The Opera's the Thing/Chapter 5

I got up early the next morning and went about my routine. I pocketed the flimsies I took from Bjorn’s office and my airspeeder and called an air taxi. Arriving at the opera house a little early, I tipped my driver and made my way to the comlink. I dialed the non-emergency police frequency.

“Hello, police? This is Kontad Berlissi at the Coruscant Opera House. I have proof that someone here has plans to kill one of the actresses.”

Sensing that somebody was watching me, I glanced up. Bjorn was standing about ten feet away, his jaw set and teeth clenched. He was staring hard at me and slowly shaking his head. I looked behind me and saw Korlit and his goons closing in on me.

“Um… I have to go. Send someone down here as soon as you can”, I said, hanging up. There was no way that they would try something in the lobby, with workers, performers, and patrons around.

“Mr. Kontad, we need to have a little chat in my office. Korlit, will you come with me so that we can make sure Mr. Kontad doesn’t pull another one of his disappearing acts?”

The one time he gets my name right, it's practically a threat.

Seeing no other option, I allowed myself to be led to Bjorn’s office. Korlit shoved me harshly into a chair while Bjorn took up his throne-like office chair on the other side of the desk. I found myself staring at the pictures of Bjorn and his girlfriend. I know I’ve seen her somewhere before.

“Mr. Kontad, you’ve taken something from my office, haven’t you? What was it?”

“It was very interesting. It was a life insurance policy, covering accidental death for Dimi Loyanko. It named you as the sole beneficiary of one million credits.”

“Ah, yes. The life insurance policy. But there is one small problem with that. If you had bothered to read it, you would see that, without Dimi’s signature, it’s completely void. There is no signature on this.”

''Signature. Great.'' I thought, still staring at the holos. ''Wait, signature? That’s where I’ve seen her face before!''

"Not yet, but your girlfriend, what’s her name? Or rather, what alias is she using nowadays? I saw on the holonet that one Dala Jitelle, alias Mene Uphar, alias Jette Menta, was charged and convicted with signature fraud. She was released last month. I thought those pictures looked awfully familiar. No wonder you two made such an odd couple; you aren’t dating, you’re in cahoots with each other!”

“A pretty story, Kontad, but can you prove it?”

I deflated. There was no way I could prove it. Even if she was who I thought she was, and I was pretty sure she was, Bjorn could always claim he didn’t know who she was.

“Well, it makes no difference. We can’t have any loose ends lying around. I may as well tell you the truth, Kontad. The accidents weren’t accidents at all. I hired the technician to slice through that rope. And I also had him cut the hinges for the trap doors. Unfortunately, somebody had left the foam pits uncovered. Apparently, an amateur troop had been practicing The Phantom Opera House, and needed the foam under the trap doors. There was going to be one final mistake. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut; nobody will ever find him. Nor will they find you. We were going to be rehearsing the final scene today. The knife that Korlit was to be using wasn’t a prop. Rather, it was the real thing. This very blade, in fact.” As he spoke, he reached into his desk and revealed a cruel, curved dagger. He stood up. “After we killed Dimi, Dala would forge her signature. That was our deal; no forging until the actual signature holder couldn’t find it and disprove it. You know, it really is a shame that Dimi couldn’t be the first victim of this knife. Korlit, hold him steady.” He raised the knife.

A sudden smashing sound interrupted him as the door flew open. “Hold it right there!” Gando was aiming a holdout blaster at Bjorn. “Drop the knife, Bjorn. It’s over.”

Uniformed police officers lead Korlit and his goons away in binders. Gando himself led Bjorn away. Handing him to a sergeant, he turned to me.

“I’m sorry about the deception. We had a tip about a week ago that this performance was sabotaged. I was sent under cover to keep an eye on things.”

“Hey, it’s all good, Gando. I mean, sure, it’s a bit of a shock to find out that the police knew about this all the time and didn’t storm the place sooner. I was getting worried.”

“Oh, yeah. We had to record the conversation for evidence. We couldn’t risk losing it. Bjorn’s real name is Nado Keps’elth. You may recognize the name; he’s done insurance fraud before, without a single conviction. This should put him away for a long, long time.”

A uniformed Quarren walked up to us. “Detective, we’re ready to take them downtown for questioning.”

“Right. Duty calls. We’ll get together some time and hang out when I’m off-duty, ok, Mr. Berlissi?”

“Right. See you later. Detective.”