Thojy's Apartment (Patreon)

Tori's search leads to Thojy's apartment. Another short one. I may have to do a rewrite pass and make these short segments longer. I'm creating many crumbs.

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Tori answered her strand as she walked. “Tori? Oh, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to reach you!” said Holly in her ear.

“I’m sorry, Holly,” she sighed. “They’ve got me running in so many directions at once, and I haven’t slept in… What day is it?” She barely managed a chuckle.

“It’s okay!” Holly laughed. “You said this was important, so I already called Sese with the good news.”

“Good news?” Tori was so surprised she stopped in the middle of the corridor.

“I found the killer!”

Tori started walking once more, but a little slower now, paying more attention to the call. “You did?”

“Yeah! You said to look for anyone on your suspect list who’d gotten inexplicably wealthy in the past two months, and Officer Andri fits the bill.”

“Officer Andri?” Tori searched her memories but was coming up blank. She’d spoken with so many geroo in the past week. If she’d talked to him, he hadn’t left much of an impression.

“He works security, first shift,” Holly explained. “Sese says he’s always made her uneasy. Big brutish guy, inclined to abuse his authority. You know the type?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Anyhow, there’s no way that twenty-thousand credits should mysteriously appear in a security officer’s strand,” said Holly. “That’s a life-changing amount for someone of his pay grade. Sese didn’t know how he’d be able to use his security clearance to pass through locked doors without leaving an access log entry, but she’s hoping he’ll spill his tricks during questioning.”

“Questioning?” ask Tori with surprise. “They’ve got him?”

“Maybe?” He sounded less certain. “Chief Tipohee sent a half-dozen of third shift’s heavy-hitters to go drag him out of bed.”

Tori sighed with relief. “Sese’s from first shift. I’m assuming she’s not going.”

“Nah,” said Holly. “She spotted a familiar name on the suspect list. Decided to pay him a visit.”

She perked a ruined ear. “A familiar… Who?”

“That guy you wanted me to look into a few days back,” Holly explained. “Guy from IT? Uh… Thojy?”

Tori gasped and nearly dropped her strand. “Thojy was on my list?” She hadn’t even looked.

“Yeah,” said Holly, “his strand is basically empty now, but tons of cash have been moving into and out of his accounts for the past couple months. I dunno what he’s up to, but it can’t be fixing network problems.”

“That’s him!” Tori shouted with sudden surety. “That’s our guy!”

“It is?”

“I gotta call Sese. Gotta go. Bye!” She hung up without waiting for a reply and spun her contact list until Sese’s icon popped up, then jabbed at the face and chanted, “C’mon! C’mon! Pick up!” until the big officer answered.

“Hey Tori!” Sese said when the line clicked. “I’m so sorry about yesterday. The captain said he wanted you two hauled in for treason! Treason, of all things. He said he wanted both of you ‘bound and gagged, and dragged to the bridge by your ears’. I wasn’t going to do that, obviously, but Tipohee would’a had my hide if I’d just asked you two to follow me. Is Druka okay? I feel so bad about hitting him.”

“Stop talking and listen!” Tori finally shouted over her friend. “Thojy! He’s the killer!”

A pause. “The guy from IT?”

“Yes! I’m just sure of it!”

“Huh,” said Sese. “Didn’t seem the type. Oh well. Let’s find out.”

Over the call, Tori could hear Sese knocking on a door. “No! Sese! He’s dangerous! Call for backup!”

“Geez, Tori. I’m not exactly scared of a little wimp like Thojy. Have some faith in me!” Then, louder, “C’mon Thojy! There’s no back door. You might as well answer!”

“No, please!” Tori begged. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Well, I am getting hurt—my feelings, specifically,” said the voice on the line. “Well, he’s not answering. Gimme a second to request an override from Tipohee.”

The passing seconds seemed like an eternity. “I’m in,” she finally said, then a few more hour-long seconds later, “Yeah, you’re right. Lots of blood here. Thojy musta clubbed his boss. I guess Nija was right about that envelope trick. Looks like she got a good piece of him.”

“Is he there?” Tori was nearly hyperventilating.

“Nah, they’re gone,” said the big officer with disappointment. “A couple empty cans of medical foam here. I’m no doctor, but it’s an awful lot of blood. I seriously doubt anything in a can’s gonna be sufficient. He’s gotta be looking for a doctor or nurse—someone who can sew up whatever Nija cut.”

Tori switched the call to speaker mode and started tapping on the screen. “Okay, hold on, Sese. I’ve still got that program that Daskatoma wrote. It won’t be super-precise, but I think it’ll let us triangulate where Thojy is by the location of his strand.”

“Don’t bother,” huffed Sese. “It’s here on the kitchen table. Two strands and one of those tablets little cubs play with. They’ve left them behind.”

Tori blinked. She could scarcely imagine leaving the apartment without her strand. It had her entire life on it. “Left behind their strands? How’s he going to get back into the apartment?” she asked. “Perhaps he transferred everything to a backup strand to keep us from tracking him?”

Sese sighed. “Yeah, he’s not coming back,” she said.

“He’s not?”

“Nah. I dunno where he thinks he’s running to, but the family shrine is open and empty,” explained Sese. “They’ve taken all their ancestors’ necklaces with them.”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I4H6_vGCT2qvF_fm4hBLN6_GmRk-Jh2EFCSoCLCCk5Q/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?