ENTRY 20

Ben and I went back to the hotel room and got to work tracking down the young men. We picked up their signals and the Planetary Tracking System pinned them to a rundown apartment complex in a high crime rate neighborhood. Ben's tracking devices were so sensitive he was able to pinpoint their position to an exact apartment. Records showed three men rented the flat: Kejy Drak, Jsaplo Loen and Rendy Loen.

Ben pulled up employment photo documentation for the three men and I made a positive identification of Sola's young man as Rendy Loen. Jsaplo Loen was Rendy's older brother. According to the records, Drak was no relation to the Loen brothers. Ben pulled up their police records and found that the Loen brothers were clean. Drak had one misdemeanor court date pending. It was a petty larceny charge for stealing items from the corner drugstore.

Ben looked up at me and shrugged. "They're not what I would call the usual suspects." He stood and put on his Jedi cloak. "Let's take a ride to their apartment and have a little talk with them."

When we arrived to their apartment door Ben took out his DNA analyzer and smiled. "She's been here."

"You think she is with her boyfriend Rendy?"

"That would be our best case scenario. The worst case would be her boyfriend tricked her and sold her off."

"Yeah, that would be the ultimate betrayal." Ben went to ring the doorbell, but I stopped him. "Wait, how do you want to play this?"

Ben looked a little confused. "Play this?"

"Yeah, I've seen police holovids. Good cop, bad cop. Which do you want me to be?"

Ben laughed and shook his head. "Talon, we're Jedi Knights. We don't play a version of Jedi cop, Sith cop."

I was a little disappointed, but I guess having a Jedi Knight yelling and intimidating suspects would sully the Order's reputation.

Ben rang the door buzzer. After a few moments a man we identified as Kejy Drak came to the door. He looked at us confused. "Yeah?"

Ben pulled out his identification. "My name is Ben Skywalker." He motioned toward me. "This is Talon Tantiss. We're Jedi Knights working on the behalf of the Galactic Alliance Security and the local authorities in the search for a missing…."

That was all that he got out before this guy tried to bolt out the front door. He didn't get far before Ben and I got a Force hold on the man holding him fast. "Let me go! I didn't do anything!"

"Then why are you running?" I said as I grabbed him by the collar and started pulling him back toward his apartment.

"What's going on here?" came a voice from within the dwelling. We turned to find Jsaplo Loen standing in the doorway still dressed in his work clothes. He was a pale, gaunt looking man who looked much older than the twenty-eight years of age that his records indicated. "You're the guys from the club. I thought you were cops."

"We're not the police, but Jedi Knights on temporary duty here to search for a missing woman," Ben explained. "Are you Jsaplo Loen?"

"Yeah, but I don't know anything about a missing woman."

Ben pulled out the DNA analyzer. "This device shows the DNA of Sola Zekl is in and around this apartment."

The man smirked. "Is she the girl you showed us last night? If so, I already told you I made out with her. Her DNA was all over me and I brought it home."

Ben gave him a knowing look. "The level of DNA is much too high to be explained by transference. She was inside this apartment. We'll call in a forensics team and I am sure we will find her fingerprints."

The thin man sighed deeply before he pointed to his friend. "He knows nothing. Let him go and I'll tell you everything."

Ben shook his head. "We're not letting a potential suspect go until we talk."

The two men looked at each other for a moment before Jsaplo nodded and motioned us to enter. I kept a grip on the other man's collar until we got inside. I then pushed him down on the couch that occupied the main room of the apartment. Loen sat down next to his roommate. "Sola Zekl was here," he admitted.

Ben nodded. "Where is she now?"

Jsaplo took a deep breath and let it out. "She's dead. I killed her."

My stomach dropped. This was not how I hoped this case would turn out.

Ben gazed at the man intensely. "Where's her body?"

Jsaplo leered at Ben. It was an expression that made me want to smack it right off his face.

"I dumped her body in a smelting furnace. There's nothing left of her."

Ben didn't react in the way I expected. He laughed at the man. "You expect me to believe that?"

I could feel a spike of panic from Jsaplo. "It's true."

"How did you get ahold of her?" Ben asked. "Were you and your buddies the ones who kidnapped her?"

I would feel a twinge of panic from the other man now and I suspect Ben was spot on in his assumption that these men were the kidnappers.

"No, I bought her on the slave market. I took her here. The sex got a little rough and I accidently killed her."

"So, you're telling me a low paying miner saved enough money up to buy a sex slave. Why pay all that money for one woman when you can rent them at the local sex clubs?"

He averted his eyes and shrugged. "The local sex clubs don't like it when you accidently kill their girls."

