Part 12 (1/2)

”And as good as Corran was, you think that his making an identification without seeing the individual's face leaves room for him to be mistaken?”

”Yes.”

The Twi'lek nodded. ”Thank you for your candor. Nothing further.”

Ackbar looked at the prosecutor. ”Redirect?”

”No, Admiral.”

The Mon Calamari nodded down at Iella. ”You are ex-cused, Agent Wessiri.

I am going to recess the court at this time. The Provisional Council is meeting to discuss a number of problems and I must be there. I may, in fact, recess the trial for a week. I a.s.sume, from the question you asked ear-lier, Counselor Ven, you would not mind having the extra time for investigation of the case?”

Iella, returning to her place at the prosecution bench, watched Nawara's grey profile as he nodded. ”l welcome the time to continue to prepare my defense.”

”Commander Ettyk, you have no objections to a delay?”

”No, sir.”

”Very good, court stands adjourned for one week.”

Ieila entered Halla Ettyk's office. ”Diric's in the outer office, lying down. I hope you don't mind. The crush of people leaving the court was a bit much, but the bailiffs didn't seem to want to let him catch his breath. In fact, they weren't too interested in letting me bring him along with me here to the office.”

The black-haired prosecutor shook her head. ”Not a problem, but get him a special visitor's identification badge.”

Iella frowned as she slipped into a nerfhide chair in front of Halla's transparisteel desk. ”What's going on?”

Halla set a comlink down on her desk. ”I just heard from Admiral Ackbar's aide, Commander Sirlul. The reason for the abrupt adjournment was more than a routine meeting of the Provisional Council. It appears, in the wake of the PCF a.s.sault on that bacta storage site, we've had a bomb threat here. They aren't sure who made the threat or how real it is, but they want a week to reinforce the courthouse complex.”

”I see.”

Halla nodded solemnly. ”Just as well--it gives me a week to sh.o.r.e up my case.”

Iella winced. ”I'm sorry for what I said in there. I don't want to have Corran's killer get off, but--”

”Not your fault. Admiral Ackbar was right--I asked one more question than I should have. I tried to make sure there was no question that Corran had been right, and I was too smart for my own good.” She shrugged. ”At least nothing got said about the Duros that Captain Celchu says he was meeting with that night. Right now the Tribunal just knows that Corran might have been mistaken about his identifica-tion. If the Duros is brought in, they'll be free to wonder how much Kirtan Loor in a cloak looks like a Duros in a cloak.”

Iella's eyes narrowed. ”We all knew Celchu claimed he met a Duros that night.”

”So it seems, but all those stories get traced back to Celchu himself, so anyone else bringing it up gets it stricken because of the hearsay rule.

The only way that comes in is if Tycho takes the stand.”

”What if the Duros testifies?”

”What's the likelihood of that happening? There's no evidence Lai Nootka ever was on Coruscant, as nearly as we can tell. Moreover, there was some history between Corran and Nootka--Corran got him out of an Imperial prison on Garqi, wherever that is. Why would Nootka run from the man who saved his life?”

Iella opened her hands. ”Maybe he was just following Tycho.”

”Fine. Let's a.s.sume that meeting was as innocent as Tycho has tried to make it out to be. It doesn't make the least little bit of difference.

The bribe data alone is enough to show he was working for the Empire.

Corran believed Tycho had met with Kirtan Loor; his threat to dig into Tycho's background because of that belief is our motive for the mur-der.”

”But why kill Corran when you can show he's wrong about the meeting just by producing Lai Nootka?” leila frowned. ”Tycho always seemed confident of his innocence, which meant he either had Nootka where he could deliver him, blowing apart the foundation of Corran's threatened investigation, or---”

”Or he could be innocent?” Halla shook her head. ”Don't plot a course into that black hole.”

”But that black hole might be the truth.”

”Sure, but we're not the triers of fact in this case, the Tribunal members are. We just have to present to them the best case we can muster, and the defense has to knock it apart.” Halla's brown eyes narrowed.

”You're not going to start in on me about wanting to make sure your partner's killer really is caught, because HI tell you we've got him beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Iella shrugged. ”And if I don't want to be reasonable?”

Halla winced, then sat back in her white high-backed chair. ”Idealists should not be in this business, you know.”

”And your point is?”

”The Duros thing has bothered me, too. I can grant that Tycho might have pulled that name from Corran's file just to annoy him, but that would be very risky for him to do. The trail Tycho has left has shown him to be very careful, so I don't see him throwing out that sort of taunt.

Therefore I can imagine that he really did meet with Lai Nootka. And if that's true, I have to wonder about our inability to find Nootka or any record of his presence here on Coruscant.”

”So even though you believe Tycho was working for the Empire, you think Nootka's disappearance may be evidence of someone making sure Tycho's perfidy is obvious?” Iella frowned. ”Who? Why?”

”Good, obstruction-of-justice questions to answer.” Halla sighed. ”You want to find Nootka, right?”

”If you don't mind.”

Halla sat forward and fingered a small black wafer of silicon. ”Do it.

And take this--it's a code chip that will let you bring your airspeeder into the upper-level security ga-rage. You can take the turbolift down to the court from there. It'll save Diric from having to go in and out with the courtroom crowds from now on.”

Iella accepted it from her and smiled. ”Things are just going to continue getting crazier, aren't they?”

”I'm afraid so.” Halla visibly s.h.i.+vered. ”I'm very much afraid so.”

17.

Aided by the Trandoshan's healthy shove, Corran flew through the darkened doorway. Unable to see anything, he curled himself into a ball and hoped he didn't land on his head. He smashed his s.h.i.+ns into something hard, then bounced down onto his right shoulder before continuing his roll. He hit more things, most of which cried out, and all of which gave way, then came to an abrupt stop against some-thing very solid.

Corran opened his eyes and in the dim light made out the smiling, bearded face of a positively huge man. He'd come to rest against the man's s.h.i.+n and thigh--clearly the man had dropped to one knee to stop Corran's tumble through the room. Back along his flight path Corran heard the muttered curses of people he'd knocked down.

The bearded man stood and dragged Corran to his feet. ”Quite the entrance.”