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“This isn’t my case.” Maggie pushed the file back across the desk.
“It is now.”
“I read the open case list. It shows Marshal Kesk’s been assigned this one.”
“While you were on vacation, that motherfucker stormed up here and demanded the case. We’ll get to that in a minute.”
Sutherland hated Zirkov. That’s why he appointed her as the liaison between their two departments.
Reluctantly, Maggie pulled the file back and opened it. The pictures showed the dead og’dal precisely as she’d left him. Forensics even documented where she’d wiped the bloody knife against his right pant leg. The second og’dal, however, she didn’t recognize. He lay crumpled in a field with overgrown grass, his skin and clothing burned on his right side.
“Blaster wound,” she muttered, then her eyes snapped to Sutherland. Zirkov had demanded the case, and Sutherland had handed it over. Her boss didn’t cave to anyone. “Assistant Director, tell me you don’t suspect—”
“Zirkov and his marshals are the only ones who carry blasters.”
“Even so, that doesn’t mean he or anyone in GI7 did it.”
“That’s why I need your help.”
“These victims aren’t necessarily connected. The autopsy report says the first victim died from a knife wound, the second victim from a blaster.”
“It’s not a coincidence that we have three illegal og’dals murdered within days of each other.”
“Three? There are only two dead og’dals here,” she said, setting the photos side by side.
Sutherland rifled through the case file and placed a third photo in front of her before slamming a finger on the sandy-haired og’dal with dark eyes and thin lips. “Stabbed, like the dead og’dal Kesk’s team found in a warehouse.”
She’d seen this og’dal before, but couldn’t recall where or when, let alone his name.
“Three dead og’dals makes me nervous. And this one with the blaster wound was killed near the airfield where GI7’s ships land,” Sutherland said.
“You’re not suggesting the marshals are outright killing og’dals, are you?”
“They’re involved. That’s why Kesk demanded this case. He intends to cover for whoever’s guilty.”
“What evidence do you have?”
“The blaster wound on the second alien. Neither the og’dals nor the Brotherhood has access to blasters. Fuck, Walsh, we don’t even have access to any. But Zirkov and his marshals do. Whoever killed that og’dal probably realized using his blaster had been a mistake and then switched to using a knife to kill the other two, to shift suspicion.”
“No one from GI7 has any reason to kill an og’dal, except in self-defense. It’s more likely another og’dal or someone from the Brotherhood killed them. I think we should assume if the Brotherhood’s still allied with the og’dals, then they have access to blasters.”
“If that were the case, we would have seen blasters used in other Brotherhood activities by now. I’ve been at this a lot longer than you, Walsh. These murders involve the og’dal marshal, Ri’Nel, Ri’Nil—”
“Ri’Nom,” she corrected him but said nothing more. Sutherland needed to focus on someone, and right now, that wasn’t her. She had to keep it that way while she investigated the case. And now he was giving her the chance to do so officially. Except that would mean being in contact with Zirkov more than usual, something she wasn’t sure how to handle. The zyanthan pushed her away at every turn, and when he didn’t, she found herself watching and thinking about him more than work.
“Yes, that’s it. Ri’Nom. It’s not a coincidence that after he resigned from GI7 to live on Dal that we have og’dals showing up here. Are they spying for him? Are they—”
“No!” She couldn’t let him talk that way about Ri’Nom. The marshal had always been good to her and loyal to Galactic Intelligence. “Ri’Nom doesn’t need to use spies. He lived here for nearly a year and he’s still in contact with the other GI7 marshals.”
“He is?” Sutherland took his seat finally. “You’ve been our liaison officer to GI7 for nearly two years. Through all our meetings, you never gave me the impression they’ve accepted you.”
“They trust me.”Mostly.
“Good. Use your friendship. Get closer to them. Find out what Kesk and the others are hiding from us.”
“What makes you think they’re hiding anything at all?”
“Cybersecurity reported a breach. Someone compromised one of our surveillance feeds. Two minutes are missing.” He pounded a finger on the photo of the og’dal from the warehouse. “This alien was in the footage, talking with someone, but that part of the footage is missing. As I said before, Kesk’s covering for someone. His people tampered with the evidence. Even the backups, which are stored in a different location.”
