“There still is half an hour before the airlock closes. I’ll make this quick.”
“If you insist.” The tone of the woman sounded annoyed now. As if she was offended.
When she entered the office of the Lunar Police she remained standing, until invited to sit by a sharp gesture from Sukyung.
Uriel Qeta observed the scene intently from the corner where he was seated. Doctor Tietz did not show any trace of fear. She was self-assured, annoyed as much as might be expected from an innocent person, and no more worried than it was logical to be without arousing suspicion for being too sure of herself.
“May I know why I was compelled to follow you here? I have a ferry to catch.”
“I’m afraid that will not be possible,” Commissioner Sukyung said sharply, opening a folder in front of him. “Doctor Tietz, you have been arrested because you are suspected of killing Professor Olmedo.” He spoke levelly, absolutely certain that he had found the killer.
Her green eyes flashed angrily. “Are you joking? I did not even know Professor Olmedo was dead.”
She was a tough one. A real pro. Her reactions were perfect. Calibrated. Normal.
“You have killed Professor Olmedo,” stated Sukyung. “As soon as the Professor realized he was going to be killed he left us a message. It is no use to try to deny it, you’d only waste your time and ours too.”
Uriel Qeta saw the biologist wince. For the first time he thought he detected a crack in her armor, but it was just for a fleeting moment.
“Nonsense! What would it be, this supposed message of yours? You can’t prove what you are saying.”
Sukyung did not reply. He was actually wondering if the evidence Uriel Qeta had provided him would be enough for the court. He was fully convinced of the meaning of the message but it was always possible a good lawyer could dismantle the accusations. What he still lacked was more direct evidence.
The biologist jumped to her feet. “I’m leaving!” She turned, but Sukyung’s voice stopped her short.
“Don’t try to get out of here. The door is blocked. Please, sit down.”
“But I’ll lose the ferry.…”
“I’m afraid you’ll lose something more than the ferry,” said Sukyung quietly and he began nonchalantly leafing through the folder in front of him.
“If you hope to unnerve me and cause me to confess what I haven’t done, you’re badly mistaken,” said Doctor Tietz. “Your abuse of power will cost you dearly.”
Sukyung didn’t even take the trouble to reply to her.
Uriel Qeta observed them without saying anything. He was amused. He knew why the Commissioner was dilly-dallying. At the moment the Forensic Team was searching the biologist’s luggage looking for some evidence that could nail her for the killing of the professor. Perhaps the actual weapon she had used, even if he doubted a professional killer would keep such an incriminating object. But even professionals make mistakes. Sometimes.
Half an hour passed absolutely silently. Doctor Tietz sat rigidly in her chair, her face looking like a stone mask. And Sukyung kept feigning to read the documents he had in front of him as if he were absolutely detached from everything.
The buzzer at the door sounded and Sukyung pushed a button. An agent of the Scientific Squad came in with a small metal ovoid in his hands.
“We found this, sir. It was well hidden inside a souvenir copy of the Obelisk of the First Moon Landing.”
“A Moon souvenir?” the commissioner said wryly, as he caught the ovoid and showed it to Doctor Tietz.
“Everyone who comes on the Moon buys a copy of this famous monument,” she countered levelly.
Sukyung shook his head. “I meant this ovoid.”
“I have never seen it before now.”
“But it was found in your luggage.”
The biologist shrugged. “Then someone put it there. As you know these souvenirs are hollow inside to make them lighter.”
She was always ready with an answer, Uriel Qeta thought. And her answers were logical. It would prove to be very difficult to trip her up with a verbal skirmish. Sukyung went back to leafing through his papers as she put up the stone face again.
A few minutes later another officer came in. This time it was a lieutenant. He turned to Sukyung.
“We have checked. The ovoid comes from Professor Olmedo’s lab. It is part of the collection of specimens of alien spores that are kept in an armored safe in the Astronomy Lab. An ovoid is missing and his serial number matches the number on the ovoid we found in Doctor Tietz’s luggage.”
“I repeat, I don’t know anything about it,” said the biologist nervously.
Uriel Qeta shuddered. So this was the reason why the professor had been killed. To steal a specimen of some spores found encapsulated in alien meteorites. Those spores had never been brought onto the Earth. Many of them were harmless, but others were potentially fatal. If they were disseminated on the Earth they could spread and multiply quickly and be more lethal than the botulinus itself.
Commissioner Sukyung held up the ovoid carefully and examined it with awe.
“It contains spore HV-35,” added the lieutenant. “It is the most lethal spore ever found in meteorites. In the hands of terrorists it would be a terrifying mass destruction weapon.”
“For which every terrorist group would gladly pay a fortune,” said Sukyung. He looked at the biologist again. “Who are you really, Doctor Tietz? Whom are you working for? How much have you been paid to bring this specimen Earthside?”
“I’m Doctor Danielle Tietz,” the biologist replied mechanically. “I work as a biologist at the Government Center of Exobiology of Dallas.” Her eyes glittered. “I’m not a terrorist, nor do I work for any terrorist group.”
Sukyung put down the ovoid carefully, as if he feared it could break and spread its lethal spores throughout Luna City. “Oh, I’m sure a thorough investigation will be able to find a link between you and some terrorist group. When you know where to look, you always end up finding something.”
“An ovoid found in my baggage which at the moment was not with me doesn’t mean absolutely anything,” countered the biologist contemptuously. “I say it once more, anybody could have planted it.”
“Yes, you already said that,” Commissioner Sukyung said placidly. “It is true one piece of evidence is not enough, but two pieces of evidence can mark the difference between an absolution and a sentence.
“Shall I tell you what happened? You came to the Moon, or rather you plotted so as to be sent to the Moon with the precise goal to steal spore HV-35 from the Planetarian Biology Center. But because of the strict surveillance system you could not get at it. Then you discovered that the Astronomy Lab keeps the same alien specimens as well, even if only few people know that, and you rightly thought that the surveillance was less strict there. We generally don’t link astronomy to lethal substances. I don’t still know whether you stole the ovoid after killing the professor, or if it was before, and you killed Professor Olmedo to prevent him associating your presence with the disappearance of the spores.”
“Nonsense!” said the biologist, and her tone was even more contemptuous. “But you said you had another piece of evidence. What was your…uh…so-called message of Professor Olmedo?”
Sukyung turned his eyes to Uriel Qeta, who had remained silent till that moment. “I think it is the right time to explain to Doctor Tietz how the professor could pin her before dying.”
Uriel Qeta got up and approached the biologist, towering over her. This seemed to impress the biologist because a sudden flash of fear appeared in her eyes. Not because she feared to be physically