Page 32 of Crocodile Tears

“So, you know that under the terms of Dacre’s new will, you are to be set free in the event of his death.” Josiah leaned back in his chair, watching Alexander’s reaction closely. There was none.

“Yes. It wasn’t a secret. He received the revised will on his holopad this morning while he was eating his breakfast. He made a big deal about showing it to me, and then he told me he was taking me out for a posh meal later to celebrate.”

“So, he changed his will to free you in the event of his death,showed it to you, and once you were certain of it, you killed him?” Josiah suggested.

Alexander sighed. “That’s not what happened.”

“Where did you go immediately after you killed him? Where did you dispose of the gun?”

“I didn’t kill him,” Alexander insisted. “When I left the house this morning, he was alive. As I told you before, I went to the gym at nine a.m. for my regular workout session, and when I came back you arrested me.”

“You were gone for four hours. That’s rather a long gym workout, isn’t it?”

“Elliot insists… I mean, that is, he used to insist that I keep in good shape, so that I look good for him. He paid for me to have a personal trainer – D’Angelo Clarke. Ask D’Angelo if you don’t believe me.”

“Will he tell me that you spent several hours working out with him, accounting for all the time from when you left home to when you returned?” Josiah asked.

“No, you know he won’t, because I told you earlier that I didn’t spend the entire time with him.”

“So, where were you?”

“Like I said before, I went for a drive after my training session. Elliot didn’t mind me doing that – he gave me permission. I like driving my new duck across the lost zones, gliding over the water. It makes me feel—” He stopped abruptly.

“It makes you feel what?”

“Free,” Alexander said softly. “When I’m out driving, alone, I can pretend that I’m free again. You can understand that, can’t you, Investigator Raine?”

“Yeah, I can understand that, but I don’t think it’s what happened,” Josiah said. “See, I think you killed Dacre, and then you waltzed out of the house, threw the gun into the nearest lost zone, and went to your gym session as usual. You knew the housekeeper would find the body a couple of hours later.”

“No. He was alive when I left. He was happy. He kissed me goodbye and said we’d have fun later. That’s what he said – that we’dhave fun. Whoever killed him must have broken into the house after I left.”

Josiah sat back in his chair and gazed at the IS thoughtfully. “Except there’s no sign of forced entry. Is anyone else on the house security system apart from you and the housekeeper? Is there anyone else the house might have allowed in?”

Alexander shook his head. “Only Elliot. Nobody else.”

“That’s what I thought. Also, Dacre was wearing only his dressing gown, and apparently felt comfortable enough with his murderer to open the door to him or her, and let them into his lounge. How likely is that?”

Alexander shrugged. “I’ve already told you that Elliot was an exhibitionist. He often didn’t get dressed until noon, and he frequently saw visitors while wearing his robe, or his swimming trunks, or some silly outfit from his costume collection. He was like that.”

“You have to admit it’s a huge coincidence,” Josiah insisted. “Yesterday, Dacre changed his will to give you your freedom in the event of his death, and today he’s shot dead.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Alexander repeated wearily. “I couldn’t kill anyone and certainly not that sweet, funny, infuriating man.”

“Really? Because I’ve been reading all about you.” Josiah gestured to his holopad. “And it sounds precisely like something you’d be capable of.”

“Does it?” Alexander drawled, leaning back in his chair. “What’s your reasoning?”

“I think I can piece together a narrative from the data available: Elliot Dacre’s husband, Christopher Lucas Dacre, died in a duck accident a few years ago, and Dacre was devastated. A little while later, he saw your contract advertised for sale, and noticed that you bore a passing resemblance to his dead husband, so he bought you. I think you got the measure of him pretty quickly, Alexander. You saw that he was a lovestruck old fool who’d do anything for the pretty face that reminded him of his dead husband.”

“You have a very low opinion of me, sir,” Alexander said tightly.

“Maybe, but I think it’s pretty close to the truth. From the moment Dacre bought you, your sole aim was to get him to change his will. Youtraded on the fact you looked like Christopher, and Dacre was taken in by your little act. You worked on him relentlessly, and then the minute you’d convinced him to change his will you shot him dead so you could be free.” Josiah crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the IS’s response.

Alexander sat there for a long moment, nodding silently, and then spoke. “There is a flaw to this plan.”

“What’s that?”

“The fact that it makes me the number-one suspect,” Alexander pointed out. “Instead of being set free, isn’t it more likely I’d be arrested and tried for Elliot’s murder? Surely, if I was this clever, I’d have set up someone else to take the blame?”

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