Page 69 of The Lost Zone (Dark Water #3)

“Not really. When he left, he took my screen and holopad with him.”

“Did you report it?”

“Oh, please.” Neil rolled his eyes. “Like the Thorities care about petty theft.”

Thorities. Josiah mused on his use of the word.

He was familiar with it, of course, having grown up in the Quarterlands, but he’d rarely heard it used elsewhere.

Maybe these new floating cities, full of refugees from the Quarterlands, had adopted the same language patterns, and Neil had picked it up.

Although Neil didn’t strike him as someone who mixed well with others.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “Please bring Eric’s details to your interview tomorrow, so we can contact him.” Not that it was worth it. If Eric did exist, Neil could easily pay him to lie about where he’d been on the day of Elliot’s murder.

“Fine. But I didn’t kill Dacre,” Neil fumed as Josiah turned to leave. “And I will tell everyone that you’re trying to pin this on me because you want Alex for yourself.”

Josiah sighed and glanced over his shoulder. “Go ahead, Mr Grant. In the meantime, I’ll see you tomorrow at nine a.m.”

Neil followed him to the door and slammed it shut furiously behind him when he left.

Josiah pondered the whole exchange in his duck on the way back to Inquisitus.

It had started to rain, and the news channels were all warning about Storm Jasper, which was starting to blow in.

Had Neil killed Elliot Dacre? Neil was right that he had no hard evidence, nothing but supposition and guesswork, which wouldn’t wash in court.

There was also the danger of latching on to Neil simply because he had no other suspects.

On the other hand, Neil had shown himself to be a bitter, resentful man, prone to angry outbursts and nursing a powerful sense of paranoia.

Such a man could very easily have snapped and killed Dacre, but had he?

Well, if his job were easy, he’d no doubt find it boring. It was puzzles like this that kept him interested.

Neil’s reaction to being accused of murder had been outrage, unlike his far more guilty reaction to the lesser charge of lurking outside Josiah’s house. Those boot prints in the garden had belonged to a heavy man with big feet, and Neil ticked both those boxes.

Then there was the question of how Neil had enough money to bid on an IS as expensive as Alex. Unless… Was it possible he was involved in something illegal? Josiah put in a call to his confidential informant – it was time to do some more digging.

He arranged to meet Mahmoud on their usual bench in Ghost Eye. The weather was turning nasty, so they ran for the nearest café and sat inside, watching the rain pound against the window.

“Do you have anything for me on the gun that killed Dacre?” Josiah asked, handing Mahmoud a fully loaded cash card.

“Not yet, but these things take time. From the news, I thought you’d lost interest in this case,” Mahmoud said, pocketing the card. “You seem to have other fish to fry now. Bigger fish.”

“Maybe the two are linked.” Josiah glanced at him. “I have a new assignment for you, anyway. I want everything you can find about this man.” He handed Mahmoud a datacard with Neil’s details on it.

“Ah. Now this, I think, will be easier than finding the gun in the haystack you asked me to look for.” Mahmoud gave a little whistle as he scanned the datacard.

“You know him?” Josiah asked, surprised. He hadn’t expected an answer so soon.

“I know of him.” Mahmoud grinned. “He works for a drug cartel.”

“A drug cartel?” Josiah snorted. “Really? The guy’s an accountant.”

“And Quarterland crooks still need people to balance their books.” Mahmoud laughed.

“They need to know who owes them money and how business is going. I’ve heard of this man, because he seems a very unlikely person to be running with this particular group.

He always wears a suit and tie when he comes visiting. That marks him out. He gets noticed.”

“Got any details?” Josiah asked eagerly.

“The cartel is run by a gang called the Cabot, working out of the Canary Quarter. They answer to a man called Duke – not his real name.” Mahmoud gave a knowing wink, as if Josiah hadn’t figured that out by himself.

He was a cheery soul, despite his sad-faced appearance and droopy moustache.

“Duke’s not one of us. He uses Quarterlands scum to do his dirty work but he rarely comes to the Quarter himself.

This one will cost you. The Cabot aren’t to be crossed. ”

“You know I always pay well.”

“Not enough that I can get out of the Quarterlands,” Mahmoud muttered.

“Aw, I think you’d miss it if you did.”

“Did you?” Mahmoud fixed him with a beady stare. “You were one of us once. Do you ever miss the Quarterlands, Investigator Raine?”

Josiah grunted. “Never.”

“Well, then.”

Josiah leaned towards him. “Nobody ever really leaves the Quarterlands, Mahmoud. You know the saying: the damp gets in your bones.” He stood up and tossed Mahmoud another cash card. “I’ll always be one of you, no matter where I live. Call me if you learn anything more.”

