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.No doubt they d take steps to deal with any culprits too.Toreth closed his eyes briefly, opening them again before the vision of aspiralling corporate vendetta in the middle of his investigation became toodisturbingly clear. Para-investigator, Marc said. If I may ask something? Of course. Do you have any evidence that this& Marc glanced at his sister. Kelly Jarvis, Caprice supplied. Yes, of course.Do you have any evidence for a link between her death andJon s? We re investigating a number of possibilities. He clearly took that as a negative. But is there any reason to suspect her deathwas caused by the sim? The interest in Kelly was hardly surprising.The only real question was whetherthe Tefferas were more concerned about their brother s death, or the health oftheir investment in the sim.Caprice was watching him intently, waiting for his answer.He decided to try adirect approach. Why do you want to know? Another whispered exchange, then Caprice said, Internal securityarrangements. Of course he d missed the third possibility. If any sabotage is aimed atSimTech rather than LiveCorp, you ll both be sleeping better than you have forthe last few weeks? She inclined her head.A likely enough reason. There s no reason at all to blame the sim, as yet, Toreth said. Beyond her body being discovered in the couch, with no othereasily attributable cause of death. And do you expect to find anything more definitive? Marc asked.Let me check my crystal fucking ball. I really couldn t say. Caprice nodded, her expression closing again obviously exactly the answershe d expected, if maybe not what she d hoped for. If anything is resolved inthat respect, we d like to know at the earliest opportunity. Toreth had an urge to ask why the hell she thought he ought to go out of hisway to help them, when they were doing their damndest to shut him out. I llkeep you informed, of course.As far as is legal and proper. That drew a sharp glance from Caprice, and Toreth mentally put even moneyon getting a memo later from Tillotson about upsetting corporates.Fuck him. Do you think that your brother s death was caused by the sim? he asked. I m a lawyer, not a doctor, she snapped.Then, as Marc Teffera shifted in hisseat, her face softened very slightly. I wouldn t blame the sim without somebetter evidence.We ve known for years that there would be a limit on Jon stime with us.As I m sure you read, he decided against further treatment, which was& perhaps not what the rest of the family wanted.But there was never anyarguing with Jon when he made up his mind. He wanted quality, not quantity, Marc added. In life and He tapped hisfingers on the table. In life and the corporation.And He stopped, his voice hoarse, and Caprice reached over and laid her hand onhis arm, squeezing gently.Unostentatious and, as far as Toreth s could tell,perfectly sincere grief and sympathy.However, when she turned back to him, her expression was unreadable and hervoice cool again. Do you have any more questions, Para-investigator? Dismissed from the audience. I d like to speak to some of the LiveCorp staff,especially at P-Leisure, Toreth said. Primarily the people who handled thecontract with SimTech. Of course, Caprice said. We ll help in any way we can. The woman could give lessons in polite insincerity.He was wasting his timehere, time he could have spent doing something more useful.Perhaps if he dbeen here two weeks ago he might ve been able to pull something out, butthey d had too long to pick their positions and dig in to defend.To get anythingnow, he d need the kind of damage waiver not normally available for peoplelike the Tefferas.Trying to hide his irritation, Toreth went through the ritual of goodbyes andempty promises to call him if anything occurred, and went back to I&I.Maybe things would look brighter after the weekend. CHAPTER TWELVEToreth lay in absolute darkness.In fact, lay wasn t the right word he simplyexisted.He could feel nothing, not even an awareness of being inside his body
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