FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
Part Four
By: Lauren Taylor

"What the hell do you mean 'Tom's been arrested for the murders'?" B'Elanna
demanded as she walked over to Chakotay. 

"Exactly what I said, B'Elanna. We have reason to believe that he's the
murderer, and we're taking him in for questioning." Chakotay calmly explained
to her.

"But Tom didn't do this! Goddamnit, Chakotay, Tom lost his best friend! He
spent all night here last night crying! There's no way in hell that it's
him!"

"B'Elanna, that's why we're going to question Tom." he told her.

"And this is all because he just happened to show up in the holodeck right
after the murders?" she asked.

"That's the main reason, yes." 

"Where were you when the murders happened?" she asked him slyly.

"In my quarters, sleeping, but I don't see how that's any of your business,
lieutenant."

"Can anyone *confirm* that you were in your quarters?" she asked.

"B'Elanna, you know as well as I do that internal sensors have been off-line
for the past week, so, no, there's no way to confirm that I was in my
quarters." 

"So you're saying that we have no way of telling where you were, and, for all
we know, you could have been, say, on the holodeck?" she yelled.

"B'Elanna, this conversation is over. Now, get ready, your shift starts in
fifteen minutes." he told her as he walked away.

*******************************************************

Tom sat in the brig, waiting for Chakotay to arrive. Tuvok, and two other
security officers had dragged him in here, and were now waiting to start the
questioning. The waiting was pure agony for Tom. All he wanted to do was to
just go on duty, sit on the bridge, as normal. But he knew that things would
never be "normal" again. Normal would be to have Captain Janeway sitting up
tall in her chair, to have Harry at the ops station, Neelix down in the mess
hall, and Kes in sickbay. But things would never be that way again. He just
wanted to forget all that had happened. Him and B'Elanna had talked for a few
hours last night, and then fell asleep. He was so thankful that she had
survived the attack. Tom didn't know what he'd have done if he hadn't have
had her with him last night. What killed him was the look on B'Elanna's face
when she came out of her bedroom to see him dragged off by the security
officers. He didn't know if she thought he was the murderer or not. Tom
sighed. Of course they'd think he did this. Who else on this ship would,
other than the Starfleet criminal himself, Tom Paris? 

Chakotay walked in, and the security officers stood up. 

"Commander, are we ready to proceed?" Tuvok asked.

"I don't see why not." Chakotay told him, then turned to Tom, "Yesterday
afternoon, when you got off duty, what did you do?" 

"I went to my quarters to get a shower and change. I was meeting everyone on
the holodeck, so I wanted to change out of my uniform. I guess I spent too
long in the shower, because when I got out, I was late. I threw on my
clothes, and headed for the holodeck. When I got there, I saw everyone laying
on the ground, dead. B'Elanna crawled out from behind the pool table, and
that's when security got there." Tom told all of them.

"Did you see anyone else in the hall on your way to the holodeck?" Chakotay
asked.

Tom thought for a moment. He retraced his steps from yesterday, but couldn't
figure that out.

"I don't remember. I was running to the holodeck, because I was late. I
really don't know if there was anyone else or not." Tom admitted. 

***********************************************************

B'Elanna walked into engineering, and saw Nicoletti in command. Sue looked up
from the PADD she was reading, and was amazed to see B'Elanna on duty.

"B'Elanna, how are you?" Sue asked sympathetically. 

"I'm fine." B'Elanna lied, "What's the news on sensors?"

"Nothing new. Still off-line, and we don't know how to get them back." she
told her.

"OK, we're going to get everyone we can down here, and try to get them
on-line. They're our first priority. Torres to the bridge." she told
Nicoletti, then hit her comm badge.

"Bridge here." Ensign Bayheart answered.

"Could you send Ensign Kim down- I mean, who's up there from engineering?"
she caught her mistake, and asked. Nicoletti, beside her, wiped a tear from
her eye.

"Lieutenant Carey is. Would you like me to send him down there?" Bayheart
asked.

"Yes. Torres out." she said, then turned to Nicoletti, "I'll be in the
Jeffries Tube, working on some of the panels. You're in charge til Joe gets
down here." B'Elanna told her.

B'Elanna crawled into the Jeffries Tube before Nicoletti even had a chance to
say anything. She sat down with her knees to her chest, and began crying
again. 

TO BE CONTINUED

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