Chapter 1: Everybody Comes To Quark's
Given that he really isn't getting anywhere with the Vatrick investigation, Odo makes it his business to find out more about this Quark. He does indeed have a brother, and a nephew who according to some Cardassian soldiers is a thief in the particular rather in the general sense. They all think Quark knows and encourages this, but when asked why station security, prone to send thieving Bajorans to the mines, does nothing about it admit that there is no proof, and besides, Quark is able to get them the occasional illegal item they want as well. The later admission always comes indirectly, with threats and seeking assurance that Odo's assignment for Dukat is just temporary. There is one exception; Glin Merek takes Odo's question as an excuse for an half hour rant about what a horrible offense to the honour of Cardassia it had been to watch a dirty Ferengi consort with a Cardassian lady, and how undoubtedly Quark must have blackmailed the woman in question, a journalist named Natima Lang, using who knew what secrets as leverage. "You should look into that," Merek ends meaningfully, implying that nothing less than starvation combined with revelations about illegitimacy would have brought a Cardassian to have a romance with a Ferengi, and if Quark was capable of this, murdering a Bajoran chemist would be just a trifle by comparison.
"I take it you offered your help to the lady in question."
"I offered myself, and she turned me down," Glin Merek roars. "What more proof is needed that she was being horribly blackmailed!"
Romantic and sexual relationships between bipedals are still something of a mystery to Odo, but he can imagine any number of reasons why someone would choose not to procreate with Glin Merek, whose Bajoran mistresses are covered in bruises. What he finds truly staggering, though, is the idea of a Cardassian, not a Bajoran in need for food to feed her family but a Cardassian, member of a people who seem to consider themselves superior to everyone else, having an affair with a Ferengi.
Maybe Merek is right for the wrong reasons. Maybe Quark has blackmailed the woman, but she appears to have left Terok Nor more than half a year ago, so Odo can't ask her. He decides to try the direct approach and ask Quark himself, but is thrown off track the moment he enters the distastefully noisy bar. Quark spots him, shoves the plate he's carrying at some other Ferengi and practically races towards Odo.
"Just the man I was looking for!" the Ferengi exclaims. "Look, maybe we got off on the wrong foot here, but you've got to help me!"
"I do?" Odo says, startled.
"You betcha. Some bastard has told Dukat I'm to blame for Vatrick's murder. Don't you see, you've got to help me clear my name. You're good at this figuring out stuff. Why, you knew I was lying about the redhead in no times flat! And hey, Dukat can't pay you much since you're still wearing the same clothes, so if you want some cash on the side for some nifty outwear..."
"I don't wear clothes," Odo replies coldly while trying to collect his thoughts. Quark gapes at him. "Why would I need to?" Odo feels compelled to point out. "What you see is my form in a shape that conforms with Bajoran standard clothing, which suffices for the current code of behaviour on this station."
"So what you're saying," Quark drawls, "is that you're running around stark naked, flashing your privates at us. Ha, I knew you must be getting your jollies somehow if you're not into food or drink."
All at once, Odo knows again why his previous two encounters with this individual have left him with a desire to strangle the Ferengi.
"So do you take the job? Clearing my name, that is. Never mind the clothing, I can negotiate you a better contract with Dukat, full stop. He hasn't even given you proper quarters yet. That old office is just good for backaches."
"My back never aches. And I do not have a contract with Dukat."
"You should get on that," Quark advises."A contract is a contract is a contract. Rule of Acquistion."
Quite how his intended interrogation has turned into getting unwanted lifestyle advice from a Ferengi, Odo cannot say. Nor can he explain the niggling sense of guilt that tells him he shouldn't have offered the barkeep to Dukat as an easy culprit just because of his personal distaste for the man.
"My position here is just temporary," Odo says, wanting to clarify that much at least. "I hate leaving a task unfinished, that is all. A contract is not needed, since I have no intention of working for Dukat after this."
"Whatever," Quark replies dismissively. "Look, can we get back to how you're going to prove my innocence?"
