Page 53 of Cozy Prisons
“I interviewed him. He couldn’t say no to an official inquiry, but he had his parents and a team of agents specializing in disputing with mavins. I was barely able to ask him a single question. I left knowing he’d done it. The last words he said to me as I walked out were that he hoped Tremus got the justice she deserved.”
Nataly let out a harsh breath. “Damn, that’s cold.”
He wasn’t sure what Olikum’s taunting had to do with temperature, but he could agree with Nataly’s tone of voice.
“I didn’t care that he mocked me. There was plenty of evidence to prove he’d committed the murder. Mud on one of the family’s transports matched the mud in the area of the crime. The logs on the vehicle indicated he was the only one who used it. There was also a witness who saw him leave the area at the time of the murder. A confession would’ve been better, but not necessary. I compiled the evidence and my report and submitted it to my superiors."
“I have a bad feeling that the conviction wasn’t easy,” Nataly said.
“A conviction didn’t happen. Her death was declared accidental.”
Nataly’s jaw dropped. “What? That’s not possible! You had documents and a witness!”
“All the evidence I collected disappeared. The witness was suddenly promoted and sent to an outpost near the Ilgorian Federation. I was never able to contact her again. My report vanished. I couldn’t find the autopsy or other evidence on any of the unibases. It disappeared from the mavin, governing council, and even the planet-wide unibase. Even my notes were gone, except the copies saved locally on my Ident. But my notes were useless without the corresponding evidence.”
Nataly shook her head. “How could anyone get away with that? It’s harder than everyone thinks to truly erase data. It’s always there, waiting to be found again.”
“I thought the same thing, but my request for a digital analysis and trace were denied. I was told that no further investigation was warranted. When I attempted to pursue it, I was dismissed from my station.”
“Now I see what you mean about being naive. You thought you were going to do your job, but no one would let you. That’s awful!”
“It took me rotations to come to terms with what happened,” Daxus said. “I even tried to go back to work because I simply couldn’t believe my dismissal was real. When I couldn’t gain access to the building, I had to acknowledge the truth.”
“You lost your job, and he got away with it.” Nataly started petting him again. “I’m surprised you're so calm. If that happened to me, I’d be bitter as hell!”
“He wasn’t prosecuted by the law, but he didn’t get away with it,” Daxus said. This is the part that might make her no longer want to be around him, but she deserved to know. “I acted against my upbringing and training.”
Nataly’s brows furrowed in confusion, then her eyebrow flew up. “Oh shit, you killed him, didn’t you?”
He sounded a rumble of agreement. “As a mavin, I knew exactly how to do it and not get caught. I waited for almost a full solar, so his death wouldn’t be linked to my investigation. I wanted to wait a little longer, but I ran out of time.”
“Why were you running out of time? Was he leaving the planet?”
“No, I needed to. Without my job as a mavin, I couldn’t live on Talarian any longer. They gave me a solar to find another job, but I knew that was impossible. It was already shocking that I was able to be a mavin on Talarian when my family is all on Tovor Colony. It’d be different if we had strong political connections, but we didn’t. For a while, I was the pride of my family for getting the position on our homeworld. Now I’m the shame, and they only communicate with me when there is important information to impart.”
“Bastards!” Nataly hissed. “If I ever meet them, I’ll mess up every system in their homes. They’ll never have a warm meal or cold drink ever again!”
“Thankfully, you’ll probably never travel to Tovor Colony. It’s not the most pleasant colony within the empire.”
“Then I’m glad you got out and they’re stuck there,” she declared. “What did you do after leaving Talarian?”
He was surprised and grateful that she was taking his admission of murder so well. “I served on several small colonies that needed help organizing their security. I drifted around for a while until I heard about Palathum accepting applications for Arise. I didn’t think she’d ever accept me, but here I am.”
Nataly gripped his wrist tightly. “Palathum knows quality when she sees it.”
“You think I’m quality? Even now that you know what I did?”
Nataly snorted. “You act like I’ve never killed anyone.”
Daxus was so shocked by her words that he wasn’t able to speak for a submark. “You killed someone?”
Nataly shrugged. “I think the total is about six. But they were all trying to kill us first, so it’s only fair. I refuse to feel guilty about it.”
Only one word made it out of him. “How?”
“When we first got to Dandilow II, we still had some supplies and all our tools. I got, uh, well, one day I decided to make a trap. We’d been there a few days and were all sharing a tent. The trap worked and took out five of the intruders. The last one was blinded, and I was closest to the door, so he grabbed me. I managed to get him in the throat with Riff's alignment bar. He took a few minutes to die, but he couldn’t hurt anyone, so it was fine.”
There was only one thing to say in response. “I will never underestimate you.”
