Chapter 18

“You saw her earlier in the day, and then she was gone?” Gatska asked, annoyed. He was tired of Blaithe Walters obvious attempts at obfuscation. He was using Queenie’s old office to conduct his Terra Harvest interviews, but was considering moving to a larger space. He felt cramped and restricted in the small room with conflicting decor and empty walls. This was the first interview.

“As I told you, Mr. Gatska: I checked in with my employee earlier in the day, and when I came to ascertain the reason for my questioning by corporate security, she was gone. She’d seemed perfectly calm earlier yesterday morning, I can’t tell you anything else.” Walters’s face was red and he was out of breath. Queenie’s office was small and the aftershave that Walters had overapplied that morning was starting to make Gatska feel nauseated.

“Look, Mr. Walters: I’m not trying to get you in trouble. I’m trying to find Amaya Queenie. You may think you’ve done a stand up job of protecting her, but I promise you that you’ve made it very clear to me that you aided her. Please, for your own sake and for the sake of my time; tell me when you saw Amaya Queenie last. Now.” The force in Gatska’s voice made Walters jump. He tightened his bow tie and huffed defensively.

“I must say, Mr. Gatska. I’ve never been anything but the most straightforward bloke you would have met. If I told you that she was gone when I went to find her, she was gone. Gone, gone, gone!” Walters said. He removed his glasses from his blushed and blemished face and began to polish the lenses. Gatska sighed.

“We’re going in circles here, Mr. Walters. I wasn’t trying to get you in trouble, but you’ve left me no choice. You have a single chance remaining here - tell me about your last interaction with Queenie, or I will apprehend you and you can tell your little story to a grand jury when you face indictment for obstruction.” This was it, Gatska could tell. Walters was breaking; he’d tell everything now. Walters shoulders sank as he exhaled a final shrug of resistance.

“Look, Mr. Gatska. I wasn’t trying to make any problems for anyone. Amaya had been a great employee and I felt kind of bad for her - seemed like everything was stacked against her, so I gave her a head start, alright? Happy?” Gatska tried to gauge the truthfulness of what Walters was saying. There was an element of honesty here, but Gatska could get more; could feel more.

“What do you mean, gave her a head start?” Gatska asked. He’d leaned forward in his chair and was intruding on Walters larger than normal personal bubble. Gatska could tell that Walters was peculiar about his personal space and had respected it until now, but with the truth so close to spilling, he opted to push a little harder. “Come on, Blaithe. You’re so close to not getting arrested here. Help me out.” Gatska clicked a pen anxiously in anticipation.

“I told her you were coming, yeah? I told her she had stepped in some shit and needed to get out before she caught the stink. Honest to god, that’s everything. I told her to get out of my department because I didn’t have time for people in trouble with the law.”

“And you did this because…?” Gatska led.

“Like I told you - Queenie was good people. She’d been late, like, once, and had never missed a deadline. Her copy writing wasn’t bad, either, being honest. Put some of the old-timers to shame. I’ve worked in holos for a decade, now, and she just had a feel for how the designs ought to look. Was really looking forward to her career, truth be told.” A look of sadness came of Walters as he recalled his employee. He was fond of her, Gatska could tell. Whatever she was, Queenie had a way with people - she’d charmed Walters, and Gatska sensed that Walters was not one to warm to others very easily.

Gatska’s mobile terminal pinged and he opened it to see a notification from Queenie’s residence building. They’d sent the video surveillance from Queenie’s hallway during the gunfight. He needed to watch this now - he’d get rid of Walters and pull the rest of the Terra Harvest folks in later.

Gatska dismissed Walters from the office, making sure to ping Walters’s terminal with follow up contact information for the event that Walters remembered any additional information. Gatska could have brought him in on obstruction, but that would only have poisoned the office against his efforts. He needed the authorities of Terra Harvest on his side - there was enough tension between the jurisdiction and the corpo fools as it was. No, Blaithe Walters and the rest of the Terra Harvest staff would be of more use to him if he stayed on their good side.

His terminal pinged as the AI companion on his terminal completed the video summary. Three subjects: Amaya Queenie, Alicia Mosely, Andre Ogaipin - firefight for approximately seven minutes, Ogaipin kills a Terra Harvest officer, suspects escape through an unseen back exit of Queenie’s apartment. Something clicked in Gatska, like a dog who suddenly catches a whiff of savory meat in the air. Cocking his head and looking at his hand terminal, Gatska realized that this was the last case of his career. This would be the case of his career.

