Identity Theft and other stories (collection)

“Of course,” I said. “Are you still named in her will?”

Jersey’s old, rheumy eyes regarded me. “Suspicious, too, aren’t you?”

“That’s what they pay me the medium-sized bucks for.”

He had a small mouth, surrounded by wrinkles; it did the best it could to work up a smile. “The answer is no, I’m not in her will. She left everything to our son Ralph. Not that there was much left over after she spent the money to upload, but whatever there was, he got—or will get, once her will is probated.”

“And how old is Ralph?”

“Thirty-four.” Age was always expressed in Earth years.

“So he was born after you came to Mars? Does he still live here?”

“Yes. Always has.”

“Is he a prospector, too?”

“No. He’s an engineer. Works for the water-recycling authority.”

I nodded. Not rich, then. “And Megan’s money is still there, in her bank account?”

“So says the lawyer, yes.”

“If all the money is going to Ralph, what’s your interest in the matter?”

“My interest, Mr. Lomax, is that I once loved this woman very much. I left Earth to come here to Mars because it’s what she wanted to do. We lived together for ten mears, had children together, and—”

“Children,” I repeated. “But you said all the money was left to your child, singular, this Ralph.”

“My daughter is dead,” Jersey said, his voice soft.

It was hard to sound contrite in my current posture—I was still leaning back with feet up on the desk. But I tried. “Oh. Um. I’m … ah …”

“You’re sorry, Mr. Lomax. Everybody is. I’ve heard it a million times. But it wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, although …”

“Yes?”

“Although Megan blamed herself, of course. What mother wouldn’t?”

“I’m not following.”

“Our daughter JoBeth died thirty years ago, when she was two months old.” Jersey was staring out my office’s single window, at one of the arches supporting the habitat dome. “She smothered in her sleep.” He turned to look at me, and his eyes were red as Martian sand. “The doctor said that sort of thing happens sometimes—not often, but from time to time.” His face was almost unbearably sad. “Right up till the end, Megan would cry whenever she thought of JoBeth. It was heartbreaking. She couldn’t get over it.”

I nodded, because that was all I could think of to do. Jersey didn’t seem inclined to say anything else, so, after a moment, I went on. “Surely the police have investigated your ex-wife’s death.”

“Yes, of course,” Jersey replied. “But I’m not satisfied that they tried hard enough.”

This was a story I’d heard often. I nodded again, and he continued to speak: “I mean, the detective I talked to said the killer was probably off-planet now, headed to Earth.”

“That is possible, you know,” I replied. “Well, at least it is if a ship has left here in the interim.”

“Two have,” said Jersey, “or so the detective told me.”

“Including the one whose firing engine, ah, did the deed?”

“No, that one’s still there. Lennick’s Folly, it’s called. It was supposed to head back to Earth, but it’s been impounded.”

“Because of Megan’s death?”

“No. Something to do with unpaid taxes.”

I nodded. With NewYou’s consciousness-uploading technology, not even death was certain anymore—but taxes were. “Which detective were you dealing with?”

“Some Scottish guy.”

“Dougal McCrae,” I said. Mac wasn’t the laziest man I’d ever met— and he’d saved my life recently when another case had gone bad, so I tried not to think uncharitable thoughts about him. But if there was a poster boy for complacent policing, well, Mac wouldn’t be it; he wouldn’t bother to get out from behind his desk to show up for the photo shoot. “All right,” I said. “I’ll take the case.”

“Thank you,” said Jersey. “I brought along Megan’s datapad; the police gave it back to me after copying its contents.” He handed me the little tablet. “It’s got her appointment schedule and her address book. I thought maybe it would help you find the killer.”

I motioned for him to put the device on my desk. “It probably will, at that. Now, about my fee …”

* * *

Since Mars no longer had seas, it was all one landmass: you could literally walk anywhere on the planet. Still, on this whole rotten globe, there was only one settlement—our domed city of New Klondike, three kilometers in diameter. The city had a circular layout: nine concentric rings of buildings, cut into blocks by twelve radial roadways. The NewYou franchise—the only place you could go for uploading on Mars—was just off Third Avenue in the Fifth Ring. According to her datapad, Megan Delahunt’s last appointment at NewYou had been three days ago, when her transfer had actually been done. I headed there after leaving Ye Olde Fossil Shoppe.

The NewYou franchise was under new management since the last time I’d visited. The rather tacky showroom was at ground level; the brain-scanning equipment was on the second floor. The basement—quite rare on Mars, since the permafrost was so hard to dig through—was mostly used for storage.