Page 22 of The Lost Zone (Dark Water #3)

Chapter Seven

Josiah

Tyler wasn’t alone. He had a security team with him: four big men, two standing on either side of him, and next to them was a slender man clutching a briefcase.

“You’re trespassing,” Josiah growled, aware of the anxiety emanating from Alex.

Tyler shrugged. “And you’re making a big mistake.”

“Not as big a mistake as breaking into an investigator’s house.”

“Breaking in? Do you have proof of that? You’ll find your locks intact and no signs of a break-in, so it’ll just be your word against mine.

” Tyler smiled. “Your security here is terrible, by the way. I expected to have to use a disrupter to get in but found, much to my surprise, that you don’t have a smarthouse system. Not even so much as a camera intercom.”

“I don’t need that stuff.”

“Ah, a technophobe.” Tyler smirked. “Well, I love that ‘stuff’, as you call it; it’s helped me enormously over?—”

“What do you want, Tyler?” Josiah interrupted impatiently. “Why are you here? I’m assuming it’s not to lecture me about my low-tech house.”

“Of course not. I’m here because I thought you might appreciate a friendly warning.”

“How kind of you to care about me, a man you barely know.”

“We played golf together. That almost makes us friends.” Tyler smiled wolfishly.

“No, it really doesn’t.” Josiah stepped into the room, with Alex following him, shadowing his every move.

Josiah weighed the situation. Were the four thugs to intimidate him?

That was amusing. Josiah assumed they were here to force him to listen to what Tyler had to say, but if so, it was unnecessary.

He was impatient to hear Tyler’s next move.

“You’ve had a busy day, Investigator Raine,” Tyler observed. The urbane figure from a couple of days earlier was gone. The gloves were off.

Josiah gave a tight smile. “You’ve been following me.”

“Well, you’ve been looking into my affairs, so it seemed reasonable.”

“I’m an investigator, it’s my job.”

“And it’s mine to protect my own interests,” Tyler riposted.

“Fair enough.” Josiah didn’t like the fact he was standing before this man in his own living room, like a servant.

It gave his uninvited guest the upper hand.

So, he took a seat in the armchair opposite Tyler.

Alex glided noiselessly into place beside him, standing next to the chair.

Tyler gave him a hard, questioning look, and Alex bowed his head submissively.

“Butter wouldn’t melt,” Tyler said contemptuously. “This is what I came to warn you about, Investigator Raine. This is what he does; he reels you in with his little act, and then he betrays you.”

“Is that so?” Josiah glanced at Alex and saw that the familiar vacant mask was in place. He could hear Alex humming softly under his breath.

“Yes. I should know. It’s what he did to me.”

“Really?”

“I treated him well, but he used me, like he uses everyone to get his own way.”

“That’s an interesting take, and a little different to the story you told me on Friday. What’s changed?”

“I was being kind out of memory to his dear late mother. I never liked to believe ill of the boy.”

“So, you were lying then, or you’re lying now.”

“I was being kind then. Now, I’m just hurt.”

“Why?” Josiah sat back. “What do you think he’s told me?”

Tyler shrugged. “Lies.”

“Why would he lie?”

“It’s who he is.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m sure you don’t. Everyone falls for his act, because it is an act. I fell for it once, too. He deploys his looks and charm to get his own way. Was he here for even twenty-four hours before trying to seduce you, I wonder?”

Josiah shifted uneasily in his seat.

Tyler gave a little grunt. “I see I’ve hit a nerve. I don’t blame you for wanting to defend him. I would have done the same once. He fooled me, just like he’s fooling you.”

Josiah glanced at Alex again, this time to find him ashen-faced. He was clearly scared, but of what? Scared of Tyler, or scared of Josiah hearing some piece of information he hadn’t shared with him?

“When he was sentenced to indentured servitude, I felt sorry for him. Yes, he’d lied to me, yes, he was a thief…

but I didn’t like to believe my old friend’s son was beyond redemption, and he did seem very contrite.

So, I brought him into my home and tried to fix him.

Is any of this sounding familiar?” Tyler shot Josiah a knowing glance.

He shrugged. “I’m intrigued as to where you’re going with this, Tyler.”

Tyler paused for a long moment, his eyes glittering, and then he continued, “I can see now that I spoilt him. I doted on him like an old fool, unable to see him for what he truly is.”

“Which is?” Josiah raised an eyebrow.

“A liar and manipulator.”

“And how do you think he’s manipulating me?” Josiah asked.

