Page 41 of The Lost Zone (Dark Water #3)

Esther nodded. “I can understand your frustration, Mr Tyler. Josiah was acting outside his remit yesterday. He will be disciplined.”

“Good. Now, I want your personal word that he won’t bother me, or any of my current or former staff, again.”

“I can’t do that. A serious allegation has been made against you about the death of a young woman in your service. Josiah is an investigator; he felt duty-bound to look into that allegation.”

“A ludicrous allegation made by a known liar,” Tyler snapped.

“Solange Alajika left my household years ago. Now, either report that allegation to the Home Secretary and see if he’ll authorise you to investigate this nonsense or drop it.

” Tyler sat back. “But you don’t have the evidence to go to the Home Secretary because none exists.

This is all smoke and mirrors invented by that devious young man sitting over there to stop you from doing what you should be doing. ”

“Which is?” Esther asked.

“Finding who killed Dacre. I doubt whether you’ll really have to search very hard for the person responsible for that, though.

He’s doing everything in his power to make you look the other way.

” Tyler glanced contemptuously at Alex. “I know him, Director Lomax. I know what a good liar he is. He’s deceived me more than once.

More fool me, you might say, but he’s good – good enough to dupe even your best investigator. ”

It wasn’t going well. Josiah could see Esther wavering. Tyler saw it, too, and went in for the kill.

“You don’t believe me? Look at this, then – is this the behaviour you’d expect of your most senior investigator?”

He nodded at his lawyer, and the holovid he’d shown Josiah the previous night of him holding Alex’s hand in the street filled the room. Esther shot a furious look at Josiah.

“I’m sure you have an explanation for this, Joe,” she snapped.

“He was upset. I was comforting him,” Josiah replied, but he knew it sounded feeble.

Tyler smiled, convinced he’d delivered a knock-out blow.

“Return Alex to me and I’ll be on my way.

You won’t hear from me again, and we’ll forget this whole sorry incident.

However, if you continue down this path, I promise there will be repercussions – not just for Inquisitus but for you personally. ”

Josiah saw the minute stiffening in Esther’s body language and wondered if Tyler had overplayed his hand. Esther was not a woman to threaten. It was guaranteed to piss her off, and a pissed-off Esther was not to be trifled with.

Tyler stood up, scenting blood. “Well, what’s it to be?”

“I’m just wondering why you were following my investigator and taking videos of him,” Esther mused.

Tyler looked taken aback.

“You could have simply sent your lawyers to me with the legal documents regarding Lytton. Why try to discredit Investigator Raine?”

“Because he invaded my house,” Tyler replied heatedly. “And when I called you to complain, nothing happened.”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Reed came in.

“Do you have it?” Josiah asked.

“Yup.” Reed placed his holopad on Esther’s desk.

“What’s this?” Tyler demanded.

“Just a little something I want to show you.” Josiah smiled at him. “You might want to sit down for this. I wish I had popcorn – Alex told me how much you enjoy watching home movies with a big bowl of it.” He saw Tyler’s eyes narrow at that reference.

“Joe, what’s this about?” Esther demanded.

“I’ll show you. You see, a couple of years ago, my dog, Hattie, started having seizures. I was worried about leaving her alone in the house with nobody there.”

“Get to the point, Raine,” Tyler snapped. “We don’t have time to listen to stories about your dog.”

Josiah gave an urbane smile. “So, I asked Reed to set up Hattiecam for me, so I could check in on her when I was at work. As a joke, he placed an old-school camera in a stupid little statue of a dog he’d bought. He knew I’d hate it.”

Reed gave a little chuckle of acknowledgement.

“Now, I admit that I hold on to those I love for far too long. I never threw out Hattie’s lead, or collar, or basket…

or the Hattiecam. See, Hattiecam records every twenty-four-hour period in my living room and then copies over it the next day.

I wasn’t sure it still worked as I haven’t checked it in a long time, but Reed managed to resurrect the recording Hattiecam made of your visit to my house last night. ”

Josiah nodded, and Reed clicked on the holopad.

An image that was recognisably Josiah’s living room appeared in mid-air.

Tyler said nothing but his face went dark.

How ironic, Josiah thought, that a man who’d built an empire out of recording people in compromising positions had been caught out in the same way.

“I don’t like tech – I don’t own a smartwall or biokey entry system,” he said.

“However, I’m sure you swept the house for recording devices when you broke in last night.

And you must have felt pretty confident coming here today that your version of events couldn’t be contradicted.

Unluckily for you, Hattiecam is far too low-tech to show up on any camera- or bug-seeking app. ”

Josiah gestured at the video, which showed Tyler and his entourage entering the living room. “You’ll note that I’m not there, and that’s because I didn’t let him in. There’s no evidence of a break-in – you’re too sophisticated for that, George – but you definitely weren’t invited in.”

Josiah nodded again, and Reed clicked forward to him entering the room sometime later and being obviously startled by the sight of his unexpected guests.

“Now… there was a fight, yes, and I certainly threw the first punch – I don’t deny it – but I was protecting my indie, someone who I am, by law, responsible for.

I was protecting him against a man who had broken into my house, made himself at home, and was threatening.

You’ll note one of his thugs has taken hold of Alex before I begin fighting. ”

The fight was less impressive than Josiah remembered it, and over far too quickly.

Esther watched the video in silence.

