18 

Pension Flambard, Geneva
Terra, Prefecture X
27 November 3134

At the Pension Flambard, Jonah Levin and the newly hired Burton Horn conferred late into the evening. Madame Flambard, forewarning them of her arrival by a discreet cough, brought in coffee and chocolates on a silver tray.

Once agreement on the terms of Horn’s employment had been reached, Jonah laid out his plan for dividing the work.

“To begin,” he said, “we’re working from the assumption that Victor Steiner-Davion is dead because some person or persons physically intervened and made him so. Law enforcement in Santa Fe is tracing the perpetrators of the physical attack; we don’t need to duplicate their efforts.”

He shook his head ruefully, and went on, “Whoever did the work was undoubtedly outside talent hired for the occasion, and if they haven’t already left Terra then they’ve gone so far to ground it would take a MiningMech to dig them out.”

“I could find them,” said Horn. There was no false modesty in the words, only a statement of fact.

“It would be a wasted effort,” Jonah replied. “They will have been hired by somebody anonymous working for somebody unknown. And such people are well paid to be incurious.”

“What should I be looking for, then, in Santa Fe?” Horn asked.

“The anonymous,” said Jonah. “Or better yet, the unknown. As well as any hints you can pick up concerning what Victor might have been doing that required his death at this particular time.”

“As old as he was,” Horn said, “he can’t have been up to doing very much.”

“Victor was scheduled to give the opening address to the conclave, and now that address will never be given. It’s hard to not make a connection. So, first—” Jonah counted off on his fingers “—he was doing something. And somebody found out about it. And whatever he was doing scared that person so badly that he or she sent for professional assistance.”

“I think I follow,” Horn said, nodding gravely. “I’m to leave the job of apprehending the actual perpetrators to the Santa Fe police, while I concentrate on finding out what Steiner-Davion was doing and who might be threatened by it.”

“Just so.”

Horn looked thoughtful. “The source of the initial security leak is probably the best place to start.”

“You know best how to do your work,” said Levin. “Meanwhile, I’ll be taking the other end. There’s a lot of people who stood to benefit from Victor’s death, and I’m afraid some of them are my colleagues.”

“Anyone particular you’ll be looking at first?”

Jonah sighed. “I don’t want to suspect any of them. But if I look at who benefited the most, there’re Kessel and Sorenson. They were the core of a bloc most likely to oppose whatever it was Victor was going to say. Their bloc just got more powerful. And there’s Tyrina Drummond. I don’t think she’d ever be involved in something as underhanded as an assassination, but there was no love lost between her and Victor. I’ll at least need to speak with her.”

Horn nodded. “What about the guy who replaced Victor?”

“Gareth Sinclair?”

“Right. Didn’t he benefit the most from Victor’s death in the short run?”

Jonah didn’t hesitate. “I suppose. But he’d have no way of knowing he’d be Victor’s replacement. And besides, I know Sinclair. He’s as decent as they come.” He shook his head. “Sinclair’s the last person I’d suspect.”