The Ethics of Silence by C. J. Nash

Author:C. J. Nash [Nash, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kingston Publishing Company
Published: 2021-06-23T22:00:00+00:00

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“Please call me Lisa,” said Mrs. Echols, after being introduced to Mason.

“And you can call me Mason. I assume you know why I’m here?”

“Yes. But what can I tell you that you don’t already know? Are you going to ask me where I was on the night of my husband’s murder?”

“A week ago, I would have; I have since been educated. You can tell me what happened when you returned home the morning after your husband’s death. About what time did you return?”

“I think it was around ten. I don’t know exactly, but around ten.”

Mason turned to Janet. “Is that a normal time to come home after The Day of Secrets?”

Janet shrugged. “Maybe. It depends. If I were to spend the night with a married man, I would definitely want to leave before his wife got home. But his wife would probably make sure she didn’t come home too early just in case I overslept. Hopefully, we would both do whatever was necessary to avoid embarrassment.”

Turning back to Lisa, Mason asked, “Okay, you arrived at your house around ten. Were you alone?”

“Yes. I have two girls, but they had a play date at a friend’s house. Her mother picked them up at the farm.”

“Was there anything unusual when you got there?”

“I didn’t notice anything until I opened the door. That’s when I smelled the blood. I called Miss Edwards and told her…No. I went into the bedroom and saw him. He was dead. That’s when I called Janet.”

“You didn’t call Janet before you saw your husband’s body?”

“No. Of course, not. Why would I?”

“How did you know that he was dead? Did you check his pulse?”

“He wasn’t breathing.”

“So you called Janet. Why did you call Janet?”

“Who else would I call? My husband was dead. I figured that the governor’s office would know what to do.”

“Did you see the stab wound? Or was his shirt covering it?”

“There was blood on his shirt. But he wasn’t breathing. I could tell that he was dead. I had to call somebody. I called Janet because she would know what to do.”

“And she called Dr. Norton?”

“I think so. Yes. She did call him.”

“And he came right away?”

“I don’t know. Janet called my friend, Patrice. She and another of my friends came and took me to Patrice’s apartment. I haven’t been back inside that apartment since.”

“But you got your clothes.”

“Janet got our clothes for us.”

“And your husband wasn’t breathing?”

“I told you that.”

“You didn’t spend the night with your husband?”

“That’s a ridiculous question. That is the one place I would not be on The Day of Secrets.”

“Because…”

“Because…Because…Shit! You don’t know anything about the colonists. The Day of Secrets isn’t a perfect solution to our genetic diversity problem, but it is better than nothing. Husbands and wives do not spend the Day of Secrets together.”

“So, you didn’t spend the night with your husband?”

“The answer is no.”

“Do you have an alibi for that night?”

“Nobody has an alibi for that night. It’s The Day of Secrets. Ask Janet if she has an alibi.

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