Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Suspects

Daniel broke the silence. "Mrs. Dahlman, could you please polarize the windows in our line of sight, or draw the curtains? Daylight can be a nuisance to my partner, as you may have heard, on Earth—" "Oh, my God! Yes, I understand," said the young woman (Bailey guessed she was about twenty-five years old. However, he also thought that people in the outside world might look very different from their actual age) and said, rubbing her face, " I'm just as stupid as I can be, excuse me. Just get it right in a second, and I'll call the robot right away—" She walked out of the drying room, reached for the touch button, and said, "I've been thinking that there should be more touch buttons in this room. If you can't reach out and touch the touch buttons in the house, then this The house isn't good enough at all - it can't be more than two meters away from where you are. It's just - hey, what's wrong with you?"

She looked at Bale in astonishment.He jumped up blushing, knocked over the chair, and turned around hastily. Daniel said calmly, "Mrs. Dahlman, before you call the robot, you'd better go back to the shower, or put some clothes on yourself." Gnadia looked down at her naked body in surprise. "Uh, all right!" she said. "You know, it's just an image," Gnadia said apologetically.Now, she was covered with something, only her shoulders and arms were exposed, but her thighs were uncovered. Bailey, who felt that he had lost his composure, had returned to normal. He tried his best to endure, pretending to see nothing. "I was just too surprised, Mrs. Dahlman—"

"Oh, it's okay. You can call me Gnadia, if it doesn't violate your customs" "Then I'll call you Gnadia, it's nothing. You know, I definitely don't mean to repel or disgust, I'm just too surprised." Bailey said.He thought, it's all right for him to behave like a fool, and he must not let this poor girl think that he hates her again.In fact, he was very... very...he didn't know what to say, except that he couldn't bring it up to Jessie. "I know I offended you," said Gnadia, "but I didn't mean to, I just didn't think of it. Of course, I understand that we have to pay attention to the customs of other planets, but some of them are just too weird— Oh no," she explained hastily, "I don't mean weird, you know, I mean weird and forgettable, like I forgot to cover the windows."

"It's okay," Bailey murmured.Gnadia was now in another room, and all the windows were drawn.The indoor light source is artificial light, which is different from natural daylight, but it makes people feel more comfortable. "And that thing," Gnadia said hastily, "you know, it's just an image. Besides, I was in the drying room wearing nothing at all, and you didn't mind talking to me. " "Well," Bailey wished she would stop bringing it up, "it's one thing to hear your voice, quite another to see you." "But that's the truth, you didn't really see me." Gnadia blushed a little, her eyes drooping, "I hope you don't think I've ever been like this, I mean, I won't be here when someone sees me If you just walk out of the drying room like this, it’s just an image.”

"Does it make a difference?" Bailey said. "It's totally different. Right now, you're just looking at me, you can't touch me, you can't smell me. But if you see me, you can do both. Now we're at least three hundred km, how could this be the same?" Bailey became interested: "But my eyes are on you." "Yes, but you didn't see me, what you saw was my image, you were just watching me." "So it's different?" "totally different." "I understand." Bailey understood a little bit, although he couldn't tell clearly for a while, but it made sense logically.

Gnadia tilted her head slightly: "Do you really understand?" "yes." "So, you don't mind if I take the towel off me?" she said with a smile. Bailey thought: She's teasing me, well, who's afraid of whom? But he said loudly, "No, you're distracting me from work. We'll talk about that later." "Then, do you mind if I'm just wrapped in a towel instead of more formal clothes?" "do not mind." "Can I just call you by your first name?" "if you are willing to." "What's your name?"

"Elia Belle." "Hmm." She squeezed into a hard-looking chair that seemed to be made of ceramic.But when she sat down, the chair slowly sank, gently wrapping her up. "Let's get down to business now," Bailey said. "Okay, down to business," she said. Belle found it difficult to question Gnadia, he didn't even know where to start.If it is on the earth, he will ask the other party's name, rank, which city and area they live in, and so on.He'll ask a million pretty mundane questions, many of which he knows the answer to without even asking, but it's a way to slowly get into serious investigation.By doing so, he allows the people under investigation to know him, and he can use it to decide what strategy to use to track down the truth, not just guesswork.

But right now, he couldn't be sure of anything.Just the word "watch" has a different meaning to him than it does to this woman.So, how many other words have different meanings?How many words could be misunderstood without his knowledge? "Gnadia, how long have you been married?" he asked her. "Ten years, Ilya." "How old are you?" he continued. "Thirty-three," she replied. Fortunately, she is not one hundred and thirty-three years old, Bai Lai secretly happy: "Is your marriage happy?" Gnadia was a little uncomfortable: "What are you referring to?"

"Uh—" Bailey didn't know what to say for a while.How to define happiness in marriage?In the Solari world, what is a happy marriage? "Well, do you see each other often?" he asked in another way. "What? Of course we don't see each other often. We're not animals, you know." Bailey was a little stunned: "But, you live in the same house, I thought—" "Of course we live in the same house, we're husband and wife, but we each have our own living quarters. His career is important and takes up a lot of his time, and I have mine. If necessary, We will meet by video."

