The Resurrected Man by Sean Williams Read Free Book Online Page B

won't or can't help us.”
    â€œUnless, deep down, the killer really wants to be caught,” Whitesmith pointed out. “He desires punishment.”
    â€œAnd he wants us to earn the privilege of giving it to him?” She acknowledged the possibility with a shrug. “That could be a result of boredom, too.”
    â€œOr he's dealing us a wild card, to see what we do next.” Trevaskis tapped the tips of his index fingers against perfect white teeth. “The thought of us having McEwen in custody and unable to prosecute would give him no small satisfaction, I'm sure.”
    Whitesmith exhaled heavily through his nose. “Museii, ” he said.
    Marylin recognised the Japanese word for “wet dream,” used on the street when someone was running the risk of thinking too much.
    â€œWe can't take anything for granted,” Trevaskis said, his tone defensive, no doubt sensing the double dig at him.
    â€œExactly, sir,” Marylin put in. “At the same time, we have to be sure we're not letting him lead us, either.”
    â€œI'm aware of that possibility.” Trevaskis' eyes glittered. “But at the moment all we really have is McEwen in a tub full of maintenance fluid and a body in his d-mat booth. Where could we possibly be led, to any degree of certainty, by that?” Trevaskis' body was utterly still, so intently focussed was he on her. “I can see two possibilities. One: McEwen really has been hibernating in the bath since the day after you last saw him, as you originally thought. That's the obvious answer, and the one we must therefore treat with the greatest scepticism. Two: he's a skin, killing by VR teleoperation from the bath, using drones to avoid leaving traces on the bodies. The damage to his memory, if it's genuine, could be deliberately inflicted to stop us forcing a confession from him. If the second possibility is the correct one, where does that leave us? With a killer we are unable to convict because we lack material evidence, who may not legally have committed a crime at all, and who doesn't even remember what he's done. It'd be the ultimate irony, from his point of view.”
    â€œI don't doubt it, sir.” Marylin remembered the look in Jonah's eyes: not fear of being caught, but fear of not knowing what he was supposed to have done. “But it'd be an enormous risk to take.”
    Trevaskis snorted. “This whole thing is an enormous risk. If he wanted to up the stakes, this'd be the way. Do you agree?”
    Marylin nodded reluctantly.
    â€œSo what do you suggest we do?” Whitesmith asked. “Nothing?”
    â€œWe need to check every possibility. He's being examined at the moment and the results will either corroborate his story or not. If he is a skin, there'll be nanoware, or traces of nanoware, all through his body. There'll also be teleop relay systems in the house and intelligent software to link it all together. I want a team to go over the place from top to bottom. I want every link checked.”
    â€œJonah wouldn't have the first idea how to use that sort of technology,” she said. “He dabbled with wetware and body-related tech, not remote consciousness and displacement add-ons.”
    â€œYet McEwen's father was Lindsay Carlaw, one of the early SciCon founders.” Whitesmith leaned forward. “And there's an office full of hardware off the main bedroom.”
    â€œWell, then…” Trevaskis raised an eyebrow at Marylin.
    â€œThat hardware belongs to Carlaw. The sort of equipment needed to develop AI isn't the sort you'd use to hack into KTI,” she said.
    â€œStill, take an inventory and run it by Herold Verstegen. See what he says.” Trevaskis sank back into his chair. “There's no reason not to check. Until we prove that McEwen doesn't have the right sort of setup at his disposal, and/or the ability to use it, we have to treat him very carefully.”
    â€œGuilty until proven