Boutsikari is waiting expectantly for Nikki outside the chamber. If he’s wanting a full report, he’s out of luck. She’ll give him her overview, but she’s keeping the name of the victim to herself, for now.
“This come with assembly instructions?” she asks.
“The two lab geeks who discovered it are in hospital, on meds for shock,” Boutsikari replies.
And to keep them from talking, Nikki surmises. Even the Seguridad can’t rule this one an accident.
“Who else knows about this? FNG aware yet?”
Boutsikari nods. He glances briefly towards the entourage. Nikki can’t work out who specifically he’s looking at, but one of them must be a fed.
“They’re aware, but they’re giving us a shot at dealing with it ourselves.”
Boutsikari hits her with a look, making sure she understands the stakes. On the surface it sounds like a chance for Seguridad to demonstrate its fitness for purpose. But if it isn’t dealt with to the FNG’s satisfaction, it’s the beginning of the end.
This case is a live grenade.
“I’m putting you in charge of the investigation,” Boutsikari states.
Nikki looks towards Jaganathan. She can’t help it, it’s pure reflex. His expression is implacable, giving nothing away.
“Me?” she asks, as neutrally as she can manage. She doesn’t want to make out she thinks he’s nuts, but she doesn’t want to give the impression that she’s delighted either.
“I pulled your file. I pulled everybody’s file. You know how to run a homicide investigation. You’ve a proven track record. None of the captains come close. I need a result on this, and you’re my best shot.”
Bullshit, she thinks. If he’s laying on the compliments, it’s to take her eye off something else.
She says nothing, letting him do the talking. Boutsikari is always playing an angle. The details and methodology are seldom obvious, but the one constant is the intended outcome, which is whatever best preserves or most benefits his expensively tailored ass.
“The Quadriga has always been terrified of something like this happening,” he says, “but I think we should view it as an opportunity. Prove we can deal effectively with a homicide, and the FNG has less of a case for intervention.”
“And what, the FNG is just gonna take our word that we dealt with it all proficiently, solved the case and got our man?”
Boutsikari swallows. If he wasn’t floating right now, he’d be shifting uncomfortably on his feet.
“Well, not exactly. I’ve agreed to have an FNG observer assigned to the investigation. Full access, so that the feds can have no doubts as to how we operate.”
He is poker-faced as he says this, but Nikki doesn’t miss the warning, which is that under no circumstances should she let the feds know how she operates.
“Absolutely,” she replies. “I’m sure that being accompanied by an FNG observer could only assist me in carrying out my duties efficiently and to the letter. So who’s my designated stoolpigeon?”
Boutsikari glances back again.
“Jessica,” he calls out. “You’re up.”
Nikki glances at her in disbelief, then looks back at Boutsikari.
“You’re kidding me, right? ‘Bring Your Daughter To Work Day’ is my observer?”
Boutsikari allows himself a tiny smile, saying nothing.
Nikki lenses the spare wheel again. There’s been an update on the girl’s details, or rather to Nikki’s access status now that Boots has given her this field promotion. The girl is nobody: FNG rather than Quadriga, and barely above the level of an intern. Nikki is sure she got the blueblood part right, though: young Jessica will be on the FNG fast track, and this ride-along is going to look good on her résumé.
She wonders what deals were done in order for the FNG to assign an observer whose word won’t carry any weight in a he-said, she-said. That’s when she detects Hoffman’s hand in this: one last act of mutual back-scratching between him and Boots before he heads back to Earth. Once Hoffman’s successor arrives—whoever he is—the days of rosy reports going back to FNG could be over. But giving a role to an inexperienced and manipulable pawn would sure make it easier for Boutsikari to give the FNG whatever impression he wants.
With this thought, the scales fall and Nikki finally sees the real reason she has been thrown into this. She’s his best shot at a result, Boots said, which is probably true, and if she delivers, great. But if she doesn’t, she is certain the observer’s report will demonstrate that it wasn’t the Seguridad’s procedures and policies that were at fault, but the lead investigator’s failure to follow them.
She’s his fail-safe and insurance policy. As she previously observed, the case is a live grenade, and Nikki’s job is to fall on it in order to protect everybody else from the explosion.