"Has he always seen you?" "People don't talk about this kind of thing, but he did meet me." "Do you have children?" Gnadia suddenly jumped up and said excitedly: "This is too much, too outrageous——" "Hey, calm down! Can you calm down!" Bailey thumped the armrest of the chair with his fist, "Don't do this! I'm investigating a murder, do you understand? Murder! And the victim is your husband! You Don't you want to find the murderer and bring him to justice?" "Then you ask about the murder, not about—"

"I ask about everything, for instance, and I want to know if you're sorry about your husband's death at all," said Baley, deliberately cruel. "You don't seem too upset." Gnadia looked at him arrogantly: "I am very sad no matter who dies, let alone a young and promising person." "But he's also your husband, so you're not just sorry, are you?" "He was assigned to me. We meet each time according to the appointed time. If you must know, let me tell you—we don't have children." When she said the word "children", she hurriedly said , "Because we haven't got a quota yet. I really don't know what that has to do with me not feeling sorry for the dead." Maybe it really didn't matter, Bailey thought, it depended on the social behavior of Solari's world, and he didn't know much about life there. Bailey changed the subject: "I was told you were well aware of the circumstances at the time of the crime." She seemed to be getting nervous: "I—— found the body, should I say that?" "You didn't witness the murder happen?" "Uh, no." Her voice dropped. "Well, then please tell me about the situation at that time, slowly, and in your own words." Bailey leaned back in the chair and listened intently. Gnadia said: "That's five-two-three..." "What time is it in Galactic Standard Time?" Baley demanded. "I'm not sure, I really don't know. I thought you could look it up." Her eyes widened and her voice seemed to tremble.Bailey noticed that her eyes were gray-blue. She continued: "He came to my living quarters. It was the appointed day for us to meet and I knew he would come." "He visits you every time on the appointed day?" "Yes. He's a very conscientious man, a good Solari. He never forgets the appointed day and always comes at the same time. Of course he won't stay long, we haven't been assigned yet child--" She couldn't go on, and Bailey nodded. "Anyway," she said, "he always comes at the same time, you know, so it's all very comfortable, and we talk for a few minutes. It's a painful ordeal, but this time he's talking to me face to face. Still pretty normal, that's who he is. We're done talking, and he's off to work on some work-related projects. I don't know what that is. He has a special lab in my living quarters, and on the days we meet , he can go to this laboratory. Of course, the laboratory in his living area is much larger than mine.” Bailey wondered what he was doing in the laboratory, perhaps doing so-called embryology research. "Is there anything unnatural about him? Is there something on his mind?" he continued. "No, no, he has never been on his mind." Gnadia looked like she was about to laugh, but she held back in time, "He is the kind of person who can control himself very much, just like your friend." She pointed at Daniel with her little finger.Daniel didn't respond. "I know, please continue." Gnadia didn't go on."May I have a drink?" she said softly. "Please." Gnadia touched the arm of the chair, and within a minute, a robot walked in and handed her a cup of hot drink (Bailey saw steaming from the rim).She took a few sips slowly, then put down the glass. "It feels better this way. Can I ask you a personal question?" she said. "Just ask." "Well, I've always been very interested in the earth, and I've read a lot of books about the earth. You know, it's a very weird world." She exclaimed and made a conscious slip of the tongue, and quickly said, "That's not what I meant." Bailey frowned. "Every planet is weird to people on other planets." "I mean it's different. Anyway, I'd like to ask a rather offensive question, which I hope isn't offensive to Earthlings. I wouldn't ask a Solari that question, though. Never ask." "What do you want to ask, Gnadia?" "Ask about you and your friend. Is he Mr. Oliva?" "right." "Aren't you watching the video of each other?" "what?" "I mean, did you really meet? You two together?" "That's right, we're in this together," Bailey said. "You can touch him?" "yes." Gnadia rolled her eyes around them and said "oh". This "oh" can mean many things, from disgust to just a momentary emotional reaction. Bailey wanted to get up and walk over to Daniel, putting his hand on Daniel's face.Gnadia's reaction might be interesting. "You just said that your husband came to see you that day." Bailey returned to the topic. He was sure that no matter how interested Gnadia was in the question just now, basically, her motive for changing the topic was to avoid the topic . She picked up the glass and took a few more sips before saying: "Actually, there is nothing to say. I can see that he has something to do. Anyway, I just know that he has to work, because he is always busy with something useful, so we Just went about my business. Then, about fifteen minutes later, I heard a yell." She paused, and Bailey urged her on: "What kind of shout?" "Rika--my husband's cry, it was a cry anyway, and nothing else was said. It was a cry of fear--no, shock, or something like that. I'd never heard him cry like that before Pass." Gnadia covered her ears, as if trying to shut this memory out, not noticing that the towel wrapped around her body had slipped down to her waist.Bailey lowered his head, his eyes fixed on the notebook. "What was your reaction then?" he asked. "I keep running, keep running. I don't know where he is—" "Didn't you say that he went to the laboratory in your living area?" "He went there, I... Ilya, but I don't know where the lab is, I haven't been there, I'm really not sure where it is. It's his lab, I just know it's somewhere west But I was so panicked that I forgot to call