I let out a long yawn as I walked toward Phoebe’s house. God, I was so tired and I could really use some shut-eye. But there was work to be done and I could sleep when the investigation was over. The closer I got to Phoebe’s home, the thicker the crowd became. A mixture of concerned and gossipy onlookers had crowded the walkway, trying their best to figure out what was going on at Phoebe’s house. I pushed my way to the front of the crowd; one of the three security guards standing in front of Phoebe’s house walked toward me. I presented my badge to him to let him know that I was not a nosy onlooker. “Tell me; has anyone tried to leave or get into the house at all?” I asked.
The security guard shrugged his shoulders. “The suspect tried to leave, but now she’s boarded herself up in her room.” Suddenly, a loud crashing noise came from Phoebe’s home. It sounded like glasses had shattered onto the floor. Followed by the sound of the glass shattering came an intense shouting match. I couldn’t understand what was being said because the entire conversation was in Martian.
“Stay out here and don’t come in unless I call you guys!” I shouted before I walked into Phoebe’s home. Inside, Hellen was picking up tiny fragmented pieces of glass from the floor. Hellen dropped the pieces of glass into the wash bucket behind her, then she pulled me toward the quilt that was blocking off the other half of their home. I looked at the quilt in front of the room that Phoebe was in; she had pushed what looked like two tall dressers in front of the quilt and had placed two small chairs on top of it for extra protection. It was no matter; she couldn’t go anywhere and when I was ready, I’d ask the guys to come inside and help tear down her little barricade.
“Phoebe, that nice young lady from earlier is back. Just come out and talk with her. I’m sure she can help you if you just talk.”
Phoebe pulled a portion of the quilt back. I could see a little bit of her face. “Phoebe, I’m going to give you a second chance to tell me what you did with the rings.”
“I have nothing to say to you!”
I chuckled. “That’s funny, because your friend Cole had a lot to say about you!”
“What did he say?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.
“He said that he would never ever talk to a green girl like you. He said that he believes in the natural order and I caught him hanging out at an anti-Martian rally last night.”
Phoebe let go of the quilt, fell to the floor with a thud, and then let out a few rapid breaths before she started sobbing.
“There’s no use crying, Phoebe. The jig is up. You got nowhere to go and your partner in crime is trying his best to distance himself from you.”
Phoebe held back her sobbing for a moment. “Cole would never say those things about me.”
“Well, he did! Phoebe, telling me the truth and letting me know where the rings are would be in your best interest. It’s obvious that you did all of the work in this operation. I’m sure that if Cole confesses before you do, all of the charges will be thrown on you and not him. Even though Cole is your partner, do you think they are going to press any charges at all on a human who believes in the natural order and is also a part of the anti-Martian movement? Absolutely not! Everything will fall on you and he will walk away scot-free! I’m the only one on this ship who is trying to help you! So let me help you, Phoebe. Please!” As Phoebe continued to cry, I started to push the heavy dresser forward; the chair that was clumsily placed on top of it fell onto the floor in Phoebe’s room.
“No, you can’t come in here!” she shrieked as she tried to push the thick dresser back in place.
“I need some help in here!” I cried out. Two of the security officers who were stationed outside of the house came inside. “Help me push this furniture out of the way.” The two officers pushed the quilt aside and, with their combined strength, they were able to shove the dresser and chair over into Phoebe’s room. I climbed over the dresser and into the room. The one bed that was in the room was flipped over on its side, a brown suitcase was in front of it, and several articles of clothing and a few other personal belongings had been shoved into the suitcase. Looked like I made it here just in time; Phoebe was obviously packing her bags. Maybe she was going to try and escape from the ship. How she planned on doing this with the ship on lockdown was beyond me, but maybe she had some sort of getaway plan just in case she got caught. It looked like my untimely visit had changed all of that.
I walked over to Phoebe; she kept shaking her head back and forth and she had a long trail of dry tears leading all the way to the bottom of her blouse. “Why, why would he say those things about me?”
