Page 165 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Jury-rigged

nuances of human interaction could be overlooked in a relentless
pursuit of lawbreakers. Why even try to program them in?
“To conclude, Mitchell was in his trailer on the night of Wanda
Lustig’s death. He said he heard nothing, saw no one, went to sleep
early and didn’t even dream. That is potentially a useful datum,
Duncan. Thank you for noting it.”
I’ll admit I was unprepared for that piece of praise, and it sent my
mind spinning off into speculations about dreamless sleep: what
could that signify? A clear conscience? Drugs? An over-the-top lie?
Now I would have to do some reading to find out what she meant.
But not today: I had other plans.
“The second murder occurred nine days later,” said Labelle. “Had
you made any progress in identifying the perpetrator of the first one
by then?”
“Yes and no,” I waffled, unwilling to share my conclusions just yet.
“It was not yet obvious that another killing would occur. Wanda
Lustig represented the leader of the jurors, and might therefore have
served as an adequate sacrifice to the Simulians’ thirst for retribution.
But we began surveilling Sherman’s little gang of compatriots. That
proved difficult. Some of our people were less than skillful in either
keeping their presence hidden or tailing their man once he became
suspicious. We did not have enough evidence to hold any of them,
and their lawyers were having a field day.”
“So when Rea Rainger died on April 15, it was a complete surprise
to you?”
What could I say? Yes, and look like a fool? Or no, and look like
an incompetent protector of the public? I’d just used ‘yes and no’ to
dodge an incoming missile she’d launched, and now I had to grope
for a new means of self-defense.
“As long as the Simulians have a score to settle, violent death
cannot be a surprising outcome. I regret my inability to predict the
time, the place or the victim, Lieutenant. Of course, if you had been
here…”
She nodded, accepting either my words or their ill-concealed
mockery with equanimity. Next time I might be tempted to go too
far, and she would not let it pass. Labelle Gramercy’s limits of
acceptable behavior in others were well-marked boundaries, if you
knew her: almost anything would leave her unmoved unless she was

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