Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey [45]
Miller sipped his beer and nodded toward his terminal.
“So this one isn’t yours?”
“No. He isn’t.”
Miller nodded and put the terminal back in his pocket. Oddly, he believed the man. He didn’t hold himself like a thug. The bravado wasn’t there. The sense of trying to impress the world. No, this man was certain and amused and, underneath it all, profoundly tired. Miller had known soldiers like that, but not criminals.
“One other thing,” Miller said. “I’m looking for someone.”
“Another investigation?”
“Not exactly, no. Juliette Andromeda Mao. Goes by Julie.”
“Should I know the name?”
“She’s OPA,” Miller said with a shrug.
“Do you know everyone in Star Helix?” the man said, and when Miller didn’t answer, he added, “We are considerably larger than your corporation.”
“Fair point,” Miller said. “But if you could keep an ear out, I’d appreciate it.”
“I don’t know that you’re in a position to expect favors.”
“No harm asking.”
The pock-faced man chuckled, put a hand on Miller’s shoulder.
“Don’t come back here, Detective,” he said, and walked away into the crowd.
Miller took another drink of his beer, frowning. An uncomfortable feeling of having made the wrong step fidgeted in the back of his mind. He’d been sure that the OPA was making a move on Ceres, capitalizing on the death of the water hauler and the Belt’s uptick in fear and hatred of the inner planets. But how did that fit with Julie Mao’s father and his suspiciously well-timed anxiety? Or the disappearance of Ceres Station’s supply of usual suspects in the first place? Thinking about it was like watching a video that was just out of focus. The sense of it was almost there, but only almost.
“Too many dots,” Miller said. “Not enough lines.”
“Excuse me?” the bartender said.
“Nothing,” Miller said, pushing the half-empty bottle across the bar. “Thanks.”
In his hole, Miller turned on some music. The lyrical chants that Candace had liked, back when they were young and, if not hopeful, at least more joyful in their fatalism. He set the lights to half power, hoping that if he relaxed, if for just a few minutes he let go of the gnawing sense that he had missed some critical detail, the missing piece might arrive on its own.
He’d half expected Candace to appear in his mind, sighing and looking crossly at him the way she had in life. Instead, he found himself talking with Julie Mao. In the half sleep of alcohol and exhaustion, he imagined her sitting at Havelock’s desk. She was the wrong age, younger than the real woman would be. She was the age of the smiling kid in her picture. The girl who had raced in the Razorback and won. He had the sense of asking her questions, and her answers had the power of revelation. Everything made sense. Not only the change in the Golden Bough Society and her own abduction case, but Havelock’s transfer, the dead ice hauler, Miller’s own life and work. He dreamed of Julie Mao laughing, and he woke up late, with a headache.
Havelock was waiting at his desk. His broad, short Earther face seemed strangely alien, but Miller tried to shake it off.
“You look like crap,” Havelock said. “Busy night?”
“Just getting old and drinking cheap beer,” Miller said.
One of the vice squad shouted something angry about her files being locked again, and a computer tech scuttled across the station house like a nervous cockroach. Havelock leaned closer, his expression grave.
“Seriously, Miller,” Havelock said. “We’re still partners, and… honest to God, I think you may be the only friend I’ve got on this rock. You can trust me. If there