Page 99 of Crocodile Tears

Grabbing Solange, he danced around the room with her, her cloud of curls bouncing, kissing her repeatedly. Finally, they ran out of breath and collapsed on the bed, giggling. He reached over and brushed her hair away from her face.

“Who is this godfather of yours, Solange? This fairy godfather who’s going to wave his magic wand and transform my life?”

“You’ve met him,” she said. “At our graduation day, remember? I saw you talking to him but couldn’t introduce you, because you said I wasn’t to talk to you as the camera crew was there. He’s?—”

“George Tyler,” Alex said slowly. “Your godfather is George Tyler.” His father’s old enemy and the son of the man who had designed the original Lytton Classic all those years ago. “That’s why he was at Oxford that day.”

“That’s right. He’d come to see me graduate” She smiled up at him happily. “He’ll help you, Alex, I know he will. You only have to ask.”

Chapter Seventeen

OCTOBER 2095

Josiah

Much to Josiah’s surprise, there was no media presence outside the Inquisitus building when he returned.

He found Reed still hard at work at his desk; the charge in his holotie had run down completely, leaving only one forlorn red light, blinking pathetically.

“You look like shit,” he said.

“Ditto,” Reed shot back.

“Got anything for me?”

Reed clicked on his holopad with a dramatic flourish, then sat back with a sigh, rubbing his neck.

“There – that’s every damn bit of info I can find – it’s over to you now, Investigator Hotshot; go where the data leads you. How about you – anything to report?”

“No new leads. The forensics and the solicitor pretty much confirmed what we already know.”

“I’m not surprised.” Reed stood up and reached for the jacket slung over the back of his chair. “Right, I’m going home – Sarah will kill me if I work two nights running.”

At that moment, Esther wheeled into the department. Josiahjerked his head towards the building entrance. “I assume I have you to thank for the missing mob?”

She winked. “I may have implied that the investigation has been given to another agency.”

Josiah laughed. “So, they high-tailed it over to some other poor IA to torment them instead?”

“Well, I thought the last thing you needed was for them to see you driving out of here with your new IS. It won’t be long before they realise they’ve been duped, though, so I’ll go and get him for you.”

“Did I hear her right?” Reed grabbed hold of Josiah’s arm as she left. “You’re taking Lytton home as your IS? You? The bloody indiehunter? The man who hates indies more than anything else on the planet? You must be kidding me.”

Josiah glanced down coolly at Reed’s grip on his arm. Reed released him, but his grim expression remained.

“Dacre has no living relatives,” Josiah explained. “We can’t keep Alexander here for more than twenty-four hours without charging him, and he’s a registered IS – someone has to take care of him. We can’t let him go free – he’s valuable property, part of Dacre’s estate.”

“He’s also the prime suspect in Dacre’s murder.”

“Which is why I don’t want him getting sucked into the probate system – you know how difficult it is getting those bastards to agree to further questioning once they’ve got custody.”

“So, you’re taking him home with you instead?”

“On a temporary custody order – Esther’s worked out all the details.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

“Is that so?” Josiah demanded, unused to having his decisions questioned by a subordinate in this way.

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