I gave Phoebe my hand so I could help her up. “Come on. Let’s go upstairs and try to sort this out. You can tell me everything.” Phoebe pushed my hand away. Okay I’m done being nice. I turned to the two security officers. “Escort her upstairs to the security floor.” The two guards grabbed Phoebe by the arms, and I stepped out of the way as the three of them climbed over the dresser and out of the room. Before I stepped out of the room, I flicked down the light switch on the wall next to the quilt. Several thin beams of white light came shooting out of the suitcase in front of Phoebe’s bed. No, it couldn’t be. I dove into the suitcase; as I pulled away more pieces of clothing, the beams of light became larger. Finally, after I reached the bottom of the suitcase, I found an orange day dress. In the pocket of the dress was the source of the light; it was a small pearl.
“Someone turn the light on in here please.” The light in Phoebe’s room turned back on and the pearl’s color changed to red. There was no doubt about it; this pearl was exactly like the one that I found at the scene of the crime earlier! I dropped the pearl into my purse. Hellen stood off to the side by herself looking completely and utterly dejected as her only daughter was escorted out of their home.
I decided to hold Phoebe in one of the empty rooms in the third hallway where the robbery occurred. I thought that maybe seeing her handiwork would help to jog her memory. I also thought that maybe if she looked at the actual footage of the robbery as well, that could be of some help when I questioned her. There were video monitors in the room I left her in that could play data discs. So I grabbed a data disc from the supply closet, shoved it into the data disc slot on the side of the monitor, and began transferring the video footage from the monitor onto the data disc. I pressed the palms of my hands into my eyes. I just wanted to go to bed right now; I wished I didn’t have to do so much prep work for this interrogation with Phoebe. Prep work, prep work—why didn’t I think about this before! I was sure that either both Phoebe and Cole or one of the two by themselves had to so some form of prep work in order for things to go smoothly. Cole leaving the note inside the flowerpot was a form of prep work. I wondered how on earth they managed to get that smoke to come out of the ventilation shaft? Whatever it was that they did, they had to have done some sort of prep work either the day before or maybe days before the robbery itself. If I could find this footage, I could prove all the more that Cole and Phoebe were the ones behind this operation—and not Mimas!
My eyes were so heavy that I could barely keep them open. I thought I’d look at some footage just to kill the time while I waited for my data disc to be completed. I booted up the monitor next to me, set the time on the monitor for the day before the robbery, and started to view the footage at 8 a.m. I figured that would be a nice place to start and maybe I could work my way backward. After viewing about an hour’s worth of footage, I was ready to call it quits, my data disc was complete, and I was too tired to concentrate. Just as I was getting ready to turn off the monitor, Phoebe showed up. She came bustling around the corner at 9 a.m. with a duster in one hand and a bucket in the other. For some odd reason she didn’t have on her workers uniform. Phoebe had on a gray polka-dot day dress with black flats. She knelt down in front of the vent at the bottom of the floor. I couldn’t see what she was doing because her back was to the camera. While Phoebe was in the middle of doing whatever she was to the vents, she was interrupted by a young man wearing a janitor’s outfit just like she was. The two exchanged a few pleasantries before Phoebe handed her bucket over to the guy she had been talking to. After Phoebe left, the young man knelt down in front of the vent. Just like Phoebe, he kept his back to the camera. His shoulders hunched up and down several times, then a light whiff of what looked like purple smoke appeared over his shoulder. He swatted away at the smoke until it had disappeared completely. The young man did a quick survey to see if anyone had seen the smoke; no one had noticed and once he felt safe again, he went back to work. For the next hour, I watched as this young man carefully kept his back toward the camera, hunching his shoulders and placing whatever he had in that bucket into each vent on all three floors. I needed to know who this guy was.
