Aquari by DD White
* * *
Investigator Eistia and Grega were both working hard to find out more about the value fraud case. They now knew his name to be Omnox who owned a farm outside of town. He had used a forged ID card to purchase expensive custom designed equipment, which he provided the blueprints for. Eistia got copies of the purchased equipment designs from the businesses Omnox had hired to make the stuff. They were way more complicated than the plans found on Nickteslo’s body. Eistia couldn’t begin to figure out what Omnox tried to make, except that it had been made to plug into another mechanism, and would serve as a floor platform of some kind. Omnox wasn’t talking, and maybe wasn’t lying when he insisted he didn’t even know what he had been making. He also insisted that he worked alone, and that it had just been one of his personal hobbies to make strange things, which Eistia could tell had not been true. Eistia couldn’t help but think there had been a connection between this farmer and the missing Ministry scientists.
After more futile interrogation of Omnox, Eistia went back to his desk while
Grega got a call from the girl in forensics who he had been getting really friendly with. She worked on the DNA samples that were taken from the Eromot/Morgamor bodies found at the recent vehicle crash outside of town.
While at his desk Eistia could feel the unmistakable presence of his boss behind him approaching his desk. “You do good work when you investigate,
but you work on solved crimes, and that’s too late.
Omnox goes now to prison, that crime’s solved.
Two die in vehicle. Also resolved!
Get to work on new stuff in this city.
More crimes where those came from that ain’t pretty.”
Eistica said, “Sir, I’m just finishing the paper work.
Proper procedure, I don’t like to shirk.”
Eistia took an earful from the boss after saying that. He understood that this had been the routine of the boss, a song and dance that established that he had nothing to do with Eistia’s unauthorized police work. That kept the boss safe from the heat coming down from the boss’s bosses in the government, while at the same time he never really stopped Eistia from chasing his investigations.
After the boss finished yelling at Eistia he disappeared behind the slammed door of his office. Eistia muttered to himself. “I love my job, and what I do for work,
but sometimes I think that boss is a jerk.”
Then the phone chirped. It turned out to be Grega with his new girlfriend who had proved to be handy in many cases before. “Eistia we examined that shirt blood.
It proves not all our conclusions are good.
One set of blood proved to be Morgamor,
but someone else the other blood flowed for.
That blood as Eromot’s is not the same.
It’s another’s and Dolka is his name.”
Eistica said, “That implies that Eromot is alive.
What did happen at the end of that drive?” Eistia felt revived by the new clue.
“The boy’s a son of a nearby farmer
and a mother too. This will not calm her.”
Eistia welcomed an opportunity to leave the office, and couldn’t help but notice another link between the Ministry scientists on the run to farmers outside of town. “I’ll take the car out there to notify
his parents of his death, and wonder why
the crash lacked driver. I’ll give that some thought
of what really happened to Eromot”
After getting more information from Grega about Dolka, Eistia drove east of Keshdesh to the farmlands at the foot of the highlands that made up the Keshdesh canyon. Dolka still lived with his parents on Oldo’s farm, which turned out to be the first one Eistia saw after emerging from the canyon ravine. Oldo and his wife, who didn’t seem at all surprised by the news of their son’s death, greeted him at the doorway. In fact after being invited in, Eistia noticed that Oldo had already constructed an altar of a picture of Dolka, with burning candles in memory of the son they obviously already knew was dead. Eistia pushed Oldo on that point, but Oldo only admitted that he “hears” things, and that they really missed their lost child.
Eventually Eistia left Oldo’s home without a clear answer, but it had not been a crime to already know about a son’s death. Eistia decided to snoop around a bit before returning to the car. Trashcans were often of interest and did in fact prove so in this case. Eistia pulled torn up blood soaked clothes from the trash, which would probably prove to have Eromot’s blood on them. Eromot must have survived the crash and had been treated by this farmer. That also explained how they already knew of the death of their son who had obviously become Eromot’s passenger in the backseat. Eistia’s deductive reasoning concluded that they must have given Dolka a ride, and the surviving Eromot had informed Oldo and his wife of the death. It begged for an answer to the question of what happened to Eromot however, Eistia didn’t want to interrogate Oldo and his wife any more about that right now.
Eistia figured Volock must know now that one of those bodies was not Eromot, and he still had not notified the authorities about the incorrect identification of the second body. Eistia figured that would be because Volock still hunted for Eromot to finish the job. That gave Eistia the kind of courageous idea that Uranians pride themselves in making.
After driving back to Keshdesh to drop the bloody clothes off with Grega for more forensics testing, Eistia drove to the Aungtalli area of the capital. He found himself a discreet cranny in the warehouse areas that surrounded the backside of the main temple structure. Eistia looked at Volock’s flying saucer parked nearby, probably along with other clues about what Volock has been up to.