Page 86 of The Quarterlands (Dark Water #4)

“I know that.” Tyler gave a bitter little smile. “I wonder if she ever would have left him to live with me, like she promised. I used to be so sure, but I was wrong about Alex, so maybe I’m wrong about that, too.”

“She told Alex she was going to spend more time with him. So, maybe she was playing you all along,” Josiah said more brutally than he’d intended. “Or maybe she didn’t know what she was going to do. She was just winging it, muddling through, like we all do.”

“She could have brought Alex with her. I told her that.”

“Well, we’ll never know.” Josiah sat there, gazing at him. “Do you regret any of it, George?” he asked, suddenly needing to know.

“Only that I was wrong about the accident. I refused to believe it for a long time. I turned it around and around in my head. I said to myself that it was a ploy, a way of Alex gaining public sympathy, but it preyed on my mind. Why would you announce it in a courtroom, under oath? Would Charles really go along with it if it was a lie? Would he hand back his medal if it was a lie? I’ve wrestled with it, Josiah.

I’ve had plenty of time to think about little else,” he said in a tone of wretched sincerity.

“But I had to be absolutely sure. That’s why I asked you here. ”

“Well, that’s one thing you can be sure of. Alex wasn’t driving the duck that day, and you spent years torturing an innocent man.” Josiah stood up. “Enjoy the book, George – if you’re brave enough to read it.”

“Oh, I will. He lived it, so the least I can do is read it,” Tyler said with a shrug.

Josiah had a modicum of respect for him for that.

They said goodbye, and then Josiah was happy to walk out of there and leave George Tyler behind in the past, where he belonged.

A week later he was sitting at his desk in the SID when Reed came running into the office from the rec room.

“Have you seen it?” He pinged up a news channel on his holopad and a reporter appeared in mid-air, speaking in sombre tones.

“I’m standing outside Coldharbour Floating Prison, where it has just been announced that George Tyler has committed suicide in his cell,” she said.

“Tyler is, of course, notorious not only for being one of the most successful businessmen this country has ever produced but also for his subsequent downfall, when he was found guilty of killing one of his own indentured servants.”

“What the…?” Josiah put in a holocall to Alex. “Are you watching the news?”

“No, I’m painting. I’ll turn it on.” There was a long silence as he stared at his screen in disbelief.

“You okay?” Josiah asked.

“Yes. No. Yes.” Alex gave a shaky laugh. “Oh, shit. What the hell has he done?”

Josiah jumped into his duck and drove straight to The Orchard. Alex opened the door, looking pale and shocked. They spent the next few hours watching the news together, trying to make sense of it.

“I can’t believe he did that,” Alex said, his hands shaking as he reached for the cup of tea Josiah had made for him.

“I suppose I’m not surprised,” Josiah said.

“He was a control freak, which must have made life in prison even harder on him than on most people. Men like him often don’t adapt well to being confined.

I know he was on suicide watch for the first few months of his sentence.

It was stood down when he showed no signs of taking his own life. ”

“Well, he always was a sneaky bastard. He probably planned it that way. In fact, knowing him, he’s been planning it for months.” Alex screwed up his face, looking as if he was fighting back tears. “I don’t know why I’m upset. I hated him.”

“He was a massive part of your life – and he had a huge effect on that life. Of course you’re having a reaction.” Josiah put his arms around him and held him while he gave in to the conflicting emotions coursing through his body. His chest heaving, he alternately sobbed and laughed, as if demented.

“I think it’s because it means it’s over. Finally, irrevocably, over,” Alex said at last, his face still buried in Josiah’s shoulder. “He’s not out there somewhere, watching me and plotting against me. He’s gone.” He looked at Josiah in disbelief. “He really has gone, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, Alex. He’s definitely gone,” Josiah reassured him. “You’re finally free.”

It turned out that Josiah had been the last person Tyler had spoken to, apart from the prison guards.

Had he read Alex’s book and been unable to live with what he’d done?

Josiah wondered. Yet he doubted it had been that simple.

Tyler had clearly been struggling with many different issues when Josiah had seen him, not least his relationship with Isobel and whether it had meant more to him than it had to her.

Josiah suspected it wasn’t the book that had sealed Tyler’s fate but the fact he’d been wrong about the accident and tortured an innocent man.

Maybe Tyler had thought it was only right that he turn his fiery vengeance on himself for screwing up so spectacularly.

