Underworld Eclipse was the hottest club in Socrico. It was also closed for the morning, and the automatic doors at the front were locked. We found a fire escape around the side, guarded by a robot. It opened the door when we flashed our warrant cards, but I paused. "Do you know if Jason Castle-Ackerman was here this morning?"
It stared at me with eerie, bright blue eyes.
Alex translated. "Tell us if Jason Castle-Ackerman was here at oh four hundred hours today."
"I do not record our guests."
"Brilliant," I muttered. "Robots are fucking useless."
Alex ducked under its arm with a smile. I followed him.
The main lights in the club were still turned down, and strobe lighting was pulsing and flashing as if the party was still going on. Robots were sweeping rubbish on the dance floor or mopping up spilt drinks. One was behind the bar at the back, cleaning glasses. We approached it, the floor sticky beneath our shoes. When we reached the bar, I looked at Alex hopefully.
"Do you keep a record of the customers you serve?" he asked.
"I keep a file of all transactions made at the bar," the robot said.
"Tell us if Jason Castle-Ackerman was here at oh four hundred hours today."
The robot stood still, thinking -- or whatever they did. "Jason-Castle Ackerman purchased a Jägerbomb at 4:01 a.m. and 4:34 a.m."
That was him alibied, then.
***
Socrico Train Station was our next stop, to alibi Kaden Novick. Dark tracks looped around to the ground near the building, shining under the artificial lights high above us.
"I hate this station," Alex said. "It seems to have been designed so that no one should know where they're going."
I glanced at him. "Did you get lost in there when you came to us?"
He shrugged as we strode through the automatic doors. Men don't like to admit they're lost. Perhaps doing it once on the night we'd met had caused a big enough dent to his pride.
Still, it was easy to understand why he'd been turned around. The station was a mess of sleek pathways that lifted and curved and turned through the air, climbing over one another as they led people towards dozens of platforms, shops, restaurants, and meeting areas. They glistened white, constructed from a material like marble but as light as carbon.
I stared at the hologram boards near the ceiling, trying to hear myself think over the shouts of commuters and the screech of decelerating trains. Cities and platforms flashed on and off. Eventually, I caught sight of the day's designated area for Rosek. "Got it! Platform 10."
But where the hell was Platform 10?
"Can I help you?"
We turned around. A young man in uniform was standing behind us, dark-skinned and sporting a mop of curly, brown hair.
He smiled. "Niko Fowler. I work here."
"Inspector Rames." I showed him my warrant card. "This is Sergeant Sullivan. We'd like to see your CCTV footage from Platform 10 in connection with a murder inquiry."
"Oh! Of course." Niko trotted past us. "This way."
We followed him up one of the sloping, twisting paths. At the top, it flattened out to become a small mezzanine level housing shops, an information office, and a ticket kiosk. Ahead of us were a set of glass doors that led out to the platform, where a silver train was waiting like a double-headed bullet. Blacked-out windows stretched from floor to ceiling, giving the passengers a private, awe-inspiring view.
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."
"No, actually. The investigation into his drug offence isn't ours. The investigation into Bryony Gold's murder, however, is."
Lynn put her book down.
Maxx paled. "Bryony's dead?"
"I don't see what that has to do with us," Elena said.
I really shouldn't have been surprised by her cold response, and yet I spoke through gritted teeth. "Everything. She was Jason's girlfriend and Maxx's playgirl. She was killed on her way to meet Jason at Underworld Eclipse."
"How?" Lynn asked quietly. Her eyes were wide.
"Her throat was slit on Kings Road between four and four-thirty this morning. I'd like to know where you all were."
"At four on a Thursday morning?" Elena frowned. "Asleep!"
"Given the nature of your son's activities, that answer is not as obvious as you seem to think."
Her gaze hardened into a glare, and it slipped past me to Alex. She looked at his bruise. "What were you doing at that time this morning?"
"Waking up," Alex said, "because there'd been a murder. Your alibi, please, Mrs Ackerman."
"I was asleep!"
"With your husband?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Where is he?"
"Stretching his legs in the botanical garden. He'll be back soon enough for you to interrogate."
I looked at Lynn and Maxx. They said that they, also, had been asleep. Their expressions remained open and honest.
The problem was that if the whole family had been asleep, one of them could have risen and departed, unnoticed, at any time. Like Maxx.
I focused my attention on him. "When was the last time you saw Bryony?"
"She came here last night." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I broke it off with her."
"Because you'd been found out?"
"Because I didn't want to betray Zoe any longer!" His hands closed into fists. "I wanted to make amends."
"It's a bit late for that," Elena said cattily.
"How did Bryony take the break-up?" Alex asked.
"She...wasn't happy." Maxx pressed his lips together.
"She didn't want to let go?"
"She refused to let go."
Elena glared at him, and he shut his mouth.
Lynn glared at them both. "Don't complain. You deserved each other. I wish Zoe had married Ryker and never bothered with you!"
I cleared my throat. "What do you mean by Bryony refusing to let go, Maxx?"
I could see it all playing out before me now: Maxx cutting the ties that were holding him back from gaining Gem's affection. Perhaps it was first comes murder, then comes marriage...
"She took the break-up hard and swore she'd carry on seeing me," he said. "She thought I'd come to my senses."
"But you weren't going to come to your senses, because you still fancy Gem."
Maxx's head jerked back. "How do you know her name?"
"I happen to be friends with Gem Robinson." I had to work hard not to curl my hands into fists. "She complained to me that she was being harassed. If you go near her again -- "
The front door slammed. Dress shoes clicked down the hallway. "Elena?"
"In here," she said.
I turned around just as Daniel Castle arrived on the threshold, unbuttoning his long coat. He stopped short at the sight of me, then recovered his smile. "Good morning, Inspector. Are you here about Jason?"
"Bryony," I corrected, none too gently. None of the Castle-Ackermans seemed to have been attached to any part of the girl other than her sex organs. "We're here about Bryony Gold. She's been murdered."
"Oh," Daniel said. He unwound his scarf and draped it over the sofa.
"Where were you this morning between four and four-thirty?"
"In bed, asleep." His gaze drifted past me and landed on Alex's bruise. "Ouch."
"He got that arresting the man your son was dealing with," I said. "Kaden Novick. Does that name ring any bells?"
Everyone in the room shook their heads.
"What about Rex Lukens?"
One by one, everyone in the room shook their heads again.
***
"There's no connection," Alex said as we left.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. "We don't know that until we talk to Rex Lukens. And we have another lead: Maxx tried to dump Bryony, but he couldn't shake her off. She was baggage, and she was basically threatening to stalk him. There was only one way to cut the ties and continue pursuing Gem. First comes murder, then comes love, then comes marriage."
Alex frowned at me. "What under earth are you talking about?"
"The Kissing Song! Did you grow up under a rock?"
"I think you grew up on the surface. What's the Kissing Song?"
"Well, it starts off with a tree, and then -- "
"Aren't you going to sing it?"
I stopped and stared at him. Then I scowled. "You bloody well know what the Kissing Song is! You're just winding me up."
He grinned. "I thought I might get to hear you sing. A man can dream."
"A man can have nightmares -- my voice sounds like a dying robot. It's best not to go there." I smiled sweetly. "Although if you insist..."
He winced. "I think I've changed my mind now."
"Good. Let's get serious, then. Our next person of interest is your favourite suspect and Bryony's employer. Maybe he'll play nice and let us have a look around without a warrant."