Chapter 23
Which of them?
Which of them? Forget the threnado tablet, Plormot needed to find some answers to unclutter this affair.
Mr. Douqh and Dr. Suri were seated together, talking, when Plormot entered the dining room. Douqh looked depressed as he half-heartedly stirred the tea in his cup.
"If you solve this case, Hilus," Izu Douqh told his friend as he sat down, "I will truly believe in miracles."
"You are worried about this case?" Douqh shot his friend an incredulous look.
"Of course it worries me! It can't decide whether I trust a single so-called fact in this case."
"I am equally baffled," the doctor put in.
Plormot nodded, thinking deeply.
"To be frank," Douqh continued, "I cannot see what you could possibly do next that would help."
"No? Hmm." Plormot responded, still deep in thought.
He set down his bottle of vadu and drew from his pocket his little case of threnado tablets. He shook one out and dropped it into the water where it immediately billowed out into a yellowy-orange cloud of particles that sank to the bottom and sides. When they hit the bottom and sides of the bottle, bubbles formed and created a chemical reaction that closely resemble carbonation. Rather, it was an observable phenomenon of microbial colonies activating with the moisture.
Without preamble, Plormot described to his companions how and where he had discovered the red robe. The other two were internally itching to bluster themselves into a state of uproar, but were outwardly stunned into silence.
"It seems to me," Plormot continued, watching his water fizz and spray, "that our very predicament, and our confusion over this case, is a particular point of interest.
"Here we are, cut off from all of the normal resources that would underpin a 'proper' investigation. Are these people who we interview telling the truth or lying? We have no way to verify anything. It turns this investigation into an exercise of thought."
"That's nice," Douqh said. He was not at all genuine, and not at all hiding it. "But what do we do about it?"
"I told you. We have collected statements from the passengers and observed them ourselves."
"Fat load of good it does us! Their statements tell us nothing!"
"I disagree, Izu. The evidence of the passengers grants us several points to ponder."
"Well," Mr. Douqh huffed, "I don't see what those might be."
"That is because you did not listen. Well, at least, you did not hear."
"Then tell me, what have I missed?"
"Here is one example. The first interview we conducted, the one with the young Mr. Qozz. He mentioned something which to him, might mean nothing but to me, it felt rather significant.
He told us the two of them traveled about, and that Mr. Evered was hampered by knowing no languages. Evered, and Parisi, spoke only English and some Common."
Plormot looked at the other two meaningfully.
"You still don't see it?" He gently clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I'll spell it out, then. Mr. Evered spoke no Axanarian. Yet, when the purser came to answer the bell last night, it was a voice speaking Axanarian that told it was a mistake and that he was not meant to be called. Based on what Bael Kehrno and myself both recall, it was perfectly idiomatic phrasing. Mr. Evered wouldn't have had the fluency, even the proficiency, to say something so idiomatic. {I was mistaken,} he said. Not: {I make a mistake,} or some variation which would be a more typical phrasing by new or leaning speakers."
"That's such a great point!" Suric jumped in excitedly. "We should have seen that! I remember the way you stressed those words to us when we interviewed Qozz. It makes sense to me, now, why you have been so reluctant to rely on the evidence of the broken watch. At twenty or so minutes to one, Evered was already dead-"
"And it was his murderer speaking." Mr. Douqh finished, having finally wrapped his mind around the significance. "A murderer who is proficient, if not fluent, in Axanarian."
But Plormot raised his hands to waylay them.
"Let us slow down. And let us not assume more than we truly know. It is safe, I think, to say at that time, twenty-three minutes to one, some other person was in Evered's room and that person can speak it fluently."
"That explains why you suspect the cold Miss Lee, and not the intimidating Lieutenant Keller," Dr. Suric surmised. "She could easily respond such, while Lieutenant Keller stumbles through everything, except perhaps Common."
"His pronunciation in Common still leaves something to be desired," Mr. Douqh pointed out. But again, Plormot shook his head and raised his hands.
"Again, the pair of you jump to conclusions. My suspicion or lack of suspicion of those two is entirely unrelated to what languages I think they can or cannot speak, but more so in what they spoke to each other that day. Now, we become sidetracked:
We have no actual evidence that Evered was dead at that time. In fact, we will need to wait until the proper authorities arrive and a proper autopsy may be performed before determining time of death. Even then, the more time that passes, the less precise it will be. Certainly, the body's exposure to void-temperatures, however brief, could cause further issue."
