XII
“Well, what now?” said Mirabi, once we were back in the Ballroom. We had just secured Yahweh to the next pillar; Jacques Loki making it plain he would kill the “foul petty autocrat” barehanded if we let him near enough.
“I don’t know,” I said.
I was disturbed to realise that I meant it. For all my hopes, getting back on track had just led around to another batch of dead ends. We were learning new facts all the time, but the only fact that mattered was still missing. The identity of the Prince’s murderer continued to elude us.
Mirabi nodded.
“A backstepper is starting to look the most likely solution,” she said.
“No,” I said, “I don’t believe that.”
“Why not?”
““Most backstepper’s come because they want to change the past to build a better future,” I said. “But look around. Everything that happened – everything that’s been revealed here – could be enough to spark the war off. Even if we do find the killer, it could still start. And it’s all happening because the Prince died here.”
“It’s not necessarily the war,” said Mirabi. “The Prince was young, remember. Plenty of time to do plenty of crax in his life. Kill the dictator as a baby, maybe?”
“Now you’re speculating,” I said.
“And you’re saying that because you met him and he wasn’t like you expected,” said Mirabi. “I can tell you liked him, Erik.
“…Possibly,” I said, shaking my head. “He seemed honest.”
As an investigator – and because of how Horus had lied to me when I’d first woken up – honesty was a quality I valued in people.
“There you go,” said Mirabi. “But it’s a basic rule that you never get touchy feely with the suspects. That applies to the victim as well.”
“It’s never been an issue before,” I said.
“Obviously. But it’s still obvious,” said Mirabi. “So, what next? Time’s ticking until the frigate gets here.”
I looked at my watchcom. We had just under an hour left. If it wasn’t for the Falls and their damn robot…
“Oh, Hax.”
“What?”
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The Time Traveller's Ball (The Erik Midgard Case Files Volume 1)
Science FictionHow do you solve a murder when every single suspect has a time machine? Time-travelling police officer Erik Midgard has a problem. He has seen his own future. His fate is set. There is no way out. There is nothing he can do to escape it. He is going...
