The Krytos Trap (19 page)

“What sorts of things are in that file evidence?”

“Reports by Commander Antilles, Lieutenant Horn, and Captain Celchu about their time here on Coruscant.”

Halla hit two buttons on her datapad. “I’ve now downloaded into the court’s evidentiary computer a report by Lieutenant Corran Horn that I would like entered into evidence as People’s exhibit 34. You have reviewed this report?”

“I have.”

“What does it say concerning Kirtan Loor?”

Iella looked straight at Halla Ettyk. “In it Lieutenant Horn reports that he saw Captain Celchu in conversation with Kirtan Loor at a cantina called the Headquarters.”

“Based on your experience as Corran’s partner, how would you characterize the nature of this report?”

“Typical Corran: concise, to the point, and unequivocal in his statement of facts.”

“And, based on your experience, how would you characterize Corran’s identification of Kirtan Loor?”

“He was absolutely certain he’d seen Captain Celchu talking with Loor.”

Ettyk smiled. “So there was nothing in the report, nothing in your experience that would lead you to question Lieutenant Horn’s identification of Kirtan Loor?”

Iella hesitated. “Actually, there is one little detail about which I do have a question.”

Surprise flashed across Halla’s face, but she smothered it quickly. “Move to strike as nonresponsive, your Honor.”

The Mon Calamari’s barbels twitched beneath an open mouth. “No, Commander, you asked one more question than you should have, and now you have to live with the consequences. Do you have anything else for this witness?”

“At this time, no sir, but I reserve the right to recall her.”

“Understood. Your witness, Counselor Ven.”

Iella straightened up in the witness box and tried to calm
herself, but she felt her guts begin to knot up as the Twi’lek stood. Her heart started pounding a bit faster. She’d never liked being cross-examined, and she expected no mercy from Nawara Ven, especially after Halla made her mistake.

“Agent Wessiri, in your time with the Corellian Security Force, have you ever performed an investigation into a matter of treason?”

“No, but I have worked murder cases before.”

“I know. You’ve worked many murder cases, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And some have been easier to investigate than this one, haven’t they?”

Iella nodded. “Yes.” Though Nawara Ven kept his voice low and his demeanor easy, she didn’t like the way he started nibbling in around the edges. He was projecting an aura of calm control, running the trial, and she knew that was bad. Once he got into a rhythm and she started moving along with him, he could turn and surprise her, and get admissions out of her that would give the wrong impression to the Tribunal.

“How long would you say the average murder investigation you worked lasted?”

“You’d have to be more specific.”

“How long before an arrest?”

Iella shrugged. “Less than a week. If you don’t have a suspect in custody by that time the trail can get very cold.”

“The investigation itself, though, might go on longer than that, correct?”

“Sure.”

“Because there are details to check, lab reports to read and analyze, witnesses to depose, more facts to be checked, and the like, correct?”

“Yes.”

The Twi’lek smiled. “That takes a long time to do, doesn’t it?”

“That depends.”

“Say you want to do it right.”

“I
always
want to do it right.”

“Of course, but haste can make for sloppy work, can’t it?”

“Yes.”

“So a hasty investigation is potentially a sloppy one?”

“Yes.”

Nawara Ven nodded. “So would you characterize two weeks from murder to trial as fast, in your experience?”

Iella nodded reluctantly. “It’s faster than most trials.”

“Have you ever been involved in a case that went to trial as quickly as this?”

She shook her head. “No.”

The Twi’lek looked back at the datapad on his table. Iella saw lights flicker across the front panel on Whistler, then Nawara nodded and looped a braintail back over his shoulder. “I want to call your attention to People’s 34. How long after the incident described was the report made?”

Iella glanced at the small datapad monitor in the corner of the witness box. “There is a two-week gap between the incident and the filing of the report.”

“Now, in your experience as Corran Horn’s partner, would you say he was usually prompt in filing his reports?”

“Yes.” Iella glared at Whistler. “But sometimes there were delays, and the two weeks you mention were fairly busy.”

“Is that the only reason, being busy, that you believe Lieutenant Horn delayed filing his report?”

“Objection, calls for speculation.”

“Counselor Ven is asking the witness what she believes, not what she thinks the victim thought. I’ll allow it. Overruled.”