He reached for his mobile terminal that he’d placed on Queenie’s desk and checked his calendar for the rest of the day. There were a couple of interviews slotted for his afternoon with some Terra Harvest personnel, but that would wait - they would be here again on Monday. They’d probably be relieved, even. Gatska had brought everyone back to the office on a Saturday and the air was charged with resentment. Sure, they’d be annoyed to have had to sit around for a couple of hours only to be released without questioning, but the relief of the liberation of the rest of their weekend would win out, Gatskawas sure.

No more time for bullshit at Terra Harvest - Gatska needed to get to Alicia Mosely’s apartment immediately. He summoned his driver over the phone while tapping the buttons on his terminal to requisition a forensics team to pick through Alicia Mosely’s space. A joint force of Terra Harvest and Jurisdiction investigators had done a thorough examination of Queenie’s space, but no one noticed that Mosely, Queenie’s neighbor, was also involved. Whatever advantage Queenie enjoyed and had used to escape the Terra Harvest folks was coming to an end; Gatska would find something in Alicia Mosely’s apartment and he would use it to capture Amaya Queenie.

Gatska used the trip over to the residence tower to organize his thoughts. Thanks to the video footage from the tower, he’d been able to put names to his suspects - one hundred percent more than the Terra Harvest team had been able to do. Knowing that the Terra Harvest team had never requisitioned the tower for the tape made his skin crawl; did they even want to see the footage? Did it even matter to them that they’d lost an operative? The differences between his own approach to the case and the bullish methods of Terra Harvest were striking. You’re still good at your job Vinny, don’t worry. Queenie, Mosely, Ogaipin; he needed profiles for all three. His administrative team was already working up what they could on Queenie, but Mosely and Ogaipin were new names. He clipped the AI summary on his mobile terminal and messaged it to the office. His assistant chatted a receipt of confirmation and Gatska took a breath of satisfaction. The pieces were revealing themselves - no more grasping at straws. No. Now, he was in a proper puzzle.

Names were good but he needed more. He had Queenie’s residence, Mosely’s residence, and a mysterious third party that was somehow involved. All three of them were in the clouds, and Ogaipin was the only one who Gatska did not have an address for. That left only a couple of options. Knowing that Queenie’s only surviving family was deceased, that meant that either Mosely had another residence or that Ogaipin was hiding them. Given the fact that Mosely had not, according to the residence tower, returned back to her apartment, Gatska figured that Mosely was his best lead. Ogaipin felt like a sudden transplant into Queenie and Mosely’s conspiracy. If Mosely hadn’t been involved, she would have come back to her apartment.

That was it. Gatska looked up from his terminal and out his passenger window triumphantly and took a deep breath. It was like when a kaleidoscope is blurry while spinning between images, but clarifies in the perfect point to reveal a colorful mosaic with everything in its right place. By god he had it. Mosely was hiding them somewhere. Find Mosely, find Queenie. He amended his requisition form to his admin team to solicit additional emphasis on Mosely’s family and locations of residence. I’ll find you, girls. Even if I have to do some good old fashioned police work.

The forensics team had already emptied the apartment, but something was itching in his prefrontal cortex - some might call it a hunch, but Gatska always considered it a detail he must have missed somewhere - Moseley had left something behind. He didn’t have any idea what it might have been, but the inventory of Mosely’s living and sleeping spaces made clear to him that she was a techy-hacker type, and those lot always kept things hidden away. Secret panels for their drugs or their outlawed electronics equipment stashes. The forensics team hadn’t reported finding such a haul, but it was hard to tell if that was lack of talent by the forensics team, surplus of talent by the suspect, or a middle point between the two.

Gatska’a hand terminal pinged and he looked at the display. A call from an unknown contact identifier, but carrying Terra Harvest executive credentials. For christ’s sake. Let me do my fucking job, will you? Terra Harvest was calling to check on his work. Fuck them. He almost let the call expire, but felt a sudden compulsion to answer right as the call was being forwarded to his answering service. He’d just found a lead, better not turn down another freebie if it was calling.

“Gatska,” he answered, his voice gruff.

“Vincent Gatska?” a young voice said. It sounded like one of his grand kids was calling to ask his plans for the upcoming holiday.

“The very one. Who’s this?” Gatska’s transport was arriving at Mosely and Queenie’s residence tower now.

“My name is Bernardo Ervins, I am the Chief of Security for Terra Harvest. I believe you and I should speak immediately to sync up on our investigations.”

