MOTIVE VS. OPPORTUNITY
Wind storms and downed trees and power outages, oh my! The lateness of this chapter is brought to you by weather complications at LS's house. But hopefully it's worth the wait, because today we bring you the summation!
Thank you Guest for your review. Now let's sit back, relax, and find out who killed Korkie Kryze.
"What are we even doing here?" Saw demanded as Graf brought him into the palace meeting room in binders.
"I'd like to know that as well." Graf shot a black look to Kallus as he entered and secured Saw in one of the chairs. After giving the room a quick once-over and seeing Lagos Jerec was present along with a few Mandalorian police he decided against using real names. "Goodman, Monk, please tell me this isn't another waste of my time."
"You won't regret this Detective. We're just waiting for our final guests to show up."
As if called the door opened and Amis entered with an uncharacteristically quiet and pensive Soniee. She didn't make eye contact with anyone even when Amis cuffed her to a chair next to Lagos and pulled out the other for himself.
"Oh thank you Captain Lok." Sierra, hand on her belly, slipped in front of Amis and lowered herself into the chair. "You're such a gentleman."
"Erm, you're welcome." Amis lumbered off to the one unoccupied seat. "What's this meeting about? I thought the case was open and shut."
"Oh it's open and shut alright. Now." Lux said. "We're closing it. We're here to tell everyone who killed Korkie Kryze."
A murmur went up and Kallus took advantage of it. "From the outset of this investigation we've come across one puzzle after another, with one rising above all others. First of all, why? At first glance there were certainly no shortage of motives - political gain, marital grievance, but nothing made sense. The kill was too calculated to be personal, but too violent to be professional. And then we realized, it's both."
"Both," Ahsoka repeated.
"Yes. More about this later, but we believe the killer had a benefactor who assigned them to injure Korkie Kryze. The killer carried out their mission to the letter until the last minute, when their repressed rage took over and they struck a lethal blow. This may have been planned as strictly business, but the murder of Korkie Kryze was ultimately personal."
"But that still doesn't answer our biggest question." Lux took over. "Who killed Korkie Kryze, and how did the killer manage to enter and escape from a locked room?"
"Possibly with a key?" Graf sighed. He obviously would rather be somewhere else.
"Except there are only two keys in existence and both are accounted for. Korkie's was on his desk when the police forced the door and Soniee's was in her pocket the entire day. There were no opportunities for a key to be stolen or copied, and there were no signs of anyone picking the lock or forcing the door. The killer had no way in, and no way out.
"Unless Detective Yularen is right. The door was locked and unlocked with one of the two existing keys.
"So you finally admit your friend is guilty."
"No, not quite. You see the killer didn't use Soniee's key; they used Korkie's."
"Korkie's?" Lagos raised an eyebrow. "But it was on the desk. How could the killer have used it?"
"They had help. An accomplice who, as luck would have it, is the last person we would expect."
"Who?"
"Korkie Kryze." Lux paced the floor. "You see we've had the pieces for a long time. We've just gotten the casting wrong. Saw didn't facilitate the murder; Korkie rather unwittingly facilitated his own, just how he did we'll get to in a moment. But first let's talk to Korkie's partner in crime." His gaze settled on Lagos.
Her eyes grew wide. "I didn't do it! I would never hurt Korkie; he was a friend!"
"I know," Lux said gently. "And I believe you. You didn't have anything to do with this. There's a much more likely suspect - Soniee."
"I didn't kill my husband. I loved him."
"Yes, I'm quite sure about that. I just wondered if you might tell us more about the lilies."
"The lilies?"
"The lilies that you and Lagos acquired to decorate for the formal dance that the four of you attended? You see I wondered about them because they reminded me of a very famous painting and I believe you and your roommate went to some trouble to purchase them. I just thought you might be able to tell us why."
"Of course. Mandalorian Peace lilies usually bloom around the time of year when we celebrate Resurrection Day. They're a symbol of new life." her voice broke and she wiped her eyes before she continued. "And they were a symbol of… Well, Satine loved them. When she came to power they became a symbol of her political party, the New Mandalorians. That's why I didn't include them in the centerpieces for the luncheon the day that Korkie… "
"But they were a special symbol for you and the Duke as well, weren't they?"
