Free Dangerously Placed by Nansi Kunze Page A

Grody’s body, I mean?’ My eyes felt like they were about to pop out of my head. ‘I know you’ve got them eating out of your hand here, but this is …’
    â€˜No, I didn’t see him. A work experience student at a homicide victim’s autopsy?’ Ki looked amused. ‘Even my influence has its limits, Alex. But they did allow me to tour the morgue, and to view a sample file that showed what kind of information is involved in an autopsy report. Fortunately for me, the young man they assigned to show me the report hadn’t seen me observing a thoracic incision without any sign of squeamishness earlier in the tour, so he was completely fooled by my simulation of sudden light-headedness at the sight of the photos in the report. And while he was out obtaining a glass of water for me, I was able to access Grody’s report and print it out.’
    â€˜ You pulled the fake fainting act? How gullible was this guy?’
    â€˜He was most chivalrous,’ said Ki, with a subtle smile that I took to mean she’d quite liked the poor stooge. ‘Now, don’t you want to know what the report says about Grody’s death?’
    â€˜If you can interpret all this, please do.’
    â€˜Essentially,’ Ki explained, ‘it says that Grody was strangled. It seems that the murderer attempted to choke him with one of the power cords attached to his own Virk Suit, but finished by strangling him with their bare hands, suggesting that Grody was able to free himself from the initial attack.’
    I shuddered.
    â€˜I guess the murderer must have been pretty strong if they were able to overpower him barehanded.’
    â€˜Not necessarily.’ Ki flicked to the back of the report. ‘There’s an evaluation by one of the senior criminal forensics experts at the end, and she points out that since Grody’s Virk Suit was still sealed when the body was found, he was in a compromised position in terms of defending himself. He would have been unable to see realspace and unable to move with complete freedom, making the murderer’s task that much easier. In fact, she postulates that the position of the bruising on the victim’s throat may actually suggest someone slightly shorter than Grody, with reasonably long, slender fingers.’
    A surge of hope flowed through me.
    â€˜But I’m much shorter than he was, and I don’t have long fingers! That would get me off the suspect list, wouldn’t it?’
    Ki’s face remained serious.
    â€˜I’m afraid that kind of thing is more an educated guess than hard evidence, Alex.’ She patted my shoulder consolingly. ‘However, it could help your investigation of the Simulcorp employees. Does that description match anyone you know?’
    I snorted.
    â€˜Only about half the people in the office! Isn’t there any other evidence, like hair or blood or something? If it’s just height and possible hand-size we’re goingon, it could be loads of people: Inge, Budi, Dale …’ I counted them on my fingers. ‘Viktor, Sohalia, Elena, Ricky, that guy from Data Analysis whose name I can’t remember …’
    â€˜I’m afraid the autopsy report doesn’t cover any evidence that isn’t on the body. There might have been DNA traces at the scene, but the Virk Suit covers the whole body so effectively, there was nothing to be found on Grody’s remains.’ Ki frowned. ‘However, while I agree that your list of matching people is rather long, we must remember that there’s one crucial factor that could cut it down dramatically. Could any of them have been physically close enough to get to Grody’s Virk Room yesterday afternoon?’
    I slumped into Evan’s chair.
    â€˜I didn’t really manage to find out. I heard that the records of who was logged in where had been disabled, which is making it harder for the police to check.’
    To my surprise,