I paused the camera footage, then I pushed my chair out into the hallway; a small group of officers were passing by my door. “Excuse me; I need help with identifying a worker here on this screen. Could you help me please?” One of the security officers, a woman with blonde hair, stepped into the room. “Can you tell me who this guy is?”
The girl giggled. “Oh, that guy. That’s Jo, Mr. Hayate’s nephew. He’s the cutest guy on this ship!” Mr. Hayate’s nephew. You have got to be kidding me right now! “Oh, and by the way, yes, he does have a girlfriend, so don’t even try to go after him.”
Another officer, a short girl with fluffy brown hair, said, “Don’t forget the other woman in his life. His hover bike.” The two girls laughed to themselves in the doorway while I tried to collect my thoughts. “Do you need to know anything else?”
“No. And thank you for your help, ladies.” I didn’t know if things could get any worse right now. I had two suspects who refused to talk and a possible third suspect who was also related to the chief of security. The data disc popped out of the side of the monitor. I dropped the disc into my purse, then massaged the bags under my eyes. There was nothing I could do right now; the best thing I could do for myself was to head back to the room and get some shut-eye. I could wake up tomorrow with a clear head and come up with a strategy on how I was going to handle this entire situation.
* * *
It was amazing how a little bit of rest, a delicious breakfast, and a steaming hot cup of coffee could recharge your body. I felt like a totally new person who could take on any challenges. I made sure to leave my room before both Wendy and Anthe woke up. I wanted to get a head start on things today and there was no way I could do that if I had to deal with them asking me questions before I left. I also made sure to wear a pair of flat-dress shoes. Who knew if I’d have to run a suspect or two down today and the last thing I wanted to worry about was whether or not I could catch the culprit because I was wearing a pair of heels that I couldn’t run in. The shoes I had on were a really light shade of green and they matched perfectly with my green dress, which was covered with pink poppy flowers. My favorite part of this dress was the silky green belt that had a bow on the side with two long tails that stopped at the bottom part of my dress. Of course, my purse, gloves, and cat eyeglasses were the same shade of green as my shoes. Before the elevator dropped me off onto the security floor, I pulled out my compact mirror just so I could take a quick glance at myself. The pink lipstick that I applied to my lips matched the peonies on my dress. God, I look fabulous today, I said to myself before I dropped the mirror back into my purse.
My first task of the day was to send a private message to Pallene and give her a quick summary of what happened the day before. As luck would have it, Carol was dragging herself through the door with a cup of coffee in her hand right after I sent the message to Pallene. “Good morning, Carol! I hate to bother you so early in the morning, but could you give me Mr. Hayate’s address please?”
Carol slowly brought her cup of coffee to her lips. She took two sips and said, “Oh, he stays in house 101 in Greip Gardens. That’s the name of the employee quarters on level B. You’ve got to go all the way to the back of level B to reach it.”
“Thanks so much, Carol.” I swung my purse over my shoulder and skipped out the door. I still wanted to question Phoebe, but I really wanted to get to Mr. Hayate’s nephew Jo as soon as possible.
Just like Carol said, Greip Gardens was all the way at the far end of level B just behind the last line of gift shops. Greip Gardens was surrounded by a white gate that had brightly colored flowers peeking out of the bottom of it. I rubbed my fingers across a yellow daisy; the flowers were made out of plastic. I guessed if I worked here and had to look at pools of water, gift shops, blue palm trees, and bars all day, I didn’t think I could stand to look at the color blue once I came home for the day.
The living quarters were mostly comprised of buildings that looked like apartment complexes. Each had only a little lawn with a few plastic flowers sprinkled here and there. I passed a house with two floors, a tiny garage, and a small lawn. I watched as a man in a white suit riding on a hover bike pulled up into the house’s driveway. Across the street from me, a small group of workers were walking toward one of the apartment complexes. They were dragging their feet and looked like they had been working all night long. These houses had to be for supervisors and people of importance, while everyone else lived in apartment complexes. I quickly flagged the man in the white suit down before he went inside. “Excuse me; I’m looking for house 101.”
