Echoes
(or The Case of the Smashed Pondu)

(continued)

By Margaret Karamazin

The guardian handed the Investigator a small box, from which Mureek extracted a folded paper. He read it quickly. Wogan was old fashioned and loved hand delivered messages.

"You may go," he told the guard, then emitted to Abane, "It states here that Kato Geffno died of a pressure to his canno gland approximately seven sannos ago. As you know, strong enough pressure there and lymph will be cut off to the brain. It was quick, not a painful passing. However, after that was done, his pondu was smashed. No lymph leaked out since he was already dead. There was indeed zin in his system, but not enough to send him to the next world."

Abane raised a long fingered hand to the side of her face. "Oh, Higher Levels of Consciousness! What sort of being would do such a thing! His pondu! How horrible!"

Mureek considered. "Since the pondu is the giver of fertilization, someone must have wanted to make a statement about what he or she thought of the deceased. This conflicts with the direction my thoughts have been fleeting in."

"And what direction would that be, my love-mate?"

Abane was wearing her elaborate necklace of executive rank, which gave her quite the professional appearance, yet her eyes were filled with spousal devotion. Mureek inhaled deeply, realizing anew his love for her. Then he pulled himself up sharp. "I want you to walk about and listen. Find out what servants were unaccounted for during the night."

"Yes, Precious One," expressed Abane as she left the room.

Lao hovered just outside the door, rubbing her long fingers together, creating an annoying rasping sound. Irritated, Mureek looked at her. "You are still here? What is the matter with you?"

The servant's manner was quite nervous and ingratiating. "Um, Sir, perhaps I can say that certain of Kato Geffno's eggmates might have been worried about their mother possibly losing her position. Perhaps some of them were concerned about the direction their brother had taken. But please excuse me, I shouldn't have dared to speak such a thing." She lowered her eyes.

Mureek lowered his own eyes to her thorax and abdomen, which was a slightly odd shade of rosy green. Lao was, in general, the color of a cambene stone of good quality, but there by the sides of her abdomen shell ridges, he thought he saw a flush. Embarrassed, he quickly looked away. Had she seen him looking there? If she would only turn away, he might catch another glimpse.

A female in the blush of recent fertilization had a deep flush in that area. It usually wore off within twenty sannos. Within another thirty, she would need to deposit her fertilized eggs in her partner's pouch. Did Lao have a partner? Hadn't Abane once mentioned that Kater Lawfene had been known to express that a servant could not serve if she or he was distracted by a mate?

Mureek discovered that he had been pacing and looked up to see Lao watching him. "You may leave me," he informed her. "Wait outside."

Reluctantly, she headed to the door.

"If I need you, I will call for you," he told her.

"Yes, Sir," she said and departed.

Alone to think, his mind raced. On the other hand, Lao might have hired a surrogate father for her eggs, but could a house servant afford one? Even one of first rank?

Thinking of surrogate fathers, it suddenly hit him that if she chose, Abane could hire one herself! How long would she put up with her mate's refusing to incubate her eggs? A feeling of cold terror washed over him.

Suddenly he sensed someone staring at him and jerked around. Another witless looking guardian stood in the doorway holding another message from Chief Wogan. Mureek snatched it from the guard and read it. "Need solution sooner than soon. Political pressures, you understand. Would never press you otherwise, friend."

What the blix what Mureek supposed to do? Manufacture a suspect? He felt the soft skin between his crown plates throb. Wogan was becoming too entrenched in politics as he aged; perhaps it was time for him to retire and arrange for his soul walkabout. Yet, Mureek loved the old male who had been like a father to him. His own had been eaten by a Yok on one of his endless missions to uncharted regions. There was naught to do but arrange an interrogation of Kater Lawfene. An unpleasant undertaking, but obviously necessary. The fact was that whoever the murderer turned out to be, the whole mess did not bode well for the household of Lawfene.

Suddenly Abane loomed in the doorway, looking rather smug. "Kater Lawfene has a foolproof alibi," she emitted. "She was attending a repast at the compound of Kato Klik last evening. Seven people were there, and Kato Klik's sister drove Kater Lawfene home at the twelfth sanno. Kliki, the sister, then decided to stay over for the night. Kater Lawfene slept in her room while Kliki slept in the outer room through which Lawfene would have to pass. Kater Lawfene did not emerge from her own room until the morning. Kliki maintains that she is a light sleeper and would notice any noise, no matter what. No one, she says, went anywhere. I just had a glass of brannet tea with her."

"What Kliki says may or may not mean anything," emitted Mureek. "Lawfene could have had servants perform the task."

"I checked that too, Dear One. She has two personal servants. One slept at the side of her sleeping pit during the night and the other was in hospital. A veeno bite on the leg, very infected."

"Hmmmm," emitted Mureek. "There are still other ways she could have..." But he didn't finish that thought. Instead he told Abane, "Your sleuthing is well done. Thank you, my mate."

Abane's eyes crinkled happily.

"I have been thinking," he remarked. "Do you know the servant, Lao, very well?

"Just a little," emitted Abane. "Why?"

"Have you any reason to believe that she has laid eggs recently?"

He could see immediately that the mere mention of egg laying was disturbing to Abane. A expression of pain passed over her beautiful eyes.

"I do not know," she finally emitted. There was a sudden alteration in the odor of Abane's emission, a tinge of regret and possibly envy. "She is young and healthy. I suppose, like any young, healthy female, she..."

He did not want her to finish and interrupted. "So you have no concrete information in that area? Does Lao have any close friends in this compound?"

"She is a loner, Mureek. That I know."

He was beginning to feel despair. This did not cause him to panic, since he always experienced despair when working on a case. "Abane, let me think alone for a spell. Will you still be here in the compound? Don't you have to go out today?"

"There is no reason to," she replied.

"Oh yes," he remembered. "Your object of attention is dead."

She rubbed her cheek against the top of his head and went out, leaving him to sink onto the floor, knees akimbo. Having completely forgotten the guard who was perched on a divan and staring into space, Mureek shut his eyes to think.
After a moment, he jumped to his feet and snapped a finger at the guard. "You there! Run and bring my mate back."

"That gorgeous female was your mate?" blurted the guard, not thinking at all, implying that Mureek was clearly a noink, unworthy of one so desirable.

"Find her now, or I will have you transferred to Outer Veneecha!" blasted Mureek, and the poor guard almost broke his neck getting out the door.

A moment later, she was back.

"Abane, I never thought I would request such a thing, but you have emitted that this Healer Daq you insist upon frequenting is a sensitive?"

His mate looked most pleased. "Oh yes, indeed he is. He has intuited many a..."

Mureek cut her off. "Could you get him to come here? To this room now?"

"Oh I don't know, Mureek. This is his time for meditation and spring baths."

Mureek was looking at her steadily. He could almost read her mind: You mean you want me to bring you this person whom you ridicule at least twice a day?

Instead, she told him, "I will make a visit to Daq's compound and request his aid. Right now, my love." And she was gone.