Page 104 of Crocodile Tears

“No, I just don’t like him. I had sex with him once and thought he was an arrogant shit, to be honest.”

“Whoa! Back up a bit here – you’ve had sex with Hudson Brink?TheHudson Brink – the big movie star?”

“Yes, Elliot knew him – hisHalo of Fireholopic launched both their careers. Hud was often invited to Elliot’s parties when he was in town.”

“And you slept with him?” Josiah paused while he let that sink in. “And Elliot was okay with that?”

“It wasn’t my choice, and Elliot enjoyed watching.” Alexander shrugged.

“I thought Hudson Brink was straight.”

“Well, I suspect he’s more into women than men, but I think he’d stick his dick into anything. I hadn’t been Elliot’s IS for long at that point, and it was the first time he let anyone else fuck me. It must have broken the ice, because it happened a lot after that.”

“Right,” Josiah said slowly. “Okay. Shall we turn this arrogant shit’s movie off, then?” Turning, he looked at Alexander. “Look, I wanted to say… I’m sorry about earlier. I wasn’t angry – just taken by surprise.”

Alexander blinked at the unexpected apology and then smiled. “That’s fine, sir.”

Josiah hesitated again, before asking the question that had been bothering him. “When you flinched earlier, you looked as if you were expecting to be hit. I know you were badly abused at the show last weekend, but I assumed that was an unusual event. Have beatings been a regular part of your experience as an IS?”

“I’m a convicted felon on an open contract of servitude, sir. We’re pretty much the lowest of the low where indentured servants are concerned.”

“That’s an oblique answer.”

“Forgive me, but I need to understand – are you questioning me, sir? Is this part of your investigation?”

“Any questioning about Dacre’s murder will take place in an interview suite at Inquisitus. I’m not allowed to use my temporary position as your houder to coerce you. Nothing you say here would be admissible in any case – only what’s recorded in the interview suite.”

“Thank you, sir. In answer to your question, yes – I’ve been regularly hit during my time as an IS.”

“Yesterday, you said Dacre never beat you.”

“He didn’t, but he did slap me occasionally.”

“It’s illegal for—” Josiah began, but Alexander’s wry snort cut him off.

“Sir, nobody cares about indies like me, and why should they? The world has problems enough, and people enough, not to care about the ones like me.”

“The ones like you?”

Alexander shrugged. “People who’ve fucked up so badly that we’re taking up space the world doesn’t have. There isn’t a court in the land that would care if I was being slapped, raped, and beaten every day.”

“I don’t think that’s true, and even if it is, it’s still not right,” Josiah said stubbornly.

“Sir, hundreds of people die every day in the Quarterlands from lack of food, poor sanitation, and the damp. Hundreds more die in the government camps as a result of overcrowding and poor medical care. Why the hell should anyone care what happens to one pampered indentured servant who gets good food, a dry place to sleep, and has full medical insurance? What the hell does it matter if I get hit every so often? I’m one of the lucky ones.”

Josiah knew only too well how people in the Quarterlands and the government camps lived. Most people viewed becoming an indentured servant as infinitely preferable to either of those fates.

“When did Dacre last slap you?” he asked.

“Tuesday morning, before I left the house,” Alexander replied. “It doesn’t mean I killed him, though,” he added quickly. “In case that’s where this is going.”

“It’s not. I’m just trying to understand what your life has been like – what you’re like, and what caused you to become this way. Why did he hit you?”

Alexander’s hand went to his cheek, and he rubbed it absently. “I was giving him oral sex, and he said something to me. It was my fault – I wasn’t as in the moment as I should have been, and I called him ‘sir’ when I answered. He didn’t like being called that.”

“What the hell did he want to be called?”

“Elliot. I was his boyfriend, remember – in his head at least – and he didn’t like having that illusion shattered. Then he was upset about slapping me, so he showed me his new will to try and make up for it.”

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