“Yes, but…” Alex looked down. “I didn’t think it would be this kind of hard.”
“So, what’s it to be?” Josiah demanded. “Solange or Ted? Tell me, Alex.”
“You’re a mean bastard,” Alex growled.
“Yeah, I know.” Josiah shrugged. “What’s your answer?”
“Solange,” Alex said quietly. “But if you arrest Ted, I’ll hate you as much as I hate myself.”
“Understood,” Josiah said grimly.
Josiah drove to a charity shop and bought Mick a set of clothes that were at least clean and covered up his huge belly. Then they went to a café where he got enough food and black coffee down their witness to sober him up before he gave his statement. Neither he nor Alex had eaten since breakfast, so they filled up, too.
Josiah glanced at his holopad for Reed’s latest update and saw that Esther had called him several times. Grimacing, he tucked the device away again; he wasn’t ready to face his boss yet.
It was dark by the time they returned to the duck, but Mick was at least walking in a straight line.
Reed looked up from his desk when they arrived at the SID, doing a double take when he saw Mick.
“Suspect?” he queried, jumping to his feet.
“Witness,” Josiah replied.
“To Dacre’s murder?” Reed looked astonished. “That’s fantastic. I was wondering why you wanted that information earlier, but I should know better than to doubt you by now, sir.”
Josiah gave an evasive smile. “You ready, Mick?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Mick looked like a very big fish out of water. He scuffed his shoes on the polished floor and cast a sideways look at Alex. “I can do this. I’m not scared of Tyler,” he said, looking precisely that.
“Tyler?” Reed queried. “Is he still a suspect?”
“It’s complicated,” Josiah sighed.
Reed grabbed Josiah’s arm and pulled him over to one side. “I should warn you that the boss has been looking for you all day. She says you’ve been avoiding her calls. I told her you were busy chasing down leads, but she wasn’t happy about not being kept in the loop. I hope you’ll have something good to tell her when she finally catches up with you.”
“I will,” Josiah said firmly, because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about. “Do you have anything to report? Any news on the woman who posted the gun?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.” Reed clicked on his holopad, and a holopic of a pretty woman with blonde hair materialised in front of them. “Meet Tara Henley. I tracked her down and interviewed her today. Watch this.”
“I remember posting the parcel,” Tara said. “I was being a bit of a good Samaritan. A man asked me to post something for him as he was in a rush and it was raining. It didn’t seem a big deal – I was going that way anyway. He asked very politely. I do hope I didn’t do the wrong thing.”
“Not at all. Can you give us a description of the man?” Reed asked her.
“He was a little taller than you, I’d say. Nothing else about him really stands out. He just looked… ordinary.”
“What colour was his hair?”
“I didn’t see it – like I said, it was raining, and he was wearing a hooded coat.”
“Any idea how old he was?”
Tara paused and then shrugged. “Between twenty and forty, maybe.”
“That narrows it down,” Josiah muttered dryly.
“I only saw him briefly, and he was wearing this big coat with a hood,” she repeated. “Sorry, I can’t remember more.”
Reed froze the recording, leaving Tara Henley standing in mid-shrug. “It’s not a huge amount to go on, but it might help. And yes, I did check out Mrs Henley, but I’ve got no reason to suspect that she’s lying.”
