Personal Log 113: The Story Of Gayle Graham
15 Oct 2016Jemine Caesar
Gayle tied my wrists behind my back, and then paced the floor as she told me her story... *****
You remember Lukky's? The bar on Luk Station, in 70 Ophiuchi? It was the place you and your boyfriend called at, where he got propositioned by a prostitute called Carla. You were approached by a big guy in a long black coat. Remember?
The man was Marty Aston, one of my personal staff. A bodyguard, if you prefer. I sent him to follow you on the last part of your journey to Sol. I knew you were going to meet up with my son on Earth. I just didn't know what your intentions were.
Aston decided to find out by the simple expedient of asking you outright. You mistook him for a male prostitute, or maybe a pimp. He followed you a little way out of Lukky's to make sure you weren't returning to your ship. He was afraid I would bawl him out if he lost you. I bawled him out anyway for trying to contact you in person. That wasn't in his job description.
Anyway, he tailed you to Sol, and all the way down to New York City. He saw you meet up with John at Battery Park. He hadn't anticipated John taking you out to sea on his skimmer, though. That earned him another bawling out!
I always knew John's girls might get it into their heads to blame him for the deaths of their children. I even thought one of them might think they were entitled to take some sort of revenge. Aston's job was to keep John safe. But he failed. Big time. I sent him a little message to tell him he was no longer welcome. He did the smart thing; he disappeared. Good thing, too. If he'd have come back to me, I would have killed him.
Which brings us to Aoife, my husband's faithful secretary. Aoife used to have the hots for John. They were childhood friends, but Aoife always hoped for more. She was delighted when John returned to Earth after his Lothario's went into its dormant stage. But her dreams of a happy ever after went down the pan when John started inviting all of you to join him on Earth. He called you his Harem. Oh, you knew that, did you?
Aoife's love for John turned to disillusionment, then to anger, then to hate. She was going to kill John, but you beat her to it. She had all the evidence from the surveillance cameras all over John's skimmer. He liked to keep records of his little boat parties. So Aoife knew you'd killed John. But then she did a silly thing. She told me. And - don't ask me why - she eventually decided to go to the cops to tell them the truth.
I couldn't have that! I wanted to take my revenge, just as you had taken yours, Jemine. Aoife's evidence would have convicted you, and then I couldn't have gotten to you. So Aoife had to die. I shot her in the head, near one of JG Industries' plants on the outskirts of New York. I faked a suicide note to make it look like Aoife was confessing to murdering John herself. Case closed for the cops.
I had John's Harem List, of course. It gave me all the information I needed to find you all. Thirty-three murders had to be planned. The mistake I made was in trying to kill you in the same order as you had seduced John. By the time I got to the third murder, the cops were on to me. I had fun dodging them!
I enjoyed planning the murders. I wanted them to look like accidents, you see. And I've always had a macabre imagination, too. The pop star, Wy, she was easy to get to. Poor little insecure thing she was. Faking her suicide was a gimme. And Safira Torres, crushed by an Asp under the landing pad. Oh, but the real bonus was Arkady Seldon, the magician's assistant. How wonderfully ironic that it was you who shot her! I was in the audience that night, you know. Great show, kiddo!
I'd always intended to leave you to last. I knew you'd figure out the Harem was being eliminated, so I wanted to make you sweat. Your boyfriend, Hodkin, made things difficult by getting one of his pals to provide protection to some of the girls. That's the main reason I decided to change my tactic. And it was admittedly getting harder to stay one step ahead of the cops.
So now, here you all are, in an old JG Industries warehouse in the Vega system. In a few days time I'll be placing you all into the slave pods out there in the warehouse. I will then have them loaded onto your own ship, which you so aptly named The Last Thing I Do. Then I'm going to fly you all to LHS 3447 - your home system, Jemine - and there I will kill you.
*****
Gayle dragged me back to my place in the warehouse, and reattached the manacles to my wrists.