"There was the yell that you heard. It woke you up." Suric offered.
"Yes, that is true."
"In a way," Douqh spoke thoughtfully, "this realization of the speaker doesn't change things very much. You heard someone moving around next door. That person was not Evered, and was washing blood from his hands, clearing up after the crime, and destroying the data chip and anything else that pointed to the Archer case. Then he waited until all was still and, when he thinks it is safe and the coast is clear, he locks Evered's door to the hallway from the inside and passes through the communicating door into Mrs. Valy'r's compartment and leaves through her door.
"Nothing crucial has changed with our theory, with the exception that Evered was killed about half an hour earlier, and the watch was changed to a quarter past one to create an alibi."
"Not an airtight alibi," Plormot was sure to point out. "The watch was set to 1.15, which is the exact time when the intruder would have actually left the scene of the crime."
"True," Dr. Suric said. "What, then, does the watch's time tell you?"
"If the watch hands were altered, and I do mean if, then the time at which they were set must then have significance. The natural reaction would be to suspect anyone who had a reliable alibi during the time indicated, 1.15."
"Yes, yes," Dr. Suric prompted. "That is sound reasoning. And?"
"We must also pay attention to the time the intruder would have entered the compartment. When did he have the opportunity to enter? Unless we assume the purser, Mr. Kehrno, is complicit, then there is only one time when he could have entered.
"During the time the Orion Express stopped at Nondinsi. After the ship left Nondinsi, the purser was sitting facing the corridor. Whereas a passenger would pay little to no attention to an Agate Inc. employee, the one person who would notice an impostor would be the real purser. But during the stop at Nondinsi, the purser was, as is typical, out on the landing bay dock. The coast is clear."
"Which leaves us where we left off earlier," Mr. Douqh lamented. "It therefore must be one of the passengers. Which of them?" Plormot smiled.
"Let us review, then. It will help us all refresh our memories." He proceeded to pull passports from his stack. "We will review each passenger with a particular eye to their motives, alibis, evidence and suspicious circumstances that surround them:
"The good axanarian, Mr. Wroe'bex Qozz. A Federate citizen. As for a motive, he admits it himself. One possibly derives from his father's association to the dead man's case. One can hardly believe his father's standing remained unscathed after the debacle. His alibi is from midnight to two in the morning. From midnight to 1.30 is vouched for by Lieutenant Keller, while the purser, Bael Kehrno, has vouched for his whereabouts from 1.15 to two in the morning. We have no evidence against him. There are no suspicious circumstances, either." Plormot paused to see if either of his two companions had anything to add. It seemed they were content to attend his lecture in silence. He set the passport aside.
"The purser, Bael Kehrno, a resident of Axanarian space, originally from Xindi space. No motive. His alibi is from midnight to two, as seen and heard by myself from Evered's compartment at 12.37. From 1 to 1.16, two other pursers have vouched for his whereabouts, they were discussing phal reports. There is no evidence against him. As for suspicious circumstances, there is the matter of the Agate Inc. uniform, with the Orion Express patches. That, however, seems add to his favor in my mind, since it seems to have been intended to throw suspicion on him." With nothing from his two companions, Plormot set the card aside and drew the next passport.
"Strophyr Zahn, steward to the dead man. For motive, there could conceivably be one, as he worked for the deceased. Some form of friction we do not know of. As for his alibi, he is covered from midnight to two by the shuttle salesman, Stills. There is no evidence, nor suspicious circumstances against him, other than that he fits certain physical measurements. He is the right height and size and could have worn the crew uniform we found. On the other hand, I do not think he has strayed far from Antaran regions to spend extended time in Federate space. I think it unlikely that he speaks Axanarian well enough to use colloquialisms and the like."
"Here," Plormot drew the next passport. "Mrs. Valy'r. Federate citizen, a risian woman. No motive, but no alibi from midnight to two, either. She tells a story of a man in her compartment that is substantiated by both Zraevetsol's account and the lady's maid, Toloe."
"Finta, the denobulan. No motive. Her alibi from midnight to two is vouched for by Hannah Lee. I have nothing else to say on her for the moment, other than it appears she was the last person to see Evered alive."
