not his problem. He knew that Adoración and Jessika had been working with someone, probably Elías' group, and possibly with Ale, which led back to Arreola Biotics. He needed to find evidence, something concrete. He got a coffee and went to the airship's cockpit, he dropped to a seat, which gave him a view of the chasma.
Ferderand and Roelof had a good idea, to watch the work-site at night. Cecilia might even be in on it, but Gabriel still couldn't bring himself to accept that. He also couldn't accept that Elías could be the mastermind in any scheme, he just didn't seem smart enough. Ferderand had suggested that Ashok didn't always return to Rotterdam when he left their work-site. If not, where did he go? A place somewhere in the chasma? Or was he, injecting the plants with a masking agent himself?
Gabriel decided to return to the work-site, and Roelof waved him over as he approached.
"Ruan and Philibert say they didn't find much at the site they worked in that canyon to the southwest," Roelof reported. "Also, Ruan saw Cecilia Arreola down there."
"Cecilia? In the canyon?" Gabriel repeated. "What was she doing? Did Ruan talk to her?"
"No, she found a few more Arreola plants and was bringing them back when she saw her. She said she was deep down into the canyon, beyond where they were working."
"When?"
"Right after you kicked the shit out of Ashok. She's probably still down there because we heard a shot from down that way about an hour ago."
"A shot? Sonic?"
"Yeah," Roelof nodded. "Want me to ride down and have a look?"
"Yeah, I think I'll ride down there. You come along."
"Ferderand mentioned your confrontation with Elías, and then Ale. Figure they are in on whatever this is?"
"Could be," Gabriel shrugged. "Jessika and Adoración weren't working alone."
The ground was silty brown dust as they crossed the chasma floor, a seafloor that had been dry for half a billion years. The canyon was carved into the chasma's southern face. There was a lake near the mouth of the canyon where Philibert was still scanning plants.
"Did you see Cecilia here?" Gabriel demanded.
"No, Ruan said she saw her near the end of the canyon, but I didn't see her pass by here," Philibert answered. "I heard a shot from down the canyon about an hour ago, so she's probably still there."
"Take the plants you've collected back to the base-camp then come find us," Gabriel ordered.
Gabriel Esparza's brown eyes swept the canyon before them. It was over five kilometres deep, and they couldn't see the end, finding a single person wouldn't be easy. Nevertheless if Cecilia did come here, she had a reason.
The wind was picking up, gusts of dust were blowing through the canyon. Gabriel knew they were running out of time, at best they could spend another week in the Hebes Chasma. If the storm kept rising they'd have to leave sooner. They found the small lake Ruan had worked earlier, and headed farther back into the canyon, hugging the ground as there were no plants anywhere else.
"Wait a minute!" Gabriel lifted a hand. "There's something over here."
He flew his bike over to the black object laying on the ground. "It's a body."
He landed the Italika and dropped to the ground. He rolled the body over and looked down into the respirator-mask, and recognized Cecilia Arreola. Someone had burned two holes into her with a laser gun. Gabriel checked for signs of life but the body was already cooling. "Dead. That's unfortunate, she was one of the good ones."
"What this?" Roelof asked after joining Gabriel, there were several items laying around Cecilia's body. "A hand scanner, and a jet-injector. She was injecting a masking agent!"
Gabriel scowled. "There are no plants around here." He looked around but there was nothing in the area except a sonic blaster laying in the dirt, and Cecilia's footprints leading into a gorge. "Let's see where her footprints lead."
"You have to admit it looks suspicious," Roelof said. "Why is she out here with a jet-injector if she isn't masking the bio-markers?"
Gabriel looked around thoughtfully, "Whoever shot her could have left the injector here to incriminate her."
They followed the footprints for a few minutes up the gorge to where Cecilia's bike was parked. It was the end of the footprints, and there were still no plants. They walked back to the body. Gabriel examined the way the body had fallen. There were no other footprints, and Cecilia's footprints hadn't been disturbed, so whoever shot her had been a ways off. Her sonic blaster would have been useless. He looked around at the gorge walls, and could only spot one place that would be a good vantage point for a sniper.
