Page 205 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Jury-rigged

schedule of murders beforehand. If that had been the case, and they
were willing to risk carrying out their revenge despite that
surveillance, then the inactive parties would have taken some pains to
be sure they had very good alibis on those nights they knew the
killings would occur. But most of their stories are to the contrary: the
Simulians, in general, were not in circumstances designed to give
them totally plausible, if not demonstrable, reasons they could not
have been at the crime scene instead. As you pointed out, each of
them could only produce one truly unshakable story out of four, and
the other three frequently had a strong ad hoc or unpredictable
element.”
I was making an effort to concentrate. But her words were going
right across my mind like mechanical ducks in a shooting gallery
where the rifles are loaded with blanks.
“Then there is the matter of the killings themselves. As you and I,
and anyone paying the slightest attention to Sherman’s trial, are well
aware, the Simulians carry out their executions according to a strict
formula. That invariant and recognizable method broke down in
these killings, following a reverse asymptotic pattern. I did not see
anything about that in your notes.”
A what? I had noticed the slight variations, but attributed them to
the Simulians attempting to do business as usual when they had the
pressure of the police hot on their trail. Labelle did not really expect a
response from me, as she barely paused for breath.
“The eight characteristics always manifest in these murders were
violated from the first juror’s death. In every detail save one it was
standard Simulian: Wanda Lustig’s right hand had been placed on top
of the left, instead of vice versa. The angle of the photograph
perhaps confused some observers, owing to the mirror image.”
Now I recalled thinking Labelle had erred in not noting the
absence of a ring on the victim’s left hand. Of course. It was the right
hand on top, obscuring the left.
“In the second killing, the right was again on top. But another
characteristic had changed: instead of the time being just before
dawn, it had advanced to approximately two a.m. Again, a minor
variation, but it did not happen only in Rea Rainger’s case.”
She was right. I had to admit it. She was right.

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