<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-cc198774-7fff-2e67-ee79-46849b87fb78"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mission: Murder on the Exeter Express </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Day: 2 </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Stardate: 2445.12.02</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(USS Exeter – Captain’s Ready Room - CO Trip Williams and FO Ailynn Bracken - 0915)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn strode at full pace down the corridor, she’d changed scrubs, but her mind remained on the autopsy table. She had failed, of all the things that niggled at her, that she could be accused of, being a failure was the thing that she hated, detested being.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Other Officers saw her bear down the corridor, her demeanor of fierce concentration and absolute focus forced them out of her way. Few on the Exeter had seen her at this level of focus, she tended to go through the day at a steady pace, challenges coming and going. Now though, she was back being a medic, and fate had challenged her, and if there was something that caused her to awaken her full, immeasurable, intellect, it was the challenge.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Fate had thrown down the gauntlet.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">~Bitch...it’s on.~ her mind had replied as she’d burst out of sickbay. All of the medics looking horrified, apart from Staff Nurse Carter, who’d known Ailynn from Mars and had seen this mood before. She’d gently calmed down a few new nurses who’d been worried by the amazonian figure bursting out of the mortuary, turning it into a teaching point about focus, devotion to duty and preparedness. ~Chances were that the medic that burst out of an autopsy looking like that would burst back in sooner rather than later demanding a second autopsy.~ The ghost of Millie’s own mentor; Fleet Matron Callie Weston patted her on her back. Callie had been Ailynn’s personal surgical nurse most of her fleet life, until her untimely death.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn exited the turbolift and swept furiously across the bridge, and straight into the Ready Room, she waited for no door, and there, only there, did she sit down, her point of focus never changing, she sat at the couch, in her habitual seat, no word was uttered, no emotion shown, her utter unbreakable focus on an imaginary point somewhere way off where was the only indication as to her mental state.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Her brain, her complete and total intellect, was running at one hundred percent. Absently, she picked a lock of hair, and began to chew it, thoughtfully.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Hungry?” Trip said looking at his First officer, obviously perturbed. It wasn’t often that Ailynn Bracken dropped all etiquette and just came in without knocking to sit down. If she was this laser focused it meant that she had met a challenge that her mind just couldn’t wrap her head around just yet. So Trip knew the best thing he could do right now, is sit, listen, and help her talk her way through it.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn shook her head, and scowled briefly. Still sat silent and chewing her hair. Her thoughts slowly beginning to order themselves in her mind. She was glad that Trip knew her on a level that was so far beyond a normal CO/FO relationship.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br><br></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Alright Lynn, talk it out, you don’t chew your hair unless you’re brain stuck.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Can’t find it...missing something. Cause of death.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Well have you tried checking the body?” Trip said with a laugh. He knew she couldn’t stand his “dad” jokes in moments like this, but it often helped get her mind out of a rut.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Her face flickered annoyance, but her eyes smiled. “Arse.” She continued, her brain now able to at least partly release on the thought it had stuck focussed on. “I can’t find it T. I’ve got lots of incidentals.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Such as?” he asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Cardiac toxins...not enough to kill him; stomach toxins...not enough to kill him; the entire rear base of his skull utterly caved in…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Well wouldn’t that be the cause?” Trip asked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Done post mortem. He was already dead. No agglutination or blood pooling.” She sighed, “I’ve got nothing.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Sounds like though, regardless of the cause, this was intentional, as in someone either killed him, or wanted to make it look like someone killed him.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“An otherwise healthy person doesn’t just die. No one passes my table and remains a mystery.” she half snapped at him, knowing that she could. “It’s like I’m doing a jigsaw, but I can’t see the pieces and they don’t match the picture on the box.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Well ok, let’s take a step back alright. And again, I’m not a medical expert. But let’s just take a step back and think alright. So we have what two different types of toxins in his system. Blunt force trauma to his head. So obviously the killer wants to leave some red herrings. Make things look like one thing, but not really. Just enough to confuse you. So they obviously have what, some knowledge of how the body works.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn nodded. “You’re right. Forensic countermeasures. So the killer likes CSI: Federation.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“So think of it this way, and I’m not saying you are a suspect. But, you’re the scientist. How would you have killed him, if you would have then later given him toxins and a bonk on the head.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Toxins in the stomach are incidental. Poor diet, damage to cardiac arteries support that. He had a rhubarb tart for dessert. Bolian rhubarb has high ortho-oxalic acid content. Toxins irrelevant.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“That still doesn’t answer my question.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“What would I do? Based on the two people I’ve already killed? A knife to be honest.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“And where would you stab?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn suddenly drew a sharp intake of breath, and held up a hand. “Upward angle, rear three-quarter between sixth and seventh intercostal space. Impossible to shout for help.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Pretty efficient I might say.