Ben crossed his arms in front of his chest as he gazed down at the man with a slight smirk on his face. "You would have had to save for years to buy a woman. Miners are usually not the thrifty type. I can't see you saving the thousands of credits needed to buy a young female."

"I can prove it." He pointed to a datapad on a nearby table. "Hand me my datapad and I will pull up my bank records. You'll see I had the credits and then withdrew it."

"Can you get that for me Talon?"

I walked over and retrieved the datapad and tossed it to the man. He punched at the screen for a few seconds and then handed the datapad back to me. On the screen was bank account information for a Jsaplo Loen. "He had five thousand credits in his account." I looked at Ben. "A day after Sola's kidnapping he withdrew four thousand credits."

"This is all on me." Jsaplo said defiantly. "My roommate didn't know anything. He has warrants for shoplifting; that's why he ran."

Ben rocked back on his heels and cocked and eyebrow. "And why exactly are you confessing all of this?"

Jsaplo looked confused at the line of questioning. "I…uhh…I feel guilty. I deserve to go to jail. I've…" he was interrupted by a coughing fit. He brought up his sleeve to muffle his cough. When the attack subsided I notice there were flecks of blood on his hand and tunic. I grabbed his arm to get a better look. "You're sick."

The man grimaced. "Ore lung. I'm dying."

"Ore Lung is treatable," Ben pointed out.

"The mining company keeps our hours just under forty hours a week so they don't have to provide us with medical or dental benefits. I don't have insurance."

"But the treatment is not that expensive. Your five thousand credits would have paid for a large percentage of the medical care needed. Why waste the money on a girl?"

A sad expression crossed his face. "Sometimes the right woman is worth the credits."

I wasn't sure why we were still talking to this guy. We should have stun-cuffed him by now and hauled his butt off to jail, but Ben remained standing in front of the man staring him down. "Where's your brother Rendy?"

Jsaplo Loen took in a sharp breath and I could see perspiration start to bead on his forehead. "He quit his crappy job working for a caterer and left this sleemhole of a town." He stood up from the couch and held his hands out in front of him inviting us to cuff him. "Listen, you got me. I confess. I killed Sola. Take me in."

Ben chuckled and pushed him back down on the couch. "Jsaplo Loen, you are trying way too hard to be arrested."

The sickly man began to squirm in his seat. "That's because I'm guilty."

"You're guilty of something, but not murder. I have a feeling Sola is alive and well and with your brother."

The man turned white in the face. "No, she's dead. Tell her father I killed her."

"Listen Jsaplo," Ben said slowly. "I know it was you, your roommate here and your brother that snatched Sola…which isn't a crime if Sola went along with you willingly."

"She's dead!" he insisted.

"I know that's what you want her father to believe. If she's dead he won't look for her. Sola knew her father would never let her marry your brother and if she ran away he would never stop looking for her…unless he thought she was dead. Four thousand credits is a lot of money. Money you probably were saving to get medical treatment, but instead you gave it to your brother…probably for forged passports and passage for two off planet."

I could see a tear running down the man's face. "She's dead. I killed her," he repeated like a mantra.

"Knowing you'll die without treatment, I guess life in prison doesn't frighten you, but I don't want to send an innocent man to jail." Ben turned to me. "My friend here has a unique Force ability. He can touch objects and receive visions of the past concerning those objects. He'll be able to tell me where they've gone if you made those plans in this apartment."

"If you know so much, why are you doing this?" The man said angrily. " Why can't you let her be?"

Ben's face softened. "Sola is seventeen years old. She is considered an adult on this planet. She has every right to leave on her own accord. I am investigating a kidnapped girl. If you can prove to me she left willingly and is alive and well…then I can honestly say I couldn't find a kidnapping victim. Can you get her on a transceiver?"

The man stared at Ben for a long pause. "I heard you say your name was Skywalker. Any relation to Luke Skywalker?"

Ben nodded. "He's my father."

Jsaplo looked over to his friend. "What do you think?"

"His dad was the hero of the rebellion. I'd trust a Skywalker."

The man heaved a sigh. "If I help you, do you swear you'll go away and not tell her father she's alive?"

Ben nodded. "I just need to know she'll alright."

Jsaplo slowly stood and walked over to a HoloNet transceiver.

"Talon and I will stand out of sight. Just get Sola on the transceiver and ask her how she is doing. If she doesn't appear under duress…then we can forget about this entire fiasco."

"Okay." The man sat down in front of the transceiver and pushed a series of buttons. After a moment the face of a young man appeared. "Jsaplo," the man said happily. "How are things working out?"

