Who Killed Iron Joe? Part 1: Moon of Frost in the Teepee

I woke up this morning amidst general excitement.  I guess they finally discovered that he was dead.  There were a lot of people inside my tent, and there was a lot of shoving, mostly me.  Magnum and Stringfellow were there, but they were pushed to the side.  I saw Cavanaugh, lurking toward the back as well, but that’s his style.  Very little honor.  His lackeys showed me very little respect, but that’s not out of the ordinary, either.  I guess I can’t blame them.  It’s not every day the governor is found assassinated, and everyone knows how much trouble I caused him.  It’s easy to assume that I’m to blame, but I happen to know for a fact that I’m not.  I haven’t been under the influence of anything for months now.  I’m clean, and I’d know if someone had slipped me something.  I know what it feels like.

Like I said, I’m not sad that Fialkov is dead.  One less Danab to worry about, no matter his profile.  Nobody liked Iron Joe.  Yes, I liked him less, and hid it less, but that doesn’t mean that I’m guilty of his murder, anymore than the Danab have anymore right to this world than anyone else.  What is it with people, assuming they can claim worlds?  I don’t care that they think they can, that they think they can justify it with legal documents.  Legal documents can be made illegal, and then what does that make them?  There are certain common truths, and one of them is that the only natural thing about existence is that everything dies.  When faced with that kind of reality, I suggest a little more levity.  There are things to take seriously and there are things to take lightly.  Well, in other words, as they used to say, live and let die.

It just so happens that in Iron Joe’s case, someone rushed the process.  I’m no advocate of killing, don’t get me wrong, but like I said, if anyone deserved it, he did.  He was what you’d call a real scumbag.  I’m just sorry that I made that opinion known so loudly, because now there’s no reason to think that I’m innocent in his death.  Strange how you can so forcefully distance yourself from someone only to become linked to them inextricably, but I guess that’s life.  If I’d known this was going to happen, I probably would have married him.  At least then I might have profited, not that I particularly care about that sort of thing, either.  I prefer to keep things simple.  Iron Joe tried to keep things as complicated as possible.  They say opposites attract, and maybe it’s that kind of crazy thinking that makes so many things happen so catastrophically.  I bet if I did my own investigation, I’d be able to find the person who was even more opposite of Iron Joe than I was.

There’s not going to be a lot of opportunities for me to do that, other than thinking about it, but that’s what I do best.  I’ll be locked up until they decide what to do with me.  I don’t mind.  The Danab may be savages in almost every other regard, but they’re pretty civil.  They won’t let me be harmed.  Public opinion, when it thought about me at all, never really considered me popular to begin with, and I was always fine with that.  So maybe now it’ll lead to my execution for a crime I didn’t commit.  I guess we’ll see about that.

There are a lot of events to reflect on, and maybe I already know what I need to in order to figure this out, and I just don’t realize it yet.  That’s the point, though, the truth is always obvious, it’s just the common impulse to try and obscure it every way possible, I guess just to keep things interesting.  They knew already that I wasn’t the culprit, but it makes sense to pretend I am, just because it’s what most people expect, just because I am who I am and they are who they are.  I’m just some foolish girl, what else is there to know?

Ah, well of course I’d argue that there’s plenty!  Of course the guilty party thinks there’s always plenty to know, plenty to say, plenty of heads to roll besides their own.  Confusion only benefits them.  But as I’ve said, I didn’t kill Iron Joe.  I probably know who did.  But it’ll be a hell of a time trying to prove it.  I’ve got the time to do it, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  So sit back, relax, and humor me for a moment.  I know I don’t have anything better to do.  Do you?