Odo finds himself standing even straighter, which is a physical reaction the Ferengi has evoked in him before and which, in other circumstances, he'd find interesting if it were happening to someone else.
"You may be not guilty of murder, but you are not in any definition of the word innocent."
That sounded far better in his head than it did spoken out loud in front of Quark who looks unimpressed.
"And you are?" Quark shoots back.
"I..."
"Because the way I see it, if you frame someone to get a hottie off the hook, you're not innocent, either."
While creating reasonable facsimiles, Odo has no mouth and throat to suddenly run dry. He is familiar with the sensation itself from tests Mora ran on him in order to find out more about Odo's regenerative cycle, but there is no localized phenomenon the way the Bajorans describe it. And yet he has a horrible feeling of being drained of humidity all the same.
"I'm not stupid," Quark says. "First you show up and bust an alibi for which, by the way, I didn't get nearly enough money, and she didn't even think to offer oomox, which was pretty rotten of her, if you ask me. But does Dukat call for a station wide redhead hunt? No. Instead, one of his guards tells one of my Dabo girls she'll get a better salary from Rom soon when he inherits the bar because I'm probably this secret terrorist leader running cells and killing chemists under the cover of being a barkeep. Doesn't take a genius to figure out who must have given the Cardassians that idea. Or a constable."
"I never said you could be a terrorist," Odo hisses when he finds he can speak again.
"But you did say I could have killed Vatrick. And that's why you owe me. Because you know damn well I didn't, genius. You just liked the hottie better than me."
This is shaping up to be the most embarrassing and humiliating day of Odo's existence, which given that his existence includes the performances of the Cardassian neck trick in front of the entire High Command is saying quite a lot. Somehow one of the most disgusting people he has ever met has managed to make him feel ashamed of himself, and he has the dark suspicion this was entirely his own fault.
"Whether or not I find the killer, I will make it clear to Dukat that you didn't kill Vatrick," he concedes.
"A fat lot of good that'll do if he needs someone to blame," Quark grumbles.
Odo makes a new attempt to regain the moral upper hand.
"It would be helpful if you told me the truth... about a lot of things. Given you were so ready to provide someone with a fake alibi and later offered alcohol to Dukat to compensate for this, you seem to be experienced in all manner of bribery and corruption."
He could be wrong, but it seems to him the Ferengi's chest swells with pride.
"I try," Quark says with fake humility.
"Did Vatrick ever pay you for something?"
"Ginger tea and some more... rare... stuff for the wife," Quark answers readily. "I'm good at getting all you could need, and then some." He eyes Odo. "He was a good customer. Good customers are rare as latinum. Treasure them. That's another Rule of Acquisition. Number 57."
Odo abstains from pointing out he is not interested in rules referring to greed instead of order.
"So you could say that his death meant a financial loss for you?"
"I guess..." Quark begins, then catches on to what Odo is getting at. "Oh yes! Absolutely! Blessed Exchequer, how I'll pay my taxes without him as my customer this month, I'll never know!"
A tiny part of Odo feels oddly light and Odo tries hard not to identify the sensation as amusement. He is most certainly not enjoying anything about this situation, conversation, or Quark.
"I wasn't aware you are paying taxes to the Cardassian Empire."
"I don't. I'm paying my taxes to the Ferengi Alliance. Like a proper Ferengi should."
"Meaning, undoubtedly, that you cheat. However, I do believe we have a credible reason as to why you would not have wished to see Vatrick dead. Unless, of course, someone was paying you more for his death than the things he acquired from you were worth." Odo narrows his eyes at Quark, an expression of Mora's he had always found very effective when used against himself. "What is the rate for murder on the black market, Quark?"
Quark stares at him. "I have no idea," he says flatly. "And even if I knew, you can bet no one would ever hire me as an assassin. Because I don't kill people. I wouldn't know how."
