DeathWeb (Fox Meridian Book 3) (11 page)

‘I’m a housekeeper, and I’m training to be an actress,’ Marie replied. Her voice was steady, but she was still looking a little nervous as she stood there waiting to be strapped into the harness.

‘Any theatrical types in the audience looking for their next star, she’s very good. However, you have no experience with crime scenes or detective work, is that right?’

‘I’ve watched a couple of detective shows…’

Fox grinned. ‘Let’s ask our audience. Does that count?’

There was laughter. Someone yelled out, ‘It’s a handicap!’

‘Uh-huh. That sounds about right. Lastly, we’ve made sure that the harness fits you and that you can interface with its computer, but you have not had the chance to practise with it. This is your first attempt at using it in anger. Is that right?’

‘Yes, it is.’ Marie’s little worried grin seemed to sell that one to the audience more than her affirmation.

‘Yes,’ Jackson said, grinning, ‘we are both mad
and
that confident in our prototype.’ There was laughter as the curtain hiding their stage set was pulled upward.

‘And here we have our test set,’ Fox said. There was a sofa, a chair, and a coffee table. A dummy was slumped over in the chair with a kitchen knife lodged in its back. On the coffee table were two wine glasses, one half-f and the other, nearest the body, empty. There was also a table set to one side with a few extra bits of equipment on it, such as gloves. ‘It seems that someone has come to an unfortunate end. Thankfully, Mister Manny Quin was never much of a talker, but he’s a medical simulation dummy rigged with synthetic flesh and other features which will give a reasonable facsimile of a dead body. We’re going to strap Marie into the harness and give her half an hour to solve the crime. The only cheat here is that we know there
is
forensic evidence for her to find which will name the killer. Marie, we want a name, and how they did it, and the method is not as obvious as it seems.’

‘Okay,’ Marie replied, and Jackson took her aside to help her into the harness.

‘All right,’ Fox went on. ‘While Marie is busy with that, we’re going to look at how this all ties together and how the harness’s in-built AI is going to help Marie to crack the case. Who better to do that than the woman responsible for creating that AI? Ladies and gentlemen, Teresa Martins.’

As Terri began going over how the AI would direct Marie through her tasks, Fox watched Marie from off-stage. The housemaid and actress stood for several seconds, frowning at the scene with her right index finger tapping on her lips. It gave the impression of thinking rather than being stunned and inactive, and Fox hoped that was what was happening. Then Marie started forward as though to start work, stopped, looked around, and walked over to the table to get some of the plazkin gloves which had been set there for her. She was grinning now, as though pleased with herself and how things were going. Fox figured that if the AI was good enough to make sure she had gloves on before starting work, and Marie was good enough to listen to it, the demo might just work.

It was not as though virtual tutor systems were unheard of. Very basic AIs able to handle the tasks of one or more skills, coupled with v-tag information attached to equipment, parts, and consumables, were capable of guiding a human through various repair jobs and other standard operations. The Army made extensive use of the technology to handle the large variety of different equipment they needed, though skilled technicians were still needed for frontline operations and more complex work. What Terri was attempting with this system was something a little new, however. Forensics equipment could be tagged so that the AI knew how to handle it, but the evidence Marie was being guided to collect was not tagged and not always easy to find. Fox would have normally employed a swarm to go over the scene, but there was not sufficient time for that so the AI was actually taking Marie through a non-standard evidence retrieval routine. Fox hoped that at least some of the cops in the audience would recognise that and be impressed.

As Terri wrapped her presentation, Fox walked out to be joined by Jackson. Fox gave him a grin. ‘Now this is all great, but it’s not the only thing that Palladium has in its arsenal of crime-fighting cyberframes. I’ve seen a few of them, but I happen to know that you’ve been indulging yourself, Jackson. What have we got, and what do we have to look forward to?’

‘I’m glad you asked me that, Tara,’ Jackson replied, ‘because it’s in the script and I wouldn’t know what my next line was otherwise, but also because I have been busy with some new robotics designs, yes.’

‘My father is always happy to show off a new cyberframe,’ Terri said from the wings, and the audience indulged them with some laughter.

