April by Mackey Chandler

disgust. We were up all night, questioning people and everyone told us he was 'a-nice-young-man'," biting the words off. "The only clues we have are a few skin flakes and a couple hairs, enough to do a DNA match and some traces of propellant in the air of his room from outgassing. At least your conversation with him outside the radio shack, has sufficient fidelity to do a voice match on him."
    "You do audio recording in public spaces?" April asked, surprised. "I knew you have cameras in the corridors, but mics too?"
    "Well, just some key places I feel need protected, like the radio room. We really watch the business sections pretty closely, to keep the paying customers safe and happy."
    "Does that include the cafeterias, or public rest rooms?" she pressed.
     Jon balked, obviously not happy to have her asking questions of him.
    "Jon, I'll keep your secrets and help you, but I'm trusting you and expect you to trust me. Are we on the same side, or are we against each other?" she asked, but with no rancor at all. She could see her dad perk up at the tone their exchange had taken.
    "Peace, Sister," Jon said, holding his palms up to her. "I want you on my side when the lights go out and the air gets stale, no fooling, I do. I'd love to bug the cafeteria, but folks would crucify me if they found out. The restrooms down at the construction workers' cafeteria are bugged and no apology for that, because they sometimes do stuff in there, like sell dope, they can't do easily in an open barracks."
    "The restrooms in corporate row are bugged, so I can get someone in there quickly if there is trouble for our high rent customers. I don't allow an archive to be kept of anything from there, because you could get some insider stock tips and such from their indiscretions. You will keep this to yourself, won't you?" he asked, belatedly.
    "Yes, I promise," April agreed easily.
    Should  I tell her about the other agent? Jon thought. No, That danger is past and I can't even connect the two events at this point. There is no way she would have any information on it. Then Jon's face changed subtly and she could see him change modes to go back to questioning.
    "Could you explain how you knew this fellow was armed? You're right about tipping him off something was amiss. You should see your face on the camera, when he puts his pad back on his belt and stands up to leave. There is a definite flash of indignation on your face. He starts to walk away and then hesitates. I think he may have reconsidered your invitation, but there was no easy way to explain his change of heart. I bet right then is when he decided to leave early and blow his cover. I'm glad, because if he had needed more time he might have accepted the dinner invitation and with your dad not coming home to dinner last night, you might have died to buy this guy another day to do his work."
    April just shuddered, to picture how easily that could have happened.
    "Jon, when he opened his jacket to put the pad back in, he flapped it around, moving the air and I smelled the gun."
    He brought a pen up to his mouth and chewed on it absent-mindedly for a moment, before he made eye contact again. "April, I want to believe you. After all, we did the same thing in his room. The difference is, we have a crime scene chemical sensor, which cost the company about sixty thousand dollars. It has to be calibrated to each new compound and even when you have a good operator and our Margaret and Sandra are good, it will still get confused occasionally and tell you chocolate is antifreeze, or shoe polish is an explosive. Are we throwing our money away?"
    "Oh no, I won't claim my nose is that good, but I doubt if you have any idea how fine a sense of smell the kids on M3 have, compared to grounders. When I think about my friends, I don't just know their appearance and voice, I know how each one smells. If I found a cap in the cafeteria, I could sniff it and know if it belonged to a friend. We've never been exposed to