Page 25 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

“So you’re the second bidder,” Josiah said, that final piece of the puzzle clicking into place. “We knew there were two people bidding on Alex. You were the one we couldn’t figure out.”

“Well, I made sure not to put anything in writing – I got talking to Dacre in a local café one morning while Alex was at the gym, seemingly by chance. I said I’d noticed him with his stunning IS, and would he be amenable to selling him.

We built up a little rapport. He was a very easy man to charm – flattery worked wonders with him.

I met him a few times after that, pretending to bump into him and always offering to buy Alex.

He loved that I so desperately wanted something that he owned, but sadly – for him – he always refused. ”

“You almost certainly don’t know this, but Elliot wasn’t in a position to sell Alex. His contract still belonged to Tyler. Elliot was basically just renting him.”

“Is that so? Hmm.” Gideon pursed his lips together.

“But I’m puzzled. You’d been a servant all your life. How the hell could you have enough money to buy Alex?”

“Well, I didn’t know how much precisely Alex was worth, or what Elliot or indeed George paid for him in the first place.

That information is, of course, confidential to the IS agency, and I wasn’t privy to it.

But I do have considerable wealth. You see…

” He gave a pained smile. “Miss Madeleine believed in incentives. When we started Belvedere, she could see that I was making a go of the place, and she wanted me to think big in terms of what it could achieve. So, every year, she put aside a small percentage of the profits for me. This went into a special account that could only be touched when my contract came to an end, as is the way with most IS contracts. I always told her, ‘Miss Madeleine, I will never ask you to terminate my contract, so the money will stay there forever.’ It was quite the joke between us.” He gave a happy little smile, and Josiah could see how much he’d relished every moment of emotional intimacy with his houder.

“Every year, Belvedere made another healthy profit, and every year, that bank account grew, untouched. It went on for decades, and accruing interest, too.” Gideon looked very pleased with himself.

“Of course, Belvedere was a huge success, not because I was motivated by the money, but by service to Miss Madeleine.”

“But then you fell ill,” Josiah pointed out.

“Yes. At first, I dismissed the symptoms as I was too busy running Belvedere to indulge in illness. When, finally, I did seek medical advice, it was too late, the cancer was too advanced.”

“What did she say when you told her?”

Gideon’s face darkened. “She said that she’d terminate my contract with immediate effect.”

“But that wasn’t what you wanted, was it?”

“No. I would have died in her service – that was what I wanted. But she wouldn’t hear of it.”

“She didn’t want the entanglement of it, the emotion, the sense of obligation to you. She was happy to pay to terminate your contract and say goodbye,” Josiah guessed.

“Indeed.” Gideon inclined his head. “Those very qualities I admired in her – her precision, aloofness, and sense of business – well, I hadn’t quite expected her to turn them so easily on me.”

“She could have kept you as her IS, and kept the money when you died,” Josiah suggested .

“No, she’s a wealthy woman, and shrewd but not greedy. The money was safe for my heirs under the standard terms of my contract, even though I have none. She’d have had to pay it to someone on my death, even if it was simply to the charity of my choice.”

“So, she paid you off and turfed you out.”

“Quite.” Gideon took a long sip of his tea.

“All those years of service meant nothing to her, in the end, but they’d meant everything to me.

I had hoped to die at my beloved Belvedere, but she said that was out of the question.

She wanted me to take my money and go, and not do anything so messy as to die in her service. ”

“That must have hurt.”

Gideon gazed into his tea. “You have no idea,” he murmured.

He was silent for a long moment, and then he looked up, his eyes bright.

“But there I was, not quite dead yet, but with a not inconsiderable fortune in my hands. So, I decided to enjoy myself with it, to use it to bring closure to Alex’s story before I died.

I was physically fitter back then and devoted myself to the cause.

I rather relished it, truth be told. I never got so far as discussing terms with Elliot – money and the like – because he always turned me down point blank before it got to that point. ”

“So you decided to kill him?”

“Not at first. I studied them from afar for a while.”

“You always did like watching people, figuring them out. Alex told me that’s how you ran Belvedere.”

“Well, quite. I was intrigued as to why Alex hadn’t completed his mission, now that he’d escaped Tyler’s clutches.