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Mother…#!@. Oh you stupid stupid girl.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Umm, you alright there Lynn?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She looked up at a plushie of Fluffy Rabbit that Ash had made Trip have on a shelf. “Its his fault he’s been distracting me…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“What, my stuffed rabbit?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Jigsaw…” Her tone was breathless, impressed even. “Oh that’s good...Oh you clever clever girl.” she jumped to her feet, her mind awake once more.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Lynn, you’re starting to worry me.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“You were right. Countermeasures”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Well I mean, a broken clock is right twice a day. Why don’t you spell it out for me though.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In her mind she started to piece together the image that she’d memorised earlier. She grabbed a holoimager, “Computer display scan Bracken 00245-alpha-theta”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The image of Nix’s body appeared and she immediately leapt to work. Her hands manipulating the image in front of her. “Bajoran skull. Not pretty given the damage. What do you see?” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Umm….I see the reason why I didn’t take any medical classes in the Academy. What do you see?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“It’s a jigsaw. A rather gross one, but all the skull bits go together? I know what killed him.” Her hands moved quickly in the air positioning tiny fragments of bone into their proper place. Eventually, the skull was intact, leaving…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Broken neck, Cervical vertebrae C1. Death instantaneous. Blitz attack, unexpected from the rear. Snapped neck, brutal motion to the left. Suspect is a medic, or has shown significant interest in anatomy.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Or was instructed by one on what to do, I still am not sure this was a solo job. It’s just not sitting right. Too many bread crumbs easily picked up.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Agreed.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Did you get Ravok’s brief on who he is interviewing?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Trip...We’ve known each other since you were in nappies. Are you asking me if I know my girlfriend is a suspect, one of my closest friends too?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Yes.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I heard.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Just checking, don’t want you surprised.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Does that seem weird to you? Murder is an odd crime, tends to be very personal, this feels like a….I dunno.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Yet all of them have had arguments with the deceased. All of them have weak alibis. I don’t like it, it’s three of my department heads on the list. And it seems too easy. But I don’t know, what idea is worse. That one of my Department heads committed a calculated crime of passion or that there is a conspiracy. I don’t know?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Look. I understand, here’s the thing, we all have a dozen conversations a day, where the slickest lawyer could focus on a single misspoken word. Trip...are you asking me if I could shop my closest friends or girlfriend? Seriously?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“No, I know you. I trust you. And I would never put you in a position where you would have to sell out Erin or Caity. Because I know you would always tell the truth. Even if it meant that you and Caity would be done. Even if she wasn’t even charged, if you were on the stand and the murderer’s defense attorney asked you if it was possible Erin or Caity or hell anyone you’re close to. If they asked you, ‘But isn’t it possible that say it could have been done by Caity DuBois. Even if you knew it was not likely but a possibility, even if you knew saying yes might end your relationship. I know you would say yes and always tell the truth.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“It’s a curse.” She admitted.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Likewise I know you would fight like hell to find the truth. But I don’t want to put you in that position.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I know. I can fight my own battles, but I appreciate it…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“The one benefit for Caity and Erin, is I don’t know if they’d have the strength to snap Commander Tyko’s neck. Unless of course it was a tag team effort.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Blitz attack...You’re stronger than me yeah? Turn around.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trip moved from behind his desk and turned around.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In the three seconds that he had taken to turn around and swept up to him, whipping her right arm right around his neck and tensing her arm muscles briefly, then relaxing. She then massaged the tortured muscles.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“My apologies. Easy as that though. He knew his attacker.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“But you’re forgetting something.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Go on…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Go to the door. I’m gonna close my eyes, when you’re ready come at me, I’ll be facing the window.” Trip breathed in and out and closed of his empathic abilities.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She did as he asked. “Here.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Sure.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“From here there’s no chance…” It was terrible, but she adored these moments, her intellect against his, a macabre playfulness.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“No I want you to come attack me.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“You know I can’t. I know I can’t. I have to be closer.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Get as close as you need, and strike when you’re ready don’t say a thing. Don’t tell me when.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn nodded. Looking into his eyes and recognising the game that they were playing. She drew a breath, and half turned. “These shoes are killing me, going to pull them off.” She said, describing her actions a few seconds after her they had happened.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trip turned his back to Ailynn and closed his eyes.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn snapped round, her focus utterly on her target. Whipping her arm around Trip’s head she felt an opening, it was intimate.