"Princess Nehn. Antaran royalty. Her motive is clear. She was intimate friends to the Archer family, and became like a sister to Captain Hernandez's mother, the actress of renown through Federate space. Her alibi, from midnight to two, is vouched for by the purser and Miss Toloe. There is no evidence against her.
"Count Kyrth. He is both Andorian nobility and one of their treasured diplomats. No motive. His alibi from midnight to two is vouched for by the purser, but this does not include the window of time from one to 1.15."
"Countess Kyrth. Andorian nobility and the diplomat's wife. No motive, and her alibi from midnight to two is given by her husband. The alibi is that she took her usual sedative and slept. I myself found ample supplies of sedatives in her luggage, which supports her regular use of them."
"Lieutenant Keller. Federate citizen. Specifically, an Earth subject serving with Starfleet. No motive. Spoke with Qozz from midnight to 1.30. He then went to his own compartment and did not leave it, which gives the rest of his alibi from the purser. There's no evidence against him.
"Zraevetsol. Originally from Orion space, Dielgev Station, specifically. No known motive. His alibi from midnight to two is that he did not leave his compartment, substantiated by both the purser and Qozz. No evidence against him, and no suspicious circumstances.
"Declan Stills. Earth citizen, but travels quite a bit. No known motive. His alibi is vouched for by our surly Mr. Zahn. There is no evidence against him.
"Hannah Lee. Earth citizen. No motive. Alibi vouched for by Finta. As for evidence against her, there is none, except for the suspicion I have for her refusal to explain her words during a Taurus Express stop.
"Tehf Toloe. Betazoid citizen, originally, but in longtime service to Princess Nehn. No motive. Her alibi is vouched for by the purser and her mistress. She was awoken by the purser at roughly 12.38 and went to her mistress.
"Now, we will note, my friends," Plormot glanced up from her passport. "That the alibis given from one passenger to another is supported by one another and by the purser as well, since everyone is in general agreement that no one entered or left Mr. Evered's compartment between the hours of midnight and one in the morning, when the purser himself went to confer with other crew members, and from 1.15 to two."
"So we have reviewed and reviewed what we think we know, and what we don't," Douqh summed up. "It isn't very helpful."
"These things are a process, my friend," Plormot smiled at his companions.
"We cannot forget, we need to ask ourselves several questions. Who wore the red robe? Who wore the crew uniform? Why do the hands of the watch point to 1.15? Was the murder committed then? If not, was it committed earlier? Later? Can we be sure that Evered really was stabbed by more than one person? What other explanation of his wounds are there? So you see, we have much work ahead of us, yet."
Plormot couldn't tell if Douqh and Dr. Suric's expressions were those of intimidation at the task ahead of them, or of incredulity at having to perform such an exhausting exercise that might result in nothing new. Perhaps a mixture of both.
"Alright," Dr. Suric ventured. "Let's start with that first question you mentioned. Who wore the red robe? By process of elimination, I doubt it could have been Princess Nehn."
"That's right," Plormot agreed. "I saw the back of her myself, and while it was not necessarily a woman in the robe with the towel piled on her head, I am certain I would have noticed if it were a shorter, wider frame like that of the Princess's."
Douqh was not impressed.
"That's nice," he deadpanned. "But we can't very well eliminate everyone else by that logic. Maybe – maybe – Miss Lee, because she is rather small and witnesses including yourself, Hilus, would have noted the shorter stature. And maybe several of the men. Zraevetsol is a giant green man, Mr. Stills is a giant black man, Count Kyrth is a giant blue man! Stuffing them in a robe and towel might be enough to cover their pigments, but they are tall enough to warrant mentioning their height." He stopped short for a moment.
"Except for the towel on top, which throws all of that out the window. Miss Lee wouldn't be so short, anymore, and the men wouldn't seem so tall, either. But even if we summarily eliminate them, and Princess Nehn, that still leaves us with six passengers who could conceivably have worn the robe!"
Plormot's eyes twinkled at his friend's outburst.
"I will add to your troubles, Izu."
Douqh groaned. Plormot sipped his water and continued:
"We have the same problem with the uniform. Again, I think we can safely eliminate the Antaran princess from the possibility of donning the uniform. It seems it would be a tight fit for those larger men you mention, but not impossible. If that is what they had to work with, who would notice shorter sleeves or short hems at the floor when one isn't looking for an impostor? Those men, I think, are unlikely candidates to wear the uniform, but possible, nonetheless.
