Read Online The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Timothy Zahn
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Tomorrow’s likely to be a busy day.”
“Shouldn’t we let Dr. Witherspoon and the others know the results?”
I shook my head. “They’ve all gone back to bed. Not much point in waking them up just to give them bad news. Besides, I want some time to think about this before we spring it on them.”
“I thought you said you were going to sleep.”
“I said I was going to bed.” I looked at the cadmium listing on the analysis. “I never said I was going to get much sleep.”
Chapter Five
Sure enough, I’d been lying in bed for no more than five hours, and had been asleep for maybe three of those, when I was awakened by someone leaning on my door chime.
Sometimes I hated being right. Stumbling to the door, darkly promising to cripple someone if this wasn’t damned important, I keyed it open.
Kennrick was standing there, looking way too fresh and alert for a man who’d been up almost as late as I had. “Compton,” he greeted me shortly, taking a step forward as if expecting to be invited in.
“Kennrick,” I greeted him in turn, not budging from the doorway and forcing him to stop short to keep from running into me. “Any news?”
“That was my question,” he said, trying to peer past my shoulder into the compartment. “Dr. Witherspoon told me he and Dr. Aronobal gave you the samples from Master Bofiv’s body for analysis.”
“And I told him that I would let all of you know when I had the results,” I said.
“That was over five hours ago,” Kennrick countered. “What are you doing, framing the samples for an art-house display?”
“I’ve been working,” I told him stiffly. “These things take time.”
“Not that much time.” He ran a critical eye over me. “And if you don’t mind my saying so. you don’t exactly look like you just hopped up from your portable lab bench, either.”
Silently, I stepped aside. He strode in, his eyes flicking around the room and coming to rest on the reader I’d left on the curve couch. “So what did you find?” he asked as I closed the door again.
“More or less what we expected,” I said, brushing past him and picking up the reader. I turned it on, called up the analysis file, and handed it to him.
He frowned, tapping the control to scroll the numbers up and down the display. “How do I read this?” he asked.
I lifted an eyebrow. “I thought you worked for a medical company.”
“As an organizer and meeting facilitator.” he said patiently. “Not as a doctor. Come on—tell me what this says.”
“It says cadmium poisoning,” I told him. “Lots of it.”
He ran the scrolling again and found the cadmium line. “Terrific,” he muttered. “Any chance it could have happened by accident?”
“In theory, pretty much any death could have happened by accident,” I said. “But when the string of required coincidences gets long enough, I think you can safely call it murder.”
He flinched at the word. “That’s insane,” he insisted. “Who would have wanted Master Bofiv dead?”
“Wrong question,” I told him. “The right question is, who would have wanted Master Bofiv and Master Colix dead?”
Kennrick stared at me. “Are you telling me they were both murdered? By the same person?”
“Unless you plan to string a few more coincidences together,” I said.
He looked back at the reader. “No,” he said firmly. “No, this just can’t be. It has to have been an accident.”
“You mean like someone accidentally uncapped a bottle of cadmium powder over their dinner plates last night?” I suggested.
“Or they ingested it some other way,” he said. “Cadmium is used in batteries, alloys—all sorts of things. Maybe it flaked off a bad battery in Master Colix’s luggage, got on his fingers, and from there into one of their shared meals. Or it could even have come off someone else’s stuff and gotten into the air system.”
“And then carefully proceeded to target Colix and Bofiv, but not Tririn or any of the
“Shouldn’t we let Dr. Witherspoon and the others know the results?”
I shook my head. “They’ve all gone back to bed. Not much point in waking them up just to give them bad news. Besides, I want some time to think about this before we spring it on them.”
“I thought you said you were going to sleep.”
“I said I was going to bed.” I looked at the cadmium listing on the analysis. “I never said I was going to get much sleep.”
Chapter Five
Sure enough, I’d been lying in bed for no more than five hours, and had been asleep for maybe three of those, when I was awakened by someone leaning on my door chime.
Sometimes I hated being right. Stumbling to the door, darkly promising to cripple someone if this wasn’t damned important, I keyed it open.
Kennrick was standing there, looking way too fresh and alert for a man who’d been up almost as late as I had. “Compton,” he greeted me shortly, taking a step forward as if expecting to be invited in.
“Kennrick,” I greeted him in turn, not budging from the doorway and forcing him to stop short to keep from running into me. “Any news?”
“That was my question,” he said, trying to peer past my shoulder into the compartment. “Dr. Witherspoon told me he and Dr. Aronobal gave you the samples from Master Bofiv’s body for analysis.”
“And I told him that I would let all of you know when I had the results,” I said.
“That was over five hours ago,” Kennrick countered. “What are you doing, framing the samples for an art-house display?”
“I’ve been working,” I told him stiffly. “These things take time.”
“Not that much time.” He ran a critical eye over me. “And if you don’t mind my saying so. you don’t exactly look like you just hopped up from your portable lab bench, either.”
Silently, I stepped aside. He strode in, his eyes flicking around the room and coming to rest on the reader I’d left on the curve couch. “So what did you find?” he asked as I closed the door again.
“More or less what we expected,” I said, brushing past him and picking up the reader. I turned it on, called up the analysis file, and handed it to him.
He frowned, tapping the control to scroll the numbers up and down the display. “How do I read this?” he asked.
I lifted an eyebrow. “I thought you worked for a medical company.”
“As an organizer and meeting facilitator.” he said patiently. “Not as a doctor. Come on—tell me what this says.”
“It says cadmium poisoning,” I told him. “Lots of it.”
He ran the scrolling again and found the cadmium line. “Terrific,” he muttered. “Any chance it could have happened by accident?”
“In theory, pretty much any death could have happened by accident,” I said. “But when the string of required coincidences gets long enough, I think you can safely call it murder.”
He flinched at the word. “That’s insane,” he insisted. “Who would have wanted Master Bofiv dead?”
“Wrong question,” I told him. “The right question is, who would have wanted Master Bofiv and Master Colix dead?”
Kennrick stared at me. “Are you telling me they were both murdered? By the same person?”
“Unless you plan to string a few more coincidences together,” I said.
He looked back at the reader. “No,” he said firmly. “No, this just can’t be. It has to have been an accident.”
“You mean like someone accidentally uncapped a bottle of cadmium powder over their dinner plates last night?” I suggested.
“Or they ingested it some other way,” he said. “Cadmium is used in batteries, alloys—all sorts of things. Maybe it flaked off a bad battery in Master Colix’s luggage, got on his fingers, and from there into one of their shared meals. Or it could even have come off someone else’s stuff and gotten into the air system.”
“And then carefully proceeded to target Colix and Bofiv, but not Tririn or any of the
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