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trip listened to everything he could here, the rustle of her clothes as she moved closer. He knew that she was coming, not just because he asked, but because he was trained. As she went for his head, he moved his left elbow stopping it in time to touch her gently in the center of her chest. In real speed it would have been enough to stop her from being able to use the full speed of her attack.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Okay...hold…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“You were expecting that, victim didn’t; held back, killer didn’t” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Right, but more to the point. The victim was a trained SFI Agent. He would have been trained to hear and react to the little things, the little noises.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Agreed.” She fell silent for a moment, listening to Trip as her mind worked.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Now if Foxglove was on board, she’d be the only one I think who could do it without him even knowing.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Naked.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Excuse me?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Ailynn Bracken…you are incomperhensably stupid.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Umm, well no, actually, lets sit with this for a moment.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Exstatic in joy, she smiled. “No no no no no! He was naked. Did you take his clothes off?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“How stupid do you think I am. I wouldn’t mess with evidence.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I know…You’re…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Ailynn, could he have been given a paralyzing toxin?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I’d find it.” A tone of joy, “You hear me? I WIN!” she screamed at the universe. “oh….This was gooooood. Clever.” her mannerism was intense her eyes wide, her whole being utterly switched on.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Ummm, Ailynn….we’re forgetting something. He called security before he died.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“That was the wildcard, I haven’t worked that out yet...ignoring that what...do...you...have…?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“He knew he was going to die… knew he was being attacked, but thought he couldn’t handle it?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I grew up hating my brain... You remember when I started? That I’d just sit in the treehouse and cry? Now…He wasn’t expecting the attack. Suggests he thought he had a physical advantage. Why…? He hadn’t had intercourse, but I didn’t check if he was expecting it...!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Lynn, what was the time of death?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“0145 give or take like 30 seconds.” it wasn’t a boast, more a confirmation of her ability.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Then he didn’t call security. Someone using his voice did. The call to security came in at 0150. Security arrived around 0155. Meaning, his attacker wanted us to find him like that.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Time of death is absolutely 0145. Other issues not my problem. Get Merek.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Or Ravok.” Trip laughed, “Or we could just go back and forth with insane theories. Such as how erect was he when he died.” Trip walked over to the couch and sat down.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“It’s a standard check...not very...however presence of seminal fluid suggests he was expecting intercourse.” She smiled. “I find it weird to use that sentence around you.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Eh, It’s for science.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I’ll speak to the department.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“So he knew his attacker enough to get naked with them. I heard him mentally before he died. But I think, I think at that point he might have been resigned to his fate. Then the killer killed him. Bashed his head. Used some device to call security and peaced out?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn nodded. “Is about the size of it.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Trip giggled and then recomposed himself. “Go ahead and get your findings to Ravok, see what he has, try and get a better picture. But I don’t think this was a passion kill.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Ailynn nodded. “Passion kills are always to either the face of the genitalia, this has none of those hallmarks” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“No they don’t. @$#% It’s murder.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Murder is personal, this isn’t.” She frowned. “Why would you kill? Hit me...first thoughts...no hesitation…”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Ailynn….we’re going in circles. We still need more of the puzzle. If its not murder it’s an assasination….”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Same thing...Look...I’m going to talk to the body really nicely and ask for secrets.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“You ass.” he smiled. “Look, check the body and double check the cause of death then get your report to Ravok. I’ll reconvene the Command Staff around 1200 hours to discuss.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I'll be there. Time of death can be considered solid.” She stood up, and moved toward the door, and smiled gently, “Thanks ‘T’ You're the only one that understands my moods.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Lynn, look, Caity, maybe Erin too, who knows. They both might want to talk to you for comfort. If they do, be there, listen. I trust you, and I trust you to not reveal anything you shouldn’t. I trust you implicitly.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She looked at him, and the years disappeared, “Love you too James.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“But if it’s too much, let me know, and I’ll take you off this. Hopefully it clears up soon and clears both. I just… I don’t want you to hurt.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I will but…” She leant forward and pecked him on the cheek, “I’m the one who walks the line.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Just….take care of yourself ok.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She smiled and winked, and then walked out the ready room, her mind already three steps ahead.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.656;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(reply none)</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(posted by Mark and Will)</span></span>  <br></div>