The Evidence

Month 11, Day 3

2309 Hours

Jane Burke

Jane hit the intercom button when her doorbell buzzed. “Who is it?”

“Captain, it’s Tall Bear. I wanted to brief you on what I’ve found so far.”

It may be late, but this I want to hear. “Just a minute.” She got out of bed, pulled a robe over her pajamas and went to her living room door to open it. “Come in,” She told him, and waved to the sofa area. “You don’t look like you’ve gotten any sleep today.” His eyes weren’t as focused as they usually were, and his shoulders sagged just a touch.

“No, I haven’t. I wanted to track down all the evidence I could find. I’ve got Lt Oakhurst trying to figure out a thing or two for me. I’m still hoping I can find more, but I’m currently drawing a blank where I might look. I thought I should brief you.”

“Go ahead. Did you find anything of use in quarters 42?”

“Not really. Evidence of one hum-dinger of a fight. Even the couch sustained damage, so I’m thinking at least one of them landed really forcefully on it. But who it was, or which one might have been on the bottom, if both of them were involved, I don’t know. All the fingerprints we found on items that had been shoved or thrown were from both combatants, but of course, we would expect to find Mac’s--MacDowell’s fingerprints all over her own quarters.”

“Of course.”

“I got in to see Mr Winthrop shortly after his dialysis. He gave a sort of statement, but it was broken up by rantings that didn’t really make sense.”

“What kind of rantings?” Sometimes you can catch a glimmer of what’s been going through a person’s mind by what he says when he isn’t quite himself.

“Well, the rantings weren’t even complete sentences, but they seem to imply that Mac—Dowell has been flirting with him, teasing him ever since she came aboard, and it’s time he showed her that kind of behavior isn’t acceptable. Captain, I know Mac—Dowell, and she doesn’t deliberately flirt or tease. But she does occasionally—accidentally—say something that might be seen as... provocative.”

“You can call her Mac,” Jane told him. “I know who you mean. What about his statement? Or what you took to be his statement?”

“He claimed he’s noticed Mac displaying symptoms of some kind of drug use, so he went to her quarters at a time he knew she wouldn’t be there to conduct a search.”

“What do you think of that explanation?”

“Frankly, I think it’s all in his imagination. She does—occasionally—misuse alcohol, but I could name a few crew members who aren’t as conscientious about having it out of her system before she reports to work. And that’s according to her medical records, such as just a couple days ago, when she went to have Dr Davis detox her. Furthermore, if he’d done the least bit of looking at her habits, he would have known that she sleeps during B shift, so she would have caught him in the middle of his ‘search’.”

“Did you find any drugs in her quarters when you searched it?”

“Just 2 1/2 bottles of whiskey.”

Jane opened her mouth to say something—after all, the girl had had to be detoxed just a couple days ago—but thought better of it. “Anything else?”

“I found 3 places in Mr Winthrop’s quarters that held a number of blue pills. They all seemed to be the same, but they don’t have any identifying marks on them. I confiscated all of them, placing them into evidence, and sent 1 pill from each location to sick bay to determine what they are.”

“I’ll be interested in finding that out myself.”

“I’ve got Oakhurst trying to pinpoint exactly where Mr Winthrop went inside Mac’s quarters during his search. I suppose it’s possible he found something and confiscated it, but we didn’t find anything on him.”

“I like your thoroughness,” Jane stated.

“And, I guess this is the end of my report; Bugalu has talked Mac into seeing Dr Fong, but she wants him to stay outside her cell. And she also wants Zhang to remain in the brig, so that means their conversation won’t have the usual doctor/patient kind of confidentiality. That worries me.”

“Yes, that would worry me, too.” Jane agreed.

“All things considered, captain, I’m inclined to release Mac. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that. But she doesn’t want to be released until morning! Temple says she’s too stiff to work, anyway.”

“Perhaps that’s the way to go, then,” Jane suggested. “Fabrication won’t be done fixing her quarters until at least halfway through A shift. Harris said she knew of a couch she could sleep on tonight, so she’s doing okay. Lt Postern says he delivered Mac’s new uniforms to her...”

“And she appreciated getting a D-class uniform, captain. I thought it might make her feel demoted, but the gold braid of her rank really stands out against the purple fabric. Although she’s otherwise not thrilled with the color; she told Bugs she likes a red uniform because it matches her hair.”

Jane chuckled. “She does have a different way of looking at things, doesn’t she?”

“I think part of it is her upbringing, and partly, she tries to be different. The thing is, captain, Dr Fong scheduled her first session for 2 AM. I’m not sure I can justify holding Zhang over just to be there for that.”

“You’ve been friendly with her. Does she jump up, ready to fight, if you walk into the brig?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t actually been in to see her. Everything I know about her day, I’ve gotten 2nd hand.”

“Are you planning to work your shift tonight?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then go down and see how she reacts to you. If she resists the urge to fight, explain to her that her conversation with Fong is supposed to be private, and it would not be ethical for one of your people to be there, especially since her conversation might be about an on-going investigation. Does she trust you?”

“Before this happened, I think so.”

“Ask if it would be acceptable if you stood guard outside the brig, not close enough to hear their conversation, but close enough if she yelled for help.”

He nodded, but asked, “And if not?”

He must be tired. I’ve pointed him at a path, and he still can’t see the logical end of it. “If she’s not agreeable to that, then call for a nurse. They are familiar with a patient’s privacy.”

He nodded again, his eyes slightly more focused. “Thank you, captain. A nurse would be a good compromise. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

“Because you’re tired,” she told him. “You’ve been up, what, about 24 hours?”

“More like 32.”

“And another busy day tomorrow, most likely. I appreciate your dedication, to report for duty as usual tonight. But given the circumstances, I think I can look the other way if you take a cat nap or two tonight.”

“Thank you, captain. I’ll keep that in mind.” He stood up.

She also stood. “After all, we aren’t currently in an emergency, but who knows what tomorrow might bring?”

“There is that,” he agreed, and headed for the door. “Good night, captain.”