Alex laughed, guessing his intent. “Careful, I only just finished mending the vase… although there’s always the bedroom.”
Josiah shook his head regretfully. “I now have two murderers to bring to justice, to say nothing of a long list of other people to investigate. There’s no time to waste. Go and get dressed – we have work to do.”
“I’m coming with you?”
“Yes, of course. I need your help – and one more thing…”
Alex turned back on his way to the door.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to be discreet about this… us… whatever it is we are now.” Josiah grimaced. “If the press finds out, it’ll make bringing Tyler to justice harder. Best if nobody knows – for now, at least. Can you do that?”
Alex laughed. “Oh, Josiah, I’m just as good at keeping secrets as you are, remember.” He closed his eyes, humming a few bars of his song. When he opened them again his expression was vacant, his shoulders loose and his jaw slack. The transformation was startling. There was no sign of the man Josiah had been speaking to this morning, or had made love to so passionately last night. It was as if a different person had taken his place. The man standing in front of him was every inch the compliant, obedient servant without a single thought in his head.
“Fuck,” Josiah said. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?”
Alex gave an empty smile. “Belvedere, sir.”
Josiah reached out and gently touched his cheek. “I’m sure that wasn’t an easy trick to master,” he said softly.
Alex’s eyelids flickered but the mask remained firmly in place. “It wasn’t, but I mastered it well.”
Josiah dug around for information on Solange while Alex was dressing. As expected, the IS agency showed she’d been indentured to Tyler at the time of her death. But instead of marking her as deceased, it showed that her contract had come to a natural conclusion and she’d been paid in full. Josiah wasn’t surprised; Tyler had had seven years to work out a cover story for why she’d never been seen again. He put in a call to Reed. His faithful info-tech was at his desk working, where he’d no doubt been since the crack of dawn.
“I’m sending you a list of names,” Josiah told him, without bothering with pleasantries. “I want anything you can get me on any of them, starting with Theodore – Ted – Burgis. Tyler Tech registered him as an IS, but his contract ended a few years ago. Find out where he is now.”
“Is he a suspect?”
“No, he’s a lead.” Josiah deliberately didn’t say what he was lead for, which gave him a pang of guilt.
“Are you coming in today?”
“I have no idea. It depends on what you find for me.”
“Does this take priority over finding the woman who posted the gun? I was just about to head out to look for her again.”
“Send someone else. I want you on this. Call me if you find anything.”
Reed glanced up in surprise. “Where will you be?”
“I have something important to do,” Josiah said tersely, ending the call.
This was becoming serious. He was lying to Esther, asking Reed to investigate a case they had no authorisation to pursue, and if he found Ted Burgis and persuaded him to testify, then he was sure Tyler would bring down a whole world of pain on his head. He’d promised Alex he would bring Tyler to justice, and he intended to do just that, but it was hard lying to his friends and colleagues. Yet, without something more than Alex’s word togo on, Esther would never authorise him to look into Solange’s murder. Then there was Elsie and the Kathleen Line. If Tyler dug around in his life, then he was putting them all at risk. This whole thing was becoming more dangerous by the second.
Josiah strode into the garden for some fresh air. Sitting on the swing, he rocked back and forth, considering his next move. He wished he could hear Peter whispering advice in his ear as he’d done most days for the past seven years. He suspected, if he asked a psychologist, that they’d say Peter’s voice had always been a manifestation of his own self, born out of shock and grief. So, if that voice was a part of him, then surely he could still access it within himself?
“Peter, I have to do something that I’m going to hate. It’ll feel like a betrayal of you and all we worked for together. I hope you understand,” he mused out loud. He knew, instantly and instinctively, what Peter’s reply would be:
“The Kathleen Line was my baby, not yours. Don’t feel you have to hold on to it for my sake.”
He couldn’t hear Peter whispering in his ear, but he argued back all the same, seeking the clarity that talking to Peter had always brought him.
“Newsflash, Peter. You left me to run it for the past seven years, so it’s just as much mine now. More, probably.”
“You’ll put Elsie and all the others in danger if you pursue Tyler.”That’s what Peter would say, so Josiah said it out loud, needing to hear it.
“I know.”
“You could always walk away from this whole mess. Solange died years ago. Does it matter that her killer is brought to justice when there are ISs out there who need your help right now?”
