DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Part 34

"Teaser. Seth said that my existence teased the prejudices of his colleagues."

Anya smiled. "Seth didn't think much of his colleagues?"

"Some of them were okay. Only a few-the ardent five, as Seth called them-really worked at causing trouble for Seth. Most colleagues found Seth'stheories disturbing but worthy of discussion."

"What theories were those?"

"His theories about good and evil. He believed that the balance could be-should be-tilted toward good genetically."

"I can see why his ideas were considered disturbing. A precise definition of 'good' would be difficult to justify, even if the genetic basis of behavior were accepted at such a level."

"He was a wise man," replied Teaser defensively.

"I'm sorry. I did not mean to insult his memory."

Teaser remained miffed. "The ardent five insulted him often enough, and they never apologized." A hiss so enveloped the next words that Anya almost missed the sense of them. "They hated him. That's why they killed him."

"You think someone killed him?" asked Anya in shock. Bereaved relatives sometimes made wild accusations, but Anya did not expect such behavior from a cat, "enhanced" or not. In Anya's experience, cats were far too pragmatic.

"Of course. Seth warned me that this might happen. He recorded the names of his enemies, along with their motives and probable methods. Haven't you found his files yet?"

"I haven't found anything of that sort," answered Anya slowly. "A list of five first names recurs, but the names don't seem to have any additional information attached." True, the a.n.a.lysis was not even close to complete, but Anya could not help thinking of her suspicions about data tampering. The repeated names were an oddity.

Teaser sighed. "It was Nigel, then. He was the only one of Seth's enemies who had the skill to delete the sensor system evidence. I can tell you about Nigel. I can tell you about all of them. Seth wanted me to know, in case something like this happened."

"I think I'd better call the detective in charge of the case," murmured Anya, too appalled by this tidal wave of information to remember her pride or her privacy.

"Whatever you think is best," replied Teaser. "Do you have any of those little square cheese crackers?"

"Pardon me?"

"Cheese crackers. I like them."

"I don't think so. Sorry. Is there anything else that you'd like?"

"Not now. I was in the mood for cheese crackers. Too bad," sighed Teaser and seemed to sink back into a defensive torpor. Anya found herself feeling disproportionately guilty for her lack. She scribbled a note on her grocery list, affixed by a cat-shaped magnet to the refrigerator door.

She had to force herself back to the more important issue. Like an automaton, Anya moved toward the phone, then hesitated. She had made such an effort not to remember the name of the young detective in charge of Katani's case. It was one of those common names, she thought: Smith or Ng or ...

Sanchez, that was it-Nick Sanchez. She lifted the phone and placed the call topolice headquarters, which routed her to Detective Sanchez' mobile unit.

"I think you'd better come over here," she said, feeling overly self-conscious, "as soon as possible." She could hear the surprise in Detective Sanchez' grunted affirmative, though he was obviously distracted by other voices in the background. She was glad that he did not have time to question her reasons.

"He'll be here soon," said Anya to Teaser, but Teaser had returned to his semblance of catatonia. Anya hoped that Teaser would rouse to speak to Detective Sanchez. She did not relish the idea of sitcom-style embarra.s.sment.

She set aside a momentary suspicion regarding the convenience of Teaser's ability to sleep and awaken spontaneously. Teaser draped one white-tipped paw adorably across his eyes.

If nothing else, she could always present the detective with evidence of data tampering-a.s.suming such evidence existed. There was no denying the presence of the five names, Nigel among them. Surely, those names had meant something to Katani. Anya returned to her lab to check the progress of her a.n.a.lyses: incomplete . . . incomplete . . . incomplete. She seated herself in front of one of her oldest data scanners, a model that relied more extensively on human interaction than later a.n.a.lyzers, and she began to examine the raw statistics visually. She knew that the new a.n.a.lyzers could produce better results than even her expert eye, but the exercise made her feel more productive.

She alternated between certainty that she had spotted something wrong about the data and an equal confidence that she was simply seeing what she wanted to find. By the time the doorbell rang, she was certain only that the preliminary a.n.a.lysis results had uniformly failed to preclude data tampering.

Noting that Teaser had not moved, Anya answered the door in a mood of frustration.