Fox took a second to check on Marie, who seemed to be busy with a chemical analysis device and a wine glass. So far so good, it seemed. Marie was starting to look quite pleased with herself, which was either overconfidence or a sign that it was working. As Jackson took Fox through the array of enforcement, patrol, and forensic analysis frames he had put together over the last year or two, Marie’s confidence just got more obvious, and when the presentation was done, Fox turned to look and Marie was standing there with her arms folded, waiting.

‘And it looks like our detective is impatient to give us her findings,’ Fox said. ‘Let’s see how she’s done. Marie, what can you tell me?’

‘Well, I used a chemical spray to reveal the presence of fingerprints on the wine glasses and the knife,’ Marie said. ‘There are only two sets and one of those was easily matched to a Mister Manny Quinn.’

‘Our hapless victim.’

‘Yes. Time of death was determined via room and body temperatures to be two hours ago, during lunch, and it’s fairly obvious that Mister Quinn was stabbed in the back.’

‘That would seem to be the obvious conclusion,’ Fox agreed.

‘However, I wondered about the glasses and how he could have been stabbed like that. The crime scene reconstruction system suggests that the murderer was standing in front of the victim, which means the victim had to be bent over in his chair, just as you see him now. So why would Mister Quinn do that?’

Fox grinned. ‘You tell me.’

‘Well, I analysed the remaining wine in both glasses. There wasn’t much left in the victim’s glass, but there was enough to detect a fast-acting sedative. The killer’s fingerprints are on the knife and both glasses, but Mister Quinn’s are only on his glass. So the killer poured the wine, added the drug to Mister Quinn’s glass, waited for him to pass out, and then stabbed him in the back.’

‘Very good, and do you have a name for our killer?’

‘The fingerprints match one Tara Meridian.’

‘Mea Culpa,’ Fox said, holding up her hands. ‘I confess, it was I who set up the entire scene and you get ten out of ten for the method.’ Fox turned back to the audience. ‘So, we have a system which can take a novice through evidence collection and crime scene analysis. This will, when fully ready, interface with the kind of forensic swarm hive units we showed you earlier, allowing for more comprehensive analysis. To be honest, Marie was handicapped a little by the time we had and the relatively simple equipment, but she still managed to gather everything she needed. On the job, with a trained security officer, this equipment can turn anyone into a detective. Any cop will tell you that getting to a scene when it’s fresh and uncontaminated is key, and now the first responders on a scene can begin the work of forensic analysis, completing it if a more experienced investigator is not needed or not available.’

Fox gave them a big smile and wondered whether that counted as being political. ‘I’m not a tech guru like Jackson, but even I can see that this is taking the best of both human and artificial intelligence, and making the most of both. Marie will be on our stand in the exhibition hall with the harness should you want to know what her experience was like. I’ll be there on and off as well, and there’s always someone who can answer your questions. We can take a couple now…’ Her gaze flicked over raised hands and she pointed at a man in the second row she recognised from her old precinct.

‘How come we never saw you in a suit when you were with NAPA?’

There was laughter, which Fox joined. ‘NAPA never paid me enough for a suit. You, ma’am, third row on the right?’

‘On the resolution they’re discussing here, what’s your opinion?’

‘Ah… I didn’t really want to get into politics in this presentation. To be honest, I don’t like politics much anyway.’ Fox glanced at Jackson, noted the quick nod of his head and the lifting of his eyes to tell her to say what she thought. ‘However, since you ask, I’d rather see additional resource put into NAPA to increase coverage in the protectorates and the Belt. I am a little ambivalent about it. I can see how it might improve things for a few people, but for the majority it’s going to be a backward step.’

There was no response, just a nod, and Fox checked the time. ‘And that’s all we have time for. I’ll see you on the stand, I hope. Ladies and gentlemen, Jackson and Teresa Martins, and a warm hand please for our new detective, Marie Shaftsbury.’

There was applause and people started filing out. Dillan bounced up and walked up to the stage. ‘So I start on the nineteenth and then
I
can play with all your new toys.’

‘It’s in my calendar,’ Fox replied. Behind her, crew from the venue were clearing Manny Quinn and his death scene out and Jackson was helping Marie to get out of the harness. ‘I promise I won’t forget you’re coming.’

