ I answered, fighting back a chuckle. ‘That’s why I didn’t want to meet you in your office. The moment she saw me, she’d know something was up.’
‘Dreadful! I can scarcely believe it is true.’
‘I had to give the police her name. They should be here any minute to take her in for questioning.’
‘You are certain she will not confess to blackmail?’
I shrugged, palms upturned. ‘She might. She can say whatever she wants, but the cops tend to follow the trail of evidence, which all points rather convincingly to her embezzling from you.’
‘And all traces of the blackmail have disappeared?’
‘They have. My office assistant is very thorough, if nothing else. However, while we are on the subject of the blackmail, I may have been too clever for my own good.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘As you now know, the funds being stolen came out of your mining subsidiary. I thought it would be ironic to burn them with the same division that they were using by way of that video to extort twenty million from you. However, the coming investigation might reveal your outfit on Ithilles.’
Porter waved his hand like a bored Caesar. ‘We have been investigated several times. Without something like video evidence, the layers of subterfuge surrounding that particular mining operation are many, varied and difficult to penetrate. I doubt the police, or either legal team, will find anything untoward this time around.’
Wow! This guy was a piece of work.
‘Wonderful. I’m just saying that you, and this company, will get dragged into the inquiry and the trial – if there is one. Be prepared. When they sit you down in the sweatbox, Metro will throw all kinds of theories at you—’
‘Sweatbox?’
‘Oh sorry… interrogation room. But yeah, all kinds of theories. If they are good, and Detective Ashdown is, they’ll bring up your hidden planet and ask you if you committed genocide for economic gain.’
He shifted to the edge of his seat. Panic filled his eyes and his casual tone vanished in an instance. ‘But you said the film has been destroyed!’
‘Doesn’t mean Voss, Cooper or Dwerry won’t tell their side of the story. They will probably try anything to get a reduced charge. Again, though, it comes down to what can be proven. Want my advice?’
He nodded.
‘Take a lawyer. The police will try to tell you guilty people hide behind a mouthpiece but don’t take the bait. If you can, speak with him, or her, or them as soon as possible. Get your story straight and rehearse it.’
‘That isn’t much advice, Mr Helmqvist. I would never visit the police during an investigation without a lawyer present.’
‘True. Here’s the advice part: you do all the talking. Make it seem like your attorney is there for consultation purposes only. If they think you have nothing to hide, it might buy you some credibility.’
‘Rather risky, don’t you think?’
‘It is, but this is also about selling the lie with conviction because they will check. They will verify everything you say and if anything is out of line the wheels’ll come off this thing pretty quickly.’
‘Anything else?’
‘Yeah. When I come up in the conversation, drop the DA’s name and that he referred me. Also, maybe have your lawyer remind them that our working relationship is confidential. That should end that line of questioning. Pissing the DA off has a way to ruin careers.’
‘Is that all?’
I stood. ‘Yep.’
He followed suit. ‘Should I pay you now, then?’
‘Let’s wait until we see how this thing plays out. Once we know the three blackmailers are being charged for embezzlement, we can settle up.’
‘Very good, Mr Helmqvist. We shall be in touch.’
‘One more thing,’ I called back as I made my exit. ‘Sorry about taking three million and change without asking. I’m sure it’ll be returned to you in the coming weeks.’
He chuckled lightly. ‘I’m certain HTS will find a way to soldier on.’
Must be nice…
The cab ride back to the office gave me time to shift gears from my encounters with Cooper, Dwerry, Ashdown and Porter to the Rennick case. As the LTI pulled to a stop outside my building, I knew what I needed to do.
‘Pam,’ I announced as I marched through the front door. ‘You beautiful woman, you! Why, under different circumstances I could kiss you right now!’
She stopped typing and looked up at me with her expressionless eyes. Definitely not inviting me to act out on any impulsive affection I may have been entertaining. Instead, I filled her in on what happened at 314D and my meeting with Porter in the aftermath.
