The White Twi'lek/Chapter 5

Jali let the speeder drop him off back at Eastport while Xhen went on home; it hadn’t been a bad day’s work and Jali wanted to make some enquiries on his own. He got out his comlink and entered a code, one of the several that Elya Vertey had provided them with that morning. Soon enough there was an answer.

“Kremoine here.”

“Is this Daur Kremoine?” Jali asked.

Kremoine sounded suspicious. “Yeah, what’s this all about?”

“I’m investigating Lucen Vertey,” Jali told him, “I was wondering if I could have a talk to you.”

“Look,” Kremoine said angrily, “I’ve told you Security Force people all that I know, now why don’t you—”

“I'm not with the Security Force,” Jali interrupted, “Vertey’s wife asked me to look into this privately.”

Kremoine was silent for a moment. “Did Elya give you my comm code?” he asked finally.

“Yes, I saw her this morning,” Jali explained patiently. “Is it fine with you if we have a chat? She gave me your address as well.”

Kremoine considered this. “How about we meet at the Idobal in half an hour,” he suggested. “Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, I do,” Jali replied. “I’ll be there in half an hour.”

He put his comlink back in his pocket and went down the street, down several blocks and across the Bridge of Unity before he found the Idobal, a rather flashy tapcaf with a large globe that resembled an eyeball revolving on repulsorlifts next to the door.

It was dark inside; the only light came from the ultraviolet lamps on the tables. The Idobal was close enough to the Docking Facility to attract the workers from there as well as a mixed crowd. He checked his chrono; Kremoine should be by in a few minutes.

Jali sat at the bar and ordered a drink; it wasn't long before a rather tall man wearing a much-patched jacket cautiously approached the bar. He was broadly built with wide shoulders that seemed to want to escape from the seams of his clothing; his hair was closely shaved to his head and his steely blue eyes were peering out from under a heavy brow.

All in all, Jali decided as he lit up a cigarette, he looks like your average thug.

Drink in hand, he surveyed the bar. “Jali Dawler?”

Jali nodded, putting down the cigarette and offering his hand.

They shook, Kremoine looked cautiously around the room. “Do you mind if we go somewhere more private?” he asked. “I have the feeling that what you’re going to ask and what I’m going to answer is something that neither of us want overheard.”

“Fine with me,” Jali agreed, picking up his cigarette and drink and following Kremoine to a booth at the back of the bar. “I guess you don’t subscribe to the theory that Vertey was in some place he shouldn’t have and then met someone who didn’t like the look of him,” he began, inhaling from the cigarette. “Am I right?”

Kremoine nodded, taking a deep draught of his drink and replacing it on the table. “There’s something more to it, if you take my meaning.”

Jali decided to play dumb for the moment. “Actually, I don’t,” he said. “I was only brought on to this case as of this morning, and I found Vertey’s body less than two hours later. You’ll have to connect all the navpoints for me.”

“Okay.” Kremoine took another swill of his drink and started talking. “Lucen had the idea that certain cargo shipments were leaving Eastport without being checked and that Fenn was somehow in on it.”

“Where did he get that idea?” Jali asked.

“Fenn got really farkled about a week ago when Lucen had checked this ship’s cargo that Fenn had slapped an exception order on it,” Kremoine explained. “Lucen looked into it and thought there must be some mistake as there was no reason for the exception, he checked the cargo and as I said Fenn was really kriffed when he found out. He threatened to take official action for insubordination if it happened again.” He took another drink. “So, Lucen mentioned it to me and I suggested there might be something in it, particularly after Fenn practically moved the upper and lower stratosphere to meet this Twi’lek woman. He wasn't particularly happy to see her, either.”

Jali gave a wry smile. “You’d think he would be,” he said.

Kremoine laughed. “I would’ve! Lucen heard from Fenn’s secretary, he was shouting at her and told her never to show up at his office again.”

Jali looked at him curiously. “How do you know all this? Did he share everything with you?”

