Cold Dark Matter. Alex Brett
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bowl. Like a scene from an apocalyptic thriller, it was an endless vista of lifeless rubble housing an enchanted city of pale domes. Cast against the blackness of the sky and crescent moon it was an eerie sight. Mellier told me to turn off the headlights.
"Who is ‘they'?" I said, slowing and keeping my eyes on the road.
"Shelton. And Elizabeth Martin. She is the staff astronomer on duty tonight."
Mellier directed me to the last dome at the end of the road, the FrancoCanadian Telescope, and I pulled into the small parking area. Two FCT trucks were already there. The truck rocked, buffeted by the wind.
When the motor was off he said with an apologetic tone. "It's possible they don't even let you in." Then he turned to the landscape and spoke without looking at me. If his sadness was feigned he was a world-class actor. "You know, Shelton I understand. He has something to hide. But Elizabeth? She and Yves were very close friends. Why will she not help?" He let that hang for a good minute, then he seemed to return to himself. "Oh well." He gave a shrug and an impish grin. "Why don't we at least see how far we can get. Maybe we will make it right to the observing room and surprise them both."
"What are they going to do, physically remove me?"
"Ah," he said, "you have not met Pexa." Then he opened his door and hopped out of the truck.
I ran through my mental files. Pexa. The guy who found Yves Grenier hanging from the telescope and called 911. I smiled to myself. No, I hadn't met him yet, but I was looking forward to the moment I did. With that thought I tucked my briefcase under the driver's seat and swung the door open. The wind hit me like a solid wall, and I had to throw my weight against the door to get it shut. Then, eyes watering, I fought my way step by step to the observatory doors. Between the sound of the gale and the snap of my jacket in the wind it was bedlam out there. By the time I reached the doors Mellier was already inside. He held the door open and I moved into blessed silence and gulped down air. I felt like I'd run a 5 k.
"Come this way," said Mellier quietly.
We were standing in a small foyer, and at the end of it were two steel doors, one leading to the left, the other to the right. He pulled open the left-hand door.
"Merde," he said loudly and leapt back. On the other side of the door, leaning against the wall, stood a big, dark-skinned man with a beautifully chiselled face and short black hair. He had his arms across his chest. He'd been waiting in ambush.
"Andreas," he said with a slight nod of his head.
Mellier moved forward and flicked the guy's arm with his hand. "You almost give me a heart attack. What are you doing here? Your shift is over." Then to me. "This is Pexa. He is the building manager, but only by day." He spoke up to Pexa. "At night the astronomers take over. Okay, Pexa, now we go in."
Mellier began to walk around him, but Pexa moved to the middle of the narrow hall. "I'm sorry, Andreas."
Despite his size he moved with an agile grace, and I had the impression it would take bulldozer to move him, but Mellier took him on.
"You're blocking me? This is absurd. I'm the senior astronomer here. You can't block me from my own observatory."
At that Pexa moved slightly aside. "You're right. You stay, but she goes."
Now it was my turn. I kept my voice like his: low, commanding, and calm. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but I'm an here on an official investigation. I go where I want."
I started to move forward, but he took a step toward me. "Not up here, you don't."
I took a step closer to him. "You're the one who found Grenier, aren't you?"
He gave a nod but didn't answer.
I pulled out my notebook and flipped it open to a new page. "Who was it who called you?"
He was watching me with a veiled expression. "Elizabeth Martin."
"And what time would that have been precisely?"
His response was cool. "I've told the police everything they need to know."
"The police investigation is still open, and as long as I'm in Hawaii I'll make damn sure it stays open." I took another step forward so I was now within inches of Pexa's face. "And you know what that means? That means you're going to be questioned again, and again, and again, either here or down at police headquarters. You'll be questioned until both Detective Benson and I are satisfied with your answers. So what time did you say you got that call?" Then a light went on in my head. "Now isn't that interesting. Look who we have in the dome tonight: Shelton Aimes, the last person to see Yves Grenier alive; Elizabeth Martin, the first person to see Grenier's suicide note; and Pexa, the first person on the scene. I can see why you don't want me around."
Pexa put his hand on my shoulder and firmly turned me in the direction of the door. He maintained the dead calm in his voice, but my last statement seemed to have hit a nerve. "Under the safety statutes and laws of the FrancoCanadian Telescope Corporation, the telescope operator has absolute authority to determine who may be in the dome. You've been ordered off the mountain for your own safety."
He'd gotten me as far as the foyer. "For my own safety? That's a load of crap."
"Don't be fooled, Ms O'Brien," he said. "It's a dangerous place up here. Real easy to get hurt."
Mellier stepped around Pexa and puffed himself up to his full five foot two. "This isn't over. I walk her first to her truck then I come back here and we settle this once and for all. First with you, then Shelton and Elizabeth. This is an abomination."
I smiled to myself. If I didn't know better I'd say that Mellier had been at this game as long as I had. Then I stopped up short. For all I knew maybe he had.
chapter six
When we were back outside and I was seated in the truck I asked, "How long can you keep him busy?" Mellier leaned in the truck window. He glanced briefly at Pexa standing in the doorway then turned back to me. With the howling wind there was no way that Pexa could overhear our conversation. "Long enough. I will try to get Elizabeth too. Then you'll have Shelton all to yourself. I can't guarantee, but perhaps."
"The two of them together I can handle. Just get Rambo out of the way."
He told me quickly where to hide the truck and, once back inside the dome, how to find my way to the observing room. When he was finished he straightened and stepped away from the SUV, his sparse hair standing upright in the wind. He glanced uneasily at the dome, then back at me, as if he were trying to decide something. He took a decisive step forward and tapped on the glass. I brought the window back down. This time he put his head right in and spoke more softly.
"What Pexa said about the dome being dangerous, it is not a joke. Just remember when you're inside, there are bottles of oxygen everywhere. If you feel dizzy or sick, you stop, you use the oxygen. Don't take a chance if you're alone." He tapped his watch. "Nine o'clock here. I don't see you, I notify the others and we begin to search."
It wasn't a cheering thought, but I gave him a nod and reached for the headlight switch. His hand shot forward. "No headlights on the hill. You'll screw up the observations." He moved his hand to my arm and gave it a squeeze. "Be careful."
When he was back inside I reversed the truck and swung around onto the trail that would take me up a rise to the Gemini Telescope. I got my last view of Mellier poking his finger accusingly into Pexa's solid chest. I hoped he could keep Pexa occupied for at least half an hour. It might take me that long to huff and puff my way back down the three hundred metres that separated the two telescopes.
When I reached the Gemini Telescope I slowed and came cautiously around the base of the dome. It was a massive structure, one of the biggest on the mountain, and tucked into the base was a large loading dock just as Mellier had described. The loading dock bay was huge, the length of a semi and twice as wide. With no outside lighting on the summit, and no headlights either, it would be impossible to see even a large truck parked in