"We performed a Bard's play, The Prince of Alderaan, a couple of weeks before our spring formal. I was Phelia, the princess of Onderon and Korkie was the prince." She got a far away look in her green eyes. "Our first kiss was on stage in front of everyone."
"But it didn't mean anything. It was just written in the script," Amis spoke out.
"He's right," Soniee blushed. "We weren't a couple then but Korkie had given me flowers, lilies. Momma saw them on my dressing table. She took it as some sort of political statement. We argued. She left in a rage, saying that I had to choose whether I would be loyal to my clan or my friends."
Kallus cleared his throat in an attempt to bring her back to the point.
"Oh yes, yes of course." Soniee sighed. "Korkie asked me to the dance and I told him I had to think about it and… I would give him a sign."
"The lilies as a part of the decorations for the spring formal?" Lux asked.
She nodded. "I knew even though they wouldn't be in season for weeks that we had to find some. Satine always managed to have them freshly cut any time of the year. Lagos and I did some checking around and we found enough to fill the ballroom."
"Yes, the ballroom at the Academy. It all seems to come back to the Royal Academy of Government doesn't it? It's where you all met, where you became friends, and where the seeds of murder were planted."
Soniee slumped into her seat and Lux turned to the man sitting beside Det. Yularen.
"Isn't that right, Amis?"
...
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You killed Korkie." Lux said. "And then you framed Lagos and Saw for his murder."
"That's ridiculous," Amis scoffed. "How could I have killed him? I didn't even see him except at our appointment."
"Yes, let's talk about the appointment," Kallus interrupted. "According to Soniee and the palace staff Korkie kept his office door locked at all times, only opening it when someone arrived with whom he had an appointment. So if you didn't have a key, and Korkie wouldn't open the door for you, how could you get in to kill him? I'll admit, you had me stumped for a while until I thought of this."
He withdrew a battered flimsiplast box from the inside of his jacket and held aloft. "Sierra, would you tell the room why this ice cream package is almost ripped in half?"
"Because the hormones turned me into a monster?" Sierra folded her hands over her swollen belly.
"Partially, yes. But the reason you became so enraged was because the box jammed the freezer door. And that got me thinking - just like a box can prevent a door from opening, there's a way to prevent a door from locking too."
"What are you saying?" Graf asked.
"The door wasn't locked," Kallus announced and smoothly exchanged the ice cream box for an evidence bag. "We found this cork on the floor of Korkie's office, underneath his desk. It appears it rolled there after -."
"The door!" Steela leaned forward in her seat. "If you stuff a cork into the door frame, it stops the lock from engaging when the door's shut."
"Exactly." Kallus went back to Amis. "When you left your appointment with Korkie, you slipped this cork into the hole in the doorframe. Korkie thought everything was normal but from that moment on, the door was unlocked. Giving you ample opportunity to return to the office at your convenience."
"You're crazy." Amis stood up. "I don't have to listen to this."
Ahsoka blocked his path. "Sit down, Captain Lok."
"But how is that possible?" Lagos asked. "Amis was working with us all morning. We were together the entire time."
"Were you together the entire time?" Lux asked. "No 'fresher trips? No water breaks? No private comms?"
"Well yes, he did take a comm." Lagos remembered.
Molly held up her datapad. "Lady Jerec, you and the Duchess said in your original testimony that the captain also took another comm as he was leaving the meeting and that's why he couldn't attend the luncheon, but the comm records show that no one in the palace received a comm that morning."
"Still he was only gone a few minutes!"
"That's all he needed." Kallus said, more to Amis than Lagos. "You were on a tight schedule. After you excused yourself for that imaginary comm you made your way to Korkie's office, making sure no one saw you. Then you opened the unlocked door, stepped inside, and struck the killing blow."
Soniee's eyes brimmed with tears and she buried her head in her hands.
