Page 79 of Crocodile Tears

“But you don’t think he murdered Elliot Dacre?”

“No, I don’t. Trust me – it would be a lot easier if I did.”

“Reed thinks he did it. I’ve read all the reports, all the forensics, all the data, and there is nothing putting anyone else at the crime scene. As you so adeptly discovered, Alexander has been recently abused – badly, by the look of the photographs Doctor Baumann took. It would hardly be surprising if he was holding a grudge. The altered will arriving when it did is also pertinent. It fits, Joe.”

“Too neatly.” He shook his head stubbornly. “You’ve seen him, Esther. He’s clever. There is no way that sharp mind did something so obvious as to kill Dacre and leave all this circumstantial evidence behind. He’d have found a much smarter way to murder his houder, if that’s truly what he wanted.”

“I agree,” she responded unexpectedly. “I’m not convinced Lytton is our killer, either.”

“What?” He blinked.

“Everything we haveiscircumstantial, although a jury would convict him on a wave of anti-IS feeling alone. But we aren’t here to pander to the mob. We’re here to do our job and catch a killer. So, if Lytton didn’t do it – who did?”

Josiah glanced through the mirror again. Alexander had rested his chin on his hands and was staring absently into space. “I don’t know, but maybe he does. He definitely knows more than he’s telling.”

“I agree – but we can only hold him for another five hours. After that, you either have to charge him or release him.”

“If I release him, where does he go?”

“Well, that’s the problem.” Esther sighed. “Dacre’s entire estate has now gone into probate, and that extends to all his property, including Lytton. Dacre has no living relatives who’ll take Lytton in, so if we release him, he’ll be shipped off to a probate holding house. From there, he’ll be sent to an auction house and his contract will be sold to pay off Elliot’s sizeable debts.”

“No,” Josiah barked. “I might have more questions for him. Once the probate lawyers get hold of him, they won’t let me question him again in case it puts off potential buyers and lowers his value.”

“We can get a warrant.”

“You know as well as I do that the lawyers will wrap him up in so much red tape we’ll never get access again. I’ve seen it happen before.”

“True. There is another way,” Esther said slowly. “I could apply for a court order to bring him under our temporary jurisdiction, on the grounds that we expect him to provide testimony in any forthcoming murder trial. We can’t hold him in custody in the cells as a prisoner unless we arrest him, though – we’d have to apply to become his de factohouders until the case is settled.”

“That’ll at least buy us time. Let’s do it.”

Esther held up her hand. “It’s not that easy. He’s a valuable piece of property, so someone at Inquisitus would have to take custody of him, be responsible for his health, safety, and actions, and ensure he’s deliveredsafely to the probate office after the case has been resolved. Basically, someone here would have to be his houder until all this is over.”

Josiah stared at her. “You cannot possibly mean me.”

“Well, you’re the one running this case,” Esther told him sweetly. “He’s clearly your responsibility.”

“Why can’t you put him up in Inquisitus accommodation? He can share with Doctor Baumann.”

“Unsupervised? An IS worth a hundred and sixty million pounds, who might possibly be a witness in a murder trial?”

“A safe house of some kind then?”

“We’re not MI5, Joe. But I’m sure your place will be as safe as any until you decide what to do with him.”

“No,” Josiah said flatly. “I will not have an IS living under my roof. You can’t ask that of me, Esther.”

“I’m not asking.” Esther shrugged. “You have three choices when it comes to Alexander Lytton – charge him with Dacre’s murder, send him into the probate system, or become his temporary houder. Those are your options, Joe. You decide.”

“Surely I can’t be allowed access to the prime suspect in a murder investigation outside of an interview suite? There must be a legal objection to that.”

“You’d think, but I checked because this is an unusual situation, and IS law is clear on the matter. He’s our responsibility. You think he’s innocent – you look after him.”

“I don’t keep indentured servants. Never have, never will,” he snapped.

“Then don’t. Like I said, it’s up to you. Let me know what you want to do, and I’ll get the paperwork ready.”

She glided towards the door. “You should be aware that there is pressure on me, too, Joe,” she added. He looked up, startled. “If we can’t solve this, then the Home Secretary will hand it to another agency. They might well decide, as Reed did, that there’s enough circumstantial evidence to charge Lytton. As we’ve already discussed, we both know that a jury will almost certainly convict him.”

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