EMPIRE: Resistance by Richard F. Weyand

Author:Richard F. Weyand [Weyand, Richard F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-31T22:00:00+00:00

We may have a runner.

Don’t let anybody out.

Lethal force authorized.

“Anybody new in the palace? New staff, visitors today, anything like that?”

“No, sir. We have the normal tours of the Throne Room and such, but those are in the morning and they were done for the day. All the tour visitors were accounted for.”

“Any other doors into this room? Dumbwaiter? Secret passage? Anything like that?”

“No, sir.”

“OK. Thanks.”

“Yes, sir.”

Grinsby waited in the hallway while the forensic team worked the room. No sense getting in their way or mucking up the evidence. Let them do their job first. He could always look around once they were done. The team lead came out to him after about fifteen minutes.

“Not much here, Inspector. One male, approximately sixty years old, deceased. Time of death was approximately ninety minutes ago. No evidence of gun powder debris on the floor anywhere. No visible wounds on the body. Facial expression of the deceased looks angry more than frightened or in pain. Operational VR suppressor in his shirt pocket. It was turned on and still working. Almost a full charge, in fact. No trace chemicals in the air or on his breath. We’ve taken blood samples from the corpse. It’s pretty clean. Looks like natural causes so far.”

Grinsby grunted.

“I’m told the suspicion is murder, and we’ll keep treating it as a murder investigation. We’re going to have Dr. Braun do the autopsy.”

That got a raised eyebrow from the forensics team lead. Gerhard Braun was the top forensic pathologist on Phalia.

“Hey, when Director Godwin calls me direct and says do a number-one job, that’s what I do.”

“Fair enough, Inspector. You’re OK to go in and look around. Then they’ll transport the body. Meantime, we’re going to start looking for that transmitter.”

“Thanks.”

Grinsby walked in and looked around. Body slumped there in the chair. Yeah, he looked pissed. Other than that, there was nothing out of place, no signs of violence, no marks on the body other than the forensic blood draw. He walked over and looked at the windows. All the ones that opened were locked on the inside. All the windows were intact. No holes or missing pieces in the glass.

There was shouting outside, then a single gunshot. The message came over VR.

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