She did not feel any happier when she noticed one of her less charitable neighbors peering curiously at Detective Sanchez from behind expensive lace curtains. Anya did not even want to contemplate what her neighbors would conclude about the visit of a handsome young man, when visitors of any sort were almost unknown on Anya's doorsteps. She could too easily picture a tabloid-style headline about a middle-aged spinster entertaining young men in an otherwise respectable neighborhood. "Thank you for coming," said Anya coolly, ushering the detective inside as quickly as she could.

Detective Sanchez seemed amused by her obvious nervousness. "I don't think your haste in shooing me inside will allay your neighbors' suspicions."

She decided to ignore his remark. "There's someone here who needs to talk to you about Seth Katani."

"Someone?" he echoed. This was clearly not what he expected from the sensor system expert who avoided human contact whenever possible. Anya gave him extra credit for quickness of wit, however, when he answered his own question almost without pause. "The 'feline companion.' " The products of genetic research no longer seemed miraculous, but few people had theequanimity to antic.i.p.ate specific results before seeing them. Perhaps Sanchez'

c.o.c.kiness had some justification.

"His name is Teaser. He's in here." Sanchez followed her dutifully to the kitchen. Anya suspected the detective of laughing behind her back, but she could not catch him at it. "Teaser," she coaxed. To her relief, the clear green eyes opened narrowly. She was sure that she heard a suppressed snicker from Sanchez, but she refrained from comment.

"h.e.l.lo, Teaser. I'm Detective Sanchez." He sounded cool and professional, despite the amused twist of his lips.

"I know."

The equanimity never wavered, at least not visibly. "Dr. Mar-low tells me that you have some information for me."

"Nigel killed Seth." The succinct reply erased the humor from Sanchez'

expressive face.

"Nigel?"

"The ardent five didn't trust each other enough to have conspired together in murder. It had to be Nigel alone."

Sanchez gave Anya a pensive look, as if suspecting her of perpetrating a hoax. He asked Teaser, "Why didn't you speak to me earlier?"

"I hadn't decided to trust you."

"But you decided to trust Dr. Marlow?"

"Her cat trusted her. I trust her cat's judgment."

Sanchez stifled his laugh quickly, but he earned a glare from Teaser. "I'm sorry," offered Sanchez. "I don't have a lot of experience with cats."

"You're a dog person," growled Teaser.

"My dad lives with me, and he has a dog," admitted Sanchez.

Anya knew that she needed to intervene, before Teaser decided to terminate the interview. Painfully, Anya volunteered, "My cat, Dusty, died a few months ago." Diplomacy was a difficult and ironic exercise for Anya. "Dusty's impact still lingers in the house. Teaser and I started talking about loss. We've both experienced it."

"I'm sorry," repeated Sanchez. His sympathy sounded far more sincere than his earlier apology. He repaired his professional exterior. "We seem to have wandered off the subject. Teaser, I a.s.sume that 'Nigel' is Nigel Govorin."

"I'm glad you understand that much, at least," Teaser had not forgiven him for preferring dogs.

"Why do you think that Nigel Govorin killed Dr. Katani?"

"Like all of the five, Nigel threatened Seth repeatedly. Seth was worried that the threats might become real. They all knew about Seth's heart condition.

The difference among the five is that Nigel hacks sensor systems as a hobby, so he certainly knows how to bypa.s.s the system protections. I heard Nigel say how easy it would be to disable the sensor system monitors and then trigger a heart attack. Anya will be able to tell you how it was done."

"You didn't tell me that you found evidence of system tampering," accusedSanchez with sudden intensity. A serious accusation of murder had eclipsed the grand joke of questioning a cat.

"My a.n.a.lysis is still incomplete," replied Anya, sounding more defensive than she intended. Feeling a perverse need to defend Teaser, she added, "There is a possibility of tampering."

Sanchez stared at her as if trying to probe her mind by willpower alone.

"We're still trying to reach Dr. Govorin for questioning. He's not at home, and he's not at his office."

"Did anyone else hear him threaten Dr. Katani?" asked Anya. A human witness would make this situation much easier.

"The two men argued frequently, heatedly, and publicly. It appears that Dr.

Katani argued with many of his colleagues."

"Seth's ideas were unconventional," said Teaser with a trace of wistfulness.

"So I've gathered," answered Sanchez dryly. "Do you know if Govorin-or anyone else-visited Katani yesterday?"

