Page 49 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

“Yes.” She shot a fond smile at Tyler. “My father was a designer at Tyler Tech. He and Uncle George were good friends, so he was delighted to be asked to be my godfather.” IS database records were produced, showing photos of Solange’s supposed “father”.

“What happened to your parents, Ms Alajika?”

“They were killed in a duck accident when I was seventeen,” she said in a low voice. She took a moment to close her eyes and compose herself. Josiah had to admire her acting ability.

“Leaving you in the care of your godfather?”

“That’s right.” She smiled. “He was always very good to me. Dad had wanted me to go to Oxford to study art, if I was good enough. I went off the rails a bit after my parents died, but Uncle George encouraged me in that dream.”

“Mr Baxter says you weren’t wearing an identification tag when you were at Oxford. Are we to understand, then, that you weren’t Mr Tyler’s indentured servant when you went to university?”

“That’s right. Uncle George paid for my tuition and expenses at uni. That was his gift to me. Besides,” she added in a very serious tone, “it’s illegal for an IS not to be registered and microchipped. As you can see from the database, I wasn’t registered as his IS until after I left university.”

“Why was that?” HMS asked. “I mean, why make you his IS if you’re his goddaughter – his best friend’s daughter?”

“I believe in paying my way,” she replied earnestly.

“Uncle George had already been so generous to me, and I wanted to give something back, so I asked if I could join Tyler Tech as an IS. Besides, there’s no shame in being a servant – it was good enough for my dad.

I didn’t ask for any special treatment. I wanted to start out in the TT IS programme, if he’d accept me, which he did. ” She shot Tyler a grateful smile.

“Did you do well at Tyler Tech?”

“I think so. I remained for a few years until my contract completed, and then I decided to leave. I’m an artist at heart, you see, and Uncle George understood that.”

“Did you stay in touch with him?”

“Of course. He’s like family to me. I visit him occasionally, but I’m a busy married mum now – an artist, too, when I have time. So I don’t, perhaps, see as much of him as we’d both like. Sorry, Uncle George.” She gave him a little wave.

Josiah was taken aback by how convincing she was. She seemed so sure of the lies she was telling. If he was on the jury, he’d be convinced.

“So, you’re saying that far from being killed in an argument in 2088, you’re actually alive and well and living your best life?” HMS smiled at the jury smugly.

“As you can see!” She gave a light laugh.

Her evidence was perfect. She’d clearly been well rehearsed. She made it clear that she took the proceedings seriously, but at the same time, found it a little amusing that people thought she was dead.

Tyler glanced over with a triumphant expression in his eyes. Josiah shrugged; there was still a long way to go.

Byrne stood up. She interrogated the fake Solange at length but found no weaknesses in her story. Fake Solange’s DNA matched that registered in the IS agency database. Byrne called Ted to the stand.

“I don’t know who that woman is,” he said stoutly, “but she’s not Solange. I know that because I saw her being thrown out of a duck seven years ago with a bloody great crack on the side of her head.”

Byrne spent some time drawing out the best in Ted. He spoke movingly of his romance with Solange. “She wasn’t a designer at Tyler Tech,” he spat. “Tyler used her to blackmail people he wanted to keep in his pocket. He used to whore her out, and Alex, too.”

This sparked another furore, requiring the judge to intervene. It took several minutes to settle the courtroom down again.

“That lady can’t be Solange, because me and Solange was in love,” Ted insisted.

“We were making plans together. Solange grew up in the Quarterlands – she never even knew her dad. We spent hours talking and I knew all about her. I used to love her hair, so she pulled a few strands out one day and gave them to me. I kept them in this locket for all these years.” He pointed to the locket he was wearing.

“My girl’s DNA was in that skeleton they dragged from the water. It matches what’s in my locket.”

The court adjourned for the day halfway through Ted’s evidence.

Tyler had produced records that backed up everything Fake Solange said.

It looked perfect, and it would be very easy to believe it.

That was the line of least resistance. The prosecution’s version required a suspension of disbelief that would stretch the jury’s credulity far more.

Tyler had provided them with an easier, more prosaic explanation.

