Page 130 of Crocodile Tears

A new pair of policemen were in place when they arrived. Josiah waved his ID at them, but they already knew who he was. They stood to attention to let him through, casting little looks at each other. Josiah sighed, and Alexander shot him a little grin.

“I think you enjoy being a celebrity detective as much as I enjoy being a celebrity indentured servant,” he said.

“You don’t like your fame?” Josiah asked sardonically as he pushed open the front door.

“Everyone’s favourite villain – that’s me. Who wouldn’t love that?” Alexander rolled his eyes.

Josiah led the way towards the stairs. “I’ll need to accompany you everywhere you go – and don’t touch anything,” he ordered over his shoulder. He looked back to see that Alexander had stopped outside the open living room door and was staring, transfixed, at the large red bloodstain on the cream carpet.

“That’s where it happened? That’s where Elliot was shot?”

“Yes.”

“He was sitting on the sofa when I left the house,” Alexander whispered. “He’d taken a shower and was wearing his dressing gown… He was naked underneath, as always. I knelt down in front of him and gave him a blowjob before I left – he expected that every morning.”

Josiah remembered how the dead man’s dressing gown had fallen open, denying him any dignity in death.

“Looks weird with the light boxes switched off,” Alexander said, glancing around at the walls. “Elliot always had them on, 24/7.”

“Well, Elliot’s dead, and the light boxes were freaking out the police guard – all that flickering made it look like someone was in the house – so I turned them off.”

“It seems so empty in here without them. How is it possible for a house to feel more haunted now the ghosts are silent?”

Josiah glanced at him, startled. “I thought they were like ghosts, too. I’ve never seen a room with so many holopics on the walls; it was eerie.”

“Imagine what it was like for me. Most of them wereofme – my face, my body, moving around, staring back at me the whole time. I had to walk through myself a dozen times a day. I hated it.” Alexander shivered. “All those images of myself, watching me…”

“They’re gone now.”

“Yes, but there’s a new ghost here now.” He glanced again at the blood stain on the floor.

“While we’re here, I wanted to ask you about the holopics,” Josiah said. “I was sure there was one of you standing in the rain, but I couldn’t find it when I came back. Did I imagine that, or is one of the pictures missing?”

Alexander stiffened, then turned to look at him. “Standing in the rain?” he queried, frowning. “Do you mean standing in the snow?”

“No, it was definitely the rain. You were looking down, and there was a light nearby – maybe a streetlight? It was shining all around you. You looked upset. I remember that, because in all the other holopics you looked so blank, but not this one.”

“Do you remember anything else about it?” the IS asked, gazing at him intently.

“No – just that.”

Alexander continued gazing at him for a long time, as if weighing something up, then gave a sudden shrug. “There’s no holopic like that,” he said tersely, looking away. “I remember freezing my balls off in the snow for one of the pictures – it took Elliot a couple of hours to get the shot hewanted, and I was solid ice by that point. It always took him hours to frame his shots, so if I was standing in the rain, I’d definitely remember it.”

“I must have imagined it, then,” Josiah said, but he was certain Alexander was hiding something. “Let’s go upstairs and get your clothes.”

He followed Alexander up to a room at the end of the landing. It was a fair size, with an en-suite shower and toilet. There was a whole wall of wardrobes, but only a narrow single bed.

“You slept here alone?”

“Yes. Elliot had his own bedroom. He called me into his when he wanted sex or company. This was where I slept the rest of the time.”

The room was plush, expensively furnished, and comfortable. Most people couldn’t afford such space and opulence.

“Will you miss it?”

“Why would I? It didn’t belong to me.”

“But you lived here for three years. This was your home, and it all ended very abruptly.”

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