Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [24]
Now Corsi was getting irritated. She didn’t even bother to look at the screen. “What of it? I doubt that there’s a planet in the Federation that doesn’t have some kind of Starfleet presence somewhere. And you can’t possibly believe that a Starfleet officer could do this.”
Vale snapped. “I can’t possibly believe that a sentient being did this, Lieutenant! But the evidence sure as hell indicates that one did.”
“You will modify your tone when speaking to me, Officer,” Corsi said in a low, dangerous voice. She had had just about enough of this amateur civilian as she was likely to take.
“No, Lieutenant, I don’t think I will. You see, I found something interesting when I did a search of Starfleet personnel who were either assigned to or in the vicinity of the four facilities in question, and then cross-checked it with people who’d have access to classified technology. We only got three hits. One of them was Lieutenant Dar Ableen.”
Corsi felt her mouth go dry. “What?”
“Lieutenant Ableen was on or near the site of all eleven murders, including working in the supply office of Starbase 74. The stealth suit was developed by a research team on that starbase, and Lieutenant Ableen was assigned to them as their supply officer. Lieutenant Ableen’s height and build also match with the likely height and build of the murderer.”
Corsi could not believe what she was hearing. “This is absurd. Dar would never do anything like this. He can’t possibly—” She shook her head, as if coming out of a daze. “You said there were three hits.”
“I’ve already been in contact with Captain Van Olden, and the other two are also being tracked down. Meantime, I intend to question Lieutenant Ableen.”
Now Corsi was furious. “You went over my head? I ought to—” And then she cut herself off. Of course she went over my head. The evidence makes Dar at least to be a suspect, and she had to eliminate him. Naturally, she’s going to treat me suspiciously. Stop being an idiot. “I apologize, Officer, you’re right. I have a relationship with a suspect in a homicide investigation. It would be—inappropriate for me to remain as the liaison between the Izar Peace Officers and Starfleet.”
Vale let out a long breath, sounding relieved. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Honestly, I don’t believe you have anything to do with this—you’ve been too thorough in digging through the evidence. But I had to be sure.”
“Don’t worry about it. Look, let me call Dar in here. He’ll come in on his own, answer your questions, and everything will be fine. I’ve known Dar since we were first-year cadets. I can’t believe he’d do something like this.”
“Like I said, Lieutenant, I can’t believe anyone would do this—which means that anyone could be responsible. I’m not feeling very trusting right now.”
Corsi smiled at that. “I’m in security—we’re never trusting. It gets in the way of the work.”
Vale returned the smile. “That sounds like something my mother would say.”
Sure enough, Dar was more than happy to beam over from Garthtown. A few minutes later, his lean form beamed directly into Vale’s office.
“Lieutenant Ableen, I’m Officer Christine Vale.” She stepped around her desk and offered her hand—but not, Corsi noted, in a handshake. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you for your weapon.”
Corsi hadn’t even noticed that Dar had his sidearm. Damn, Dar, how dumb can you get? Corsi had her phaser, of course, but she was security—she needed to be armed at all times. There were times when Corsi wondered why they even bothered to issue weapons to supply officers like Dar. Besides, this building had a scattering field that prevented unauthorized