Page 47 of The Lost Zone (Dark Water #3)

“That can certainly be arranged.” Josiah wondered if he still had any ancient lube left from when Peter was alive, but Alex was one step ahead of him.

“I have this.” He held up the tube of lube from the other night.

It was even better this time, because that first frenzied need to have each other was sated, and they knew each other better.

Josiah had always been a good lover, and he took his time, arousing Alex completely before sliding into him.

Alex’s body was beautiful, but Josiah had never been particularly attracted to looks.

While he found Alex’s deep grey eyes and teasing lips captivating, it was the sense of being intimate with this clever, challenging man that really turned him on.

It’d been years since Josiah had enjoyed lazy morning sex, and it had always been one of his favourite things. He was pretty sure it was as good for Alex as it was for him, judging by the sounds Alex was making. He hoped Sofie and Sem were deep sleepers.

Afterwards, they lay wrapped up in each other’s arms, dropping little kisses onto each other’s bare skin every so often. Josiah found his mind wandering to the case, to the future, and to what Sofie had said about one day losing Alex.

“Do you always top?” Alex asked suddenly.

“Hmm? Oh. No. Peter preferred to bottom, that’s all.” Josiah smiled. “He’d top if I asked, but I knew he didn’t enjoy it as much, so…” He shrugged. “It didn’t bother me. I like both.”

“Would you let me top you, then?” Alex asked.

“I’d love that. Not now, though.” Josiah glanced at the clock. “We need to get going.”

“Of course. Another time. When it feels right.”

Later, dressed in a sharp navy-blue suit, Josiah knocked on the door to the spare room and glanced inside. Sofie was sitting on the bed beside Sem, who was awake and sitting up, and had some colour in his cheeks. He looked much like his sister: slight and blond, with pale blue eyes.

“This is Josiah, the man who rescued you,” Sofie told her brother. “And also, my boss.”

“Hey, Sem. Good to meet you.” Josiah held out his hand.

Sem took it, shyly. “Thank you, sir, for all your help. I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused,” he said softly.

“Well, I won’t lie and say it’s been no trouble, but I will say that it’s been worth it.” Josiah grinned. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better, sir.”

“Please, call me Joe.” Josiah glanced at Sofie. “Can he be left alone today? I can’t swing another day out of the office for you. Esther will ask questions.”

“It’s okay,” a voice behind him said. “I’ll stay with him.” Alex appeared, dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt instead of the smart suits he’d been wearing for the past few days. He’d clearly thought this through already.

“Thank you.” Sofie looked hugely grateful. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, but he might need some help walking to the toilet, and I’d rather someone was here to keep an eye on him. I agree that I need to go to work today, or it’d cause too much suspicion.”

“I’ll call you if I have any concerns about him,” Alex told her, sitting on the bed beside the patient. “Hey, Sem, I’m Alex – we’re gonna have fun today without these two Inquisitus spoilsports around.” He gave a huge grin and a thumbs up.

Sem relaxed, visibly, and so did Sofie. Sem was in good hands.

Josiah pressed a kiss to Alex’s cheek, aware of what he was sacrificing. Every nerve and sinew in his body must want to be at the crime scene today, but he was giving that up for Sofie and Sem. “I’ll call you if we find anything,” he said. “And Alex – thank you.”

Esther called Sofie into her office the moment they arrived.

“Good luck,” Josiah mouthed, watching her go. She was nervous, unused to deceiving anyone, but she knew what she had to do; he’d coached her well.

Half an hour later, she walked through the SID accompanied by Esther and a large man with an almost comically huge moustache.

“Everything okay?” Josiah asked Esther, one eyebrow raised at the trio’s sombre mood. “I’m waiting to take Baumann with me to Lewes; I want her on standby in case we find anything.”

“Sofie’s brother is missing,” Esther replied. “She assures me that she knows nothing about it, but his houder, Mr Ryland, wants to search our IS accommodation to ensure Sem Baumann isn’t being harboured there.”

“Can you be quick about it?” Josiah demanded. “I have a job to do here, and I don’t want some tedious IS drama holding things up.” He shot a cool glance at Sofie. She looked upset, but then clearly remembered they were pretending and put her head down.

Reed grabbed him the minute he returned to his desk.

“I’ve got something to show you.”

“Have the divers found something?” Josiah asked, feeling his hopes rise.

“No, this is about the Dacre case.” Reed clicked on his holopad and a holovid appeared, hovering over Josiah’s desk.

