Painting the Roses Red

By Stephen Goldin and Kathleen Sky

Marc Shikari, an inspector for the Interstellar Investigation Institute, knows something illegal is going on. The diMedici family, a clan of interstellar swindlers, is trading stock madly among several different worlds--all among themselves. Every transaction seems legit, but Shikari knows there's got to be more to it than that. What's their angle?

(Star Rooks story #1)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Parsina Press
• Release date: Jun 7, 2009
• ISBN: 9781452402291

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PAINTING THE ROSES RED

a Star Rooks story by

Kathleen Sky & Stephen Goldin

Published by Parsina Press at Smashwords

Copyright © 1980 by Kathleen Sky & Stephen Goldin. All Rights Reserved.

Cover image Copyright © Nathan Dappen.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Painting the Roses Red

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Painting the Roses Red

A mound of infocubes appeared in the doorway. Since a pair of trimslax showed beneath the mound, Owen Glendower assumed someone was carrying them. The man’s identity was hidden behind his burden, but there could be only one person so in love with infocubes that he would carry them around in his arms.

Shikari, did you have to leave a trail of cubes all the way down the corridor? Glendower stared pointedly at the three-centimeter cubes that littered the hallway.

Marc Shikari blinked and turned around to look, spilling more infocubes in the process. Uh, sorry, sir, I was in a hurry.

Hurry or not, you should have used a deck. Are all those really necessary?

They prove the case, Shikari said. He set the mound of cubes carefully on the desk, scattering a few. I got my first lead when computer analysis discovered a cyclical pattern to the gem thefts, based on the exact configuration of Tybald’s four moons. He patted the cubes lovingly. Cross-checking that pattern with the tidal situation, I set the computer to correlate possible undersea hideouts. Then I—

Did you cube a report? Glendower picked three cubes off his lap and added them to the heap on the desktop.

Yes, sir.

Do I have to go through all these infocubes to get to it?

No, these are just my raw data. I thought you’d like to check them. These are my report. He took two more cubes out of his sleeve pocket and placed them atop the pile. The heap shifted unsteadily.

"I’ll take your word on the data; I do have other cases, you know." Glendower watched uneasily as the cubes settled. Shikari, he told himself, really is a good cop. He loves the detail work that so many officers hate. If only he wasn’t so wedded to those damned infocubes!

I’ve got a new job for you, he said aloud. I think you’ll like it. It’s a tangled mess, and needs an analytical mind like yours to unravel. Have you ever heard of Hilliard diMedici?

Shikari blinked, looking for all the universe like a bewildered ferret.

"Hilliard diMedici, alias ‘the Duke,’ is the head of the damnedest clan that ever