Vigilantes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Author:Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: mystery, aliens, law, SF
Publisher: WMG Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2015-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

NYQUIST STEPPED OUT of DeRicci’s office, only to find Flint’s daughter Talia sitting at Popova’s desk. Talia still looked odd: cheeks red, eyes red, hair a mess, as if she no longer cared about her appearance at all.

“Hi,” he said, deciding to pretend he hadn’t noticed. “I was looking for Rudra.”

“She’s getting the food before the guards below completely mess it up.” Talia’s voice was hoarse.

Nyquist hovered near the desk for a moment. He wasn’t sure what to do. He needed to talk with Popova about the translation of Legal Fiction, but he didn’t want to do that while Talia was here.

He almost asked if Talia could get the food, but he was certain that Popova had already considered that.

He glanced at the elevator doors, as if they would open and he would miraculously be rescued.

“It’s okay,” Talia said. “I’ll tell her you left.”

Nyquist shook his head. “I need to talk with her.”

“Oh.” Talia spoke as if the idea of talking to Popova was a revelation. “I’ll go…somewhere else.”

“Wait until we’ve eaten,” Nyquist said. The sentence sounded fatuous and parental and all the things that he was not. Or at least he hoped he wasn’t. “She’s not even here yet.”

He wanted to ask Talia why she was here and not with her father. He wanted to ask why she looked so bad. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but knew better, because he really didn’t want to know.

As he hovered, Wilma Goudkins appeared at the end of the hallway. She spoke over her shoulder to someone behind her, probably Lawrence Ostaka. Sure enough, Ostaka appeared just as Nyquist thought his name.

Goudkins and Ostaka were the Earth Alliance investigators sent by the Earth Alliance Security Division to help investigate Anniversary Day. They’d both been here for the Peyti Crisis. Goudkins had proven useful. Ostaka less so.

Goudkins nodded at Nyquist as she approached. She was a tall woman who had worn her wedge-cut black hair with highlights matched her clothing—at least when she arrived a few weeks ago. Now her highlights were fading and the wedge cut needed a trim. Her fingernails were ragged, and her clothing wasn’t nearly as perfect as it had been when Nyquist met her.

Ostaka looked the same. A middle-aged man with some gray, he had a bit of fat around his stomach that he apparently didn’t feel like removing. His clothing was rumpled, but it had been rumpled when he first arrived.

Unlike everyone else in the office, he seemed unruffled by the various crises going on around them, as if they didn’t touch him personally. Perhaps that was why he had been sent along with Goudkins, because he was one of those personality types who couldn’t be bothered with messy emotions.

Goudkins was a dicey choice for investigator, in Nyquist’s opinion. She had lost a sister on the Moon on Anniversary Day. While that made Goudkins care, it also put her on par with the investigators here instead of giving her the distance that Earth Alliance investigators often needed.

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