Page 19 of Crocodile Tears

Alexander was sitting in the chair next to Reed’s desk when Josiah strode into the Special Investigations Department. His arms were still cuffed behind him – obviously Reed wasn’t taking any chances. He got to his feet when Josiah walked in.

“Sir, what they said about Elliot…” Alexander swallowed hard. “About his genitals being stuffed into his mouth – is that true?” He looked genuinely shaken.

“No, it isn’t true,” Josiah replied.

Alexander sat down again, looking relieved, and immediately leaned forward in his chair.

Josiah gazed at him thoughtfully. Something had been bothering him ever since they’d arrested him, and now he realised what – Alexander was holding himself strangely.

“Shall I put him in the cells or take him straight to the interview suite?” Reed asked.

“Neither – he can sit here until I’m ready. Without the cuffs,” he added, wanting to eliminate them as the reason for Alexander’s strange body language.

He entered the code to open the restraints, but his prisoner’s odd posture didn’t change when he was released.

“You’re entitled to a lawyer before we question you,” he said. “We can appoint a duty solicitor at your request.”

“No, thank you,” Alexander said firmly.

Josiah paused. Nobody had ever refused legal assistance before. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“You do realise this is a murder investigation, and you’re our number-one suspect, don’t you?”

Alexander gave a wry smile. “Yes, I realise that. Let’s just say I don’t have a huge amount of faith in lawyers. I’ll handle my own fate, thank you.”

“Strange answer, but okay.” Josiah glanced at Reed. “Make a note that he refused a lawyer and get him to sign it. Also, I can guess the answer, but I’m going to ask anyway – did Dacre have Tracker Plus on him?”

By law, all indentured servants had to be injected in their left wrists with a microchip containing their personal data, which would allow police to identify them if they were in an accident or suspected of a crime. It could also be used to track them down if they went missing or tried to run away.

If dug out from under the skin, a chip’s exposure to the air would cause it to emit a signal showing the IS’s last known location – a good place for investigation agencies and bounty hunters to start looking.

The Tracker Plus service went one better and detailed every second of an IS’s whereabouts. Tracker Plus was expensive, though, and most didn’t opt for it.

Reed shook his head. “Nope. First thing I checked. Bloody nuisance, isn’t it? It’d make our job a lot easier.”

“Not necessarily.”

He preferred not to rely on tracking data, so he wasn’t too concerned. Just because a suspect had been at a certain place at a certain time didn’t mean they’d killed anyone, and, in Josiah’s opinion, the courts were often too lazy in their willingness to take it as proof of guilt.

He noticed a slight look of surprise on Alexander’s face at the newsthere was no Tracker Plus on him, though; had Elliot told him he was being more closely monitored than he actually was?

He brought up the Dacre case file on his holopad. The Inquisitus AI bots were all over it already, detailing every social networking interaction Dacre had ever made, every text and email he’d sent and received, every public appearance recorded, and every bill he’d paid. They’d sift through the data and flag anything unusual, although Josiah always liked to get it double-checked by human eyes as well.

“When will the boxes from the crime scene arrive?” he asked.

“Just had a call to say they’re on their way. Should be here soon. Mel is prepping the lab.”

“And the body?”

Reed glanced at the reams of data emanating from his holopad. “Baumann got back just after us. She logged the body in a couple of minutes ago.”

“Right. Start the standard homicide protocol. I want all local CCTV footage collected, and all nearby residents doorstepped and any house, duck, and holopad footage that might be relevant requisitioned and checked.”

“Already initiated it,” Reed said promptly.

“See – this is why I like working with you,” Josiah said approvingly.

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