Personal Log 95: 1st - 7th February, 3302 (Part One)
09 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
1st - 7th February, 3302 (Part One) "Who's next on the list?" demanded Sam.
I consulted my dataslate. "Number Two is Veronica Morley, a shop worker at Ross 154."
Sam nodded. "Then that's where we go." he said. "I'll contact the Ross 154 police."
I wasn't sure that was a good idea. "I think we should go in quietly," I said. "Remember, I'm on this list, too. If the police get involved, things could get awkward. Especially since I'm the one who murdered the man who compiled the list! And since you know all about it, that would make you an accessory after the fact."
After a moment's thought, Sam agreed. "I'm sworn to secrecy, of course," he said. "But I'd rather we weren't seen as the next Bonnie and Clyde. We'll go to Ross 154 tomorrow. Quietly."
On the way to Ross 154 we received a message from Admiral Remi. "The Lightspeed operation was a success," he said. "A task force has captured some of the Black Widow members. Unfortunately, Monsieur Russell was not among them. Thank you both for your assistance."
Once docked at Birkeland City starport, we made our way to the gift shop where Veronica Morley worked, the 'Birkeland Bargain Basement'. My heart sank when we found the shop closed. Our worst fears were soon confirmed when a resident of the starport told us that Veronica had died in a scuba diving accident on January 6th.
"She was diving alone, investigating a crashed Cobra III down on Merlin," he told us. "Seems that a loose bulkhead became dislodged and pinned her down. She couldn't free herself, and didn't have a commlink. Her air supply simply ran out, and she died of asphyxiation. A tragic accident."
We thanked the man for his information.
"Oh, Sam!" I cried. "This is awful! What do we do now?"
Sam frowned, and said, "We can't let this go on happening, Jem. Maybe there's a pattern to it."
I studied the Harem list. "The first death was January 1st, then the 6th, 17th and 19th... Sam, the dates all fall in different calendar weeks. One murder during each week. It's not much of a pattern, but still... OH!" A sudden realisation hit me. "Sam, if that really is the pattern, then another murder should have already been committed. But who is the murderer?"
Sam clicked his fingers. "Aoife!" he said. "Aoife Hohnlein. Some kind of psychopathic rampage against the girls John Graham passed her over for."
I nodded dumbly. But Aoife Hohnlein was dead. Wasn't she? Yet Sam's theory did made sense, sort of. I was so confused.
Number five on the Harem list was Safira Torres, a hangar technician in the Togher system. Sam ran a check for her name against the last week's Togher newsfeeds.
"Here it is," he said, with a heavy sigh...
*****
HANGAR TECHNICIAN KILLED IN FREAK ACCIDENT
Yesterday, January 30th, the body of Bondar Terminal hangar technician Safira Torres was found in landing bay 24. It is unclear why Torres would have been working there, as the bay was still operational and no faults had been reported. It appears that Torres became trapped in the pad lifting mechanism, and was tragically crushed to death when the bay was allocated to an incoming Asp. Starport authorities took the landing bay out of service for six hours while diagnostics were run.
*****
"All right," said Sam. "This stops, now! Who's next on the list?"
Shaking with fear, I checked my dataslate once more. "Precious Jones," I replied. "She's a medicentre nurse on Carver Station, in Eta Serpentis. Sam... I'm scared."
I began to cry. Sam took my hand. "You're in no shape to fly on your own," he told me. "Come on, we'll go in my ship."
We touched down at Carver Station within the hour. I checked the Eta Serpentis newsfeeds for any mention of Precious Jones. Thankfully there was nothing.
"That's a good sign," said Sam. "I've booked us into a room. Jem, you look exhausted. Why don't you go and lie down? I'll see if I can make contact with Precious at the medicentre."
I obeyed, perhaps rather too meekly, but I was in no frame of mind to argue. Later, as I lay on the bed in our room with the events of the last few days tumbling around in my mind, I drifted off to sleep.
I was woken by the shrill beeping of my dataslate. It was Sam.
"Jem! I'm with Precious now. She was attacked as she was leaving the medicentre to meet me. She's alive, but in a bad state. Medics are on their way."
I asked Sam if he'd seen the attacker. "No," he replied. "It happened just before I arrived."
I was puzzled. All the murders so far had been made to look like accidents; an attack in plain sight seemed incongruous.
I asked Sam if I could speak to Precious. "Yes. Go ahead," he said.
"Precious?" I began. "Precious Jones? My name is Jemine Caesar. The man with you is Sam, my boyfriend. Precious, you and I have something in common. You had a son, named Winston. He... forgive me... he died of NTUP in 3288, aged 7."
I heard a gasp from Precious. "How do you know this?" she asked.
"I had a daughter," I replied. "Bekka. She died of NTUP too, in 3300. Precious, your son and my daughter had the same father. To me he was Caz. You knew him as Sam."
Precious sighed. "I had a feeling he got around," she said.
"He did," I answered. "There are thirty three of us in what he called his 'Harem'. But I want you to know that he's dead now... a fishing accident last July, on Earth."
Sam cut in at that point to tell me that Precious was being taken away by the medics. Fifteen minutes later he returned to our room, his shirt stained with Precious Jones' blood.
"I've given her our contact details," he said, "just in case."