Part 16 (2/2)

He touched the driver's door and the car unlocked. Talia opened her door before he did, and slid inside, slamming the door so hard that the car shook.

She had had an interesting day-trying to leave, getting caught, having her research examined, and then accompanying him to Van Alen's. Talia was surly on the best of days, and this wasn't the best of days. Flint got in beside her. He turned the environmental systems on, checked the logs to make sure no one had so much as looked at the car in his absence, and then turned to his daughter.

”I'm going to tell you something difficult,” he said. ”We have a problem and I'm not quite sure I know how to solve it.”

Talia faced him, looking like the adult she would someday be. He sensed she was flattered that he trusted her enough to tell her about this, even though she didn't yet know what he was going to say.

He couldn't tell her everything. In fact, he couldn't tell her much. But he had to tell her enough. ”You remember Ki Bowles?” he asked.

”Yeah.” Talia had a slight frown, as if she were trying to stay ahead of the conversation, antic.i.p.ating everything he was going to say.

”She was murdered this morning,” he said.

Talia's breath caught. She blinked and then looked away.

He wondered whether he should have broken the news to her more gently. After all, her mother had just died-and that might have been a murder, although the Recovery Man who had kidnapped her insisted it was a suicide.

”Tal?” he said.

She nodded, then turned toward him again. Somehow she had gotten control of her facial expression, but her eyes held some fear.

”Maxine and I were working on a project with Ki.”

”I know,” Talia said.

He moved sharply, cutting off his own reply, which would have been harsh. He wondered if she had looked through his or Van Alen's files.

Talia must have sensed what he was going to say because she added somewhat defensively, ”You told me, remember? When you introduced us that one time?”

He barely remembered. He had muttered something about working together and left it at that. ”I a.s.sume it was a dangerous project?” Talia asked.

”It might be the reason she died,” he said.

Talia's lips trembled. She nodded, then looked away again. He put his hand on hers.

”I took on the project,” he said, ”long before I knew about you. Then when we came back here, you and me, I didn't really give the project much thought. It was just something that was under way. I should have stopped it then, and I just didn't think of it.”

”You're in danger?” she asked.

”I don't know,” he said. ”The news is sketchy and I learned long ago not to act without all the facts. Ki Bowles had a life besides this project. Something else might have gotten her killed. It might even have been random.”

”But you don't know that.”

”I don't,” he said. ”And that's the problem.”

She kept her hand under his. He could feel her trembling. This poor girl, who had lost her entire life, was just gaining a new one, and he was telling her that it was threatened.

”I have to investigate what happened to Ki.”

”Isn't that what the police are for?”

”What we were working on is confidential,” Flint said. ”The police won't-they can't-have all the facts.”

”Why not?” She turned toward him again. She looked more like the terrified young girl he had first met than the woman she would be.

”Because,” he said, not sure exactly how to answer this, ”although our motives were pure, our methods may not have been.”

”You broke the law?” Her voice rose. ”You mean what the kids at school say about you is true?” ”What do they say?” he asked, not liking her distress.

”That because you're a Retrieval Artist, you're a criminal.”

He smiled in spite of himself.

She pulled her hand away from him. ”They say that. They do. And they mean it.”

”I'm sure they do,” he said.

”Is it true?” she asked.

”Retrieval Artists don't always follow the law,” he said. ”That makes you a criminal.” ”If you look at the universe in black and white, maybe,” he said. ”Police look at the universe like that,” she said. ”Shouldn't lawyers? Shouldn't you?”

”Police don't always,” he said, choosing not to answer the last question. ”Some of my referrals have come from the police.”

”You've done illegal work for the police?” ”And for the United Domes of the Moon.” He sighed. ”Sometimes it's the only way.” ”And this thing, this thing that got Ms. Bowles killed, it was illegal?” Talia made it sound dirty. ”Not exactly,” he said. ”Technically, what we were doing was defendable in court.” ”Which is what Ms. Van Alen says.” ”Or she wouldn't have been involved.” ”But it got Ms. Bowles killed.” ”We don't know that,” he said. Talia glared at him. ”But right now we have to a.s.sume it.” He sighed again. ”I'm sorry, Talia.” ”Sorry why? Because you're going to die now, too?” He started. He hadn't thought of it that way. He'd only thought of the threat to her.

”No,” he said. ”Because this threat shouldn't even exist. I told you I was going to mostly retire until you were out of school. Part of the reason was to minimize the dangers of my job. I didn't want to deal with crises like this.”

”Have you before?” He nodded. ”A lot?” Her lower lip was trembling again.

”Enough,” he said. ”As a police officer, too. Being a Retrieval Artist isn't day-to-day dangerous like being a policeman, but it sometimes gets the wrong groups after you. And while I didn't mind that for me when I was on my own, I mind it now.”

”So don't do it anymore,” she said.

”I wasn't going to, at least until you were away from home. I don't need the money,” he said.

She raised her eyebrows. He knew she had poked into his bank accounts. He had let her. She would never discover all the money he had, no matter how good she was. She only discovered the money that was in his surface accounts-the accounts he used for the next two years. His deep accounts, the base of his fortune, were scattered throughout the known universe, under various names-and in some cases, only under numbers.

”So I don't see the problem,” she said. ”If Ki Bowles died because of this project,” he said, ”quitting won't help. If whoever killed her knows that I'm involved, then I'm at risk.”

He paused, knowing this next part would be even harder to say. Because it would be hard for her, too. ”One of the ways that I'm at risk,” he said gently, ”is through you.”

Her jaw snapped closed. Fear flashed through her eyes, quickly replaced by fury. ”What do you mean through me? You think they'll come after me?”

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