“Not really. You don’t have a choice to jump. You never really did, to be honest. Your choice is whether to stay here and learn more or go back tomorrow.”
As charismatic and charming as Gideon undeniably was, he was also ruthless to the core, and his own interests came first.
Alex sighed. “Namaste,” he said at last, pressing his hands to his forehead and bowing to the master, knowing he had no other options left.
Gideon returned the bow with an indulgent smile. “Namaste,” he said softly.
Chapter Thirteen
OCTOBER 2095
Josiah
The search warrant was easily obtained, based on the witness statements. Josiah hoped they’d taken Tyler by surprise with the speed at which they’d moved; he might have hoped he had more time to ponder his next move, but Esther – now she was onboard – moved fast.
Josiah strode around the SID issuing orders to his newly enlarged team. “I want divers, scanning sonar, an ROV, and a command post set up at the scene ASAP,” he said, outlining an area on the map. “This is where Reynolds says the body was dumped. We can’t expect it to still be there after all this time, but we can use it as a starting point.”
He watched them all scuttle off to do his bidding, and then put in a call to Sofie. “How are things?” he asked cautiously.
“All well here. And with you? How did it go?”
“Good. We have a warrant to search the waters around Tyler’s house.”
“That’s fantastic. I’ve been thinking about the specifics of this case since you left this morning and have done some research. Alex said the body was wrapped in a rug. If he was smart, Tyler might also have punctured the torso to let decomposition gases escape, as they’d aid buoyancy. It’s possible the entire corpse willbe found – likely in skeleton form after all this time. However, it’s also likely you won’t find anything; you might be lucky and find at least one bone.”
“That would be enough to at least prove a body was disposed of there, if nothing else,” Josiah said grimly.
“Alex said she was dumped in winter. Cold water slows down decomposition and can cause adipocere to form – that’s a waxy tissue, like soap.”
“Yeah, I know.” Josiah grimaced. “I’ve seen a few drowned bodies over the years.”
“It’s possible she’ll be in this condition, if you find her, but that won’t make DNA identification any easier, sadly. Identification of the remains will be your biggest headache if you do find a skeleton.”
“Understood.”
“Joe, has anyone asked about… Sem?” Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Not yet. I need to leave to drive to Lewes now, but you know what to do if you hear anything.” Josiah ended the call and turned to Alex. “Do you want to come with me? If we find her, you might find it… difficult.”
“I want to be there,” Alex said firmly. “This day has been such a long time coming. I can’t miss it.”
“Well, it probably won’t be today. Or tomorrow. We might never find her.” Josiah sighed at Alex’s stricken expression. “Sorry, I’m just trying to manage your expectations.”
“I hadn’t even thought about what would happen if it went this far. All I cared about was convincing someone to start an investigation. If there’s no body, will the investigation be dropped?”
Josiah shook his head. “Not necessarily, but it’s unlikely we’ll obtain a conviction without a body, given all the odds stacked against us. It’ll be hard enoughwitha body.”
“And if Tyler isn’t brought to justice, I’ll be returned to him, only this time he’ll know just how much I hate him,” Alex said glumly.
“Yes. It’s a very dangerous game, but you knew that already.” Josiah placed his hands on Alex’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Ready to play it?”
Alex took a shaky breath, then nodded. “Yes. Ready.”
Reed was busy setting up the command post when Josiah arrived. Tyler had to have been aware what was happening from the outset. How could he not since his house overlooked the lost zone they were about to search? His lawyers had sprung into action, but while Tyler might own the land his house was built on, he didn’t own the water around it, so Esther had won that round. Josiah didn’t fool himself that much else would be so easily won.
He instructed the divers on their search parameters. It was a large body of water, so nothing would happen fast. Alex sat quietly to one side while he worked, watching his every move.
When Josiah paused for a moment, Alex brought him a freshly brewed cup of tea and some dark chocolate biscuits. “Caffeine and sugar to keep you going,” he said as he handed them over. “Also, paracetamol, just in case you need it.” Josiah took everything gratefully. He had a pounding headache and was running on empty.
