“Alex.” Josiah beckoned him forward and pointed at the holopic hanging in mid-air. “Do you know this lady?”
Alex shook his head. “No. I’ve never seen her before.”
“Our killer is clever,” Reed said. “He didn’t want to be caught on CCTV mailing the gun, so he gave it to someone else to post –someone entirely random who can’t be connected to him.”
“We don’t know the man who gave her the parcel is the killer,” Josiah said. “It could be an accomplice.”
“I thought you didn’t like my accomplice theory?” Reed clicked the holopic off.
“I haven’t ruled it out. Have you found out anything else from Dacre’s data profile?”
“Yeah, but nothing helpful. It seems he enjoyed holoporn of fit young men in gyms randomly shagging each other. Also, he’s a big consumer of those stupid holomags about posh houses – celebrity kitchens, toilets where the stars shit – that kind of stuff. He’s got about a dozen subscriptions to different ones. Plus, he spent a small fortune on fresh flowers every month. Very fond of Asiatic lilies.”
“Sounds riveting. Keep looking.” Josiah clapped Reed on the shoulder. “I’ll be in the interview suite.”
“Interviewing the very important witness who has nothing to do with this case?” Reed cast a wary glance at Mick. “I do hope you know what you’re doing, sir, because the boss is on the warpath.”
Josiah took Mick to the interview room, gesturing to Alex to watch from the viewing room, with its huge two-way mirror.
It was strange to hear about the events of that night from another perspective. He didn’t like Mick, but he was too pathetic to hate. The man was sober enough to give a reasonably coherent testimony, and the details tallied with what Alex had said.
“I didn’t know he was gonna kill her,” he wailed, looking genuinely haunted. “I thought he might kill Alex, ’cause Alex was kind of a pain in the arse, but not Solange. He’d slapped her around a couple of times, but I never thought he’d seriously hurt her.”
“We’d like to retrieve her body,” Josiah told him. “Can you tell us precisely where you disposed of it?”
Mick nodded slowly. “I think I know the place – although it was seven years ago, so there probably isn’t much of it left to find, even if it’s still there.”
At that moment, the door banged open, and Esther glided into the room with a thunderous expression on her face.
“Would you like to come out here and give me an update, Investigator Raine?” she asked icily, glancing at Mick. Josiah got to his feet in trepidation. Esther at her most glacial was a woman to be reckoned with. It was time to face the music.
She waited until they were in the interview suite anteroom and the door was shut before turning her wheelchair to face him and let rip. “What the hell is going on, Joe? I’m seeing the Home Secretary tomorrow, and I wanted an update from you so I canprepare. But if I’m not very much mistaken – and I really hope I am – you’re avoiding my calls. Where the hell have you been?”
“I was on the move. There was no time to call back.”
“On the move doing what, exactly?” she demanded. “I’ve asked Reed, and he doesn’t know, and you haven’t filed a single report all day. Then you show up here with a witness. Why have you brought that man here, and what does he know about Dacre’s murder?”
Josiah winced. “His name is Mick Reynolds, and he doesn’t know anything about Dacre’s murder.”
She exploded. “Damn it, Joe. First you take a day off to go golfing with George Tyler and piss him off so bloody much that he calls me to complain, and now you disappear for a whole day doing God knows what. What are you playing at?”
“Investigating. That’s what you pay me for.”
“Investigating what?” she demanded. “Or should I ask who? Reed tells me that Mick Reynolds used to be one of Tyler’s indies – is that what this is about? Are you still going after Tyler, even after I expressly told you not to?”
“I go where the trail leads me – you know that,” Josiah retorted. “That’s how I work, and I’ve never let you down yet, have I? I always get results, which is why you keep fighting off all those other agencies clamouring to hire me.”
“Right now, I’m wondering if you’re worth it.” She took a deep breath. “Is this because of Alexander Lytton? Because all this started when you took him home with you.”
“Yes, it’s to do with him, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Please, Esther – trust me. I’ve found something that goes deep. I’m convinced it will lead me to Dacre’s killer, but it will take time.”
“Time is in short supply, Joe. Dacre’s murder is causing widespread unrest. Nobody likes the idea of another high-profile houder being murdered by his IS, and as this particular IShappens to be the most famous in the whole bloody country, the press are whipped up into a frenzy. The Home Secretary is worried that this fiasco might spark another riot. We need results, but instead of getting them, my top investigator is off pursuing a completely unnecessary vendetta against George Tyler of all people.”
“Esther – this whole case is more complicated than it seems,” Josiah said in a low, placatory tone. “I need to investigate Tyler in order to find out who killed Dacre. The two are related in some way – I know it.”
“How? What are the facts?”
“It’s more of a hunch,” Josiah admitted. “I don’t believe Tyler had anything to do with Dacre’s murder, but I do know he’s definitely guilty of another murder. He killed a young woman seven years ago. She was an IS in his care, and he murdered her and hushed it up.”
