Alex was just shutting down a phone conversation when we got home. “That was one of Womack’s colleagues,” he said. “It sounds as if his cousin had the facts straight. His students loved him. And so did most of the people he worked with. But not everybody.”
Gabe’s brows lowered. “You implying that someone wanted to kill Womack?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. But Womack was apparently a stand-up guy. He said what he thought, and he wasn’t inclined to cave to authority.”
“So he couldn’t have avoided making enemies.”
“That’s correct.”
“Was one of the enemies connected with Octavia?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Then what has that to do with anything?”
“Nothing directly. But he, Womack, apparently did not think much of Housman.”
“Why not?”
“The word is that Housman took care of himself first. And that he felt himself to be in competition with Womack. Assemble a list of the five top physicists of the last thirty years, and most people would put both their names on it.”
“So we’re back to thinking that one of the people at the station might have done it?”
“Other than the aliens, I’m not sure what other possibilities there are.”
I’d read background on all four members of the Octavia team. It was hard to imagine any of them as a murderer or as suicidal. They all appeared to be basically decent people. They might have had a few defects, but who doesn’t? “Womack seems unlikely,” I said.
“What did they have to say?” said Gabe. “His colleagues?”
Alex shook his head. “They said he was very good in the classroom. There was a woman, a language professor at Brinkton College, that he dated for two years. Apparently he led her to believe he was in love with her. But when the Octavia assignment came along he just disappeared out of her life. Never even told her he was leaving.”
“I don’t guess she took that very well.”
“She learned what had happened a few weeks after he left. She never heard from him again. And she told me she didn’t give a damn when the station disappeared. But she filled up while she was talking.”
I stared at the ceiling. “Well, she certainly had a motive.”
“She also had a boyfriend with a pilot’s license. But she was doing daily classes when Octavia disappeared.”
“And the boyfriend?”
“His was one of the other ships that were operating when it happened. But he was approaching Earth at the time, and they had him logged in at Galileo.”
Alex and I were in my office with the HV tuned to the Action Channel when Gabe showed up as the guest on . Hiroka had been around a long time, and her capability as a smooth, well-organized host was front and center. She welcomed him into the studio, showed him a chair, and sat down next to him. she said. Capella
Hiroka smiled.
Capella
Capella
Capella Octavia
I watched as the conversation lurched into the various Octavia theories. Whenever Gabe tried to change the direction, to move it toward the projects he’d begun working on, Hiroka found a way to take it back to Octavia. They touched on the possibilities of an alien intervention or of a mechanical breakdown that took the station out of orbit and sent it spiraling into the black hole or of a deranged Charlotte Hill suitor arriving unexpectedly with a blaster.
“I think,” said Alex, “she’s decided her audience loves black holes.” After twenty minutes, Hiroka thanked Gabe for coming in and broke for commercial.
The next guest was Samuel Pondergast, a physicist who specialized in black holes. she asked after she’d introduced him,
said Pondergast.
I was alone in my office when Gabe got home. He wasn’t happy. “I got ambushed,” he said.
“You’ve been on her show before, Gabe. She didn’t really surprise you, did she?”
“Actually, she did.”
“But she’s always operated that way. She’s good at controlling the conversation.”
“I can tell you she’s a lot better than she used to be.”
“I haven’t really seen much of a change.”
“You’ve been watching her for a decade. The change would have been gradual.” He started toward the back of the house, but stopped. “Did Alex see it?”
“Yes. He thought you did fine.”