Part 9: Prime Suspect
Didi pinned a temporary security pass onto her jacket before following a guard through a series of automatic doors, each marked with a warning that only Number One Corporation personnel should proceed further.
The fifth door opened onto a platform which offered a view of a workshop. There, about a dozen employees wearing bright orange overalls wielded spanners in amongst Colonial Fleet spacecraft in obvious need of repairs.
Didi was easily able to pick out the specialist on the deck below who answered the call the guard made from a telephone near the door. As her interviewee hung up the phone, he murmured something to a young redhaired girl working beside him. The girl then watched her co-worker's ascent to the platform with anxious eyes.
While the guard waited a few discreet steps away, Didi introduced herself to Galen Tyrol and related a few details surrounding her investigation, including how she needed to interview him after learning he'd collected Sharon Valerii's ashes.
"Boomer and I served on Galactica together. We were... Intimate. Then I found out she was also seeing Helo, her ECO."
At Didi's baffled look, Tyrol politely explained his jargon.
"So you broke up?"
"You could say that. Next time I saw her was on a slab in the morgue beside Roslin's aide."
"The police had called in Commander Adama to negotiate the release of the hostages," Didi remarked.
"I don't hold the old man responsible. I know he did his best to save her."
"Valerii was with the terrorist cell though."
"He was still there for her."
"I don't understand."
"He loved her like a daughter. You'd know this, right, if you've been investigating the old man?"
At her blank look, Tyrol shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe I'd better explain about Adama and his family ethics."