13 POSSIBLE SUSPECTS

13 POSSIBLE SUSPECTS Lunar day 189 Much later in the morning than expected "Wake up, sleepyhead." The words were soft and gentle in my ear. I groggily pried my eyes open and found Zan Perfonic peering into my sleep pod. "What time is it?" I groaned. "Nearly lunchtime." "What?" I sat up, cracking my head on the low ceiling. "Darn it! I overslept!" "It's all right," Zan said soothingly. "School's been

canceled again today. You're not missing anything." I lay back down, rubbing my head. "I couldn't fall asleep," I explained. "I was up until five in the morning." "Well, you had an emotionally exhausting day yesterday. And a stressful night in the gym as well." I groaned again. "You know about that?" "Everyone knows about it. It's all anyone is talking about. Lars Sjoberg is threatening to sue NASA, Chang, and anyone else he can think of. Meanwhile Chang is saying it was self-defense—and that you can back him up. Although Nina has already viewed the security footage from the gym and she says the evidence looks like it's in Chang's favor." I was starting to feel a little weird, having this conversation while I was still in bed. Under the sheets I was only wearing my boxers. "Do you mind closing your eyes while I get some clothes on?" I asked. "Oh, of course." Zan ducked away from the entrance to my sleep pod. "Sorry. I didn't want to barge in on you like this, but I really need to see what you've found." "It's okay. I've wanted to talk to you since yesterday." I peered out of my sleep pod and saw

Zan standing at the far end of the room, her back to me. She was watching the big SlimScreen, which was displaying a fictitious landscape full of rainbows and unicorns instead of Hapuna Beach. Violet must have reprogrammed it. I leaped to the floor and scurried over to the bureau. "I even came looking for you—" "Dash! I told you not to do that! No one can know we're working together." "I was careful. I didn't tell anyone I was looking for you. I just looked." "You haven't told anyone about me? Or what we're doing?" "No. I swear. Where were you last night?" "In the temp quarters. I'm sorry. I was wiped out from the trip here." I yanked on a T-shirt and shorts. "Okay. I'm dressed." Zan swung back to face me. "Did you get the footage of the air lock?" "Yes." Zan's face lit up in excitement. Her eyes were almost the exact same color as those of the unicorns on the SlimScreen behind her. "Well...?" "Dr. Holtz might have been forced to go out the

air lock against his will." The news upset Zan—and yet she seemed excited by it too. I could understand why. I'd felt the same way: It proved we were both right about the death being suspicious. "How do you know?" "It's better if I show it to you." I'd slept with my watch on to protect it. I touched it to our tabletop SlimScreen, transferring the security footage Kira had found, then played it for Zan. "It doesn't look like anyone's forcing him to do anything," Zan said. "Just wait." I fast-forwarded to the point where Dr. Holtz started signing with his hands. "What's he doing?" Zan asked. "It's sign language," I told her. "The way deaf people used to communicate." "Oh. Right. Do you speak it?" "No. I had to have the computer translate it. Dr. Holtz said, "This is a murder. Earth killed me. Find my phone. Tell my family I love them.'" Zan took in a sharp breath and turned away. It looked like she was trying not to cry. She bowed her head and rubbed her temples, like she was trying to process everything. I froze the footage on the image of Dr. Holtz on

the moon, staring up at earth. "Do you want to watch it again?" Zan shook her head. "No. Once was enough. To know that another person was behind this is so... so upsetting." "Well," I said cautiously, "Dr. Holtz doesn't actually say that another person is behind this. He says the earth made him do it." "Yes, that is odd. But I suspect it's some sort of code for the name of whoever forced him onto the moon." "Isn't the sign language already code enough?" "Maybe not," Zan replied sadly. "Maybe he was afraid the killer would watch the footage and erase it if they recognized their name. Which would mean the killer would have access to the security system..." "Nina," I said. "She's the only one with that kind of access here," Zan agreed. "And she's been trying to block any investigation since the beginning." "But why would she want Dr. Holtz dead?" I asked. "And how did she force him to go out the air lock?" "I don't know," Zan admitted sadly. "Maybe

there's another camera angle that shows her. You might have to grab all the footage from around the staging area that night." I started to say, "We did," but caught myself at the last second, not wanting to mention Kira. "I did. There's no one else visible in any shot except Dr. Holtz." Zan sighed. "Then she must have gotten to him earlier somehow. Sometime between his conversation in the bathroom and the time he went out the air lock. Something important transpired in those two and a half hours. Dr. Holtz says, "Find my phone." He must have recorded something on it. Do you have any idea where it might be?" I sat on an InflatiCube, daunted. "No. I tried his room last night, but it was locked." Zan shook her head and started pacing. "I doubt he would have hidden it there anyway. That's far too obvious. I guarantee you, Nina—or someone else— has already scoured his quarters. And he wouldn't have kept the evidence on him, either, knowing they'd search his body." "The science pod, then? He had a station there." "He shared that station with Dr. Janke. And it seems too obvious as well."