Untouchable

10: Useful

Holly apologizes to Lynch the next morning. Has both her apology and the uncomfortable situation brushed aside with a casual "Don't worry about it." It has been a long time since she attempted to comfort him, she supposes that plays a part. He treats her no different than he did before they visited region 27G. Still calls her Holly. She doesn't mind, doesn't ask him to stop. Perhaps it is unprofessional, but so is their whole arrangement. Unprofessional but not unacceptable.

She tells him of Stannard's companions, waits outside the office while Jarvis explains in more detail in the evening. Waits outside the interrogation room the following day. Isn't quite sure if it was Lynch's decision alone or Jarvis' request, but the exact words used to threaten her never reach her ears.

The squad in question is made up by four men, the remains of an armored regiment. There is limited use for tanks on Eden 39 with the enemy burrowing deep underground, so they have been repurposed, much like the Centaurs. Given duties at base, allowed to stay behind when so many of their peers were sent to region 27G. Before the day comes to an end they are pointing fingers at one another. Lynch is quite pleased during their late dinner.

"We've found one of our culprits, at least," he tells her. "Davis confessed to bribing Tran, pulling some plugs on the servitor, rigging the frag grenade."

"You're certain it was him?"

"Quite," he smiles, pleased indeed. "Provided dates, times, described how he went about things. Denies having anything to do with Tran's death or Williams' disappearance though. But," he adds, gesturing with his fork, "knowing he set it up six days before we returned could help narrow things down."

"That is true," she agrees. It means that whoever hid the surveillance equipment had two weeks to work with rather than three. Not much in terms of narrowing down the list of suspects, but she supposes it is something.

"And seeing how Williams went missing the following day, and Tran got himself thrown off that guard tower the same evening," he taps a finger against the knife's handle. "Whoever bugged the place found out someone else was being allowed into the building and got nervous."

"And got rid of the guards they probably bribed themselves," Holly nods.

"Mhm," he chews, eyes wandering the room as if it will reveal the past if only he sees it in the right light. "If Williams turns up alive I think we'll be able to get to the bottom of it, but I find that doubtful."

Holly can't help but to agree. Either the missing guardsman is dead and disposed of, hiding somewhere at base, or has run off into the increasingly cold wilderness. There are no missing vehicles, the nearest settlement is weeks away on foot. If he's attempted to run odds are neither guard nor daemon would be required to end his life. If the other guardsman had been killed first there would be room to argue that the missing man realized he was in danger, hid away. But that is not the case.

"All psykers were accounted for?" she asks.

"Yes," he grimaces. "We've got a handful of suspects, but Varela has talked to them. Well, she's talked to one of them in particular. Fannon's one of the senior psykers, adept at mindreading, and she was on a mission with one of Varela's squads during the last two weeks we were away."

Holly nods. The psyker in question wouldn't have been involved in throwing the guardsman off the tower then. Good.

"A bit of questioning, a bit of prodding. For good or ill, the psykers seem to be blameless in this mess."

She wants to ask if he trusts the other commissar, if her verdict can be accepted as truth. Refrains. Lynch chose to house them both under the tall woman's roof when their quarters were compromised. He has more faith in her than the other two commissars, likely trusts the commissars more than anyone else present on the planet. Herself excluded, perhaps. Probably.