“So you don’t think he’d want a surreptitious taste of the forbidden fruit?”
“Not likely.”
“Then what if he did it deliberately, either as a method of suicide or a way of making a political statement about the evils of offworlders?”
Louis was silent for a moment. “Again, I don’t think it very likely. I don’t claim to be an expert on Restaal psychology, but I don’t think Stitching had much reason to kill himself. And he hardly needs new ammunition against offworlders; the Palovoi saw to that cycles ago. If the Nontawca were going to pull such a stunt, they’d hardly use their prime candidate as the victim; they’d choose someone else and leave Stitching alive to harangue about it.”
“So someone zipped him,” Jade said. “All we have to do is figure out who.”
“There are plenty of suspects,”
