Chapter 23
“We have a witness that places you in the engineering compartment just before the time of the accident,” I said to Norrington just to rattle his cage.
It worked.
Norrington’s face reddened, and the veins in his forehead pulsed. “Then your witness is lying.”
"Tell me about the drinking," I said.
He did a double-take. "What?”
"Let's not play games. Weyland was going to report you for drinking and drug abuse.”
He scoffed. "That's preposterous. Where are you getting your information from?”
I shrugged. "You would not believe the things I've heard.”
"I'm beginning to think that most of your information is false.” He paused. "If you’re looking to bust somebody for drug use, you should look into Ross.”
"That's another common name.”
Dr. Norrington shifted uncomfortably. "I may have the occasional alcoholic beverage here and there when I'm off duty. There is nothing wrong with that.”
"Alcohol is prohibited in the habitat, is it not?”
"So are a lot of things.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, in which Norrington grew increasingly uncomfortable.
"I'm telling you, I did not sabotage the breaker in an attempt to kill Commander Weyland. I was quite impressed by the man. I felt confident in his abilities to lead us forward on this mission and any potential space missions.”
"Where were you at the time of the incident?”
"I was in the medical bay.”
"What were you doing?”
"My job here is to maintain the health of the crew and track metabolic processes. We measure calories in, calories out, exercise time, resting heart rate, blood pressure, and other vital statistics. We do routine blood draws that we can later analyze when we return to the surface. We’re trying to get a bigger picture of how this type of environment affects the aquanauts.
On a mission to Mars, it is important for the crew to maintain cardiovascular and metabolic health throughout the duration.
That can be challenging in a contained environment with no daylight.
My role here is part healthcare, part research. ”
"Can you think of anybody who may have wanted to harm Commander Weyland?”
Norrington hesitated for a moment, and his face tightened. “I tend to dismiss rumors as just that, but it's hard to ignore some of the gossip that's been going around.”
"You mean like your proclivity toward drinking and pill popping?" I said, just to get under his skin. It's not that I didn't like Norrington, per se. I just wanted to see if I could get something out of him.
He glared at me. "As I said, I may have the occasional alcoholic beverage. I also take multiple nootropics and peptides to help with my cognitive and physical function. Nothing illegal. If someone has mistaken that for pill popping, that is their problem, not mine.” He cleared his throat.
"To your question, if the rumors are true, I think that Marston would be a likely suspect.
I like Mitch. He seems like a good man. But I'm trying to be totally transparent with you.”
"I appreciate the effort," I said, though I doubted his transparency was total. "What about the tension between Weyland and David Wong?"
He shook his head. "I haven't seen anything to indicate a level of animosity between the two of them that would warrant such a heinous crime.”
My phone buzzed with a call from Isabella.
"Excuse me, I need to take this.”
"Can I go now?”
"Yes. We may have more questions for you later.”
He left our compartment, and I swiped the screen and took the call.
“Well, this just got interesting,” Isabella said. “You’re never going to believe who Nathan Mercer called in Coconut Key.”