She sat on the side of the circular marble bath and dropped her head in her hands, staring glumly at the swan mosaic on the wall opposite. There were just so many issues clamouring insistently for her attention right now; the petty, the important, and the personal. She made an effort to blank them out, as if her whole mind was one giant processor node she could shut down when she wanted. It didn’t work; Patrick was easy to ignore, a feat which raised its own slightly disquieting question, but she found herself returning to yesterday’s strange conversation with Karl Hildebrandt. Greg was always telling her to trust her native instinct; it’s a variant on precognition, he explained, not quite rational, but ninety per cent reliable. And right now her instincts said that conversation was desperately wrong. The bad PR she had been picking up from leftish organiz A QUANTUM MURDER 191 ations and pressure groups had been more or less constant for two years, ever since the giga-conductor was announced to the public. In that context Greg and the Kitchener case was just one more incident. Nothing special. The way she was siting factories in marginal constituencies was far more blatant, provocative. The PR angle was a blind, then, it had to be. Karl had wanted Greg off the case, plain and simple. From what she had heard about the strange circumstances out at the Abbey, Oakham’s CII) would be very unlikely to find the murderer without Greg and Event Horizon’s resources behind them. How would Karl benefit from that? Wrong tack, she realized; Karl was the bank’s mouthpiece, the perfect corporate cyborg. How would Diessenburg Mercantile benefit from allowing Kitchener’s murderer to go free? Open Channel To NN Core. Morning, Juliet. A wan smile crept on to her face. Good old Grandpa, he was so indefatigable. Morning, Grandpa. Anything important happen last night? Someone tried to break in to our Leicester music deck factory warehouse; it was a local gang, they’d even brought a lorry with them to cart away their loot. Security suspects someone on the inside was feeding them information on the shipments. There was an attempt to snatch data out of the genetics research dMsion memory core, we think they were after the land-coral splices. The guardian programs prevented any data loss, and security are working with English Telecom to see if they can backtrack the hackers. Hopeless, of course. The pound closed three cents up on the dollar, and the FTcasf index was up eight points. Market confidence is high after the spaceplane roll out. There was a lot of data traffic between our backing consortium partners right into the wee small hours. Got ’em on the run, we have, Juliet. Did you break any of their squirts? No, they’re using a high-order encryption code. It could 192 PETER F. HAMILTON be done, but ft would tie up a lot of processing capacity. Not cost-effective. They’ll agree to Prior’s Fen. Hope so. Everything all right, Juliet? Yes. No. Executive material if ever I saw ft. So bloody decisive you are, my girl. What do you think of Patrick, Grandpa? Handsome, rich, cultured, quite clever, well mannered. Picked yourself a good one again, Juliet. There was a shade too much emphasis on again for her mind. She glanced up at the mirror above the basin. And boy oh boy did she look melancholy. Her hair was a complete mess as well. Patrick did so enjoy seeing it tossed about. His husky voice in the dark, encouraging her, whispering how wild she was. It never seemed to matter in bed, excitement overriding everything. Yah, she replied. So how come they never last? I said good, I never said flawless. Do you think he’s going to start asking me for shipping contracts? No. Even if his family shipping line needed ’em, he wouldn’t ask. And they don’t need ’em, I’ve had our commercial intelligence division keeping an eye open. My very own guardian angel. You’re wonderful, Grandpa. You’ll find him one day, Juliet. I’ll be a great-grandfather
Don’t hold your breath, not the way I’m going. I watched that Coleman woman this morning. 1 don’t want to talk about it! She reached for a comb and began to pull it through the knots. The face in the mirror was scowling petulantly. I don’t like you being ridiculed like that, Juliet. Let me tell you, my girl, it would never have happened in my day. People should have more bloody respect. You ought to blacklist that channel, no adverts, and pass the word round everyone Event Horizon does business with. That frigid Coleman cow would soon get the message. A QUANTUM MURDER It was the second time temptation had been put in front of her that morning. She considered it, something like envy colouring every thought. No, Grandpa. If I started using my power like that, where would it end? Use it or lose i1 girl. I’ve told you before. That is misuse, as you well know. Iget into enough trouble using it where it’s beneficial. Ah, Juliet, a little bit of self-indulgence occasionally never hurt Don’t you worry about me, Grandpa. I’ll get that Jakki Coleman, youW see. My girl. She put the comb down, the worst of the knots out. It would be safe to ask her maid Adelia to wash and set it now. Adelia always got mighty prickly if she was faced with a big untangling job every morning. I’ve been thinking about Karl Hlldebrandt, she said. Oh, yeah? 1 don’t think he’d be a suitable replacement for Patrick. Behave! I meant his wanting me to take Greg off the Kitchener case. There’s something very funny about that Well… it was a very high-profile appointment, Juliet. Bloody marvellous it is, girl, the first time in four years the company hasn’t had an ulterior motive in twisting Marchant’s arm, and everyone starts banging on about undue influence. We just can’t win. Karl is a front for Diessenburg Mercantile, Grandpa, first, last, and always, even in these circumstances. He was too quick off the mark, and too insistent asking to see me just to be offering sociable advice. He was ordered to do ft. Conceded, it is a bit odd. Do you think it’s important? Yes. Why would Diessenburg Mercantile have any interest in a ghoulish murder in the middle of the English countryside? Beats me, girl. Well, find out Oh, yes, bloody abracadabra. Here you are. 194 PETER F. HAMILTON Don’t get stroppy, Grandpa. It’s simple. Run down a list of Diessenburg Mercantile’s other investments for me, and see if any of them comes into conflict with the work Kitchener was doing. What, a stardrive!? She went to the basin, and ran the cold tap, splashing some of the water on her face. It did sound pretty unlikely now she had spelt it out. Yes, I know it sounds totally wonky, Grandpa. But there has to be a reason. I suppose so, girl. You’ve got to remember all this nonsense about actually building flying saucers sounds pretty bloody impossible to a relic like me. Listen, when I was a lad the Daleks were the wildest piece of imagination ever to hit England. I was terrified of them. One time when the Doctor was caught in some caves by… Yah. If you could get that data correlated in time for the conference this afternoon I’d be gratefuL Bloody hell, Juliet, you’ve got a heart of Ice. Black ice. I wonder who I inherited that from? All right, I’ll get on to it. Thanks, Grandpa. I really am jolly busy this morning. I’ve got a video bite opportunity with the national swimming squad; then there’s the Nottingham councillors’ delegation, and the meeting for the Home Counties region managerial report You should complain to the union steward, they’re working you too hard. If! ever get the chance, I’ll tell him. Cancel Channel To NN Core. She called Adelia on the housephone and asked her to be ready in half an hour. There was just time for a quick bath, wash off last night’s tussle. Hot water gushed out of the wide tap nozzle, kicking up clouds of steam. She stood in the middle of the bath as it twisted round her, reviewing what clothes to wear for meeting the swimming team. Event Horizon sponsored the England squad, so it was mainly a PR event, but she took a genuine interest in the team’s performance. Swimming had been her sport at school. A QUANTUM MURDER