Kremoine held up his hands in defence. “Hey, hey, I’m just trying to work out what happened to my pal, here.”

Jali took a final draw of the cigarette and stubbed it out. “I’m just trying to work out why Vertey ended up killed, knowing all this, and you’re still here.”

“What?” Kremoine stared at him. “You think I killed him?”

Jali didn’t answer.

Kremoine glared at him. “You do, don’t you? I really oughta…”

He started to stand up, but Jali was on his feet quickly. “No, no, of course I don’t,” Jali said in a rush. “I just wanted to check how you would react, that’s all.”

With a strange glance at Jali, Kremoine sat down again.

“So answer my question,” Jali continued, sitting down and lighting another cigarette. “Why do you think Vertey was killed?”

Kremoine shrugged. “I guess he found out too much than what was good for him, but he never let me know what it was.”

“You were with him that last night, weren’t you?” Jali asked.

“Yeah, I was but not all the time,” Kremoine said. “He left here about seventeen ten, and told me not to come with him.”

“Did he talk about where he was going?”

“No,” Kremoine replied. “But he had a napkin in his hands with something written on it.” Jali stared at him. “Did you see what was written on it?”

Kremoine shook his head. “Nope, he just waved it around and I couldn’t catch what it said.”

Finally, Jali broached the question he had been meaning to ask all evening. “And what about the Bith and the Twi’lek woman you had a bit of a scrap with? Have they got anything to do with it?”

Kremoine raised his eyebrows. “How did you now about them?”

Jali waved his hand dismissively. “Doesn’t matter, what was the story with them?”

“I’m not really sure,” Kremoine said, shaking his head. “The Bith seemed to know Lucen, or know his name anyway. I think…” He stopped for a moment, his brow wrinkling in thought. “I think he was giving Lucen some sort of warning, but when I asked Lucen about it he didn’t answer.”

“And the woman?” Jali asked. “What did she do?”

“She was trying to get the Bith out of there,” Kremoine answered, “for some reason, she didn’t like him talking to Lucen, but they were only there for a few minutes, left not long after Lucen.”

For some reason, those words gave Jali a very bad feeling. He remembered the Bith talking to Xhen last night, and the one he had briefly glimpsed with the crate on the hoversled. Could the Bith have killed Lucen Vertey, carted his body to Eastport and then left it there? Could these two be the same person? No, that was too much of a coincidence.

But there was also the Twi’lek, could this be the same as the one that had so agitated W’kar Fenn by showing up at his office. It was a possibility, but not one that Jali was ready to take seriously yet.

“There's one more thing I’d like to know,” Jali said, “it’s about those orders you had to search all the cargo, I have the feeling that you don’t get ‘em everyday.”

Kremoine sighed. “I don’t know where they came from,” he said impatiently, “but it made our day, sure did. It definitely wasn’t, Fenn’s idea,” he added. “He was about as crinked off as the rest of us.”

Could they have come from that Judicial Laras? Jali wondered, he knew from his own experiences Judicials could make orders like that. it meant that she was already a step ahead of him, several if you counted the name she had randomly thrown at him.

Kremoine finished his drink. “Anything else you want to know?”

Jali shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, “thanks for your help.”

“You think you know who did this?” Kremoine asked.

“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Jali told him

Kremoine left, but Jali stayed at the table deep in thought. It was all starting to look very interesting, as Kremoine had said, there was a lot more to the case than at first glance.

Jali stood up and headed towards the bar, he knew what he had to do next, but there was something he needed to check first. At the bar, he signalled one of the attendants.

“Do you remember a few nights ago when a Bith was having blows with two humans?” Jali asked her. “There was a white Twi’lek woman there as well.”

She considered this. “Yeah, I reckon,” she said rather impatiently. “They knocked over one of the waitresses and I had to remix a drink for her.”

“Did you get any names?” he pressed. “It’s important, but it’s not the humans I’m interested in.”

“I dunno about the Bith’s name,” she told him after a moment’s thought. “But I think he called the Twi’lek woman Trevali.”