The man in the white suit smiled and said, “Oh, Jinsei’s house is at the end of this street and then to your right.” I guessed Jinsei was Mr. Hayate’s first name.
“Thank you!” As I walked past the various apartment buildings, which looked like they were up to date with every luxury imaginable, all I could think about were the low-hanging wires, the houses made out of scrap metal, and the dark corners that the Martian workers lived in.
Just like every other house that I passed along the way, Mr. Hayate’s was a basic two-story, but he had no plastic flowers on his lawn. I knocked on the door twice. The door swung open and, to my surprise, Kari was standing in the doorway in a light gray dress and a white apron. “Kari! It’s so good to see you again!” I said as I reached out to hug her.
Kari brushed my hands aside. “Ma’am, how can I help you?” she asked in a calm, monotone voice. What was that for? Did I manage to do something to anger her and not know it? Maybe we could talk about it later. For now, I’d just go with the flow.
“Yes, I’m here to see Jo Hayate. Is he here?”
Kari pulled the door open for me. “Come right this way please.” I quietly followed behind Kari. She led me to a small living room decorated with green furniture. Sitting calmly with his legs crossed on a green couch and a pipe hanging out of the corner of his mouth was Mr. Hayate. His nephew Jo was sitting on a green armchair; he had on a white shirt tucked into his faded blue jeans. His black boots were propped up on a coffee table in front of him and he was twirling a black cigarette with a gold tip at the end. Jo had the small box of cigarettes tucked away into the sleeve of his white shirt. I instantly recognized the brand of cigarettes that were in his shirtsleeve; those were Stellar Sticks. They were really popular with young kids right now and all of the smokers in my class only bought Stellar Sticks because they looked so stylish. Never mind the fact that the products inside were still the same and just as deadly as any other brand of cigarettes.
Mr. Hayate let out a puff of white smoke from his pipe. “Ahh yes, Miss Caprica. How good of you to stop by this morning. Please have a seat.” I sat down on the couch next to Mr. Hayate. He was awfully calm, considering that I’d come here unannounced and it was so early in the morning. That didn’t matter; for now, I needed to stick with the task at hand.
“So you’re the little cutie pie who’s been giving my Uncle Jinsei a hard time.” I looked over at Jo; he seemed so smug and full of himself. I guess I would be too if my uncle could protect me from getting in trouble.
Jo’s hairstyle was pretty interesting; the majority of his hair was swept up into two giant black spiraling coils that collided with each other in the middle of his forehead. He licked the tip of his index finger, then he twirled it around the four curly strands of hair that were lying on his forehead. “The name’s Josuke, but you can call me Jo. All of my friends do,” he said, then he gave me a not-so-subtle wink.
I literally had it up to here with people calling me sweetheart, cute, or anything else but my actual name when I talked to them about anything. “Well, Jo, since you know who I am, I’m not going to waste your time. Let me get straight to the point. I want to ask you a few questions. The day before the robbery took place, I noticed that one of your co-workers, Phoebe, had started cleaning the air vents on the security room floor. But you took her place and started cleaning them. I want to know why.”
Jo slid his Stellar Stick cigarette into his mouth. “Kari, can you light this for me please?” Kari quietly shuffled over with a lighter in her hand and lit the cigarette. How lazy can you get? Jo took in a long draw on his cigarette. “I switched places with Phoebe ’cause I know she works two jobs and she was probably already tired from doing that. The last thing she would want to do is clean the vents all day long.”
Oh, so he was doing her a favor; that was his story. “Okay, then. Well, the day of the robbery, thick clouds of purple smoke came out from the air vents and that stopped the culprit from being seen on the cameras. While you were cleaning the first vent, a puff of purple smoke appeared over your shoulder. You tried to wipe the smoke away and you looked a little nervous while doing so. Tell me, where did that smoke come from?”