I soon realised that he wasn’t actually free of that wretched man, that Tyler still watched over him, just as I was doing.

Then I understood why Alex hadn’t succeeded.

Tyler still had control of him and had broken his will somewhat.

Something had clearly occurred after he left Belvedere that I wasn’t privy to.

I was disappointed but undaunted. I considered killing Elliot at that point, but I’m not a natural killer, unlike some people.

” He shot Josiah a sharp glance. “I thought about it a great deal. I did genuinely try to find another way. Then I saw Elliot taking Alex to those awful shows and prostituting him to other houders, and that made up my mind for me. ”

“You knew about that?” Josiah asked, surprised.

“Of course. I observed his every move. I knew then that Elliot Dacre deserved to die and steeled myself to do the deed. Please understand that my motives were pure. I reasoned that with Elliot dead, Alex would very likely fall into your hands, and then he would have his chance.”

Josiah was startled. “You wanted me to arrest Alex?”

“Of course. You’re a very famous investigator, and your agency holds the government’s homicide contract.

Obviously, Alex would be a suspect. We indies always are, aren’t we?

” Gideon gave a bitter smile. “I wanted him to fall into your hands, but I didn’t want him to be blamed for a murder he didn’t commit, so I sent you the gun afterwards to show it couldn’t possibly have been him. ”

“ You posted the gun?”

“No, I paid one of Seamus’s delightful friends to do it. I did stress that he should be careful about being seen with the parcel. He reported back that he’d given it to a random woman to post for him, which was very wise.”

“So, it was all planned?”

“As much as it could be. I’m rather a meticulous fellow, you know.” He looked pleased with himself. “I knew that if I threw Alex on your mercy, he’d be able to tell you his story, and it worked, didn’t it? That’s why George Tyler has finally been charged with poor Solange’s murder.”

“So, you bought a gun, walked into Elliot Dacre’s house, and shot him, at point-blank range?”

“Yes,” Gideon said nonchalantly, without a trace of guilt. “I even chose the date on purpose. Another clue, but maybe you didn’t realise?”

“You deliberately killed Elliot on the anniversary of Peter’s death… So that wasn’t a coincidence…?” Josiah felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“ Au contraire , it was the result of careful planning. You first met Alex on the night your husband was killed. I wanted to reunite you on the anniversary of that date. It was a delicious symmetry, far too perfect to pass up.” Gideon grinned .

Josiah stared at him in horror. He’d long ago worked out that Elliot’s murder was about Alex, but he’d never guessed it was also about him.

It made his stomach churn to think that while he’d been polishing Peter’s car and dealing with all the memories the anniversary of his death threw up, Gideon had been using his grief for the “delicious symmetry” of the timing.

“Tell me about the murder,” he said at last, covering up his distress.

“Well, Elliot let me in. In fact, he was quite happy to see me. I’d never been to his house before, but he didn’t seem bothered by the intrusion.

He already knew and trusted me by this point.

Besides, he was the kind of man who enjoyed flaunting what he owned.

I dare say he was looking forward to me repeating my desire to buy Alex so that he could shoot me down again, but instead, I was the one doing the shooting.

” Gideon clapped his hands together sharply, making Josiah jump.

“I’m not a practised marksman, but really it was impossible to miss at such close range.

He wasn’t expecting it – the expression on his face was most surprised.

I stayed only long enough to wipe the smartwall data and check that he was dead, and then I left.

I must say, it was all rather more thrilling than I’d expected. ” He gave a shivery little laugh.

“Thou shalt not kill,” Josiah quoted. “What would the Arkians say?”

Gideon’s face darkened. “I’m dying , I have nothing to lose.

I don’t believe in God, or hell, and I despise Elliot Dacre and all his ilk.

I don’t care what the Arkians would say.

They did nothing but lecture me, then threw me out as soon as they could and told me not to come back until I was cured of my wickedness.

They had half my contract fee for raising me, so they didn’t exactly do it out of love or compassion.

I owe them nothing. Any debt I owed them has been long since paid off, and any affection I had for them died with poor Brother Zeke.

He was the only one I’d have returned there for. He was a good man.”

“That’s a shame. Sister Marion is clearly still fond of you.”