Rendy's older brother gave a forced smiled. "The authorities believe Sola is kidnapped and possibly dead."

"Good," Rendy said with a chuckle. "I'm sure her father hasn't shed a tear for his daughter…maybe for his messed up wedding plans, but not for Sola."

"Can I see her?" Jsaplo asked.

Rendy gave his brother a guarded look, but then turned and called to somebody out of sight. "Jsaplo would like to see you."

After a moment the beautiful face of Sola Zekl appeared. "Jsaplo! I can't thank you enough for your help." She gave a broad smile as tears of joy ran down her cheeks. "We'll pay you back. Every credit."

The older man smiled. "Consider it a wedding present Sola. You make my brother very happy."

"That is so sweet, but it is too much Jsaplo. We'll get the money back to you. We know how much you wanted that new speeder."

The elder Loen gave a dry chuckle. "That's okay. I don't really need a speeder. I just wanted to make sure you got off planet alright and you two are well."

"We are," Sola reached out and pulled Rendy closer to her. "Thanks to you we're wonderful."

Loen gave a soft smile. "Good. I'll let you go. I love you two."

"We love you also," the two said on the other end before the connection was cut. He turned in his seat and looked at us. "Is that good enough?"

"Yes." Ben gave a sad smile. "You didn't tell them you were saving the money for medical treatments."

Loen shook his head with an air of resignation. "I never told my brother I was sick. It would worry him too much. When he needed the money I told him I had some that I was saving for a speeder. He would never have taken the money if he knew the truth." Jsaplo turned to us. "So what are you going to do?"

"Talon, can you pass me his datapad please." I handed over the device. Ben started tapping on it and then handed it to the older brother. "I booked you a flight to Coruscant. Report to the Jedi Temple and ask for Jaden Tantiss. He's my cousin," he motioned his head towards me. "And Talon's brother. He's also a doctor. He can be trusted to keep a secret. I'll make sure you get the treatments you need. Just get there. Other than that, we're marking this case as unsolved."

The man broke out in a sob. "Thank you."

"The local authorities will still be searching for her, so lay low. You may want to scrub down this apartment with a ten percent bleach solution, vacuum everything and wash all your clothing and bed sheets. You don't need roving DNA trackers zeroing in on this apartment." Ben turned to me. "Come on Talon. Let's go."

As we left the apartment I looked over to Ben as we walked down the hallway. "The guy was willing to die for his brother."

Ben shrugged. "That doesn't surprise me. I would die to protect my family." He gave me a smirk. "Even you."

I was touched by his admission. Ben and I grew up together and were as close as brothers. "Same here."

We exited the building and walked down the street in silence feeling a bit awkward at all the brotherly love talk.

"He probably didn't see himself in much danger. I have a feeling he had all the different possibilities planned out," Ben finally said. "If we did arrest him he could recant his confession and then refuse to make further comments under oath. As soon as he in in custody he would receive medical treatment for his disease because he is a ward of the state. It usually takes months or years for a defendant to go to trial. By the time he is cured he could get his lawyer to send a message to his brother. Sola could go to a local Galactic Alliance Security office on whatever planet she was living on and give a statement that she is alive and well and provide DNA as proof. The charges would be dropped and Jsaplo walked out a free and cured man. Her father would know she was alive, but by then she would probably be married and possibly with child."

"Smart man." I looked over to Ben. "This is going to ruin your perfect 'Case Solved' record."

"Hey, I solved it. I'm just keeping the results to myself."

"True. I think this is cause for celebration." I gave my cousin a one-arm hug around his shoulder. "Let's go to the Club Euphoria and party."

Ben pushed me away. "No karking way!"

"Hey, maybe you can get another lap dance from that cute Zeltron." I joked. "I can't wait to tell the girls about your run-in with her."

He gave me a murderous look. "I'll tell Valla, not you! You'll exaggerate! So keep your mouth shut or I'll kick you in your MLD." He then grinned wildly. "I know you used it on the flight here. I could sense your startled response through the Force. That thing gets a big reaction out of you." He put up his hands and shook them while making a startled expression. "Oh, oh, oh," he made a mocking sensual moan.

"You're so full of it," I grumbled.

He laughed even harder. "Did you get the MLD's comlink number?"

I gave Ben a punch in the shoulder. "I hate that thing."

"Is that why I saw you drink a liter of juice before we left?" He gave me a smug smile. "Promise me you'll let me tell Valla first."

I shook my head in defeat. "Fine, I won't say anything to Valla unless you ask for my input."

Damn it! I wanted to tell this story!