‘We should be looking at about twenty grand in a week or so. Not bad for a few days’ work, eh?’
‘Commendable, sir. And the Rennick case?’
Never messes around, this one. ‘About that. I think I need to start my search at the heart of Kitterman’s empire.’
‘MARA Corporation?’
‘Yep. I figure if she is holding onto a datapad that implicates her in mass murder, she’ll keep it close by at all times.’
‘If we disregard the illogic of maintaining the storage device in her possession, wouldn’t it make more sense to hide it some place safer, such as her house or a bank deposit box?’
‘I did consider those as options, and it may turn out that you’re right, but I think her office is the place to start. MARA Corporation is her baby. It is, in a way, an extension of herself.’
A few years before Mara Kitterman’s father died, she left Earth and relocated here, on Mars. She brought with her a ton of money and even more smarts. At the time, the scientific community was baffled as to why one of the great minds of our generation would leave the centre of civilisation and move to a colony that had little impact on the galactic scene.
Mara never provided an explanation. What she did do, though, was inject all of her resources into bolstering New London’s university, funding civic improvements and starting her own company, Mars Advanced Robotics and Androids Corporation. Within five years, this dusty little rock floating around the Sun began to matter. Other companies, such as HTS, followed suit, and New London experienced a population boom of sorts. Not every district benefited from the boom equally, but life is rarely that generous.
‘I concede your point, sir. Breaking into her office is a logical place to start.’ Did she just humour me? ‘How shall you accomplish this?’
I placed Rennick’s business card on her desk. ‘I’m glad you asked. I need you to call this number on a secure line and patch her back to me.’
Pam reached for her phone and I jumped in. ‘Give me a minute or two first, alright?’
Her hand retracted silently and rested at the base of her keyboard. I dashed back to my office, fixed myself a gin and tonic in the previous night’s filthy highball and settled into my chair. I had enough time for one pull on the glass before Pam announced Ms Rennick was on the line.
‘Before you put her through, try to clone her phone during the conversation.’
‘Yes, sir.’
A beep followed and I picked up.
‘I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.’
‘What can I say? I’m a fast worker.’
‘So, you have something already?’
‘More like I need something.’ I took the silence on the other end as a cue to continue. ‘Can you get me blueprints and schematic drawings of MARA Corp HQ? I’d like to follow up on some leads but I need access to her office.’
‘Offices.’
‘What?’
‘She has two. One on the top floor of the executive building and one in R&D.’
‘Damn. I can’t go snooping around the entire complex. I’ll be risking my neck just to get into the place. Any suggestions?’
‘If you’re after what I think you’re after, I would search the executive building. There are far too many employees with access to her office in R&D for it to be considered a secure location. Whereas her other one is only used when she’s in there. It’s more like a sanctuary to her.’
Sanctuary, bingo!
‘Sounds like the place to start looking. Can you get me the prints?’
‘I can.’
‘Excellent. Meet me at DKY tomorrow at 8.30pm.’
‘Seems like a rather public place for an exchange of this nature, Mr Helmqvist. Is there some place else we could do this?’
‘I’ll be there on a date. I can pop over to the bar to meet you and then slip back to my table. It’ll make for a nice cover and we should be able to hide in the crowd. Trust me, it’s the perfect place.’
Her okay did not brim over with confidence. However, she agreed and terminated the call.
Without a sound, Pam appeared in my doorway but said nothing.
‘Were you able to access her phone?’
‘No, sir. I required more time to break through her encryption protocols.’
‘Ah well, you tried. I’d be worried if it was so easy to clone her phone.’
‘Perhaps…’ And her voice trailed off.
I drained my glass, grabbed a small, black box from the centre drawer in my desk, checked the contents – a pair of simple, gold earrings – and stood to make my exit.
‘Time to call it quits for today, I think. I’m off to 3rd Street to unwind. If anyone calls wanting to discuss a case, take a message this time and leave me be.’ I punctuated my demands with a wink.
In response, Pam went back to her desk and began typing away at her furious, determined pace.