04/07/22 Snippet, THE THING IN THE AIRLOCK.

Back in the saddle again.

After a moment of silence, Tobias sighed. “I’m afraid you’re going to start from the beginning on this one, Mrs. Miller.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

Tobias shrugged. “Do I need to insult your intelligence by spelling it out?”

That at least redirected the scowl in his direction. “No, Commander, you don’t. You’re in charge, you don’t have a boss anymore, and you could throw me out an airlock for any reason. Or no reason at all. Tell me: what’s that kind of power like?”

“Highly annoying,” Tobias replied promptly. “It gets in the way of me doing my job. Which right now includes figuring out who killed Shirley Oates.”

“Well,” Miller snapped out, “It wasn’t me.”

“Fine. It wasn’t you. Who do you want to blame for it?” Tobias chuckled at her look of surprise. “You knew her, I didn’t. Even if you lie to me, I’ll still know more after talking to you than when I started.”