From what Odo has seen of the body, Vatrick has been killed by an energy weapon, and he's reasonably sure most people could do damage with one; no special training is necessary for that. On the other hand, the lethal shot was aimed with precision, and to kill that efficiently, without signs of a struggle, the assassin would have needed at least fighting experience. Quark could be lying about his own lack of it, or he could have passed on an assassination order to someone who did have experience, but somehow Odo doubts this. Perhaps it's the lack of wisecracks and of weaseling, but the Ferengi seems sincere, at last.
"But you do have enemies who hate you," he probes. "How do you protect yourself against them?"
"I have only satisfied customers," Quark retorts, and something of his former smugness returns to his tone. "And disappointed competition, sure, but seriously, if they wanted a piece of business on this station that much, they'd simply offer to buy me out. Everyone knows I'm not planning to stay. I'm going to have my own moon one day, you know. Just like my cousin Gaila."
Quark's cousin Gaila and Quark's designs of ownership of an asteroid aren't of interest to Odo.
"That may be true of other Ferengi, but what about Bajorans and Cardassians?"
"They fall in the satisfied customers category", Quark replies a shade too quickly, and Odo. seeing an opening, pounces before he can consider the wisdom of what he's about to reveal. But there is a matter which still defies explanation about Quark, and maybe this is a good opportunity to clear it up as well.
"Not Glin Merek", he comments, carefully watching Quark. "He really, really hates you. Something about a Cardassian lady, I believe?"
He is not sure how he expects Quark to react; most likely with a grin and a boast of his manly prowess, which would be in character, given Quark's behavior so far. What he doesn't expect is for the Ferengi to suddenly look concerned.
"Did something happen to Natima?" Quark asks. "I swear, if that bastard Merek made trouble for her I... look, it was I who used her access codes. She knew nothing about it. And it was just because Cardassians have better access to everything and there was this really good opportunity to make some profit. When she found out, she broke it off and left me immediately. She just didn't denounce me to station security because, well, we were... anyway, it was completely not her fault, it was mine."
This does not make much sense to Odo, except for one thing: it tells him that Quark is capable of taking the blame for something, and that he does so because of whatever emotion he feels for the unfortunate Cardassian female who apparently had been involved with him.
For every action, Doctor Mora once said, a reaction, and a dark Mora-like voice tells Odo that if he uses this Natima person as leverage and lies to Quark that she is somehow involved, he may get Quark to blame himself in front of Dukat, giving Dukat a convenient culprit and Odo a wrapped up case, after which he can leave the station and the whole sordid business behind.
But this would not be just. It would be corrupt, and vile, like he has believed Quark to be. Like he still believes Quark to be, Odo corrects himself, except possibly not in the matter of Cardassian women, and/or murder of Bajoran chemists.
"Glin Merek simply complained about the uncalled for attention you were paying this lady," Odo says gruffly. He's not used to reassuring other people, and certainly not criminals.
His usual vivacity returns to Quark's demeanour. "Unwanted nothing," he says and bares his teeth. With abstract fascination, Odo notes Ferengi teeth are even more irregular and hence more difficult to imitate than Bajoran teeth.
Downright cheerful, Quark continues: "So, now that we've cleared up Merek is a jealous prick, is there anything else you want to know?" With a smirk, he adds: "Like how to score with the redhead if you meet her again?"
He must have been crazy to think there was anything not base in the Ferengi.
"A useful observation about Vatrick's enemies would do, but apparently you're incapable of rational statements about something that is of no benefit to you," Odo returns icily.
"You really should ask Dukat for your own quarters," Quark says.
"What"
"That's my rational observation. Because if you had your own quarters, you could relax in them now and then, if you don't want to do it here or in my holosuite. You know... relax," Quark emphasizes meaningfully. "It does wonders for the concentration and general happiness if a man can do that now and then. If you want vids for inspiration, I can sell those at a really good price, too."
When it finally dawns on Odo what Quark is implying, he's tempted to commit another murder on Terok Nor right then and there and leaves Quark's den of iniquity to remove himself from temptation.