"As for Lieutenant Keller, he would fit into the uniform. The fit might be awkward in places, rather loose, perhaps, but he is a man of uniforms, is he not? He would wear it swimmingly. Miss Lee, also, could wear the uniform without drawing attention. So what if it is baggy in places and the cuffs are long? It isn't too uncommon to see crewmen roll a cuff at the bottom now and then. The same goes for several of the women. Miss Toloe, I think, would find the chest a bit tight, but she could manage it, as could Finta, assuming she had the courage to take it up. In fact, even Mr. Zahn, though it would be rather tight around his middle, would find the uniform an overall fit."
Dr. Suric remained quiet and sent a sideways look to Douqh, who had long since buried his face into his hands. Plormot decided it was time to redirect his friends.
"We'll pass along to the watch. Why do the hands point to 1.15?"
Douqh had finally peeled his hands away from his face and gave a half-hearted attempt to answer.
"Either the watch truly broke at that time, or else it was set to that time after being broken?"
"Precisely. It means either we can feel a sense of surety in everyone's alibis, or few, if any, of them."
"But many of their alibis extend beyond the window of time from midnight to two in the morning," Douqh pointed out. "The purser says Zraevetsol never left his compartment. The purser says it was all quiet from midnight to two.
"Even if Bael has it all wrong, even if he has somehow hallucinated everyone's alibis, they have substantiated each other's. Mr. Stills swears Zahn couldn't have left the compartment that night, because he'd have to use the door, and opening the door would have shined the hallway's light into Stills's face. And Zahn is certain Stills didn't leave the compartment, either, because he was restless that night and couldn't properly sleep.
"True," Dr. Suric jumped in, exasperated. "It is the same for Finta and Miss Lee. Miss Lee has the berth above Finta's, and the light would have shone into her face as well, should Finta have opened the door during the night. And Finta swears she would have heard Miss Lee come down from the berth above, because she is a light sleeper, and one of the ladder rungs rattles when stepped on.
"Miss Toloe swears for the princess's alibi, and Bael's account gives Miss Toloe her alibi, which also matches what the princess says. It is all knitted together!"
"Yes, yes," Plormot tried to reign in the spiral of despair the two others were setting up to take. "But back to the watch. Why 1.15?" A long silence ensued while Dr. Suric simply sat, and Douqh tried to wrangle out some new answer.
"I think I have it," Douqh spoke at last. "It was not the uniformed murderer who tampered with the watch. It would have been the person we called the second murderer, the left-handed person, the woman in the red robe. She, or he, since it could have been a man in that robe, arrives after the uniformed murderer left. She moves the hands of the watch to make an alibi for herself." Dr. Suric smiled and for a moment, the two shared the feeling of pieces falling into place at last.
"So," Plormot carried on. "She stabbed him in the dark, not realizing he was stabbed, bloodied and dead already, but somehow knew or realized he had a watch in his pajama pocket, took it out, put back the hands blindly and broke it." His tone was nonjudgmental, but his skeptical disdain for Douqh's theory still stung.
"Do you have a better explanation that fits what we see?" He demanded.
"No, not at the moment." Plormot admitted, patting Douqh's shoulder. "All the same, we still have yet to appreciate the question of the time of 1.15. Was the murder committed then? I answer, no."
"I agree there," Douqh answered. "Was it earlier, then? But what do you say, doctor?"
"Yes, but it also could have been later. Physiologically, human bodies display certain symptoms as time passes, but the delay in finding the body, my lack of proper equipment, the body's exposure to void temperatures, and the delay before we reach Pordd, when proper equipment may be used… it all means we may never reliably say when the murder took place. At least, based on decomposition.
"We would need to rely on other methods to confidently give a specific time of death. As it is, the window of time, disregarding any witness accounts, could be as broad as ten or eleven at night, through to three or three-thirty in the morning. Given that I could not even take the body's organ temperatures, and we do not know when the escape pod was triggered, exposing the body to void temperatures, it's all very vague."
"So you agree with Izu?" Plormot prompted the doctor to give a more succinct answer.
"Yes. I think the Uniformed Murderer came earlier than 1.15 and the Red Robe Murderer came after 1.15."
"Could we not determine who aboard is left handed?" Douqh asked the doctor, who shook his head.