Jo puckered his lips together, then he blew out two white rings of smoke. He looked over at Kari and said, “Can you bring that canister in here please?” Kari came back into the room with a black canister that had a green nozzle on top of it. “Go ahead, Kari,” Jo said. Kari pressed down on the nozzle; a purple and a light purple mist came from out of it. A strong bleach-like scent started to burn the edge of my nostrils. I rubbed my nose from side to side to help make the burning sensation go away. “That chemical that’s burning your nose right now is what I used to clean the vents. It makes wiping up dust and anything else in the vents easier. It’s a really harsh chemical and that was why I was swatting it away. I accidentally sprayed some near my face.”
Kari handed the black canister to me; a silver label with the words Dust Be Gone was written on it, along with a tiny warning at the bottom saying that you should keep the spray away from your eyes and face.
“I had a feeling that maybe you would mistake the purple haze that came from the canister for what came out of the vents during the robbery, so I decided to keep a can here at the house just in case you decided to come here and question my nephew,” Mr. Hayate said.
I handed the canister back to Kari. She turned to Mr. Hayate. “Excuse me, sir, but I need to get the mail. Do you need anything else?”
Mr. Hayate waved his hand. “You’re excused, Kari.” Kari left the room with the canister pressed to her stomach. I didn’t like this. This whole setup was way too convenient. I still didn’t think it was an accident that Jo had switched jobs with Phoebe or that the same spray he used to clean the vents was the same color as the smoke that came out of the vents the day of the robbery. Plus, the both of them were so calm, having a little smoke in their living room on their comfy couches…in fact, neither one of them seemed surprised that I came by. They halfway kind of looked like they were waiting for me to arrive, like they knew that I was coming. Honestly, everything from what Jo had to say to Kari spraying that can of Dust Be Gone seemed really rehearsed to me.
“Well, tell me this, Jo. Where were you the day of the robbery?”
Jo gently tapped his cigarette on an ashtray at the edge of the coffee table. “I was off that day and I was hanging out with my friend Kazuma at his place. He lives in house number 55.” I’d have to check out this alibi of his.
“Well, Miss Caprica, do you have any more questions?” I really didn’t have any more questions for Jo, plus I knew that his uncle was sitting here like a guard dog trying to protect him. I needed to find more evidence that linked Jo to the crime. That way, I could bring him in for questioning and maybe if I got him alone by myself without his uncle to protect him, he would crack under pressure and tell me what I wanted to know.
“No, that will be all.”
Kari walked back into the living room with a few envelopes in her hands.
“Kari will show you out, Miss Caprica.” Kari handed a small stack of envelopes to Mr. Hayate before she led me out of the living room. As Kari was opening the door for me, she reached into the pocket of her apron and pushed a folded envelope into the palm of my hand.
“Please go; hurry,” she whispered so softly that I barely heard it. I stuffed the folded envelope into my purse. I waited until I was a safe enough distance to look at the envelope. Kari had written a message for me on the back of the envelope. “Just know that everything you do, say, or ask for is being reported back to Hayate. Check inside this envelope. It should help you with your investigation.” I flipped the envelope over; it was addressed to Jo, and the letter came from Omron Collection Agency. I ripped the envelope open. Instantly, the words “late payment due immediately” and “please respond as soon as possible” came into focus. I flipped the paper over; on the back was an invoice listing all of Jo’s debts from past due payments on a flying saucer, overdue rent, and past due payments on several charge cards. The total amount for his debt came to sixty thousand space credits! On top of all of that, he was coming up on a deadline; the total amount was due by next week or else he was going to have to go to court! If I were in that much debt, I would do whatever I could to get it off of me as soon as possible. Maybe even steal some jewelry that would pay off my own debt and maybe give me some left over for myself. I thought that Kari suspected Jo just as much as I did and, on top of that, she knew why he would steal the rings. I had to do whatever I could to find a connection between Jo and the robbery!