“I think we can chalk that up as a win for technophobes,” Josiah added with a grin, nodding to Reed, who ended the video. “As you can see, you have no case against me for harassing you. I, on the other hand, have a good one against you for trespass.”

“This doesn’t change anything.” Tyler had lost the faux outrage and was now cold and calculated. “Drop this, Director Lomax, or you’ll wish you had.”

“The last time someone said something like that to me, I was still walking,” Esther said slowly.

“He shot four bullets into me, but I didn’t stop until I’d brought him down.

That’s why I’m in this thing” – she gestured at her wheelchair – “and he’s in the ground.

” She gave a tight smile. “Alexander Lytton will remain in the custody of Inquisitus until I say otherwise. You won’t be taking him with you today, Mr Tyler, no matter what your lawyers say. ”

Tyler stood up, tight-lipped. “You’re making a big mistake, Lomax.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But I’ve worked with this particular Home Secretary for several months now, and I’ve found him a shrewd operator who isn’t easily swayed by others. You might find you have less influence on him than you think.”

“We’ll see.” Tyler glanced at Alex. “You’re just causing mischief, Alexander, and it will come back to bite you, in the end.”

Alex gazed at him impassively, his eyes completely empty.

Tyler gave a bark of laughter. “Oh, you play dumb so well. Where did you learn that little trick, I wonder?”

“Where you sent me to learn it, sir – Belvedere,” Alex said softly, his eyes still blank.

Tyler looked startled, clearly not expecting that.

“Perhaps you should ask them for your money back,” Josiah commented drily.

“I would, but it doesn’t exist anymore.”

Alex’s head jerked up in surprise.

“Oh – didn’t you know? That charlatan who ran it had cancer, so they closed it down. He died a few months ago, in June.”

Josiah was surprised to see the colour drain from Alex’s face. He’d always assumed that Alex’s time at Belvedere hadn’t been happy, but now he wasn’t so sure. He looked shocked and upset to learn this news.

Tyler looked pleased to have scored a hit. “I even went to his memorial service. Can you believe that? If I’d known then what a fraud he was, I’d have pissed on his grave, not stood in a cold church for an hour lamenting his passing.”

“He did what you paid him to do,” Alex said tightly.

“I paid him to turn you into the perfect servant,” Tyler snapped.

Alex’s face was as white as a sheet, his jaw taut. “That’s precisely what he did,” he retorted.

A slow realisation dawned in Tyler’s eyes.

“Oh, I see. The two of you were in it together.” He rocked back on his heels, gazing at Alex keenly.

“I understand it all so much better now.” Then he turned back to Esther.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyers, Lomax.

” He cast one last contemptuous glance at Josiah, and then he swept from the room, taking his entourage with him.

“Well, isn’t he a ray of sunshine,” Reed muttered after he’d gone. “I owe you an apology, sir. I don’t know what he’s guilty of, but after seeing that recording, I’m damn sure he’s guilty of something.”

“Yes, he is,” Esther said quietly. “Get a warrant to search the water around his house, Joe. Let’s see if we can find Solange Alajika. I’m sure Tyler wouldn’t be going to all this trouble if he wasn’t hiding something, and that’s as good a place as any to start.”

“You’re opening an investigation into her death?” Josiah asked. Over in the corner, he could see the look of shock and elation on Alex’s face.

“Well, I’d like to find a body first, but yes, I’m opening an investigation. As of now, this is official Inquisitus business. Can you run both cases, Joe? I’ll assign you more staff, but I still want you on Dacre’s murder.”

“Of course. I think the two are linked, somehow, anyway. I’m just not sure how yet. Thank you, Esther.” Josiah gave a smile of relief. “What changed your mind?”

“I don’t like being pushed around by men like Tyler,” she replied with a shrug.

“Coming into my office and throwing his weight around, threatening my investigator, my agency, and me.” She sounded furious.

“He has something big to hide, or why else play such a high-stakes game?” She glanced at Alex.

“I read those witness statements last night. Mick Reynolds is a weak witness, but Lytton’s statement impressed me.

I presume Dr Baumann can attest to the physical evidence of the abuse he suffered that would corroborate his account of what took place that night? ”

“Yes.” Josiah nodded. “I asked her to perform a physical exam the day we arrested him. Talking of Baumann, I’ve sent her out to check on some details relating to the Dacre case for me today.

” He hated lying to Esther, especially after she’d just fought his corner, but it was safer for them all this way.

“Fine.” She gazed at him curiously. “I hope you aren’t in too deep there, Joe,” she said softly. “That footage Tyler showed of you and Lytton…”

“I wasn’t lying. He was upset, and I was comforting him,” he insisted.

She continued gazing at him.

He sighed. “But obviously, we’ve become close. I won’t deny that.”

“Be careful, Joe. You have to give him back at some point, and that point might be sooner than you think. I have absolutely no doubt that Tyler owns Lytton’s contract.

He wouldn’t come barging in here making that kind of claim if it wasn’t true.

I can set the lawyers on it and give them instructions to obfuscate, but I won’t be able to hold them off for long.

You will have to hand Lytton over to him soon, unless…

” She paused and glanced at Alex speculatively.

“Unless?” Josiah pressed.

“Unless you find that body. Then, there isn’t a judge in the land who’d order me to hand over the key witness to the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

” She picked up her holopad. “Now, bugger off. I have a holocall to make. I’d rather the Home Secretary heard about all of it from me first, not Tyler.

Well, what are you waiting for?” She glared at him.

“Get out there and find that poor girl.”