Hanratty signaled for Keene to close the door, then he came around his desk to sit on the edge. He stared at Cass with a searing, predatory look. “Talk.”
“Talk? About what? About how you’ve been setting us up? Pushing buttons and watching the results while people kill themselves?”
“Start from the beginning. Why were you at COBRA in the first place?”
She struggled to stay calm. “Pete asked me to take Jun’s midwinter dinner out to him since he couldn’t join the party. I tried to follow the flag line out to COBRA, but someone had pulled up and relocated the last dozen stakes and the end was simply . . . fluttering in the wind.”
Hanratty’s eyebrows shot upward and he glanced at Deb. “Catch Taylor and warn him about the flag line.”
She nodded and hurried out of the office, calling after the security chief. Hanratty turned back to Cass. “You’re saying someone sabotaged the flag line? Misplaced it on purpose?”
“No, I’m saying you or someone you ordered to move the flag line did it on purpose.”
“I didn’t. But let’s leave that for a moment. What happened then?”
“I made it to the lab and went inside,” Cass said. “When I called for Jun, there was no answer. I searched the cubes, found an e-mail lying open on his desk supposedly from his wife—asking for a divorce—and a minute later, I found Jun hanging from the top of the dish antenna.”
“And you think Jun killed himself because of the contents of his wife’s e-mail?”
“You mean your e-mail?”
Hanratty sighed. “Jennings, do you realize how delusional you sound? I’m not a wizard, manipulating people so they kill themselves upon my command. If I had that much control, why didn’t I calm down that fracas that you started in the galley? Or smooth things over after the power outage?”
“You don’t have to control a fire in order to start one,” she said levelly. “You’re not interested in containing what you do, you’re interested in studying it.”
He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “And how do you know that?”
“All of these accidents, all of these crises, they’ve all been just too easily turned on, then turned off when things got out of control. No one saw Sheryl’s body after she died, not even the only doctor on station. The power went out, but was magically restored precisely after the crew had reached an emotional tipping point.”
“And I suppose Jun’s suicide was just another facet of the experiment?”
“Everyone on base has known for weeks he’s been having personal issues at home,” Cass said bitterly.
“So someone wrote that e-mail to push him over the edge. Just to see if he’d kill himself?”
“Yes .”
He blanched. “That’s insane.”
“Any more than faking someone’s death?” Hanratty opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “Look me in the eye and tell me that Sheryl Larkin actually died out on the ice back in February. Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t turn the power off just to see how they’d react. Look me in the eye and tell me this isn’t all some kind of experiment.”
Hanratty raised his head and quirked an eyebrow at Keene.
“No.” The psychologist shook his head slowly. “It’s not her. She’s saying the right things, but I can’t see any reason for her to storm into the party like she did and hope to get any useful data.”
“Does it make any more sense to arrange for her to find Jun? It amounts to the same result.”
Keene shook his head again. “Not even close, Jack. It’s the difference between being the messenger and observing the messenger. The first would make no sense—being frog-marched to your office for an interrogation is an easily predictable outcome. If she’s the Observer, where does that get her? She’s neutralized and sitting in your office.”
“But the second scenario is logical if he manipulated Cass into starting the panic,” Hanratty said reluctantly. “Then he gets to sit back and record the crew’s reaction.”
Keene nodded. “Exactly. Cass is not our man. Put simply, if she were, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to be brought here to your office.”
“God damn,” Hanratty said softly, looking back at Cass almost fondly. “I really thought it might be her.”
“What are you talking about?” Cass demanded, turning in her chair to try and take in both of them. It was unnerving that Keene continued to stand behind her.
Hanratty ignored her. “Either way, we’ve got a hell of a mess on our hands and we need to contain it. Suggestions?”
Before Keene could answer, there was a knock on the door and Deb stuck her head into the room. Hanratty frowned. “What?”
“Taylor radioed.” Deb tried speaking, couldn’t, cleared her throat. “Jun is dead.”
“Damn it.” Hanratty’s eyes flicked from Cass to Keene and back to Deb. “What’s happening with the crew?”