Free Demon's Revenge (High Demon Series #5) by Connie Suttle

Firm. The story didn't deviate much—Maris Krastel didn't have a grudge against anyone—at least to her coworkers' knowledge, and she and her sister had teased one another earlier in the day, laughing over some silly thing. After lunch, Maris had gone crazy, shooting her sister and five others with an unregistered weapon before taking her own life.
    "Did they pick up Maris' comp-vid when the investigation was done?" Ry asked as we listened to one of Maris' coworkers say that Lethia, Maris' sister, had talked constantly about a vacation to Stellar Winds. In business for fifteen years, Stellar Winds was a social planetoid where singles could meet other singles and young couples could go to party. Mostly that's what it was—one continuous party.
    The planetoid held one large city, with every business constantly serving drinks. Nothing ever closed, there, and if you weren't drinking, you could lounge around a pool at your hotel, get massages, book a mate-finding class, sign up to meet others with mutual interests or play any number of popular games, physical or mental. Everybody knew, though, that Stellar Winds was the place to go if you were looking for sex.
    Brothels aboppsBrothelunded across Stellar Winds, catering to any whim. Elegant dining was also offered there and many of the best master cooks now worked for restaurants on Stellar Winds. They were paid outrageous amounts for their work, too. Fes had lost two assistants and Radolf one that way.
    "Wonder why her sister didn't go to Stellar Winds with her," Ry muttered as we listened to the secretary prattle on about Maris and Lethia.
    "Maris' records say that she had a lover," I offered, still listening to the interview. "He was interviewed, too, and he said that he couldn't believe that Maris would do anything like this. He said that Lethia was Maris' best friend and confidant, besides being her sister."
    "So, nothing in the records about the laser pistol used?"
    "Not much. No identifying numbers or anything. It looked to be contraband from the old Campiaan Alliance." That's how everybody referred to it, now. There was the Campiaan Alliance, the one Teeg formed twenty-five years earlier, and the old Campiaan Alliance, referring to the scattering of nearly lawless worlds where strength and power ruled by force.
    Plenty of older weapons found their way into both the Campiaan and Reth Alliances from many of those worlds. The ASD and CSD both worked toward eliminating them, but there was still plenty to be had if you had the right connections and the proper amount of non-identifying credits. The trouble was, Maris had neither of those things. Not that anyone knew of, anyway.
    "And Maris' lover worked for?" Ry was prompting me.
    "He's in lower-level management at one of Schuul Enterprises' many small electronics plants. I think they make sensors for home security alarms. He's so clean he squeaks when he walks, Mr. Faldin Bierla is."
    The truth was, nearly half of Quezlos' population worked for some subsidiary of Schuul Enterprises or other. Quezlos, as the capital city of Surnath, boasted a teeming population of fifteen million. High rises rose far into the sky, filled with living quarters or multitudes of businesses. The largest and tallest, of course, belonged exclusively to Schuul Enterprises and all their business operations were located there.
    On the recorded vid, Bel's questioning was thorough, and he didn't look much different from the last time I'd seen him. Mandil's population lived around two hundred twenty years, but their wizards lived around five times that long. Something about the power they held did that for them. Bel, according to the records, was barely three hundred. He had many turns left, if he still lived. I found myself sighing and worrying for my old friend again as I watched him on the vid.
    I rushed to brush my teeth before we went out the door to visit Pripps Electronics. Nirif greeted us, and this time it was my turn to exude charm as much as I