“Because we believed Captain Celchu was dead on Noquivzor, there seemed no way the report could be true, so there would have been no reason to file it.” Iella leaned forward in her seat. “However, the minute Corran learned Captain Celchu was alive, he made that report.”

“I understand that.” The Twi’lek flashed her a smile full of pointy teeth. “In your time as his partner, had you ever known Corran Horn to make a mistake?”

“He was only human.”

Ven’s expression darkened. “Perhaps you can expand on that answer for those of us who are
not
human.”

Iella blushed and glanced down at the floor.
What a thing to say, especially here and now!
“I mean, yes, he did make mistakes.”

“Thank you. Now, you alluded to something in the report that left a question in your mind about the veracity of Lieutenant Horn’s identification of Kirtan Loor. What was that?”

Her stomach folded in on itself. “Corran describes Loor as wearing a hooded cloak and following Captain Celchu out the back of the cantina as Corran entered it. Corran recognized Loor from his height and his gait, but he never actually saw his face.”

“And as good as Corran was, you think that his making an identification without seeing the individual’s face leaves room for him to be mistaken?”

“Yes.”

The Twi’lek nodded. “Thank you for your candor. Nothing further.”

Ackbar looked at the prosecutor. “Redirect?”

“No, Admiral.”

The Mon Calamari nodded down at Iella. “You are excused, Agent Wessiri. I am going to recess the court at this time. The Provisional Council is meeting to discuss a number of problems and I must be there. I may, in fact, recess the trial for a week. I assume, from the question you asked earlier, Counselor Ven, you would not mind having the extra time for investigation of the case?”

Iella, returning to her place at the prosecution bench, watched Nawara’s grey profile as he nodded. “I welcome the time to continue to prepare my defense.”

“Commander Ettyk, you have no objections to a delay?”

“No, sir.”

“Very good, court stands adjourned for one week.”

Iella entered Halla Ettyk’s office. “Diric’s in the outer office, lying down. I hope you don’t mind. The crush of people
leaving the court was a bit much, but the bailiffs didn’t seem to want to let him catch his breath. In fact, they weren’t too interested in letting me bring him along with me here to the office.”

The black-haired prosecutor shook her head. “Not a problem, but get him a special visitor’s identification badge.”

Iella frowned as she slipped into a nerfhide chair in front of Halla’s transparisteel desk. “What’s going on?”

Halla set a comlink down on her desk. “I just heard from Admiral Ackbar’s aide, Commander Sirlul. The reason for the abrupt adjournment was more than a routine meeting of the Provisional Council. It appears, in the wake of the PCF assault on that bacta storage site, we’ve had a bomb threat here. They aren’t sure who made the threat or how real it is, but they want a week to reinforce the courthouse complex.”

“I see.”

Halla nodded solemnly. “Just as well—it gives me a week to shore up my case.”

Iella winced. “I’m sorry for what I said in there. I don’t want to have Corran’s killer get off, but—”

“Not your fault. Admiral Ackbar was right—I asked one more question than I should have. I tried to make sure there was no question that Corran had been right, and I was too smart for my own good.” She shrugged. “At least nothing got said about the Duros that Captain Celchu says he was meeting with that night. Right now the Tribunal just knows that Corran might have been mistaken about his identification. If the Duros is brought in, they’ll be free to wonder how much Kirtan Loor in a cloak looks like a Duros in a cloak.”

Iella’s eyes narrowed. “We all knew Celchu claimed he met a Duros that night.”

“So it seems, but all those stories get traced back to Celchu himself, so anyone else bringing it up gets it stricken because of the hearsay rule. The only way that comes in is if Tycho takes the stand.”

“What if the Duros testifies?”

“What’s the likelihood of that happening? There’s no evidence Lai Nootka ever was on Coruscant, as nearly as we can tell. Moreover, there was some history between Corran
and Nootka—Corran got him out of an Imperial prison on Garqi, wherever that is. Why would Nootka run from the man who saved his life?”

Iella opened her hands. “Maybe he was just following Tycho.”

“Fine. Let’s assume that meeting was as innocent as Tycho has tried to make it out to be. It
doesn’t
make the least little bit of difference. The bribe data alone is enough to show he was working for the Empire. Corran
believed
Tycho had met with Kirtan Loor; his threat to dig into Tycho’s background because of that belief is our motive for the murder.”