Josiah didn’t pretend to understand the man. He was only concerned about Alex, who, after a shaky few weeks when the whole thing was rehashed ad infinitum on the news, recovered enough to continue with his studies. Josiah was proud of him.

Life soon returned to normal, and he saw little of Alex, who was busy preparing for an exam. Then Josiah caught a new homicide case and was rushed off his feet, and eventually several months passed, during which they both weathered the storm caused by Tyler’s suicide.

After solving the case, Josiah took a much-needed day off on Esther’s insistence.

“You’ve been underfoot too much lately. Take a break,” she’d ordered.

Penny was pleased about this as he took her out for a nice long walk down by the edge of the lost zone, and she barked for some time at the silvery outline of the old London Eye as it shimmered beneath the water.

He’d just settled in back at his flat for a cup of tea and some chocolates that Mel had gifted him when his holopad buzzed.

“Joe, you’re needed back in the office,” Esther said.

“You said I was getting underfoot,” he protested.

“That was this morning. Now I need you.”

“Is it a case?”

“No. Something else.”

“Can I bring Penny?”

“Yes, of course. We all love seeing her.”

That was certainly true. The minute they entered the SID, Penny had admirers lining up to fuss over her.

She wasn’t at all anxious now, after lots of work from Josiah, and she knew the SID well as he often took her into work with him.

A big, soft dog bed had even miraculously appeared next to his desk one day; he couldn’t say for sure who’d put it there, but he knew Esther had a soft spot for her.

Everyone assumed that Esther had bought her sparkly pink collar, too.

Well, who could imagine big, badass Josiah Raine buying such an item for his dog?

He had no intention of letting them in on that particular secret.

Penny ran over to Esther’s wheelchair the minute they entered her office and snuffled around in her pocket for treats. Esther made the obligatory fuss of her and then turned to Josiah. She looked different somehow, her face glowing excitedly.

“Joe, I must give you this.” She pinged him a holodoc, and he gazed at it, confused .

“It’s a copy of my contract,” he said blankly.

“Look at the bottom. It’s been paid out in full.”

“What? I don’t understand.” He peered at it, sure there was some mistake, but she was right. His contract had been stamped as paid up and discharged by the IS agency. “I’ve got years to serve yet,” he protested.

“Well, the paperwork says otherwise. Your contract was redeemed by the IS agency this morning. You’re a free man, Joe.”

“How?” He stared at her. “Did you do this, Esther? But you don’t have the money.” Esther was a fantastic director of Inquisitus, but she had to report to her shareholders. There was no way she earned enough to buy out his contract.

“Nothing to do with me.” She held her hands up in the air, and Penny sniffed at them hopefully.

“Then who…?” At that moment there was a commotion in the SID outside, and Josiah ran out to find Sofie standing there. She was gazing at a copy of her own contract, her hand over her mouth, her eyes sparkling.

“Someone has bought my contract,” she exclaimed, looking up at him. “Not just mine, Sem’s, too. We’ve both been released and our contracts paid out.”

“Me too!”

She ran into his arms, both laughing and crying at the same time.

“Not to gatecrash the party, but I just returned from the rec room and found this envelope had appeared mysteriously on my desk,” Reed said, holding up a plain white envelope with his name written on it.

“I do hope I haven’t been freed, because I had no idea I was an IS.

” He grinned as he slid his finger under the flap of the envelope and drew out a biokey.

“What’s this for?” he asked, frowning.

“Looks like a duck biokey. Maybe check out the parking area?” Esther suggested, coming up behind them.

“Esther? What do you know that we don’t? Has Inquisitus had a windfall or something?” Josiah asked suspiciously.

She just smiled at him infuriatingly and began gliding towards the exit .

They all followed her out, then stopped in surprise. There, parked right outside the front door, was a beautiful duck. Not just any duck, but a state-of-the-art, gleaming, bright red Destiny duck.

“For me? But why?” Reed asked, opening the door with the biokey. Inside was a note.

For Cameron Reed, with thanks, to replace the one that was wrecked.

Josiah turned to Esther. “What the hell is going on?”

“You’re my top investigator.’ She smirked. ‘You figure it out.”

“Alex…” he said, the penny starting to drop.

She just gave him another maddening smile and opened the duck door.

“Shall we all get in? I believe someone is expecting us.”