Dark Vengeance by E.R. Mason Page B

and desperate, he ran into this room hoping to hide. It was then Officer Ree must have noticed something happening and began pursuit. The Officer entered this room with his weapon drawn, just as you speculated. The Sentian raised his hands, happy to surrender and be saved from his pursuer, but the third man came up behind Officer Ree and struck him in the head. As the officer fell, the third man grabbed Ree’s weapon. The Sentian did the only thing he could. He reached into the weapons locker, grabbed the nearest disrupter, and fired two shots but missed. At the same time the third man fired a single shot, killing the Sentian. So, the two disrupter signatures you found on the weapons locker cabinet were made by the Sentian firing from within the cabinet. They were not shots that missed him as forensics believed. The third man then checked to be sure the officer was dead and wiped his prints off the weapon. But, too much time had passed. Maybe someone was coming. He couldn’t risk being spotted. He dropped the weapon beside the body and escaped, hoping the missing prints would be dismissed and the whole incident would look like an exchange between Officer Ree and the Sentian. This new scenario explains everything, Captain; the disrupter signatures on the wall next to you and the missing prints on the officer’s weapon.”
    The Captain took another long, deep breath and stared blankly. “There are several key speculations in your theory that do seem to be supported, Commander. The doors to engineering are indeed shielded beyond what a Sentian could pass through. Officer Ree had begun a patrol because of the sudden loss of video coverage. It would have been easy for him to run into the Sentian. Your suggestion that the third man was after the Sentian’s stolen jewelry may not fit, however. The man’s pockets were still full of stolen items.”
    “Maybe the third man did not have time to take the jewels, or more likely he deliberately left some behind to try to support the two-man theory. It almost worked,” I added.
    “Indeed. If we begin to find missing items that were not on the Sentian’s body, that would support the idea of a second thief. In the meantime we are faced with quite an undesirable conclusion to all this, I would say,” added the Captain, shaking his head.
    “You’re right about that,” answered R.J. “Obviously the man who killed both Officer Ree and the Sentian is still aboard this ship.”
    The Captain nodded. “Yes, and for the moment there are only two people on this ship who are not suspect.”
    At first I thought the Captain was going to say R.J. and me. But he looked at me with a discerning stare. “I know that I did not commit this crime and had Commander Smith been the third man he would have done his best to support the two-man theory. He would not have gone to such lengths to disprove it.”
    R.J. added, “Captain, the Sentian’s two shots were high. It is unlikely he was firing at any staff members.”
    “Unless his aim was off, Commander. He was attempting to shoot from within a weapons locker after all.”
    “But if my guess is correct we are looking for a guest, or guest’s aid, or someone at least five feet tall,” said R.J. 
    “Captain, I was the one who suggested Commander Smith could be of help in this matter. Knowing his abilities I certainly would not have done that was I the third man,” I said.
    “Unless you expected him to get involved regardless,” replied Mars. “Where were you last night, Captain Tarn?”
    “I left the party late and slept for two hours in my stateroom.”
    “Alone?”
    “Yes.”
    R.J. cut in. “Captain Mars, I can vouch for Mr. Tarn’s integrity. It is completely impossible he would have been involved in this.”
    “Your word does carry a great deal of weight, Commander. He will be put at the very bottom of the list. It’s quite a long list, however. The continuous comings and goings at the unscheduled celebration last evening leaves