"Though I'm certain the good Mr. Plormot here could easily determine who is left or right-handed, I'm not so certain it would matter. I recently attended a seminar on the comparative neurological habits of bilaterally symmetrical sentient species." Plormot inwardly groaned. Of course the doctor had recently attended a seminar on the comparative neurological habits of bilaterally symmetrical sentient species.
"Andorians, Antarans, Axanarians, and Denobulans can be ambidextrous. It is exceedingly uncommon, but the distribution between left and right-handed people is balanced enough that it would neither eliminate nor suspect any of them based on their dominant hand. Betazoids are rarely ambidextrous, and are mostly right-handed. However, most of the stab wounds in the victim's body were right-handed, so Miss Toloe is similarly both a suspect and just as likely innocent on that account."
"And humans?" Plormot leaned forward. But the doctor shook his head as he came to them.
"Humans are rarely ambidextrous in all activities. It can happen, but it isn't common and most will just pick a dominant hand for an activity. Most are right-handed, but a significant number are left-handed as well. Some may be right-handed for certain activities, such as writing or using certain tools, but be inconsistent with other actions. Further, depending on where a human grows up, how they are educated, they may deviate from even that pattern.
"Culturally, many humans will eat using a knife in their right hand, and a utensil called a {fork} in the other. But this is trained into humans, who might otherwise use the {fork} in their right hand because it is considered to be a more useful or common eating implement. There is an activity they discussed in the seminar, where they ride a mammal called a {horse.}
"Generally, the reigns are held in both hands, one for each. But in the event they need to transfer both to one hand, it is the left. New riders are taught to hold the reigns in their left hand, which keeps their right hand free for balance and anything else. Historically, this would have been to accommodate the majority of riders, who were and are right-handed. However, though today such a custom isn't considered so important, left-handed riders still hold the reigns in their left hands. Anyway, whether it is eating or stabbing, or riding or writing or {golfing}, there is much inconsistency with how humans go about choosing which hand to use."
Plormot had sat back during Dr. Suric's speech and had absently nodded along while he waited for the doctor to wrap up.
"It seems we have jumped into discussing our final questions. Including whether Mr. Evered was truly stabbed by more than one person. To reconfirm, doctor," Plormot asked. "Is it possible for Princess Nehn to have committed this crime? She seems rather frail, and her arms do not carry strength."
"It is difficult. I am inclined to say no, it would require a stronger arm to stab so deeply in places so dense and tough with bone and muscle. However, she strikes me as woman of extreme will, and I have seen many otherwise frail people accomplish incredible feats based on that."
Plormot nodded solemnly to the doctor's diagnosis. "I agree with you, doctor."
"So if the frail princess could have done it," Douqh said slowly. "Does that mean a single person would have been responsible for all of the wounds?" But the doctor shook his head.
"To the question of whether we can be sure if Evered was stabbed by more than one person, I would say yes.
"In my medical opinion, there can be no other explanation for those wounds. To suggest that one man struck first with strength and violence, only to strike again, weakly and then switch hands and repeat, it is a lot to ask me to believe. And then there is the matter of the interval.
"Several of the wounds bled profusely, including one or two of the weaker ones, which means he was very much alive then. But some of the others bled very little, meaning he was close to death, and these wounds still include both strong and weak wounds.
"Finally, there was a particularly feeble stab wound, more of a glancing scratch really, and some deeper holes, that were inflicted after death, for they did not bleed at all. In all, at least – at least, mind you – ten or twelve minutes would need to pass from start to finish, to account for the victim's death before continuing to attack. In my mind, I believe the attack took place over the course of at least fifteen minutes or so."
During Dr. Suric's speech on the neurological habits of bilaterally symmetrical sentient species, Plormot had allowed his mind to wander a bit. However, he listened with rapt attention while the doctor outlined the precise and sound reasoning behind the timeline of the attack.
"So you think that the explanation of two murderers does make sense? One who came first, and another who finished the job?"
"What other explanation can there be?"
Plormot stared straight ahead for a moment or two.
"Indeed." He leaned back again. "Well, now. We have thrashed it all out. The facts are before us. The passengers have all sat across from us here, one by one, and given us their accounts. We know all that can be known for the moment." He gave a bright nod to Douqh.
"As you often tease me, Izu, it is time for me to sit back and think out the truth. Well, there's nothing more for it but to do. Let us all close our eyes and think.
"One or more of those passengers killed Evered. Which of them?"