Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 7

Miguel shook his head. "Why did you ask me to do this again?"

Cole was still dealing with a certain disbelief in the young steward. "I asked for you because you know the ship, the crew and the passengers. You're smart and intuitive and most important... loyal."

This caught Miguel off guard. "Loyal?"

"Yes," replied Cole. "When the captain sought to dismiss me, you stood up even though you had nothing to gain from it. You spoke on my behalf and I appreciated it."

Miguel was abashed. "Well, I just didn't like what they were saying about you." Despite himself, his cheeks felt hot. He decided to change the subject. "So what are we looking for here in security?"

Cole was seated at a chair opposite a bank of video monitors. As on many star liners, the Security Office was located in an area accessible by passengers and crew alike. The Purser's Desk was part of the overall set-up on the port side and Security Desk to the starboard. Anything related to ship safety and security was handled by Security while everything related to financial matters was handled by the Purser.

Behind the receiving desk there was a rabbit warren of offices including remand cells. The Commonwealth used them under contract to transfer prisoners as needed. Ship security used them for drunk or belligerent passengers. The people most likely to end up in the cells were thieves. Star liners seemed to attract petty theft rings in droves.

There was initial surprise even hostility when Cole and Miguel showed up at the office. Even a call down from Volks at the crime scene explaining the presence of the marshal didn't suppress the suspicion and lack of warmth. Only the arrival of the Captain's droid Boz changed the tone and texture in the office. The eyes and ears of the captain being present was enough to make everyone professional.

"What we are looking for initially is video of the exterior of cabin 105 going all the way back to Arcturus," said Cole. "We match that up to key entry at the time. We can do that, Boz?"

Boz who had been standing to one side chimed. "Done. All video gathered. Send to CICI?"

"Yes," answered Cole. "What we're looking for a record of who was in and who was out, activity around that end of the corridor and anything else deemed noteworthy."

The Computer Intelligence Crime Investigator was fast but a lot of information was being dumped into its database. Cole was beginning to feed it days and days of video to search for patterns. Everything being processed at the crime scene was also being added and the autopsy would be in there next.

"So what's next?" asked Miguel. "We just keep adding data to the database till it tells us who the killer was?"

"Not quite," said Cole with a smirk. "Wish it was that simple. To find the suspect we have to know more about the victim. Who is she is a critical question."

"Boz, bring up all the data the ship has on our victim in terms of who she is," said Cole.

Boz complied and on the flat monitor all the data scrolled out including picture. "This is all we have. Any further data from Commonwealth Net databases will unavailable till we are outside the veil of the Dark Adder Cloud."

Miguel frowned. "We won't emerge out of that till we've gotten very near Hawks. And even then it can be spotty."

Boz interjected at this point. "We have the new communication satellite in our hold presently."

"That won't help us at this point," said Cole. It wasn't surprising a satellite was sitting in cargo. Nanotechnology could manufacture many things on site but complicated assembly products like engines, satellites and specialized machinery parts were still best put together at established shops. Quality control was essential. "Miguel, read us what we do have on our victim."

Looking up at the monitor Miguel began reading as Cole leaned back to listen. "The lady in cabin 105 was named Aubrey Chase Chen, 42 years old. She was born in Shanghai but her past place of residence is San Francisco. She boarded the Niagara at Arcturus. It doesn't say where she came from before that."

"It's okay. It's not up to Blue Star Lines to have that information. Go on," said Cole.

"She is listed as a retired where the line for profession is," said Miguel. "Is it that possible to retire that early?"

"Yes. If she was military or civil service and was posted at a hardship posting for 10 to 20 years, she could receive a lumpsum payment upon return. Some companies have the same thing." Cole mused about this for a moment and then waved Miguel to continue.

"There are regular passport features such as hair colour, height and the like here," said Miguel. "Also, there's a cargo container number for something in our hold."

Cole sat up. "Okay, not a surprise but something we need to check in on. Boz, can you map out where we can find the cargo container? Any chance there was a manifest of what's inside?"

Boz lit up like a Christmas tree. "The manifest simply says: Materiel for colonization. Final destination: Hawks."

"Hmm, okay. What else, Miguel" Cole asked.

"Her cabin was booked single occupancy. She used reservations to book for one at meals. She ordered room service for one a few times."

Cole grinned. "What do you conclude about all this, Miguel?"

"That she appears to be travelling alone?" answered Cole.

"Good, Miguel," nodded Cole. "She appears to be alone. And yet she is dead. We'll have to figure that one out."

"How will we do that?"

Cole turned to Boz. "In addition to the video outside cabin 105, let's look into tracking Ms. Chen's movements from the time she boarded the ship. Can we do that, Boz?"

"Affirmative. Beginning to track every incidence of Aubrey Chase Chen's movement's aboard the Niagara."

"You should get some sleep, Miguel," Cole said. "I am going to check on Doc Kripisov's progress but I'm sure they're just getting started. It usually takes her about 4 hours to an autopsy and forensics."

Boz began to light up. "You are correct, Marshal. They body was just removed Medical a short time ago."

Miguel yawned. "Sure you don't me to come along?"

"Nope," replied Cole. "I will be asleep soon enough myself. We will start fresh when more data comes in."

Miguel got up and left the room leaving only Boz and Cole. "Have you further need of my service?"

"No, Boz. Once all the data is gathered, send it to CICI and see if any patterns emerge. Let the captain know I'll be up by and by to update."

Boz whirled about and was gone leaving Cole alone. For a moment he stared at the picture of Aubrey Chase Chen. Who were you and why did someone want to kill you?