I'm Just a Part of You

Conversing

A few hours later, Bashir, Kira, O'Brien and Odo were sitting around a table in Quark's.

"Do you know, I was almost convinced that it was Joran impersonating Ezri, just for a few seconds." Bashir said, relating his session with the young Trill. The fifth seat at the table seemed uncomfortably empty. "I didn't want to take the chance though. She was still holding a lightweight mug."

"Does anyone think she did it?" O'Brien asked. "She hasn't got a violent bone in her body."

Odo looked around at the ring of faces. "I think that all the evidence we've found points almost perfectly to her. And the last time I underestimated a suspect, I let a murderer walk free."

"Now, now, Odo, just because you got played once..." Kira interjected, teasingly, placing her hand on top of the changeling's. "We all knew you had a weakness for pretty faces a long time ago."

"Humph." Odo replied. "I just didn't want to turn someone over to the Cardassian authorities if I wasn't certain of their guilt. You had an alibi, after all. Even if it would have resulted in your execution anyway."

"What does your gut say, Odo?" O'Brien asked. "Surely you don't believe that she's capable of something like that."

"I tend to reserve judgements where I've had to intervene to stop someone stabbing another Starfleet officer with a steak knife." Odo commented. "Even if they do seem meek."

"I agree, Chief." Kira interjected. "I was part of the resistance. I know what a hardened killer looks like. How they act. I know what a soldier looks like and how they act. I know what a civilian nervously carrying a phaser is like. Jadzia was a soldier. Ezri would probably manage to defend herself, but that's it."

"What about if Joran is in control?" O'Brien asked. "How would we even know?"

"As the captain said. When she tries to kill someone else." Kira stated. "Until then... treat her as if she's our Dax. But don't give her a phaser. Or a knife."

There was a general murmuring of agreement.

"Chief, is there any way to tell when a weapon was replicated?" Bashir asked. "Or to tell who's fired it?"

"I don't know if a TR-116 would have an isotopic tag, but I can take a look." O'Brien replied.

"There is a way to tell who has fired a gun." Odo commented. "It's why I had them take swabs of Dax's hands and took her uniform. Guns produce a residue when fired that gets on clothes and skin."

"Would this mean anything in Dax's case, though?" Bashir asked. "We know she's fired a weapon already."

"But has she fired one in her quarters?" Odo asked. "Or while wearing a different uniform? That would tell us a lot."

"And if she hasn't?"

Then our pool of suspects is much wider." Odo growled. "Everyone on the station could have done it."
"What about the Vulcan that Ezri shot?" O'Brien said. "Could she be telling the truth?"

"It's possible." Odo admitted. "But if he did have a weapon, how did he get rid of it without the medical team noticing?"

"I don't know." O'Brien commented. "We'll have to find a way to prove it."

"And why would he try to shoot her?" Odo said. "She doesn't fit the pattern of being alone in her quarters at night."

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Chu'lak seemed rather surprised when he answered the door of his quarters to find the station's chief of security standing outside.

"May I come in?" Odo asked. "I need to ask you a few questions."