"Roelof, take Cecilia's body back to the base-camp," he said, and started towards the potential sniper nest.
"You think this was murder?" Roeloff asked. "If it was, we'd better find out who did it. She had a lot of friends in Rotterdam."
Who had the opportunity? Philibert, of course. And Ruan too. Both of them had been working in the canyon. But it made no sense for either of them to kill Cecilia. Someone else must have been in the area, and somehow they had to be connected to Ale, Elías, Jessika, and Adoración.
Gabriel climbed his way up the canyon wall. He'd climbed rock walls before and this one wasn't particularly difficult. From the suspected sniper nest, he could see where Cecilia's body had been laying. He looked around, and behind the rocky ledge was larger sand covered ledge, with traces of footprints blown away by a bike taking off. There was nothing else, so he climbed back down.
Philibert met him on the way back to his bike. "Find anything interesting?"
"Tracks. Looks like someone sniped her. Did it from up high, but that doesn't tell us anything."
"It does tell you something," Philibert disagreed. "It tells you that whoever killed her was probably following her. Nobody comes out here by accident, and two people out here coincidentally, one with a reason to snipe the other? No way that's by chance."
"You're probably right," Gabriel agreed as they arrive back at the bikes. "The thing is, the sniper had a reason, and that's what we've got to figure out. The sniper must have seen Cecilia down here, shot her, and I guess dropped the jet-injector as he flew out."
"Well, the sniper wasn't up there poaching plants, there wouldn't be any up there," Philibert stated. "I'll never believe Cecilia was using a bio-masker, but it does look like she was, being found with the injector the way she was."
"It had to be something else. She was out here. Maybe she was auditing plants in the canyon, and then came up the gorge to see if there were any plants in it," Gabriel thought out-loud.
Philibert agreed dubiously. "Could be. But what was she looking for?"
Ferderand flew up as they stood at the bikes discussing the situation. "There's a crowd forming at the base-camp. The sheriff's there, too."
"The sheriff? Already?" Gabriel shrugged. "The law always gets there faster when you don't want it. Alright, I'll head back."
Gabriel rode back to the base-camp followed by Ferderand and Philibert. Ashok was at the base-camp when they got back, talking to Furaha Tib and the Rotterdam Sheriff Ria Van Amersvoort. Gabriel glanced quickly at Furaha, but she was looking a different direction and he couldn't get her attention. Others had also arrived at the base-camp including Elías, Chidimma, and Ale. Justine was nowhere to be seen. Most of the rangers were also back at the base-camp, performing general maintenance. Gabriel knew it was busy work, but he was glad to see them there given the presence of some of the others.
"Ola," Gabriel said walking up to Furaha and the sheriff. "What's the situation, Sheriff?"
"Well that depends on who killed Cecilia Arreola," Sheriff Van Amersvoort stated.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Gabriel answered. "We heard a shot, and when we found her she was dead. Two laser burns through the torso. Look like sniper shots from around 120 metres away."
Sheriff Van Amersvoort paused to consider then asked. "You had a very public disagreement with her in town."
"A disagreement yes, but that's all," Gabriel stated. "We'r
e old friends, and it was nothing serious. There is a discrepancy between the number of plants we bought and number we're finding in the chasma."
"Then what happened, between you and Cecilia?" Van Amersvoort eyed him cautiously.
Gabriel met her eyes and shrugged. "We discussed the audits for a couple hours, then went our separate ways. I didn't see Cecilia again until we found her dead."
"We also found a scanner and a jet-injector laying next to her," Roelof added.
Van Amersvoort glanced at Roeloff, then back at Gabriel. "The murderer could have planted the jet-injector, or you could have."
"I could have, but I didn't," Gabriel stated. "I never knew Cecilia to be dishonest in my life, so I suspect the sniper planted it."
"You're telling us you and Cecilia parted on good terms the other night?" Ashok demanded, "You had 15,000 missing plants and you parted on good terms?"
Gabriel glanced at Ashok, and then turned back to the Sheriff. "How's he involved in this, Sheriff? It's fairly obvious we don't get like each other, so why's he here?"
"I'm a witness," Ashok announced proudly. "I'll saw you two arguing the other night."
"Want me to get