Flatlander - Larry Niven [132]
“It’d still be a very rough practical joke. Chris might have brought his own enemies from the Belt. Either of the two could know enough programming to steal a message laser.”
Boone was nodding. “They’re living like a married couple. They must have known each other for some time.”
I grinned at him. “They’re not lunies, Boone. I just don’t know. There are two other Belters on the committee. They could have had something against him …”
Naomi had a thoughtful, puzzled look. I assumed she was confused, not following our line of thought. I hardly noticed when she went to the phone.
“This case does have its traditional elements,” I said. “What time is it in Los Angeles?”
“I have no idea,” Boone said.
“I should call Luke Garner. He’s got a tape library of old mysteries. He’d love this. Dying messages, locked rooms, tricks with mirrors.”
“We don’t have to produce a killer, you know. That’s for the police. Now that we know how the mirror trick was worked, we can clear Mrs. Mitchison.”
“Boone, I get edgy when I’ve solved two-thirds of a puzzle. That’s the time when you can get killed.”
Naomi tapped at the keys. Hologram head-and-shoulder portraits appeared in a quartered screen. I stepped behind her for a better look. A woman I’d never seen before … and Chris Penzler … and Mayor Watson …
The door announcer said, “Mayor Watson speaking. I’d like to talk to Mr. Hamilton if he’s still there. May I come in?”
“Chiron, door open,” Naomi said without looking up. Then, “No-”
I looked around as Hove came in. He came in fast. “Close the door,” he told Naomi. He was carrying a police message laser.
I went for my gun. ARMs carry a tiny two-shot hand weapon at all times. It fires a cloud of anesthetic needles. I’d turned it in on arrival, of course. If that first reflexive move hadn’t slowed me, maybe I could have done something.
Boone, half reclining in a web chair, hadn’t had a chance to move at all. Now he raised his hands. So did I.
Naomi said, “I should have thought. I just … futz!”
The mayor told her, “Close the door or I’ll kill you.”
Naomi called the door closed.
“Good enough,” Hove said, and he slumped a little. “I’m not sure what to do next. Perhaps you can help me with my problem. If I kill all of you, what are my chances of getting away with it?”
Boone smiled slowly. “Speaking as your lawyer …”
“Please,” the mayor said. The little glass lens in the end of the gun wavered about, pointing at us all. He could chop us all up before we could do more than twitch. How had he slipped it past the cop? “If you don’t speak, I’ll kill you. If I catch you in a lie, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”
Boone said, “Consider the political repercussions of three more murders. You’ll destroy Hovestraydt City.”
I saw it in Hove’s face: that shot drew blood. But he said, “You’re in a position to convict the mayor of murdering a Belt politician. How would that affect the city? I can’t allow it. Gil, why did the killer have to be a resident?”
“We’re talking about the bathtub attack, remember. Chris saw the killer too close. That makes him tall. It took a resident to borrow the facilities in the mirror works and know how to use them. He also had to futz with the city computer. A lot of residents seem to be good at that.” And the mayor, I thought suddenly, would have to be even better.
“So you know about the mirror. Can you tell me how Chris was able to see me? I wasn’t fool enough to leave the room lights on while I waited for him to stand up.”
“Huh. You weren’t?” I thought about it. “Oh. His lights were on. You were lighted by the mirror.”
He nodded. “That’s bothered me ever since. Was it me you suspected?”
“I’m flabbergasted. Hove, why?” And then I saw why, out of the corner of my eye, on Naomi’s phone screen.
Hove seemed almost disinterested. “Twice he came to the moon to meddle in our internal affairs. First to impose the holding tanks on us, then to criticize the way we use them. Never mind. Can you think of any way in which the police can trace me? Without your help, of course.”
“The guard at the door?”
“He didn