Chapter Twenty

“What are we looking at, Geraldo?” Tanya looked away from the halo display back at Geraldo. Her brown eyes shining from the blue light of the display that encircled her. Images and files displayed in perfect detail in the dark room.

“It’s Gabriela Fohren’s file.”

“Obviously.” Tanya crossed her arms and made a slow circle around the displays, studying each image. “But what about it am I supposed to see?”

“Gabriela is not eligible for the Bioloxys lotto,” he explained. “She told me herself. Said she had been pregnant before.”

“And her file shows that?”

Geraldo cleared his throat and walked through the display. The images blurred and fragmented as he crossed the halo screen. The air around the screen was frigid. The vapors the images were projected on swirled around him before they dissipated.

“Here.” He pointed at a section of Gabriela’s file.

He raised his hand and the led lights at the tip of his glove sprang to life, allowing him to manipulate the images. He pulled his hands apart, and the display spread out the timeline of the file.

“This section of her file is wrong.”

“How so?” Tanya tucked her hands under her arms and came to stand beside him.

Geraldo waved his hands and brought more data and files to the timeline. “There is a nine-month gap in her health history.”

“Okay?”

“That’s when she was pregnant.”

“Or maybe she just didn’t get sick, Ger.”

“No, I mean there are no medical records at all. Not even the mandatory genetic testing that all gen-perfect are subject to, which she had been doing every six months like clockwork.” Geraldo flicked his wrist and the dates of every screening were flagged red, casting a ring of red light around them.

“Except for this nine-month period.”

“Or she just got lazy and missed one.”

“Or she broke into Taurus and had the portion of her history expunged.”

“Let me try and understand this,” Tanya said and held up her hands. “You think Gabriela Forhen broke into the Taurus AI?”

“Yes, to delete this portion of her history.” Geraldo gestured at the display.

“So, she can then be eligible to win the lottery three days later?”

Geraldo shifted his feet uneasily. Tanya had a way of dismantling confidence with a stare.

“She told me she had a daughter.”

“Maybe she lied to you, Ger.”

“I had considered that, but when she told me about her daughter, I knew she was telling the truth. Most people can’t fake that kind of pain.”

“It’s more plausible than her hacking an AI and then she just wins a lottery. I mean the odds Geraldo, think about it.”

“Tanya, I know I am on to something. I can feel it.”

“Feelings won’t get an arrest, you know that.” Tanya’s voice softened, which only caused Geraldo to step away bristled.

“This is more than a hunch. She has access to the building, motive to break into the AI.”

“That motive is weak at best.”

“It’s still a motive,” Geraldo pointed out.

“Let’s say you're right on this.” Tanya rolled her hand in the air as she walked around the display. “If she changed a part of her public history, then there should be some sort of paper trail. Something that calibrates your suspicion. Do you have anything like that?”

“No.”

“We need more than a hunch.” Tanya said coldly as she turned to leave.

“What if I were able to find evidence that she had been pregnant?” Geraldo called after her.

“Then we will discuss this further, but remember Geraldo. Gabriela is gen-perfect, she has influence, and she is competing for the same job as you. You going and digging up dirt on her, or throwing false accusations around won’t show you in a good light. You understand?”

“Yeah. I get it.” Geraldo mumbled and turned away.

“I mean it, Ger. Don’t fuck this up for yourself. If she is guilty of what you think she did, then you need something harder than her story and a few missed appointments.”

“I understand.” Geraldo said gloomily.

He stood and looked at the gap in Gabriela’s history. Tanya was right, and he knew it. He needed hard evidence.

“Taurus, where is Detective Gabriela Forhen now?”

A section of the halo display went dark, the swirling wall of vapor was visible for a brief second before a map of New Madrid appeared. A red dot blinked, indicating that Gabriela’s last known location was the Bioloxys facility.

He needed evidence, and there was only one place he knew he could find it. Her apartment.