"Now all that was left to do was set the scene. You pried out the cork, but in your rush it rolled under the desk. You didn't have time to retrieve it - you'd already been gone for a few minutes; if you stayed away much longer Lagos might get suspicious. So you shut the door, allowing the lock to engage behind you, and returned to the meeting room as if nothing had happened. A perfect murder."
"Amis, why?" Lagos sputtered. "I know you didn't always agree with Korkie, but he was your friend."
"I'll admit the 'why' has been bugging me too," Lux said. "You and Korkie seemed to get along and even if you didn't, you hadn't seen each other since your Academy days over twenty years ago. As far as motive goes we had much more reason to suspect Lagos - the Nite Owl who was jilted by Korkie all those years ago. Until I realized that just like we'd had the right story with the wrong casting, the killer could have done something similar to throw us off. Hutch, if you please."
With a few clicks Hutch activated the display and brought up the holo of the cadets at the Academy's dance, posing on the steps under the light of the crescent moon surrounded by peace lilies.
"The one thing everyone can agree upon is that this dance was the event where Soniee and Korkie officially became a couple. Earlier Amis told us it took place on Resurrection Day, but you see that's impossible."
"How?" Graf asked. "There's nothing in the frame displaying the date and I don't believe it's timestamped."
"It doesn't have to be." Lux tapped the corner of the frame. "We got the call to aid this investigation at our Resurrection Day party on Onderon, only to have that same holiday celebrated on Mandalore later. Why? Because Resurrection Day is a lunar holiday. It doesn't have a fixed date on the standard calendar like Life Day; instead it falls on the first full moon of spring. As you can see from the obvious crescent moon in this holo, the dance didn't take place on Resurrection Day. But why would Amis lie about something so inconsequential as the date of a dance?"
"He had something to hide," Ahsoka answered.
Lux nodded. "Amis admitted to having asked Soniee on a date scheduled for the week leading up to the holiday, and afterward she and Korkie became an item. But I think this dance took place before Resurrection Day. Remember, Soniee and Lagos had to work so hard to get the traditional lilies because they weren't in season yet. And if the dance took place before Resurrection Day, the date in question never happened. You told us it was strictly platonic, just two friends hanging out, but that wasn't true was it? It wasn't Lagos who had the all-consuming crush she never got over, it was you. You had feelings for Soniee, and before you could act on them Korkie waltzed in and took the girl. You hated him for it, and over the years that hate festered until you were raring for the chance to kill."
"That wasn't all he did." Soniee finally found the strength to speak. "He told me if I didn't go along with him he'd hurt Melaana and Pascal. I didn't know where they were, and you were working with him so I assumed ..."
"Sleemo!" Rex and Det. Yularen had just enough time to tackle Saw to the ground before he pounced on Amis.
"You never loved me." Amis's voice came low and quiet. "I gave up everything for you. I killed for you and you wouldn't even give me the time of day!"
He lunged but the Mandalorian police caught him before he could reach the duchess.
Kallus nodded to them. "Take him into custody. And while you're here, search him for a scrap of paper. I suspect he palmed the evidence while we were dumpster diving."
As soon as Graf had removed his binders Saw flew to Soniee's side. He took both her hands in his, tracing the marks left on her wrists by her own recently removed binders with his thumbs. "Mel and Pasc are safe on Onderon. They have been this whole time. I would have never let that sleemo anywhere near them."
She nodded. "They said the kids were with their great aunt and I immediately assumed Bo. I never considered Mina…"
Steela cut in with a grin, "Hey Sierra and I are pretty great aunts too."
"Of course you are," Soniee laughed through tears and focused on Saw once again. "You got them to safety and then you came back for me."
Molly very nearly jumped forward to let Soniee know that her kids were here, on Mandalore. They were practically just in the other room. Molly could go and get them if she wanted. But Sierra held her back.
The grifter had laid money on the outcome of this little reunion and as Saw and Soniee leaned closer to each other it was looking like she would have to fork over those credits to Steela. She wouldn't interrupt however. That wouldn't be sporting. She still couldn't believe that they would actually start snogging right here in front of everyone.
Sierra glanced at her sister who was grinning preemptively in triumph. And then Steela harrumphed as Soniee took a step back and merely thanked Saw for taking such good care of Pascal and Melaana and turned to thank the others as well.