“Ah. What happened to Morehouse? He was my contact, you should talk to him to get up to speed and then we’ll talk.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Morehouse has been terminated and is no longer available for provision of data to Terra Harvest. If, however, I could compel you to meet me at the Corporate Office on Skyreach, I’m sure we could -”

“Ervins, was it? I need you to understand something here. Your office conducted one of the most ill-planned raids that I’ve ever observed. That’s not an attempt to belittle you or your people, it’s a statement of fact. You will not be a part of this investigation because I want to keep my people alive and I want this case wrapped up neatly, professionally. Your office cannot do that, so I will not be involving you unless absolutely necessary. I will keep you abreast of relevant details to your office, but this case belongs to the Jurisdictional team of investigators. Are we clear?”

The line was silent. Gatska thought that Ervins might have ended the call. He looked at his hand terminal to confirm that the line was still live - the call timer continued ticking upward - Ervins was still there. Finally, Ervins summoned the courage to respond.

“While I respect your position, Mr. Gatska, my office needs to be intimately involved with this matter. Certain coalition members need to be positive that their interests are protected. If you are unwilling to consider the interests of the coalition in your investigation, I’m sure I can reach a more satisfactory compromise with your supervisor.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Ervins, I may have misunderstood you. Did you threaten an investigating officer of the Jurisdiction?” Gatska’s temper was beginning to flare. He felt his ears growing hot and his shoulder hurt where he carried his tension when angry. What does this dope think he’s doing? Gatska could bury this kid if he wanted to. He considered reminding Ervins of that fact when the kid responded again, his usual ten second delay between hearing what Gatska said and working up the courage to bark back.

“Why, yes. Wasn’t that clear? Let me be more transparent. If you fail to keep my office informed and included in your investigation, I will make sure you are pulled from this case and replaced with someone who will consider the benefits of working with the coalition.” Ervins was eerily measured in his response, the words devoid of emotion. Where did this confidence stem from? Gatska worried. Maybe there was more to Ervins than bluster. He’d need to be careful in how he dealt with this new face. New security officers like to make a big show of their position when take over, Gatska would expect a certain level of

“Mr. Ervins, I must respectfully deny your position. Your officers and office embarrassed themselves in the beginning stages of this investigation, and I worry that your involvement will hinder the genuine completion of the search and questioning of the involved parties.”

Less of a delay this time before Ervins came back.

“Are you certain that you appreciate your position, Detective? I, honestly, do not think you are in a position to deny this request, but if this is the way you would like to do things, so be it.”

Gatska’s watch beeped at him. Gatska glanced at the timepiece and noticed that his heart rate was elevated to 110 beats per minute, had been for several minutes now. Chill out, it seemed to mock him. Conversations like this always made Gatska’s blood boil. Politics over authority on a case never interested Gatska; he did his best work in the trenches, not in the office kissing ass. No, Gatska wasn’t a schmoozer, he was a workhorse, and his superiors knew it. He’d been pushed around on cases like this one before, so he was sure he could expect a call from tight faced Eliel, he would need to think about what to say when he got the call. The captain had been explicit in his instructions - help Terra Harvest, and Gatskawas making an overt decision to disregard.

“Captain Ervins - for the last time: I understand where you come from, but in the interest of procedure and integrity of the investigation, I will wait until I am compelled to assist you any further.” Gatska liked the way that sounded. It gave him some plausible deniability about delaying Terra Harvest’s involvement, and it was his principal point in this argument - y’all fucked things up, I’m not involving you until my boss tells me to.

“That is… disappointing, Mr. Gatska. We’ll be in touch.”

No delay this time. The call ended.

Gatska shivered, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d stepped in a nest of man-eating rats. He opened the door of his transport and stepped out onto the docking bay on the top of the residence tower. Grit, carried in the wind, dusted against his sunglasses. He tightened his coat against the gust and walked toward the elevator to descend to his suspects’ apartments.

As he neared the elevator, the local frequency radio in his hand terminal blared to life from his coat pocket. At first, he was annoyed. He hated this feature of his Jurisdiction-Issue terminal. Cops didn’t talk on the radio anymore, not even on the local bands anymore, unless; his blood cooled and his jaw tightened as he listened to the repeated shouts of the voice playing through his terminal speaker:

“Shots fired, shots fired, level 248, that’s 2-4-8, Longwood Industrial Residential and Corporate Tower…”