“I think he’s reeled you in with some made-up story, and you’re running around all over the place looking for ghosts that don’t exist. He’s almost certainly derailed you from your investigation into Elliot Dacre’s murder, and now you’re dancing to his tune, doing something else entirely.”

His visit to Tyler’s house had obviously spooked him.

If Josiah had known about Solange at that point, he might have chosen not to go there and give Tyler a heads up that he was on his radar, but it was too late for that now.

Tyler obviously knew he was investigating Solange’s death, so he decided it was time to show a little more of his hand.

“Let’s not pretend. You know who I’ve been to see today and why.”

“I know the who, but not the why. What possible reason could you have for visiting some of my old servants?”

Well, Tyler could hardly admit that he knew about Solange’s death. He was playing a complicated game of cat and mouse – and Josiah wasn’t entirely sure which of them was hunter and which prey.

“I visited your old servants to ask about the murder of a young woman in your house seven years ago,” he said, watching Tyler’s reaction closely. He wasn’t disappointed; Tyler looked outraged.

“A murder? In my house? Absurd. I suppose Alexander told you this?”

“Yes.”

“And does this poor woman have a name?”

“Solange Alajika,” Josiah supplied easily. “I checked. She was definitely your IS seven years ago.”

“Solange? She’s my god-daughter. She completed her contract and left for pastures new years ago. You can check the IS agency database.

“I already have. That’s precisely what it says.”

“Yet you believe this proven liar over a respected businessman?”

“Why would he make it up?”

“That’s obvious. His houder was murdered and he’s in your custody. You’re a homicide investigator. What better way to appeal to your curiosity than to invent a murder?”

“There were other witnesses.”

“All Alex’s former lovers, no doubt?” Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Like I said, he’s a manipulator.”

Josiah thought back to the affection both Ted and, more surprisingly, Mick had displayed towards Alex, but he dismissed that thought in an instant. Neither of those men had been Alex’s lovers, he was sure of that.

“And did Alexander say who killed this poor young woman?” Tyler demanded.

“Oh, yes.” Josiah stared at him intently. “He was very clear about that. He said it was you.”

“ That’s what he told you?” Tyler shook his head in exaggerated disbelief. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but that’s low, even by his standards. It’s nonsense, of course. There is no dead woman, just more of his manipulation, because it is manipulation. All of it.”

“To what end?”

“To stop you from finding out the truth about Elliot Dacre’s murder. Distraction, obfuscation, a deliberate ‘look over there’ to stop you from seeing what’s right in front of you. If he ruins you in the process, so be it, he doesn’t care.”

“Oh, I don’t think Alex is the liar in this room,” Josiah stated firmly. He glanced at Alex, who was still standing beside him, his head bowed and his face pale, but his mask well and truly in place. “We’re done here.”

“Not quite.” Tyler leaned forward. “You’re a talented man, Raine.

I admire you. In fact, you have precisely the qualities I’m looking for.

I’ve been trying to recruit a new head of security for months, but nobody I’ve seen is quite right.

You would be perfect for the job. How much does Director Lomax pay you?

I’d triple it. You’d have your own helicopter and a team of dedicated indies at your disposal – some of them just as pretty as Alex. ” He gave a conspiratorial wink.

Josiah snorted. “If Alex is lying, then why are you trying to buy me off, Tyler?”

“I’m not. I genuinely like you.”

“The feeling isn’t mutual, and I’m not for sale. Now, please leave.”

Tyler’s expression changed in an instant, and Josiah saw the plan. That had been the carrot, and now the stick was about to come out.

Tyler took out his holopad and clicked, and a holovid instantly hovered in the room.

Josiah gave a grunt of recognition as he watched himself and Alex, walking hand in hand along the street outside Ted’s shop earlier that day.

That was his fault. He’d told Alex to keep up a facade outside the house but had failed to follow his own advice.

He should have known that Tyler would be watching him.

Suddenly, he remembered the footprints he’d seen in the back garden earlier; had they belonged to one of Tyler’s men, too, spying on the house?

“I wonder, does Director Lomax know you’re romantically involved with your prime suspect?” Tyler asked.

“You think you can get me fired?” Josiah was genuinely amused.

“I’ve had my investigators look into you since you showed up so unexpectedly at my house. I have quite the dossier on you, Investigator Raine. You must find that annoying. You’re so used to being the one doing the investigating.”

Josiah shrugged. “I have nothing to hide.”

“Really?” Tyler clicked, and a picture of Elsie suddenly took the place of the holovid.