Glancing over at his adversary, Josiah found him looking supremely confident, as well he might. There was no doubt who’d won the first day in court.

Josiah waylaid Byrne on his way out of the courtroom, beckoning her into a nearby meeting room and shutting the door behind them.

“You could have warned me about fake Solange,” he remonstrated when they were alone.

She shrugged. “I told you weeks ago to get the feck out of this case. You’re too involved, Raine. It’s too personal for you. You were driving me nuts with all your nitpicky queries and interventions.”

“Seeing her was a shock for Alex,” he snapped. “A heads-up would have been nice, as a professional courtesy if nothing else.”

Byrne gazed at him coolly. “I understand that you’re the lead investigator on this case, but when I was appointed to prosecute, it became my case, and I don’t play well with others.”

“That’s obvious!” he snorted. “You must have known for weeks that Tyler would produce that woman, but you never said anything.”

“I didn’t owe you that information. Yes, Tyler tried to have the case thrown out long before it reached trial on the grounds that Solange Alajika was still alive.

There were some pretty heated pre-trial exchanges, I can tell you.

The judge was this close…” She held up her thumb and forefinger, “to declaring there was no case to answer. I worked my arse off to get it before a jury, and I did it because I’m like a dog with a fecking bone when I get going, and because I believe that bastard killed that poor woman, and I won’t let him get away with it.

You’re not the only one who bloody well cares about justice, Raine!

Rich tossers like George Tyler get off scot-free far too often, but not on Mona Byrne’s watch.

” She planted her hands firmly on her ample hips and glared at him.

“Fine, I believe you.” He glared back at her. “But would it have hurt you to have shared this with me?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, for feck’s sake! I’m up to my eyeballs in this, and I don’t have time to deliver constant updates to you. I’ll involve you when I need you and no further. That’s how I work.”

They continued glaring at each other for a long moment, and then she sighed. “This is not the strongest case you’ve ever delivered for prosecution, Raine.”

“I know,” he said tightly.

“It could go either way.”

“I know that too.”

“Then back off and let me do my damn job. I’m the best chance we have of nailing that bastard, and you know it.”

“Fine,” he sighed, knowing she was right. “But are there any other surprises I should be aware of?”

“I have no idea, but if there are, you’ll find out the same as everyone else, in the fecking courtroom. Now, bugger off and let me get on with this. Believe it or not, I know what I’m doing.”

With one last glare, she swept from the room.

Neither he nor Alex spoke on the way home. They were both too dispirited.

“It’s not looking good, is it?” Alex said as they heated up some of the food he’d made the previous night. He pushed his meal around his plate listlessly.

“No, but you knew this wouldn’t be easy.”

“She looked so like her. It was like having her back again. When I saw that photo, I was sure it was Solange. Where did he find someone so perfect? How did he manage that so quickly?”

“Oh, Alex.” Josiah put his knife and fork down, shaking his head.

“He’s had her in place for years. He probably started looking for her the day after he killed Solange.

He figured out exactly the evidence he’d need in place should the truth ever come out, and he made sure the paper trail was all there.

The fake father he was so close to that he honoured his wish to send his beloved daughter to Oxford, the story as to why she became an IS at all, given she was supposedly his goddaughter.

All thoroughly thought through with plausible explanations for everything. ”

“Solange once told me he advertised for her, then spent weeks polishing her up and rehearsing her, so she could convince me of her story. I suppose this was no different.”

“No. It was the inevitable outcome of him altering the DNA on the IS database. I’m sure he found a Quarterlands girl who looked like Solange, set her up in a nice flat somewhere, gave her lots of money, and polished her to be precisely what he needed.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he paid for her to have plastic surgery to look even more like Solange. ”

“He did a good job. I almost wanted to believe it was her, if it meant having her back,” Alex said softly. “Seeing her there, older… made me think of all he stole from her. All the living she was never able to experience.”

“I’m sorry. She was very convincing, but this is just the first day – we’re not giving up yet.”

As they drove to the courtroom the next day, Josiah’s favourite talk radio station was full of trial news.

“This is Alan Brady for News-Spec , where the only news anyone is talking about today is, of course, the trial of tech entrepreneur George Tyler. Amanda, what’s the word on the street?”