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“Oh dear!” Mistress Hottalot said. “How do you know it’s the same one?”
“Well, he killed the Kindred Ambassador first and in the same way that the Ambassadors on Yonnie Six and Zetta Prime were killed,” Sky explained.
“Oh, how terrible.” The other woman shook her head. “That does sound like his pattern. Did he leave any of that cryptic writing at the scene?”
“Cryptic writing?” Sky’s heart started pounding. “What writing? He drew an eye on the door in the victim’s blood, but we didn’t find any writing.”
“Oh, he always draws an eye! But on several of the scenes there was writing, too,” Mistress Hottalot said. “The authorities on Zetta Prime said the same thing, when I spoke to them. Not that we could interpret it—it’s some language no one’s ever heard of.”
“So the two of you are coordinating?” Sky asked. “I mean, you’ve been talking with Zetta Prime?”
“Yes—but I’m so sorry this same thing is happening on your planet! We’ve never seen anything like it here. Some of the women attacked had armies of bodyslaves to defend them and that bastard still got to them and killed them!” Mistress Hottalot pulled a pink handkerchief out of a fold in her dress and dabbed her eyes with it.
“But one escaped, didn’t she?” Sky asked. “One member of the Sacred Seven.”
“Oh yes—Mistress Mirabella—little Miri, as we call her. The thing is, she didn’t want to be a member of the Sacred Seven—she was only voted in because her Aunt, Mistress Razzmatazz, served for so long. So Miri’s appointment was sort of honorary, you know? But now that all the other six members of the Sacred Seven are dead, she’s the Ruling Member. She’s supposed to appoint six other Mistresses to help her rule, but she’s too traumatized, poor dear!”
“Where is she?” Sky asked urgently. “I really need to speak to her. And would it be possible for me to get the files and forensics on your crime scenes—especially the ‘cryptic writing’ you talked about?”
“Oh, certainly I can give you the files and forensics—I have the ones from Zetta Prime too. Just give me your coordinates and I’ll send them over to your ship,” Mistress Hottalot promised. “But as for poor Miri, well, I’m not sure if she’ll agree to talk to you or not. She’s barricaded herself in an old panic room that’s in an abandoned building her Aunt left to her and she won’t let anyone in.”
“She has? She must be scared to death if she survived an attack by the killer,” Sky said sympathetically. “Can you just give me her address? Maybe I can get her to talk to me.”
“Oh certainly, I can give you the address. Be careful, though—I’m afraid it’s not a very good part of town,” Mistress Hottalot said.
“I’ll be careful,” Sky promised. “Er, can I get her address and the files on the other scenes now? I’m in kind of a hurry—we’ve only had one murder on Portex Three so far and we’d like to keep it that way.”
“Goodness, yes! I’ll just have my secretary, Lil’ Choo, send you everything. If you’ll give me your coordinates, he can send it directly to your ship.”
“Thank you, that would be perfect,” Sky said gratefully.
“You’re very welcome. And let me know if you can decipher what that strange writing is—we had people working on it for ages and they all came up blank.”
“I will,” Sky said. “Thank you.”
She wondered what in the world the strange writing might be—maybe the Kindred of the Mother Ship might be able to figure it out. But right now, she and Torin needed to get to wherever Mistress Mirabella was. As the one surviving victim of the killer, hopefully she could give them some insight into what he looked like and how to stop him.
SEVENTEEN
TORIN
“Well, it looks like they gave up everything you asked for with no problem,” Torin remarked. The moment they had returned to the ship, the viewscreen had begun flashing notices of incoming messages from Mistress Hottalot.
He scrolled through the case files in satisfaction—everything he’d wanted and needed was right here. If only the authorities on both planets hadn’t been too stubborn to give it to him earlier! But of course he was a male—not a valid person in their eyes. Mistress Hottalot saw him as nothing but a bodyslave. Whereas she had acknowledged Sky’lar as another Mistress at once—which probably had something to do with her regal bearing and abundant self-confidence, Torin thought.
“This is perfect!” he said, nodding at the column of files listed on the viewscreen. “We’ve got everything from Yonnie Six and Zetta Prime all at once.”
“Mmm-hmm,” was the only reply he got from Sky’lar.
When Torin turned his head, he saw she was looking at him with an unreadable expression.
“Is that all you have to say?” he asked. “We’ve got everything we need to crack this case now—well, hopefully, anyway.”
