“Hi, Patti,” he answered, recognizing the voice. “That was quick. Don’t tell me you’ve got something already?”
“I was right here, so I figured maybe there was something in the bar tabs. And there was.”
“You’ll make a professional for sure. And?”
“There was nothing on the guy. But I got two for the woman’s name that you gave me. The card details were all I could get from here. I copied them into my phone. Can I download them?”
“Sure.” Kieran keyed in the code to accept a transfer, and moments later the display confirmed its completion.
“Will you need more from the registration records, like you said?” Patti asked. “That might be a bit more difficult.”
“Let’s see where we get with this first,” Kieran said. “But either way, I think you’ve earned a bonus. We’ll give it to you when you pick up Guinness. What do you want to do, collect him here sometime? You said you know this area.”
“Okay . . . but I’m not sure when. It would depend on my next time off. And when Grace can get out too.”
“Anytime. I’ll wait until I hear from you then.”
“Well, I’m still working right now, so got to go. I’ll let you know.” Patti hung up.
Kieran turned back toward June, who had been following, and announced, “Nothing on Sarda. But two Elaines settled bar bills during the week that Trevany said. I’ve got the card details in here.” He waved the phone. “Can you do your stuff on it?” Researching hard-to-find information was part of June’s business. She had her own ways of tracking people down.
“Let me see.” June got up, took the phone from him, and carried it over to the office corner of the living area. She sat down at the com system, activated a screen, copied in the details from Kieran’s phone, and quickly became absorbed in taking things from there. Kieran stretched out on the couch again and dove into the Kodiak Owner’s Manual.
After ten minutes or so, he looked up and stared across at June’s back as inspiration struck.
“Gold and silver,
Presents wilvir-,
Ginity tend to,
Put an end to.”
He waited. June ignored him. Wasted talent, he told himself, and returned to his book.
“Aha!” June announced thirty minutes or so later.
“Are we in business?”
“Listen to this.” June half-turned her head, reading from the screen. “The first is an Elaine Dorcavitz. I’ve got a log of other payments showing she was just here on a short visit, passing through. She’s from a remote habitat out in the Belt, already left Mars.”
“Scratch one Elaine,” Kieran pronounced. “But my psychic radar detects emanations of excitement concerning the other.”
“Elaine Corley,” June supplied. “Address: 14B Watergardens, Embarcadero! I’ve got a picture.”
Kieran got up and went to look over June’s shoulder, stroking the side of her neck absently. Embarcadero was the wider, southwest-turning canyon arm of Lowell, formed by the merging of Gorky and Nineveh beyond the Trapezium. It consisted of a professional business park and expensive residences and boulevards built around a network of waterways.
The woman looking out from the screen had black hair, short and curly. Her face was pale, high-boned, with a tapering chin and thin around the lips—not unattractive for those who liked their women intense and serious. She looked about right. But there was only one way to be surer.
“Let’s see if Walter can verify it,” Kieran said. “Can you open me another channel?” June gave him a line on another screen and copied through the image. While Kieran called Trevany’s number, June carried on delving further into the records she could access on Elaine Corley.
Trevany’s face appeared on the screen that Kieran was using. “Hello? Oh, it’s you again, Dr. Thane.” June turned her head at the mention of the title, rolled her eyes upward briefly, and went back to what she was doing.
“Yes,” Kieran said. “I hope it isn’t late for you.”
“No way. We’re going to be up all night on this. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve got a picture here of who I think is the Elaine you saw with Sarda at the Oasis. I’d like you to have a look at it.”