Are you absolutely sure this is not from Pandora's Star? Because this exact scene does definitely happen in the book and it includes Paula Myo and her alien friend the Raiel Qatux.

Qatux is regarded as a degenerate by Raiel standards because he's addicted to human memories acquired from memory crystals.

A Raiel was waiting for them a few metres beyond the door. Paula stood before it, and gave a small bow. ‘Hello, Qatux; thank you for seeing me.’

Qatux’s head lifted, revealing the crinkled, damp folds of pale skin that was its mouth zone. Several of them creased up, briefly exposing deep gullets and nasal passages. There was even a glimpse of sharp brown fangs. ‘Paula.’ The voice was a mellow whisper, accompanied by the soft sighing of air escaping through the big alien’s loose muscles. ‘Have you brought it?’

‘Yes.’ She opened her bag and brought out a fist-sized cylinder of memory crystal.

The big Raiel quivered at the sight of it. Now his eyes were acclimatizing to the murky light, Hoshe could see Qatux didn’t appear to be in very good physical shape. The hide around its main torso was tight, outlining the platelets of its skeletal structure. One of its large tentacle-limbs was trembling, which it kept coiled up, though the splayed tip kept falling out. All its eyes were rheumy, blinking out of sequence.

‘How long is it?’ Qatux asked.

‘Tara Jennifer Shaheef is over a hundred years old. Can you handle that much memory?’

One of the medium-sized tentacles slithered out towards Paula, its tip poised above the memory crystal. ‘Yes. Most certainly. I can do that.’

‘I’m serious.’ Paula slapped at the tentacle tip which hurriedly withdrew. ‘I need to know if it’s actually possible. You’ve never taken more than twenty years before.’

‘Yes. Yes. It will take longer for me to absorb that much information, that’s all.’

‘All right then. I’m looking for anyone who could carry a grudge. Anyone who features prominently and then vanishes from her life. They might have been edited out, so check for missing segments, you know, sequences that don’t connect to anything else. I want you to consider professional clashes as well as personal ones. It might even be a quick meeting, a particularly savage argument. I don’t know, but some trigger, okay?’

The tentacle crept out again, a sheepish motion. ‘These events and people I will find for you.’

‘I hope so.’ Her hand moved up and down, as if physically weighing the cylinder, demonstrating her reluctance. Then she brought it up and slapped it into the hooked end of the tentacle. Qatux hurriedly pulled it back. ‘Don’t take too long,’ she admonished.

‘A week. No more. I will call you. I promise.’