Chapter 13: A Need to Know

“Come on, pal -- wake up.” said an unfamiliar voice. Nyk cracked his eyes open. His eyes ached, his neck was stiff and his mouth was stuffed with a wad of gauze, then, he realized it was his tongue. He looked down and around -- he was lying on a thin mattress in an orange confinement tunic. Surrounding him were other mattresses, some inhabited by men also dressed in orange.

He looked up. Standing over him was a man whose insignia identified him as an Internal Affairs beat patrolman. “I don’t know what you got into, pal. Time to see the sergeant.”

Nyk stood and followed the officer into an interview room.

“Wristscan,” a stocky older man with a more elaborate insignia ordered. He presented his wrist. “Nykkyo Kyhana -- resident of Sudal. You’re quite a ways from home. What were you doing in that apartment building?”

“I was staying there -- in my ex-wife’s apartment. Why am I here?”

“You were discovered nude and unconscious in the corridor of a very upscale apartment building. We figured you had one too many hits and passed out. We’re charging you with disorderly conduct and public intoxication.”

“No! My ex-wife was abducted last night.”

“Abducted?” The sergeant poked his vidisplay. “We have no reports of a disturbance or missing person.”

“That’s because I’d be the one to report it. I was trying to help her when one of them shot me with a dart -- it must’ve held a sedative.”

“A dart?”

“Yes.”

“We found no dart.”

“They must’ve retrieved it after I passed out. Look -- I’m involved in a very important project. I can’t waste my time here.”

“What sort of project?”

“It’s top secret.”

The sergeant glanced toward the beat officer and nodded. “Top secret project, huh?”

“It’s important -- lives are at stake!”

“Lives at stake, now...”

“And my wife has been abducted! You should be out looking for her instead of bothering with me.”

The sergeant nodded toward the door and the beat cop grabbed Nyk’s upper arm.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Back to the holding cell. You can get back to your top secret project after you’ve seen the magistrate.”

“I’m entitled to make a vidphone call, am I not?”

The beat cop looked at the sergeant. “Yes,” the sergeant replied. He turned a vidisplay toward Nyk. “See to it he gets his vidphone call.”

Nyk punched in Kronta’s locator code. “Illya...”

“Nykkyo -- where are you?”

“I’m at the...” He looked up.

“Four hundred thirteenth precinct detention center.”

“I’m at the four hundred thirteenth precinct detention center.”

“What are you doing there?

“It’s a misunderstanding. Illya -- please come down here and bail me out. Also -- bring a tunic and a pair of sandals.”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Illya -- Senta’s been abducted.”

“I was in here,” Nyk explained to an Internal Affairs inspector, pointing to the guest room. “Senta was in the living room. She was working on some sequencing reports. The door was closed. I heard the doorchime and Senta said, ‘Oh -- it’s you,’ or the equivalent. Then I heard a struggle. I followed into the hall. They shot me with some sort of dart and I passed out. How many times do we need to go over this?”

Another Internal Affairs officer inspected the doorscan. “He scanned his way in last evening, Inspector. No more scans until we arrived this morning.”

“It wasn’t Senta’s practice to have visitors identify themselves with the doorscan,” Nyk replied. “If the chime rang, she’d answer the door.”

“Why would she open the door to a stranger?” the inspector asked.

“Whoever it was, it wasn’t a stranger,” Nyk replied.

“She wouldn’t have known that until she opened the door. Why would she be in the habit of opening doors to strangers?”

“I don’t know. She was always like that -- even when we were married. Whoever did it would have to have scanned their way through the front door -- wouldn’t they?”

“Or, through the tubecar platform.” The inspector gestured toward his deputy, who handed him a vidisplay. “Here are the names of everyone who scanned their way into the building. I’m highlighting every name who DIDN’T use an apartment doorscan.”

Nyk took the display and scrolled through it.

“As you can see -- every name is accounted for. Are there, by chance, any you recognize as suspicious?”

“No ... What about that unlocked maintenance door you found?” Nyk asked. “Someone could’ve come in that way.”

“Also an excellent way to dispose of a body. Mr Kyhana -- Dr Tibran was your ex-wife.”

“IS my ex-wife.”

“What were the reasons for your divorce?”

“Do we really need to go into that?” The inspector looked down his nose at Nyk. “I see how it is -- you think I did this. I was found, unconscious, in the corridor.”

“We’ve seen suspects engineer stronger alibis than that. There’s a simple way to clear this up, Mr Kyhana -- come down to the hall with us and submit to interrogation.”

“That’ll waste the whole day,” Nyk protested. “I’m involved in an important project.”

“You’ll waste even more time by not cooperating,” the inspector replied. “I’m prepared to arrest you for the disappearance of your ex-wife. Forcing us to obtain an interrogation warrant will only slow down the process.”

“All right,” Nyk relented. “I’ll agree to interrogation.”

The doorchime rang. One of the officers touched the door control. “ID please.” A wristscan chirped and the deputy reviewed the display. “One Illya Kronta,” Inspector.

“He’s my boss,” Nyk said. “He’ll vouch for me.”

“Let him in.”

The door slid open and Kronta stood, holding a tunic. “I went to the precinct and they told me you were here.”

“We were about to head back there for an interrogation,” the inspector replied.