The unmarked squad car hovered up to the side of the boulevard and stopped. The girls came out of the fashion store, empty-handed, fuming. Fists to their waists they looked up and down the street, not seeing the vehicle right there in front of them for all the irritation occupying their minds.
The detective slid down the side window and one of his heads looked out. "Come on, ladies! Let's go!"
"What's with the angry faces?" he asked, pulling a one-eighty across the lanes to take off back down the road. One head was focused on the driving and the other stared at the girls in the mirror.
"We were hoping to do some badly needed shopping," Zana said.
"Sorry to interrupt your fun, but this can't wait."
"It's not that," Rivqua said. "Once again, we're being yanked around, either by rinky-dink technology or ill-will or what, we don't know. So we couldn't."
"How's that?"
"No money, that's how. Still."
The detective kind of shrugged. "Well, you're about to identify a possible reason as to why."
Rivqua met his eyes in the mirror. "Yeah, what's happened now, did you say? I didn't catch what you said, we were a bit preoccupied when you called."
"Luffy Bing, supposed brother of the deceased Fadda Bing, is in the morgue with his brains blown out. His secretary is too wired up in her circuits to give a reliable ID. I tell you, these robots with personalized programmings ain't worth crap. So you guys are next, and the only ones I consider reasonably trustworthy. Don't ask me to elaborate. Flipside is, you're also the last ones to see him breathin'. Causin' another aspect I'm obliged to consider."
Rivqua and Zana were looking at each other in disbelief.
"Luffy Bing? We had a meeting with him just after breakfast. What happened?"
"His secretary confirmed your meeting. Somewhere around there he was shot. Could you tell me what the meeting was about? You guys disagree on anything?"
"No! First we thought we were seeing things. He was in the audience last night. We saw him and he looked so much like Fadda Bing we couldn't believe it. After the show he disappeared before we could have a word with him. This morning we went up to the offices to see with our own eyes if Fadda Bing had returned from the dead. Turned out it wasn't him."
"Is that when you shot him?"
"You've got two heads on your shoulders and still you come up with a question like that!?" Zana threw out.
"Shining a light in every angle, that's all."
Rivqua went on. "He told us he was taking over the operation, after Fadda. And that we were doing a good job. Even gave us a ten percent pay rise! That's not something you kill someone for."
"Fair point," said the detective.
"Should've asked for more," Zana muttered.
"Can you prove that, I mean the raise? Like, new paperwork or something?"
"He gave us new cards."
"On which the no money is?"
"That's right, Inspector."
"You could argue for a motive there."
"Oh stop it! We discovered it the same second you called us, standing at the checkout in the shop. For whatever reason, the plastic the Grand gave us is galactically worthless! Good enough only to scrape frost off a windshield."
"We're in the desert."
Zana rolled her eyes.
"Alright, I'll check into that later," added the detective and pulled up. "Here's the morgue."