"I almost wish we could all three just go to Onderon and leave all this behind." Soniee heaved a deep sigh and then straightened up getting back into Duchess mode. "But then we would leave the Mandalorian government in chaos." She turned to Lagos. "I'll need your help."
Lagos was eager to help. "Of course whatever I can do, but we don't know what Korkie was planning on doing after our meeting."
"I know he didn't want Melaana and Pascal to have to carry the burden of inheriting the crown." Of that she was certain. "He and I had discussed the issue." Her face clouded over. It would have been one of their last conversations but she pressed on. "He wanted to hear your proposals and move gradually toward a democracy. But I think the time for gradual change has passed. I think we must prepare for an emergency general election for a new Prime minister."
Lagos smiled. "I agree. I can draft a proposition right away."
She turned as if she was about to leave to get started on that proposition but before she left she turned and looked to Lux. "When you questioned me you asked about Eli Vanto. Did he have something to do with this?"
To this both Lux and Kallus rolled their eyes. "A few weeks ago it seems Mr. Vanto sent a note…"
They told her and Detective Yularen everything: the identity of Amis' original employer before he went rogue, the apparent plot to draw out their crew, the murder of Pryce to silence her before she could give something up.
"If we don't get him now he'll make another attempt and more bodies might drop. We just need to find a nail for his coffin."
Lagos shook her head after the dissertation. Well, of course it made perfect sense.
"You said that you dated Eli Vanto?" Lux asked her.
"It was Amis who introduced us." She laughed derisively and then told them all the story. "After we all graduated from the academy, Soniee went off with Korkie, presumably to Onderon to help you all, though she didn't give me any details at the time. And I was offered a position as an assistant to the Minister who replaced my uncle who had been killed during the war, on Kalevala. Amis was recruited directly from the Royal Academy of Government into the newly established Imperial Academy. His family were all in law enforcement and they saw it as the natural next step in his career."
She shrugged. "After that Korkie and Soniee went off the radar for a while. I guess it was while his aunt Bo was preparing for him to take up his rightful position as Duke. And anyway I missed the old gang, got a call from Amis that his academy had some sort of social event going on. And I guess I'm not super proud that I jumped at the opportunity to see somebody from the old crowd. Only when I arrived I found out that he had actually asked me to be the date of his roommate who was this hick from the outer rim. Amis said he was good with languages or something and he had only wanted to get his degree and head back to run the family farm. The problem was that his talents caught the attention of some weird, definitely not a Pantoran, guy with red eyes. All I can tell you about him is that he spoke really great basic for somebody who was supposed to have appeared out of nowhere from wild space during the war."
"You met Thrawn?"
"Elek, Eli was supposed to be my date but the blue guy was harassing him the entire time! I stuck around on the planet for another couple of days after the ball because Eli asked me on a second date where we wouldn't be interrupted. We had dinner. It was nothing special. We both realized that there really wasn't any 'there' there. So I flew back to the Mandalore system, got on with my life and never really thought about him again until you said something. It's kind of funny though that after rooming with Korkie, Amis thought I would be a good match for his next roommate."
Kallus looked a little disappointed by the end of the recitation. "So there was no chemistry between you?"
His wife and brother-in-law looked at him strangely wondering what this new angle might be.
Lagos laughed. "There might have been some, back then of course before I knew he would become a lunatic murderer. We were just heading in two different directions, career wise. The planets weren't aligned to try to make something work."
"Do you think he would recognize you if he saw you again?" Kallus asked.
Sierra caught on. She smirked. "He is still single from all accounts."
Lagos was horrified and she threw a glance at Soniee who was standing right there. "He conspired to murder one of my best friends. I would never give that shabuir the standard time of…"
"Oh no! We wouldn't expect you to do anything like that." Lux assured her also having cottoned on to the idea. "Just if we needed a familiar face to draw him out in the open."
The face of the ex-Nite Owl brightened. "As long as I can get in a good punch when the time comes?"
Sierra's grin widened. "We'll save you some of the tender bits."