‘You’ve a few days off between leaving NAPA and joining Palladium, right?’ Terri asked.

‘Yeah. My last official day is the fourteenth. I get a couple of days and the weekend free before I dive into a new company.’

‘And we’re moving you into one of the towers, aren’t we?’

‘Uh-huh. That’s all been arranged too.’

Terri smiled. It was a predatory sort of smile. ‘Good. I could use a break and you don’t want to be hanging around while they move your belongings.’

‘Well, no but–’

‘I was thinking about a couple of days at the Tranquillity Spa.’

‘Uhh…’

‘Do
not
say no,’ Fox suggested. ‘Aside from anything else, getting Terri away from work for four days would classify as doing MarTech a corporate favour.’

‘Well, if you put it like that…’

Grinning, Fox raised her eyes to scan the room. Her mother’s distinctive hair was nowhere to be seen and Kit confirmed it. ‘They left already, Fox.’

‘Uh-huh. Well, they know where to find me if they want to come looking.’

~~~

There had been no sign of Fox’s parents all afternoon and, with the conference wrapped for the day, Fox went home on time with some relief. Stripping out of her suit and putting on a light wrap felt great and she put together a meal, retired to her rooms, and sat down to eat it feeling wonderful. Occasionally, when you had to spend your entire day around crowds, being alone was the best thing in the world.

With the food consumed, she curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine and sank herself into the murder room to catch up on anything Kit might have learned. Kit had certainly learned, but how much use it was going to be was open to question.

‘Mrs Coolidge fits the general pattern,’ Kit said as Fox looked over the web of Lauren Coolidge’s life. ‘However, the pattern has a rather broad weave. She is between twenty and thirty-five, attractive, and fit. Indeed, she takes good care of her body with a regular exercise regimen, as do all the others. She went missing while out running. NAPA have found no evidence of her abduction along her route and there have been no demands. She has been missing for three days now and no one has given any indication of knowing what happened to her.’

Fox nodded. ‘And we don’t know for sure it’s our killer.’

‘We will not until her body is found.’

Another nod. ‘You said her route was known and that you knew she kept good care of herself. How do you know?’

‘LifeFit. That
is
another factor in common, but again it fits huge numbers of people. All the victims have been LifeFit users, and most have been extensive users of LifeWeb, though not all. All did at least have basic data filled in on LifeWeb, enough to make effective use of LifeFit.’

‘I don’t know that much about LifeFit.’

‘It is a LifeWeb plug-in app which provides advice on healthy living and exercise goals. It features a navigation system which allows the user to keep track of runs, swims, or bicycle rides, logging the route so that it can be repeated. Users can utilise it with the telepresence system in LifeWeb to exercise in virtual gyms, have virtual running companions, etc. Some runners find this useful since they can get encouragement from other members, even when running alone.’

‘And these routes, they just put them up on LifeWeb for anyone to see?’

‘Yes, Fox. Generally with comments, pictures of interesting points along the route, best times.’

Fox shook her head. ‘People are nuts. It’s like “here I am, come and mug me.” Well, nothing much to be done about it. I guess we just wait.’ She dropped out of the virtual room, picked up her glass, and took a swig of wine, and then she turned her head as she caught something in the corner of her eye. ‘Oh… Um, what can I do for you, officer?’

Marie was standing there in something which might have been taken for a police uniform, if one had a broad imagination. There was a white blouse, low cut and cropped under her breasts, and a short, straight, blue skirt. The shoes were white, high-heeled, with a platform. Slung around her hips was a belt from which were hung a pair of handcuffs and some sort of baton in a leather holster. Marie was trying to look serious and not entirely succeeding. ‘Some very serious charges have been made against you, Miss Meridian.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes. Homicide. The murder of poor Manny Quinn. What do you have to say for yourself?’

‘I didn’t do it. I think it was this guy with one arm.’

Marie narrowed her eyes. ‘On your feet.’ Putting the glass down, Fox did as requested and Marie turned her around, pulling her arms back. A second later, there was the rapid clatter of the ratchets as the cuffs were closed on Fox’s wrists. ‘I’ve been given considerable latitude in getting a confession out of you.’