Elijah Baley was making his way to the Personal for his sector when he noticed a large gathering of men in the walkway dressed in their robes much as he was. The group was rather quiet which didn’t surprise Baley even though something was causing an obvious disruption of the morning ritual. Customs of the Personals was something everyone learned at a young age. It was not something that was passed down from parent to child. Stern glances that the younger people received when committing a violation of the unwritten rules served as the means of educating them and had been that way for generations. Silence near and in the Personals was one of the more stringent customs. Physical and eye to eye contact were also avoided at all cost in the Personals.

Not from personal experience but during conversations with his wife, Baley had learned that the women’s Personals were places of gaiety, sharing gossip, trading the latest makeup tips and other various topics of interest to the women. Baley often wondered what archaic social mores dictated the customs that had become almost inbred into the humans of Earth. He also wondered why no sociologist had written papers on the subject. Then he realized maybe someone had and he was just not aware of it or perhaps they had become so much a part of society that no one even questioned the reasons anymore.

As he approached, Baley noticed two uniformed officers standing guard at both the entrance and exit doors apparently allowing no one in or out. What did surprise Baley is that they were there. There had never been a need for the police at any Personal, other than for an occasional act of vandalism. At least not in his personal memory and he was pretty sure even longer than that.

The crowd let him through. They all recognized Baley as one of their neighbors and of course knew he was a member of the police force. In fact, it was his recent promotion from sergeant to detective second class that gave him the status to even be assigned to this section. A definite step up from his previous cramped quarters and a source of pride for his wife who had just announced that she was pregnant with their first child.

“Officer, what’s going on here?”, Baley asked, trying to look as official as he could in his robe and slippers.

“And who wants to know,” came the curt reply.

“I’m Detective Baley of the 127th precinct and I live in this sector” snapped Baley. Hoping that his new rank didn’t show in his voice.

“Oh, sorry sir. We’ve been trying to contact you. Headquarters said that you would be assigned the case and that we should give whatever assistance we could. I hope I wasn’t out of line barking at you like that.”

“Quite all right Officer,” Baley glancing at the officer’s badge, “Daniels is it? I understand the situation is a little tense. Let’s just forget it happened” smiled Baley. He then made a mental note of the man’s rank and name thinking it might be worth a favor or two.

“Robert Daniels and thank you, sir” replied the officer, offering a small smile in apology.

“Now what is going on here?”

“Well, sir. There’s been a murder in the Personal. No one seems to know anything about it. Apparently someone was killed in the dressing room next to the showers. No one will admit to seeing anything or are able to point to anyone that may have done it. We sealed the Personal off allowing no one in or out and then called for a detective to handle it.”

“Good thinking Daniels. Have the other man guard both doors and then I want you to come with me into the Personal just in case our perpetrator decides to get violent again. I would also like you to take notes and also take down each man’s description. As you can see, I neglected to bring a stylus and notepad with me.”

Baley and Daniels entered the Personal. There were about thirty men shuffling around looking for something to occupy their time. All of them were dressed similar to Baley and had completed various parts of their morning toilet and were visibly distressed that they were placed in this situation. Men made it a habit to spend as little time as necessary in the Personal and it was clear they were disturbed by their need to remain. Of course, Baley knew their faces if not their names. After all this was his Personal also.

Baley then examined the murder scene. The victim had had his jugular slashed and had bled to death. Rather quickly as most of the blood was pooled in one area. The wound was caused by a very sharp instrument, more than likely a straight razor thought Baley. The victim was partially dressed in his robe which meant he had been facing his locker when he was attacked. Another custom, Baley noted to himself, that offered some semblance of privacy.

The victim’s hair was still wet from the shower which meant he had been putting the robe on and not taking it off. The murder had occurred in the dressing room as the officer had said which explained why no one had seen it happen. No man would ever consider looking at another man in the dressing room. It was one of the most rigid taboos of the Personals.

“Detective Baley,” said Daniels, “we also found a pair of men’s underwear lying in the blood. We bagged them and sent them off for testing but being soaked in the man’s blood, they don’t expect to get much from them.”

Baley turned to the officer and said, “Have each man gather their kits and personal belongings, line them up against the wall and then send them to me one at a time so I can examine their kits. Be ready to take notes on each of them.”

“Yes, sir.”

Baley began by examining the kit of each man., sending some men back against the wall and others over to the other side of the room. By the time Baley had completed his examination of each kit, he had seven men left with the rest forming a new shuffling crowd across the room with most of them admiring the ceiling and the rest looking for cracks in the flooring.

“Daniels, have the other officer take those men’s names down and then release them. I don’t believe any of them are the killer.”

The officer spoke softly to Baley and said, “Why sir? Why don’t you think any of them are the killer?”

