Flatlander - Larry Niven [131]
I turned to Naomi, who was looking bewildered. “What all of this means is that the murder attempt happened here in this room. Boone, have you had a chance—”
He shook his head. “Nothing odd here at all. These rooms are kept clean by automatics. I expect we won’t find anything. Gil, the problem is that any citizen of Hovestraydt City could use some corner of the mirror works without being noticed. We even let Boy Scout troops run projects there.”
“I know. Too many suspects.”
“There ought to be some way to narrow it down.”
“How am I fixed for lawsuits?”
“Nonsense. You’re an ARM trying to solve a murder. I’m a lawyer in conference with my client.”
“I’d like to know more about Chris’s love life,” I said. “Naomi—”
“He made a pass at me. Rather crude,” she said.
“Would he want to sleep with a lunie woman?”
“That I don’t know. Some men like variety. Itch did.”
So did I. Futz. So try the phone—
Laura was busy. I got her by belt phone, voice only. “Gil? I couldn’t make it last night. I’m short of sleep now. It was the Penzler case.”
“No sweat. I was playing detective. I’m playing detective now. Do you know anything about Chris Penzler’s taste in women? Even by hearsay?”
“Mmm. Hearsay, maybe. Do you remember the prosecution attorney from Naomi Mitchison’s trial?”
The elf woman. Face of cold perfection. “I remember.”
“Caroline’s fiancé got drunk with some friends and was going to go looking for Penzler. They had to talk him out of it. That’s all I know. It might have nothing to do with Caroline at all. He never said.”
“Anything else?”
“Nothing I can think of.”
“Thanks. When can I call you back?”
“I’m off duty at noon, with luck. But I need sleep, Gil.”
“Sometime this evening?”
“Good.”
I called off the phone. I thought hard. Then I called the mayor’s office.
“Mr. Hamilton.” I wasn’t Gil anymore, not since yesterday’s power play. “You’ll find that Naomi Mitchison is out of the holding tank and has been returned here.”
“I’m with her now. She’s got a few parts missing; did you know that? Missing and replaced.”
“I was told,” Hove said. “I won’t take responsibility for that. I can guess what your attitude will be. Is that why you called?”
“No. Right now I’m more concerned with keeping her out of the holding tank. Hove, you’re a politician; you have to deal with all kinds of people. Do you happen to know if Chris Penzler was attracted to lunie women?”
He stiffened a little. “I presume he wouldn’t show it. An offworld diplomat wouldn’t jeopardize his position in such a fashion.”
Was Hove that naive? “We know damn well he offended somebody, Hove, and we’ve got good reason to think it was a citizen of Hovestraydt City. You were here twenty years ago, weren’t you? And so was Penzler. Did you hear any rumors then? Were there complaints that had to be settled quietly? Or … yeah. Did he make regular trips to the Belt Trading Post, that stopped suddenly?”
“I know the place you mean,” Hove said reluctantly. “Aphrodite’s. They don’t keep records. I can look up records of puffer rentals from twenty years ago if it’s important to you.”
“Good. It is.”
“Gil, why do you think a local man killed Chris?”
“Nobody else could have made the … Mayor, it’s too easy to plug into the phone system.”
“I’ll get you your data,” Hove said, and called off.
Boone and Naomi were both looking at me. I said, “If Chris had an affair with a lunie woman, she might be annoyed when he went off with someone else. Lunie customs are funny.”
“Flatlander customs are funny,” Boone corrected me, “but you may be right. Who?”
“Oh, it’s just a possible situation.” I got up to pace. I was going to hate it if it was Laura. “Here’s another. I know a couple of newstapers who might commit a practical joke for kicks and news value. The Belter arrived early; she came to meet our ship. Maybe she had time to make the mirror and place it. She could pass for a lunie. Her torso painting is a naked lady.”
“Didn’t they actually save Penzler’s