Inspector Rames

Chapter 10

Niko took us behind the information desk and through a door at the back. We entered a large and cluttered office, and he sat down at the nearest desk. A dozen live videos were projected against the rear wall, but he tapped a tablet and they all vanished. "Platform 10. What date and time?"

"Monday 26th, between eight and ten at night. Sorry."

"Will you see what you're looking for if I double the speed?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

He played the relevant footage on fast-forward, and we watched clusters of passengers flash by. The trains moved so fast that I couldn't see them leave -- they'd be in the frame one moment and gone the next. I kept my eyes peeled for anyone who could have been Kaden.

When a man of roughly the same height and stature entered the frame at 8:36 p.m., wearing a hoodie, I clicked my fingers. "That's him."

Niko reduced the video to its ordinary speed. The man skulked at the edge of the frame with his hands in his pockets. He glanced around a few times, showing his face to the camera. He was definitely Kaden Novick.

At 8:45 p.m., another train came into the station. Kaden straightened. When the doors opened, he started to cross the platform. He had a brief chat with another hoodied man, and I almost missed them swapping items. Then the other man got back on the train. A minute later, it whizzed off, looping back around to Rosek. Kaden Novick left the frame. It was 8:49 p.m.

"Brazen," Niko commented.

"Try this morning," I said, "between four and half past."

Niko did. We watched a similar exchange happen at 4:09 a.m.

"That's not much of an alibi," I said. "After that, he was supposedly dealing, but we only have his word for it. And we're waiting on Rex Lukens."

"So what's our next move?" Alex asked.

"We'll hope the Castle-Ackermans are home again today -- and that they have something useful to add."

***

We were let into the Castle-Ackerman duplex by an unfamiliar girl holding a baby bottle. She looked the same age as Bryony, but she was wearing no make-up, and her mousy brown hair was pulled back in a mess that just about constituted a ponytail. I guessed she was the babysitter even before she told us over the sound of ear-splitting wailing. She took us into the living room with a harried expression.

Maxx was holding the bawling baby while his mother paced at the other end of the room, shouting into her tabphone. Lynn was curled up at our end, her back to them, reading a romantic hoverbook. Or trying to, anyway: I didn't know how she'd be able to focus over all the noise.

"What do you mean, he doesn't want a solicitor?" Elena snapped. "We have the best solicitor in Socrico. He knows that."

The babysitter crossed the room and took Harley off Maxx. She plugged her mouth up with the bottle of milk, and the crying ceased. As she carried the baby out of the living room, an old memory stirred in my mind.

"First comes love," I murmured. "Then comes marriage. Then comes the baby in the baby carriage."

Then comes murder?

Alex gave me a funny look. Hearing my mumbling, Maxx and Lynn glanced up. Elena stopped pacing. "What do you mean, he has a right to -- oh, forget it. Two of your officers are here now." She disconnected the call.

I raised my eyebrows. "Good morning. Sorry to bother you again."

"No, you're not." Elena sat down beside Maxx. "I assume you're here about Jason."