the robots. Any robot knows the way, but I didn't call them, so none of the robots came. When I finally found the laboratory by all means—— He is dead." She stopped abruptly, bowed her head and began to cry, much to Bailey's embarrassment.She didn't cover her face, she just closed her eyes and let the tears roll down her cheeks.She couldn't help crying, her shoulders trembled slightly. Then she opened her eyes, looked at Bailey with tears in her eyes, and said, "I've never seen a dead man. He's covered in blood, his head - just - I - finally called a robot, and he took the other The robots were called, and I guess they were the ones who dealt with me and Rikai. I don't remember, I don't." Bailey asked, "What do you think they meant by dealing with Rekai?" "They carried him away and cleaned up the place." Her voice was slightly unhappy, and the hostess was obviously concerned about the situation in the house. "Everything has been messed up." "Where's the body?" "I don't know." She shook her head. "I think it was cremated like the other corpses." "You didn't call the police?" She looked at him blankly.Bailey thought: No, there are no police here! He changed the question: "Have you told others about this? Has the news spread? Otherwise, no one will find out." "The robot sent a doctor," Gnadia said, "and I also had to inform the robot at Rikai's workplace that he wasn't going back." "I think the doctor is here to see you." She nodded, only to realize that the towel wrapped around her body had slipped to her buttocks.Pulling it up and wrapping herself up again, she whispered pitifully, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Her face contorted in the horror that came with the memory.Bailey couldn't bear to see her sitting there alone and helpless. She had never seen a corpse, never seen blood dripping, or a broken head.Although the relationship between husband and wife in Solari's world is very weak, this is the corpse of someone she has seen with her own eyes. Bailey didn't know what to say or do next.He wanted to apologize to her, but as a policeman, he was only performing a mission.However, there are no police on this planet, does she understand that this is his job? He said as slowly as he could, in as gentle a voice as possible: "Gnadia, did you hear anything? Did you hear anything other than your husband's cry?" She lifted her head, and even though her face was sad, she was still very beautiful-maybe this expression made her look beautiful. "I didn't hear anything," she said. "Did you hear running footsteps? No other sound?" She shook her head: "I didn't hear anything." "When you found the laboratory, you only saw your husband? Are you and him alone?" "yes." "No sign that anyone else was there?" "I don't see it, and besides, how could anyone else be there?" "How is it impossible?" She seemed taken aback, and after a while she said despondently, "I keep forgetting that you're from Earth. I mean there can't be anyone else there. My husband has only seen me since he was a child." Hasn't met anyone else, and he's not the type to meet people. Rachael is very disciplined, very much abiding by the customs of the Solari world." "Maybe he can't choose to see people or not. What if an unexpected visitor came to see him on his own, and your husband didn't know it beforehand? No matter how much he obeyed the customs, he still had to see this person." Gnadia said: "Perhaps. But he would have ordered the robot to take the intruder away immediately, and no one would come uninvited. I can't imagine such a thing. Besides, Raika would never Let someone else come to see him. It's a ridiculous idea of ​​yours." Bailey said softly: "Your husband died from a severe head injury, didn't he? You don't deny that, do you?" "I think so. His whole—" "I'm not asking you these details now. What I'm asking you is, is there any mechanical device in his laboratory that allows someone to remotely smash his head?" "Of course not. At least, I haven't seen such a device." "Well, if there was such a thing in there, I think you would have seen it. So, someone must have hit your husband's head with something that would blow your brains out, and the person It has to be within a meter of your husband. So, this person has indeed seen him." "No! No one will see Rikai!" Gnadia said anxiously, "People in our Solari world don't see anyone at all." "But a Solari who wants to kill people shouldn't care about seeing people, right?" In fact, Bailey himself felt that this statement was quite questionable. Gnadia shook her head: "You don't understand what it means to meet people. People on Earth can meet whoever they want, so you don't understand..." She seemed to be struggling with her own curiosity, and then her eyes lit up: "Seeing people seems to be a very common thing for you, doesn't it?" "I've always taken it for granted," Bailey said. "Won't it bother you?" "Why does it bother me?" "It's not in the film books I've seen. I've been wondering—may I ask you a question?" "Excuse me." Bailey remained calm. "Have you been assigned a wife?" "I'm married. I don't know what an assigned wife is." "If you want to see your wife, you can see her whenever you want, and so does she. You both take it for granted?" Bailey nodded. "Well, when you see her, let's say you want to talk to her—" She raised her hand, resting on her chest, as if trying to find the right word.She tried, "You can—anytime..." She couldn't go on. Bailey didn't want to help her. She said, "Forget it, I don't know why I bother you with such things. Have you finished asking?" She looked like she was about to cry again. Bailey still persevered: "Try to think about it again, Gnadia. Don't worry about whether someone saw your husband. If someone did see him, who would it be?" "It's useless to think about it. It's impossible for anyone." "There must be someone. Agent Grue said he had reason to suspect someone as a suspect, so there must be someone." The girl sneered: "I know who he thinks did it." "Okay, who is it?" She put her hand on her chest: "Me."