“Because”, Baley said quietly in response, “the murder was committed with what I believe was a straight razor. All those men have either electric shavers or depilatory cream. Neither of which could have caused the injury. The seven men that are left all have straight razors in their kits. Though, why anyone would still use those dangerous relics I haven’t a clue. Besides, I already believe I know who the killer is but I must speak with all of them to confirm my suspicions.”

Turning back to the seven remaining suspects, Baley noticed two young men, obviously brothers, acting quite agitated with one of them sheepishly half raising his hand like a shy boy in school.

Stepping in front of the gesturing youth, Baley said, “Yes?”

Leaning forward and in a mumbled, soft whisper, “Sir, my brother and I have to go really bad.”

“Sorry son, no one can leave until I’m finished here.”

In an even softer whisper the young man said, “I don’t mean leave sir. I mean GO sir.”

With half a grin, Baley turned to the officer and said, “Officer, take their names, let them GO and then release them.”

“You’re letting them leave to?”, asked a surprised Daniels.

“Well, Daniels, what’s the first thing you do in the morning when you arrive at your Personal? They obviously had only arrived when the incident took place. Just be sure they do GO before you let them leave.”

“You mean watch them?”, asked Daniels, his mouth hanging open in mild shock.

“Listening will be enough, Daniels and give me your notepad and stylus.”

Taking each of the five remaining men off by themselves one at a time he wrote down their names and notes on the questioning.

The first man, Willems Kanis, was fortyish with thinning brown hair and a mole on his forehead and claimed to have known the victim only in passing. Unshaven and smelling slightly of some alcoholic beverage, he had, conspicuously, not yet showered.

The second man was all of twenty and identified himself as Lexim Arden. He had a pronounced cow lick in his blonde hair and said that he knew the victim as he was a acquaintance of his father. He told Baley that he had just been leaving when the officers had arrived and told him to stay.

The third man, named Marteen Smythe, said that the victim lived two apartments down from him but had never really met him socially, all the while looking at his slippers as if hoping to find something of interest. The man wore a new expensive robe and slippers. Indicating to Baley that the man had probably been recently promoted and was only waiting for an opening in the next higher level of section housing.

Ancont Stowin, the fourth man, smelling of too much aftershave, had red hair with a rather large nose and green eyes, had lived in the sector for five years and told Baley he had never seen the victim before. Apparently embarrassed, the man clutched the robe about him as if it would offer protection.

The fifth man, with his yet unused towel draped over his shoulder, was rather heavy, balding, with a scar on the crown of his head. Harrold Rittle, “that’s two R’s and two T’s” told Baley that the victim’s wife and his had been on the neighborhood beautification committee and had known him for about six years. He also told Baley that he had been the first one to see the victim and had hit the alarm button in the dressing room.

“Well, sir, what do you think?,” asked the officer as Baley was going over his notes.

“It’s quite obvious who the killer is,” Baley replied.

“It is?,” the officer blurted out.

“Of course it is, read my notes. Especially this part,” said Baley as he pointed at one of the pages in the notebook. “It’s obvious.”

“Great work on the Personal case, Baley”, Captain Brinner said just as Baley finished inputting his report.

“The suspect confessed after a background check and we found that the victim had been a coworker who had gotten a promotion that the suspect had expected. Pure, simple jealousy was the only motive.”

“So Baley, spare me the grief of having to read the boring report. What gave it away?”

“Well, Captain, there were actually a few things,” began Baley.

“When I first examined their shaving kits, his razor was the only one that was wet. He had obviously quickly shaved after slashing the victim which gave him the opportunity to rinse the blood off his razor. He also told me he had never seen the victim before. I might have believed him if he hadn’t also told me he had lived in the sector for five years. I’ve lived there only six months and I recognize almost everyone that comes in the Personal.”

“Still Baley, pretty circumstantial evidence. Wouldn’t you say?”

“There was more sir. As I showed Officer Daniels, when I was interviewing them, in an effort to convince me of his innocence, he made eye contact with me. His need to show his apparent honesty made him violate one of the rules.”

Rising from the corner of Bailey’s desk, in obvious embarrassment, Captain Brinner mumbled “Oh, I see,” and headed for his office.

Breathing an internal sigh of relief, Baley knew he had done the right thing when he had deliberately left out of his report, the most damaging piece of evidence. He knew that he had violated the most basic taboo of all. When the underwear was found, Baley knew it was either the victim’s or the killer’s. It was easy to determine the victim was still in possession of his during the examination of the body. Therefore, they had to be the killer’s. To determine who was the killer, Baley had done the unthinkable.

You see, he peeked.

Disclaimer: The characters and situations in this story are the legal property of the Estate of Isaac Asimov. This story is in no way intended as a challenge to that ownership, and is offered solely for entertainment purposes.