His shoulders slumped. He walked to Patty’s chair and sat. “I told them I was in the lounge with the others, but it was a lie. I wasn’t there.”
“Where were you?”
“If I tell them, people in Iran might find out. I would be … I would be hanged.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked toward the hallway.
Samantha followed his gaze to find Bai Zhang Wei standing there, the same pleading expression on his face.
“Kazem can’t tell them where he was because … he was with me.”
* * *
Thor ranthe kilometer between the station and the Dark Sector lab, the cold air burning his throat even with the mask. He and Shields had been going over his plan for drawing out the killer when he’d gotten word from Charli that Samantha was in the Dark Sector Lab with their top suspect. Why he’d heard it from Charli and not via radio from Samantha he didn’t know. But if she’d forgotten her radio again, the two of them would have a little talk.
Coughing, he reached the stairs and took them two at a time. He drew his pistol, looked through the small window in the door, and saw Samantha sitting at her desk and talking with both Kazem Hamidi and Bai Zhang Wei.
Hva’ fanden? What the hell?
He holstered the pistol, stepped inside, and pulled off his mask. “Are you okay?”
Samantha stood, walked to the door, grabbed her parka. “We need to talk.”
She opened the door and stepped out into the cold, zipping her parka to her chin.
“Why didn’t you call me directly on your radio?”
“I had the radio in my hand to call you for a different reason.” She wasn’t wearing a hat or a mask, her breath rising in a cloud of ice crystals. “Then Kazem came up behind me, and I was so startled that I dropped it. The batteries rolled under my desk. I did the best I could at the moment, okay?”
“Okay.” Thor coughed, his throat raw from his run through the cold. “What the hell are they both doing here?”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you. They’re lovers. They say they were together the night Patty was poisoned.”
“What? Jesus!”
“Kazem is terrified that if he tells you the truth, the Iranian government will find out he’s gay. Apparently, people get hanged for that in Iran. That’s why he lied about being in the lounge and Bai lied about being in his room.”
Thor shook his head. “I don’t buy it. Wei was at the IceCube lab that night.”
“Yes.” Samantha huddled deeper into her parka. “That’s where they hook up. They’re afraid of being seen together, so they meet there after hours. They bring food from the galley and have romantic dinners. There’s a sofa bed. They can hold hands and kiss and … stuff without being seen.”
“Didn’t Kazem try to ask Patty out more than once? Why would a gay man ask a woman for a date?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Patty was supposed to be his cover—proof that he’s not gay.”
Thor wasn’t sure he could buy any of this. “Why did they come to you?”
“I guess they thought they could trust me. Kazem is terrified to the point of tears. You have to find a way to keep what he tells you out of the official record. I don’t want to be the reason he ends up swinging from a rope.”
Thor’s gaze moved over the skin on her face. “You shouldn’t be out here without a hat and mask. Let’s get you back inside.”
She stopped him with a hand to his chest. “Please, Thor. I believe them.”
“Trust me, okay?” Thor opened the door, held it for her, and followed her inside.
Kazem sat in one of the office chairs, dread on his face, Bai behind him, his hand on Kazem’s shoulder.