A drug cartel. Ironic, given that Noah Lytton had hired Neil specifically to look after his croc-addicted son at university. How low had Neil sunk? Yet, if Neil had access to drug money, it would at least explain why he thought he could afford to buy Alex.

Josiah set off immediately for the Canary Quarter. He was halfway there when Reed called.

“There’s someone here asking to see you.”

“I’m busy,” Josiah said tersely. “Who is it? Can’t it wait?”

“Oh, you’ll want to see him. It’s Theodore Burgis.”

“Theodore…” Ted? “I’m on my way.”

Ted looked pinched and anxious when Josiah ushered him into a meeting room, half an hour later.

“I’ve been thinking about what you and Alex said.

” Ted twisted his finger repeatedly in a chain that hung with a locket around his neck.

“I’ve not been able to sleep. Trudy couldn’t stand it.

Asked me what was up, so I told her.” His cheeks were sunken, his eyes dull.

He looked down. “I’m ashamed of myself. I thought I was protecting Trudy and the kids, but she was furious with me.

She said I had to do what’s right. She’s from the Quarterlands, too, but she never became an IS, not like me.

She’d never sell herself to anyone for anything.

She didn’t like the idea that Tyler had a hold on us.

She didn’t realise the shop was because of him.

I told her we stood to lose everything if we pissed him off, but she said she’d rather that than be in someone’s pocket.

She’s not scared of anything. She’s fearless.

” There was a huge sense of pride in his voice.

“She sounds like a wonderful woman,” Josiah said gently.

“She is. I’m lucky. Some don’t even find one – I found two.” Ted bit on his lip. “So, I’m here to offer my testimony, sir, if it’ll help. I’ll testify against that bastard Tyler.”

“Thank you. As for whether it’ll help… it can’t hurt.”

“I saw that you’d arrested him. I admit, I didn’t think you’d get this far.

I underestimated you, sir.” Ted sat back in his chair and gazed at Josiah respectfully.

“Most people don’t mess with Tyler. I thought he’d threaten you, and you’d back off, because that’s what’s always happened before. I didn’t think it was worth the risk.”

“I won’t give up on this case,” Josiah told him firmly. “I’ll do everything in my power to get justice for Solange.”

“They said on the news that you’d found her.” Ted looked suddenly sad and broken. “Is that true? Did you find her, Mr Raine?”

“I thought so, but the IS database says otherwise.” Josiah sighed. “The DNA from the skull we found doesn’t match her IS records. We think Tyler has tampered with the IS database, but we can’t prove it.”

Ted stared at him. “I’ve got something that might help. One time, back in Vertex Tower, we were messing around; it could be dead boring doing that job. I said how much I loved her hair, so she gave me a lock of it. Would it be possible to get her DNA from it?”

Josiah felt a surge of hope. “Yes, it’s possible. Where’s the hair?”

“Right here.” Ted unfastened the locket from around his neck.

“I always carry it around. Trudy doesn’t mind.

She’s always known about Solange, though not what happened to her, only that she died.

I didn’t tell her how until now.” He opened the locket to reveal a tuft of hair.

“She had beautiful hair, everyone said so.” Ted handed the locket to Josiah. “I hope it helps, sir.”

Josiah took the locket to Mel and instructed her to extract the DNA immediately, and then he returned to take Ted’s statement in full.

“We can put you up here if need be,” he said. “It’s not official protocol, but we’re keeping Mick safe for now, and Alex is with me.”

“I’ll speak to Trudy about it, but I don’t want to freak out the kids.”

“You might all feel safer to be somewhere Tyler can’t get at you,” Josiah suggested. “But it’s up to you.”

When Ted had gone, he hurried to update Esther.

“That is good news,” she said. “And God knows we need some.”

“It means we have three witnesses,” Josiah told her. “Mick, Alex, and Ted. Mick’s a crook and a drunk, and Alex is… well, Alex, but Ted’s a good witness. He has no criminal record, he’s not a drunk or a croc-head, and he runs his own business. He’s kept his nose clean.”

“And the DNA?”

“Mel’s running it now.”

“If it matches the skull, then we really have something to pin on Tyler. Falsifying IS records is a criminal offence.”

“We need to prove he did.”

“I’m sure you’ve got someone looking into Martin Bagshaw.”

“I have, but we really need that kompromat.”

“Agreed. How’s Reed getting on with that?”

“Badly, though not for want of trying.”

At that moment, there was a knock on the door and then it was flung open. Mel stood there, holding aloft her holopad with a document floating in front of her.