Loaded Secrets (ONC 2023)

Chapter Seven: A Room with No Key

Aria blinked, her eyes bleary with confusion struggling to adjust to the room's lighting. The real room, she needed to remind herself, as she tried to shake the traces of the interview room in Ayden's simulated consciousness, which felt tangible in comparison to her new surroundings.

Epson stood across from her, immobile, looking at her with infinite patience. He didn't seem fazed by her clumsiness with the new technology.

When she finally managed to shake the brain fog and focus on the present, Epson stirred. "So, have you managed to learn anything of value? Beyond what I already managed to glean from my uneventful excursion into the victim's unremarkable mind?" Aria suppressed her annoyance at that remark. Epson's snide words were not only disrespectful to the victim but also suggested that he did not really care what Aria's answer to his inquiry would be. Aria thought that even if she replied with a completely random word like tomato, Epson would still stand there impassively.

"Well, I have something to start with," Aria replied, suppressing her urge to screamTomato! at him, to test her theory.

"Go on," he encouraged in an indulgent tone.

"Well, I have a list of people I'd like to interview. Not witnesses per se, but –" Aria opened her mouth to say more, but Epson's expression caused her to momentarily lose her train of thought. He was actually frowning! Gone was his polite indifference, even if he managed to swiftly school his features back into a neutral expression.

"Interview? You'd like to go and speak to additional individuals? Whatever for?" Epson questioned with a raised voice. He was clearly trying to suppress his disbelief at Aria's proposal.

"Yes! These are people who know – well, knew Ayden. They may have some insight into what he was up to before he got killed. As you probably learned yourself, the killers came after him. They did not mistake him for someone else. They knew his name and where to find him, even though he said he never saw them before. Does that not strike you as odd? Like maybe Ayden wasn't quite telling us everything?"

"Suppose you're right." Epson allowed, "we don't have too much time left before the victim's consciousness is erased. And since I presume that you may want to interview the victim again after speaking with these people, I do not believe it would be the most efficient use of your time to track down several individuals –"

"I was not going to speak to all of them!" Aria interrupted, suspecting that Epson's lecture would consume more time than interviewing everyone on her tentative list. "I want to start with just one person, if that's okay with you?"

"Oh?" To her surprise, she had gotten Epson's attention.

"I would like to chat with Ayden's girlfriend," Aria pressed on.

"His girlfriend?" Epson appeared surprised, "I assumed that you have chosen the victim's friend, Caleb."

"I thought about Caleb. He may seem like the obvious choice, given his involvement with Ayden in the last few days. But you know, I wonder how much help he would be. I mean, Ayden didn't even know his last name. I doubt they were very close. They just partied together. Caleb was probably not even sober half the time. So how much could he really tell us... The girlfriend on the other hand... Well, Ayden wouldn't stop talking about her. Don't you think she might know him better than Caleb with a D in his last name? Plus," Aria used what she hoped would gently beat Epson into submission, "we know her full name and address. It's all on Ayden's no-contact order."Aria smiled sweetly at her partner, although she suspected he was impervious to her or anyone else's charms.

Epson seemed to weigh his options as he stared blankly right through Aria. "Fine." He muttered, crossing his hands over his chest. She swore she could still hear him muttering about illicit substances and homicide and the obvious link between the two.