Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [41]
‘It is a match, Counselor.”
‘If you would like, I can show you Ambassador Picard’s samples next?” Stasha’s voice was tight with anxiety, almost a squeak.
He glanced at Troi, but she was staring at Stasha as if the woman had done something unique. Troi’s concentration was nearly pure. What was the counselor sensing from the doctor?
‘Show us Ambassador Picard’s samples,” Worf said. He tried to keep his doubts off his face. He did not trust Dr. Stasha’s clues. No one was this afraid without reason. Picard was innocent, there could be no proof otherwise, unless it had been manufactured.
Stasha placed more slides into the scanner. “It is ready for you, Ambassador.” There was a hopeful lilt to her voice, as if she had decided to be nice to him.
Be nice, and perhaps the storm that she feared would not come.
‘Thank you, Stasha.” Worf tried to respond to this new attempt at bravery. Let the woman think he was fooled. If she were trying to frame Picard, nothing would save her.
Troi glanced at him, she was trying to convey something with her eyes. What? She was trying very hard to tell him something, it was almost a warning glance. But Worf was being a perfect gentleman. He could not help it if the doctor had something to hide and was afraid.
Even bent over the scanner, Worf could feel Stasha standing almost next to him, almost vibrating with anxiety. Instead of fear, she was trying to please now. Worf did not understand the change in the doctor.
He adjusted one of the levers and accidently bumped the woman. She gasped. Worf looked up from the scanner and as gently as he could, said, “Please, Dr. Stasha, if you could stand over there. I need a little room.”
‘Oh, of course.” Stasha moved past him. The woman stood on the far side of the room, near a door that led out the other side. It wasn’t the freedom of the hallway, but she wasn’t trapped either. Was she thinking of escape?
Worf bent back to the scanner. He would trust Troi to see that the doctor did not leave the room prematurely. The two samples were a mass of lines. It took only moments for the lines to become clear, symmetrical. “Where was Captain Picard’s sample found?”
‘On the outside of the cup,” Stasha said, her voice sounded strained.
Troi glanced at Worf. He fought an urge to shrug. He had done nothing new. Why the woman’s fear level was rising so rapidly, Worf couldn’t understand. Unless, of course, she had tampered with the evidence. That would explain it easily.
‘Are you sure this was Ambassador Picard?”
‘It is the only non-Orianian genetic sample we found on the cup.”
Worf had to nod at that, of course. It would make it easy to discriminate. Human tissue would be rare on a planet of nonhumans.
‘Would you like to see for yourself Counselor?” Worf asked it, and moved away from the scanner, closer to Stasha. The woman seemed to shrink in upon herself. Worf was very careful to merely stand, hands clasped loosely in front of him. He tried to look nonthreatening, which was harder than it sounded, but he did try. Stasha did not seem reassured.
Troi glanced up once from the scanner as if expecting to find Worf beating the woman with a rubber hose. What was Troi sensing from Stasha? Worf very much wanted to ask, but knew better. Such revelations had to wait for privacy, or the right occasion.
‘It does appear to be a match,” Troi said.
‘All that this proves is that Captain Picard was standing near General Alick,” Worf said. He looked directly at Stasha, it was only polite to make eye contact.
Stasha swallowed hard enough for it to be visible. “That is true. Even our own general left trace evidence on the poison cup.”
‘So this really proves nothing,” Worf said.
Stasha nodded too vigorously, like a puppet whose strings had broken.
‘Of course, it is just one piece of information.”
‘All information is welcome,” Worf said. He moved toward the woman, not so much a step as a subtle motion.
Though he had meant nothing by it, she backed away from him, before he was even close, her back striking