He recognised the view immediately as being the street outside Elliot Dacre’s house.

“It’s taken awhile, because I had to get agreement from every single householder, but I’ve finally managed to collect the footage from all the different entry systems up and down the street, and this is the view at nine-thirty-two a.m.”

It looked fairly ordinary. The street was largely empty of people, but it was a quiet residential street, so that wasn’t surprising. Then, suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a figure, towards the far-left corner of the image. Reed paused the footage and pointed.

“We catch sight of this person at nine-thirty-two, then again at nine-thirty-four and nine-thirty-five. Then nothing until ten-fifteen.” On each time stamp, the image was frustratingly difficult to decipher.

“I’ve cleaned up the images as much as possible, but one thing is clear.

He knows where all the cameras are, and he’s very good at avoiding them as much as possible.

He’s nearly always facing away or his head is down.

This was the clearest image I could get.

” Reed clicked again, and a close-up holoimage appeared in front of Josiah.

“This is almost certainly who killed Dacre,” Reed told him.

Josiah felt a tingle creep up his spine as he stared at the image. It was a man – that much was clear, but little else was. He was wearing a long black coat with the collar turned up, covering his face up to the nose, and a wide-brimmed black hat pulled down which obscured the rest of his face.

“AI says there’s not enough for facial recognition to get a hit,” Reed murmured, although that much was obvious.

“So, it’s a man.”

“Yup.” Reed gave a tight smile. “Although, I suppose it could be a woman under there, but given the height and gait, it looks like a man.”

“If he knew where all the cameras are, maybe he did a recce of the street in the days before the murder,” Josiah said. “Have you looked at the footage from then?”

“Yup,” Reed said. “There’s nothing. Nobody acting suspiciously, taking photos of the area. However, he wouldn’t necessarily need to go there in person to know where all the cameras are. He could find that information on any street-view holonav.”

“Fuck.” Josiah stared at the pictures despondently.

“There is some good news,” Reed said.

Josiah raised an eyebrow.

“This person can’t possibly be Lytton, because we know he was at the gym when they were taken.”

“I never believed Alex murdered Dacre,” Josiah snapped.

“Well, this isn’t exactly proof of that. He could still have murdered Dacre, and this is just an innocent passer-by. But that doesn’t seem likely, given the lengths they’ve taken to avoid all the different house security cameras.”

Josiah studied the close-ups of the man in the black coat and hat, but none of the pictures were clear enough to glean anything.

“So, despite this, we’re no further forward on the Dacre case, then,” he sighed.

“Nope, but I’ll keep looking.”

It was frustrating, but the Dacre case had been that way from the moment he’d started working on it.

He put in a call to Esther to see when Sofie would be returning, only for it to go through to voicemail. He’d been pacing up and down the corridor for a few minutes, anxious to return to Lewes as soon as possible, when there was a buzz on his holopad.

“The eagle has landed,” a familiar voice said.

“Elsie,” he whispered, shutting himself in a meeting room so he wouldn’t be overheard. He switched to visual, and she popped up in front of him, looking happy and relaxed, wearing a loose green dress with a pair of big fluffy slippers on her feet.

“I’m here, Joe, and I swear Liz’s children have grown a foot since I last saw them. Little Peter is so grown up. I wish you were here to see them.”

“One day,” he promised. “I’m so glad you’re safe, Elsie. That’s one thing off my plate, at least.”

“Are things kicking off back there?” she asked in a quieter tone.

“Yup. You got out just in time.”

“And the young man whose sister called?”

“That situation is all fine.”

“Good. I hated the idea of turning that poor woman down. Now, I know you’re at work and have to go. I just wanted to let you know I’m okay.”

“That’s a huge relief. You stay safe, Elsie. I’ll call you when I can.” He smiled at the thought of her hanging out with Liz and the kids. Her many years of risking her health and safety for the Kathleen Line were over. He’d never put her in that kind of danger again. She’d earned her retirement.

Esther returned half an hour later with Sofie, who was looking much more relaxed now that her ordeal was over. Mr Ryland, on the other hand, looked annoyed. He’d obviously been convinced he’d find Sofie harbouring her brother.

“If he shows up, please contact me immediately,” he told Esther stiffly, handing her a card. “He injured my foreman and is clearly a very dangerous man. I’ll report this to the IS agency, and the police, of course. I’m sure a bounty hunter will bring him in – if he’s still alive,” he added darkly.

Sofie stared at him, stricken. It obviously hadn’t occurred to her that bounty hunters might come looking for her brother.