The Icarus Hunt Read Online Free PDF Page B

complete quarterly review of my life,” I cut her off brusquely. “I was there, remember? If there’s a point to this, get to it.”
    The Ihmisit who’d been quietly searching my bag sealed it and straightened up. He exchanged a couple of words with Aymi-Mastr, then walked away, leaving the bag behind. I wasn’t surprised; there was nothing in there that could possibly be construed as improper. I hoped Aymi-Mastr wasn’t too disappointed. “The point is that you hardly qualify as an upstanding, law-abiding citizen,” Aymi-Mastr said, returning her attention to me. “Not to file too sharp a point onto it, but you are the sort of person who might indeed give aid and assistance to a murderer.”
    The word was so completely unexpected that it took a couple of turns around my brain before finally coming to a stop.
Murderer?
“Murderer?” I asked carefully. “This guy
killed
someone?”
    “So says the report,” Aymi-Mastr said, watching me closely. “Do you find that so difficult to believe?”
    “Well, frankly, yes,” I said, feigning confusion. I didn’t have to feign too hard. “He looks like such asolid citizen in that picture. What happened? Who did he kill?”
    “The director of an archaeological dig out in the Great Wasteland,” Aymi-Mastr said, setting my file aside and steepling her fingers again. “There was a massive explosion out there early yesterday morning—you didn’t hear about that?”
    I shook my head. “We didn’t make landfall until a little after local noon. I
did
ask what the slowdown was, but no one would give me a straight answer.”
    “The blast sent large gales of mineral dust into the atmosphere,” Aymi-Mastr explained. “Our sensors and guide beacons were disrupted for over an hour, which is what caused the backup in traffic. At any rate, when investigators went to look, they located the severely burned body of a Dr. Ramond Chou hidden in one of the underground grottoes the group had been exploring. The order was immediately given to round up all those associated with the dig for questioning.”
    She picked up Cameron’s photo from the desk and handed it to me again. “This man is the only one still at large. Others of the group have identified him as the murderer.”
    Which explained the big search out in the wasteland last night. “Well, best of luck in finding him,” I said, eyeing the photo again. “But if you ask me, he’s long gone by now. Probably took off under cover of that sensor scramble you mentioned.”
    “That may indeed be the case,” Aymi-Mastr conceded. “There was an unconfirmed report that something may have lifted out through the cloud of debris.” She waved a pair of antennae at the photo. “But on the other palm is the statement that you were seen with him last night. Look closely, Captain. Are you certain you didn’t exchange even a few words?”
    She was making it so easy for me. All I had to do was say, yes, he’d hired me for a job, but that that was before I knew he was a murderer. Aymi-Mastr wouldask what I knew, I would hand over the tag Cameron had given me, they would pick him up at the
Icarus
’s landing ramp, and I could walk away free and clear.
    And best of all, I wouldn’t have to face Brother John about this disruption in his precious schedule.
    With a sigh, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Director Aymi-Mastr,” I said, laying the photo back on the desk. “I wish I could help. I really do—I don’t much care for murderers myself. But I didn’t talk to him, and I don’t even remember seeing him go by on the street. Whoever your anonymous witness thinks he saw, it wasn’t me.”
    For a four-pack of heartbeats she just gazed at me. Then, with a shrug as human and as ridiculous-looking on her as the finger-steepling thing, she nodded. “Very well, Captain, if that’s your final word.”
    “It is,” I said, deciding to ignore the sarcasm of that last comment as I stood up. “May I go now? I
do
have a schedule to