Page 19 of Tail Me No Lies
Nox trackedGeral through his daily routine, quickly establishing that the male had well-worn patterns with little deviation. His days were spent at his place of business and his evenings in the tavern, spinning rumors and complaining about how the world was against him. It was tedious, waiting and watching, but he needed to know how Ruth’s nemesis operated.
Honestly, it was amazing the male accomplished even the lowest levels of villainy. He seemed remarkably lazy. Was he the one to vandalize Ruth’s house, or did he hire help? Nox wouldn’t have been surprised.
The town itself was disturbingly small. And shabby. Organized in a neat grid around a central square with a pavilion, the buildings were low against the never-ending sky, like they were hiding in shame. The buildings seemed to be more rust than paint.
Nox had lived on massive, sprawling stations and small stations, huge ships and tiny ships in the deep reaches of space where comm links failed, but never had he felt more isolated than in this prairie town. The sky seemed too large, like it would swallow the town and its inhabitants whole.
What did surprise him, however, was despite the isolation, it proved difficult to go unobserved in the small community. In his experience, a third-rate station used primarily for refueling and restocking supplies, no one noticed. There were the travelers who filled tanks, spent their credits on nearly indigestible food, and drank swill before passing through, and the long-term residents. One group did not concern themselves with the other.
Here, though, the long-term residents were very interested in this new traveler. He found he drew attention to himself just by occupying space. To disguise himself, he took to conducting his surveillance from Ruth’s vehicle. The rusted machine went unnoticed.
He felt no guilt about borrowing the vehicle without permission. Ruth wanted him to keep Geral off her back, to use the human phrase. Surveillance was part of his general job description. Unclear if Ruth would approve of his activities, he kept the details of his stalking to himself. As Ruth spent her time in her workshop, keeping contact between them to a minimum, he assumed she was a hands-off type of boss.
He’d like her to be hands-on, though. He’d have to do something about Ruth avoiding him soon, but not today.
Today, he was on a reconnaissance mission.
After several days of pointlessly watching Geral travel the short distance from his home to his place of work, Nox was getting nowhere. How could a male this dull be a menace to Ruth? Nox did not doubt Ruth about the danger this Geral posed, but that danger was not obvious. The male presented a law-abiding facade to the outside. It was a convincing mask. Nox almost believed it, but he knew it was only a mask. After all, he had witnessed it slip once before.
Nox needed to get inside Geral’s house, if only to plant a hidden transmitter. The male’s neighbors were, unfortunately, good neighbors and kept a watch on the comings and goings on the street. The closest neighbor seldom left. Nox studied their schedule, seizing his opportunity on a rainy day.
The rain provided cover as he approached the house from the back. Wearing an oil-treated wrap over his head like a shawl, he walked with his head down to keep the rain out of his face. Despite carefully arranging the wrap around himself, the rain managed to find its way in. He tossed a bag of tools over a fence before following. By the time he reached Geral’s abode, Nox was soaked and in a foul mood.
Nox examined the security system. He had not had the opportunity to study it thus far and brought tools based on observation and the most common systems.
His assumptions were incorrect.
The security system was a joke. No cameras. Minimal sensors. Only the doors were alarmed. A discreet black box sat above the door and would trigger the alarm when opened. Primitive but effective. The other entry points had been ignored, like windows. It was an insult. What thief would spend valuable time disabling an alarm system when smashing a window would work? Well, Nox was never one to take the easy way. He had the time to disable the device. Geral would never know his home had been breached.
Lights turned on at the house next door. The neighbor returned early.
Correction, Nox did not have the time.
Well, Nox had no intention of being caught in a simple break-in.
Twisting the end of the wrap around his fist, he broke a window. Rain covered the sound of shattered glass. With a sweep motion, he cleared away glass shards from the window and reached in to unlock it, slid it open, and climbed through. The entire process took less than a minute.
Rain puddled on the floor, but Nox was unconcerned. He had work to accomplish and a short amount of time.
He planted the transmitters and had a poke around, just in case Geral had a convenient file labeled “Dastardly Plans.” Nox rummaged through a desk, finding documents written in Corravian. Nox picked the most important-looking ones and scanned them with the reader function on his wrist comm to translate.
Frustratingly, there was little to discover. There were appraisals of properties for sale, a printout of recent deaths in the province, and court notices for bankruptcies. It seemed Geral made his money from the misfortune of others, buying up property from the bereaved and the broke. No blackmail letters. No threats from creditors. No unpaid bills. Not even a traffic citation.
How dull.
At the bottom of the stack, he found a letter from the professor accompanied by a letter from a lawyer. Apparently, the documents had been delivered after the professor’s death.
“Legacy has been on my mind of late. I know you will question my decision which is why I kept this from you…”Nox flipped through the family drama. Ah. There.“Dr. Washington will see my work finished. She will ensure that my legacy continues. You will have to put aside your petty grievances and respect my decision.”
Nox wanted to scroll up and reread, sensing that he should not have skipped the drama, but he had already wasted too much time. This posthumous letter from the professor explained Geral’s grudge.
Satisfied that he had learned all there was, he planted the transmitters. The feed would be continuous audio and a still image once every three minutes. Perhaps luck would strike and Geral would speak his plans out loud. The entire operation took less than six minutes. He was getting rusty.
Nox turned his attention to removing the evidence of his entry. Since there was no way to conceal the break-in so Nox would give Geral what he expected from a break-in.
Petty vandalism to repay petty vandalism.
It gave Nox great satisfaction to overturn furniture and rip fabric like he searched for something hidden. Drawer contents were dumped onto the floor. Electronics smashed. Geral had a display case of colorful spun glass. On the floor. Perhaps some pieces survived. Nox hoped they were expensive.