“But why kill Corran when you can show he’s wrong about the meeting just by producing Lai Nootka?” Iella frowned. “Tycho always seemed confident of his innocence, which meant he either had Nootka where he could deliver him, blowing apart the foundation of Corran’s threatened investigation, or—”

“Or he could be innocent?” Halla shook her head. “Don’t plot a course into that black hole.”

“But that black hole might be the truth.”

“Sure, but we’re not the triers of fact in this case, the Tribunal members are. We just have to present to them the best case we can muster, and the defense has to knock it apart.” Halla’s brown eyes narrowed. “You’re not going to start in on me about wanting to make sure your partner’s killer really is caught, because I’ll tell you we’ve got him beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Iella shrugged. “And if I don’t want to be reasonable?”

Halla winced, then sat back in her white high-backed chair. “Idealists should not be in this business, you know.”

“And your point is?”

“The Duros thing has bothered me, too. I can grant that Tycho might have pulled that name from Corran’s file just to annoy him, but that would be very risky for him to do. The trail Tycho has left has shown him to be
very
careful, so I don’t see him throwing out that sort of taunt. Therefore I can imagine that he really
did
meet with Lai Nootka. And if
that’s true, I have to wonder about our inability to find Nootka or any record of his presence here on Coruscant.”

“So even though you believe Tycho was working for the Empire, you think Nootka’s disappearance may be evidence of someone making sure Tycho’s perfidy is obvious?” Iella frowned. “Who? Why?”

“Good, obstruction-of-justice questions to answer.” Halla sighed. “You want to find Nootka, right?”

“If you don’t mind.”

Halla sat forward and fingered a small black wafer of silicon. “Do it. And take this—it’s a code chip that will let you bring your airspeeder into the upper-level security garage. You can take the turbolift down to the court from there. It’ll save Diric from having to go in and out with the courtroom crowds from now on.”

Iella accepted it from her and smiled. “Things are just going to continue getting crazier, aren’t they?”

“I’m afraid so.” Halla visibly shivered. “I’m very much afraid so.”

17

Aided by the Trandoshan’s healthy shove, Corran flew through the darkened doorway. Unable to see anything, he curled himself into a ball and hoped he didn’t land on his head. He smashed his shins into something hard, then bounced down onto his right shoulder before continuing his roll. He hit more things, most of which cried out, and all of which gave way, then came to an abrupt stop against something very solid.

Corran opened his eyes and in the dim light made out the smiling, bearded face of a positively huge man. He’d come to rest against the man’s shin and thigh—clearly the man had dropped to one knee to stop Corran’s tumble through the room. Back along his flight path Corran heard the muttered curses of people he’d knocked down.

The bearded man stood and dragged Corran to his feet. “Quite the entrance.”

“I had help in making it.” Corran plucked at the shoulders of his tan canvas tunic and tried to settle it in place. The bulky garment extended all the way to his knees. The sleeves ran to mid-forearm, but that was because the shoulder seam started well below the curve of his deltoids. Naked beneath it, Corran felt a little uncomfortable. He knew that was part
of the psychological war waged by Isard on him and the other prisoners—deny them human clothing and you deny them a little piece of their humanity.

The big man nodded. “The Trandoshan doesn’t like anyone. I’m Urlor Sette.” He offered Corran his hand. Sette was missing the last two fingers of his right hand but didn’t seem bashful or embarrassed about it.

Corran met the man’s firm grip with a solid one of his own. “Corran Horn.”

“Glad to make your acquaintance.” Sette pointed off to the left. “Come on, I’ll take you to the Old Man.” The big man’s voice carried with it equal measures of respect and affection, reminding Corran of how he’d often called Gil Bastra “the Old Man.”

Must be the nominal leader among the prisoners here
. Corran realized that his being thrust into the general Lusankya population could have been another ploy by Isard to get him to reveal information he’d not given up during interrogation. Because he did not have a clear memory of what he had actually said while being chemically debriefed, he didn’t know what she might be looking to confirm or uncover.
For all I know, this is an elaborate charade. I will have to be on my guard
.