"I went out yesterday evening, so I didn't see anyone, but I smelled that someone else had been there. Nigel smokes a pipe, and he always reeks of it."

"I didn't notice any particular aroma at Katani's house."

"You wouldn't," sniffed Teaser. "Humans have no sense of smell."

"We have some canine experts available to us," said Sanchez. "I believe their sense of smell exceeds that of felines."

Anya suspected that Sanchez meant it as a taunt, but Teaser accepted the offer and conceded grudgingly, "Dogs are capable enough for that task, I suppose."

"Do you have any other pertinent information to share with me?"

"What more do you need? I've told you who killed my Seth. I've directed you to the evidence. I trust you'll take proper action."

"Yes. Well. Thank you for your help." Anya had rarely seen Detective Sanchez at a loss for words, and his discomfort amused her. He seemed to be struggling for additional questions, but the usual sort of background check hardly applied to Teaser.

"You're not too bad for a dog person/' said Teaser.

"Thank you," replied Sanchez. Beneath his dark complexion, he seemed to be blus.h.i.+ng. To Anya he added, "Call me when your a.n.a.lysis is complete-or if anything else surfaces."

"Of course." She led him to the door. For the first time, she almost felt sympathy for him. An ambitious young detective could hardly relish the prospect of reporting to his superiors about the interrogation of a cat. She suspected that Sanchez would choose his words with great care.

"Do you think it's possible to polygraph a cat?" he asked her.

"Polygraphs aren't all that reliable, even for humans," she replied, then realized that he was joking. She was not used to the sense of professional camaraderie that suddenly engulfed her. "We'll find evidence that a court canaccept," she a.s.serted. "Perhaps we won't need to mention Teaser's vocal talents at all."

"I didn't mean to drag you so deeply into the middle of this investigation. If it's a problem, I can make other arrangements for Teaser . . ."

"Not at all. I rather like having Teaser here."

"Okay. Thanks." Suddenly, Sanchez grinned, and Anya found herself liking him. He waved and strolled to his car. Anya waved back. In a spurt of uncharacteristic friendliness, she also waved at her curious neighbor, who hurriedly closed the lace curtains.

When she reentered the kitchen, she discovered Teaser inspecting the premises. "Do you have any salmon?" he asked her.

"No. I have some tuna."

"I suppose that will do for now."

"I'll buy some salmon."

"Thank you." Teaser rewarded her by rubbing against her legs. Anya could not help but smile.

Anya completed the grocery shopping and fed Teaser before she allowed herself to check on the status of her a.n.a.lysis. She was not sure that she wanted to see the results. She did not know what she would do if the data concradicted Teaser's a.s.sertions.

She stared at the results for a long time, wis.h.i.+ng to see more than appeared.

She remembered how early opponents of the ubiquitous sensor systems had complained about the cold impersonality of the data. She had always considered the impersonality to be a virtue. Humans could be corrupted so much more easily than machines.

Teaser watched her return to the kitchen with a silently demanding stare.

Anya said slowly, "Evidence is not always what we want it to be."

"You will do what is just and good," answered Teaser. "You would have liked Seth. You are much like him."

"Am I?"

"You believe in good and evil. You want to do what is good."

"It's been a long time since anyone reminded me of that."

Teaser rubbed against her, and she bent to scratch his ears. He began to purr, and she seated herself on the tile floor to give him better attention. Teaser curled into her lap. For the first time since Dusty's death, she felt complete.

Her feet fell asleep, but she did not want to move and disturb Teaser. The world narrowed to the warm, purring comfort whose head rested on her knee.

The sun was setting, and its orange glow treated her kitchen kindly.

The glow of sunset faded into night. Anya's stiff legs demanded s.h.i.+fting, and Teaser stretched and arose without complaint. She offered him salmon as consolation.

Fed, petted, and contented, Teaser settled down for a nap. Anya returned to her lab and seated herself at the console. She examined the results with greatcare and deliberation before calling Sanchez.

"Sanchez," he answered.

"This is Anya Marlow." She hesitated. "Have you located Nigel Govorin yet?"

"Yes." He laughed, and Anya considered what a pleasant sound could be created by shared humor. "We had him in custody already. He was arrested this morning for creating a disturbance at a local animal shelter. He tried to steal one of the cats-a cat that looks a great deal like Teaser, as a matter of fact."