“Ma’am, you’ll need to put your seat belt on.” The flight attendant touched Laura gently on the shoulder. To avoid looking odd as she concentrated on the data she hadprocessed, Laura had put the headphones on but left them turned off. Laura opened her eyes, looked at the flight attendant, and gave her a polite smile. She put the headphones away and fastened her seat belt.
Laura had finished receiving all the data midway through the flight. She had processed it and was now taking the extra step of closely analyzing it. The Limestone police had forwarded the forensic report to the Memorite Society, including diagrams. Those had been almost immediately transmitted to Laura. As part of the data, Laura had also received Engstrom’s daily reports to the Memorite Society. Conspicuously absent were Walser’s daily reports. In Engstrom’s reports, Laura found a concise but detailed account of the difficulty he and Walser had encountered shortly after Walser was assigned there.
The plane tilted in its descent and Laura could see the ground rise beneath them.
Todd Engstrom was well-liked, and either the faculty and students perceived Chris Walser as a potential replacement, or Chris’s distant and abrupt personality had rubbed them the wrong way. Either way, Chris had found himself the target of intense scorn. For their assignment at the college, Todd was Chris’s superior, despite their positions within the Memorite Society. In truth, Chris was far above Todd in the internal ranking of the Memorite Society. Such a matter was inconsequential to a Memorite, and roles were adopted as needed.
The wheels of the plane touched the ground in a muffled squeal. Laura could feel the vibrations through her seat.
Somehow, Chris’s actual ranking had been leaked. This, in itself was a mystery, unless it had emerged from the deluge of hateful rumors spawned by the dislike of the new Memorite. Quite a few imagined offenses were brought to Todd’s attention, and more than once he and Chris went through the charade of a ‘reprimand’ in an attempt to pacify the faculty.
The deceleration pulled Laura forward gently in her seat. She watched as trees and buildings raced past the window.
All of this left the appearance of petty motives for Chris to have killed Todd. But they were appearances only. Besides the absurd idea of a Memorite committing murder, the pettiness was so far beneath a Memorite that it seemed a cruel joke.
The deceleration diminished and Laura relaxed in her seat. The plane turned and maneuvered toward the terminals.
Laura had been informed of Chris’s arrest and had guessed that parts of the investigator’s conclusion came from questioning him. The idea of murder by a Memorite being an impossibility would not be solid evidence for the police, but as far as Laura was concerned, it presented a definite ‘locked room’ mystery.
The plane crept toward the terminal as in the distance workmen waited to send the movable walkway out to the plane.
One factor played in Chris’s interest. The police didn’t feel pressure from the Memorite Society to get an immediate conviction. Therefore, rather than finding evidence that would prove an assumption, they would hopefully look for evidence to suggest an answer. Part of Laura’s assignment was to ensure that outcome.
Laura’s next step was to list possible ways the mutually exclusive elements of this mystery could be made to work.
As she looked out the window, the plane came to a stop near the terminal. Around her, the other passengers were flipping open their seatbelts, and some were stretching and yawning. As the flight attendant made her final announcement, people stood and began to retrieve the luggage and bags that they’d brought with them. Laura, not wanting to fight the crowd, waited.