…
Sierra found her husband sitting on the side of their bed. They usually didn't hang out alone in their room but it was the only place they could find some privacy with the whole family packed together once again.
"That was quite the summation," she said and sat beside him. It had been incredible to see her husband in his element again after being out of sorts for so long. "Ready to take on Thrawn?"
"Almost." He said. "Do you have a few minutes?"
She didn't but the look on his face told her that no wasn't an acceptable answer. "Sure. What's up?"
He spoke heavily: "I want to tell you about Hannah Swain."
The temperature in the room dropped. "Alex, you don't have to."
"Yes I do. If I don't have this off my chest before we confront Thrawn he'll use it against us." He said. "And I want to. I want you to know this."
"Okay." She got comfortable on the bed. "Take your time. I'm not going anywhere."
He waited, deciding how to begin. "What do you remember about her?"
"I remember how smart she was. She had me half figured out." She shook her head at the memory. "And she looked up to you like you'd hung the moon."
"She was brilliant. Always smarter than me, and kinder than I could ever hope to be." He smiled at the memory "Before you left you advised me to tell her I cared about her and, remiss as I was to take any advice from Amanda Bankole, I did. I didn't say it aloud per se, but she understood. For eight months she was mine." He cleared his throat. "I had a daughter."
Sierra didn't like the past tense.
"After her graduation she stayed on at the garrison, so I got to work with her and watch her grow." He blinked back unshed tears. "And then …"
Sierra did the mental math. Eight months after Swain's graduation would be roughly around the time Kallus landed on the ice moon with Zeb and she couldn't imagine that went over well. She placed a hand on his shoulder when the silence grew too long. "I'm sure that meant the world to her. Even if she couldn't reconcile the decisions you made -."
"You don't understand." The words landed like lead slugs. "She was smarter than me."
Sierra froze. "No."
Kallus nodded. "All the signs were there; to this day I don't know how I didn't recognize them. I didn't realize anything was happening until I got an alert that someone was downloading information from my office. I called hoping to scare them off, she answered, and my whole body went cold."
"She defected." The full weight of what he was saying sunk in. "She defected before you did."
He hadn't heard her. "She and her boyfriend stole a shuttle and left the planet. I tracked the signal to a spaceport on Thrad. They were supposed to meet a courier and swap the stolen information for safe passage but before they could, I found them. I…" The vowel trailed off into an animal sound and he buried his head in his hands. "I arrested my own daughter! How could I do such a thing?"
Sierra could hardly believe it either. Kallus' tenderness with Swain was her first indication that he was capable of loving someone. "What happened to her?" He didn't respond. "Alex?"
"I don't know. The last time I saw her she was unconscious in a prisoner transport when Commander Beck met my Star Destroyer to take her to Interrogation." His voice broke, body shaking as he went on. "She most likely died a horrible, painful death and it's all my fault."
Oh gods, Alex...
"I could have stopped it. If I'd thrown the fight, if I'd turned a blind eye and let her get away then she might be alive tod-." He stopped in his tracks and Sierra jumped at a new sensation.
One of Kallus' hands had drifted to her belly and the baby inside her chose that moment to explore his or her living space. The baby she'd suggested naming after his lost child. Gods, no wonder he'd flipped.
He looked at her belly in wonder and then his face fell again. "I already failed one child. I can only think how I'll destroy this one too."
"You won't." She said. "Sending you to arrest her like they did was a calculated psychological strike. No one, and I mean no one, could have held up against it. Alex I'm so sorry that happened to you. And I'm sorry for even suggesting we name the baby Hannah."
"I know you meant no disrespect." He blinked fiercely to dispel nascent tears. "As soon as I heard the name all I could think was how much having another child felt like replacing her."
"Never." She insisted. "Even if this baby is a girl we will never replace Hannah. She'll always be part of our family and she'll always be your first child. Nothing will ever change that."
"I still hope it's a boy," He confessed. "I've always wanted one of each."
Sierra couldn't explain why, but that tiny admission brought tears to her eyes. Kriffing hormones. "Then I hope it is too," she said, wiping them away. "We'll just have to wait and see."