Eros at Zenith: Book 2 of Tales of the Velvet Comet by Mike Resnick Page A

three are all too young to have had anything to do with Infante—Totem Pole is 25, and the two girls are even younger—but Morales is a different story. He's 53, and he comes from the most likely world.”
    MOST LIKELY FOR WHAT?
    “Most likely to precipitate this kind of action so many years after the fact. Check his file and see if he worked for Bello.”
    HE DID NOT.
    'What was his job during Bello's last year there?”
    VIDEO TECHNICIAN.
    “Who was his employer?”
    HE WAS SELF-EMPLOYED.
    “Well, there's got to be a connection somewhere. Bring up the information you accessed on Bello.”
    QUINTUS BELLO, BORN 323 G.E., CAUCASIAN, HEIGHT 5 FEET 9 INCHES, WEIGHT “Stop.”
    The screen froze.
    “Skip all that stuff: Get to New Sumatra.”
    BELLO WAS APPOINTED PLANETARY GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY WORLD OF NEW SUMATRA, 372 G.E., IN WHICH CAPACITY HE SERVED WITH DISTINCTION FOR 7 YEARS. IN 379 G.E. HE ORDERED THE DESTRUCTION OF 11,307 CITIZENS OF NEW SUMATRA. HE WAS CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE BY THE REPUBLIC, RELIEVED OF ALL DUTIES, AND TAKEN INTO CUSTODY. HE WAS TRIED IN 380 G.E., FOUND GUILTY, AND SENTENCED TO DEATH, BUT ESCAPED BEFORE THE SENTENCE COULD BE CARRIED OUT.
    “He can't be Morales,” mused Crane. “He'd be 78 now. The ages are all wrong.”
    BELLO HAS BEEN MISSING FOR 19 YEARS AND IS PRESUMED DEAD.
    “Well, dead or alive, he's the key,” said Crane. “Hypothesis: Infante knew of some connection between Morales and the Bello Affair and was blackmailing him, and—No! Strike that. It's wrong.”
    WHY? IT IS LOGICAL.
    “Because Infante wasn't killed by Morales. He was killed to scare Morales.”
    THAT IS STILL JUST A HYPOTHESIS.
    “No. It's a fact.”
    YOU HAVE NO PROOF OF THAT.
    “Look: If Morales killed him, he'd have hidden the body better or else left the ship before it was discovered. Let's try another approach.” Crane fell silent, frowning and staring at his hands. “Hypothesis: Morales had some connection with the Bello Affair, and Infante knew of it and was, if not sympathetic, at least not antagonistic. Check the records and see if they were ever on New Sumatra at the same time.”
    THEY WERE NOT. I TOLD YOU THAT YESTERDAY.
    “Were they ever on Deluros VIII at the same time?”
    THEY WERE BOTH ON DELUROS VIII FOR A 2-MONTH PERIOD LAST YEAR.
    “All right,” said Crane, straining to piece the puzzle together. “They met on Deluros.”
    109 MEMBERS OF THE VELVET COMET'S CREW WERE ON DELUROS DURING SOME PORTION OF EDWARD INFANTE'S RESIDENCY.
    “I don't care about the other 108!” snapped Crane. “Where the hell was I?”
    QUOTE: THEY MET ON DELUROS.
    “Okay. They met there, and arranged to continue meeting after Morales found employment up here.”
    WHY?
    “I don't know. But they made the arrangement, and somehow the killer found out about it and for some reason had to force some action during the next five weeks.”
    WHY DID HE KILL INFANTE RATHER THAN MORALES?
    “I don't know.”
    THAT IS A VERY TENUOUS CHAIN OF REASONING.
    “It seems to me that you've said that before.”
    I HAVE.
    “All right. Put your prodigious circuitry to work and tell me if it's wrong or merely tenuous.”
    TENUOUS.
    “Well, so far, so good.” He sighed and then stretched. “Not a bad morning's work. I suppose I'd better get back to my interviews, just for form.”
    WILL YOU WANT TO QUESTION ESTEBAN MORALES AGAIN?
    “Absolutely not. He's not the man we're after, and if I ask him enough questions he's going to figure out that Infante is dead. Why do the killer's work for him?” He paused. “That's why this is all going into a Priority File. I can't take a chance on someone in Security repeating what I've said. If it gets back to Morales, he'll do exactly what the killer wants him to do.” He finished his fruit juice. “Okay. Wait 20 seconds and close the file.”
    WAITING...
    “And if you come up with any ideas, re-open it and let me know what they are.”
    I DO NOT ORIGINATE IDEAS.
    “Pity.”
    THE PRIORITY