Inspector Rames

Chapter 65

"I've got access," Alex said.

I dragged my chair to his desk and plunked down beside him. He'd found Danielle's medical records on his tabphone.

"Okay, she's got quite the list as a child and adolescent," he murmured. His eyes flicked over the screen as he scrolled, greener than usual under its bright glare. "Chickenpox, croup, pelvic inflammatory disease, clinical depression." He stopped scrolling. "And attempted suicide in 2183."

"That's the same year Thomas Core fell off the metal walkways and died."

"It was just before that happened." Alex tried scrolling further unsuccessfully. "That's it. But Ethan admitted the abuse."

I pursed my lips. "I know. This makes no sense. We need to talk to Danielle."

"Aren't we stepping on the toes of the domestic abuse unit?"

"I don't care. This is tied up with my murder inquiry, and I'm getting to the bottom of it."

So we left the station and caught a tram on the high street. Once we were seated side by side, I leaned my head against the cold window and tried to think. There was more to this puzzle than Danielle and Ethan's home life -- perhaps the final missing pieces slotted together?

Why had Ethan met Jade at Coffee Glitch last week? Who had the letter in Jade's shoebox been for? And who had murdered Jade, Ruby, and Iberia?

It had begun with Ruby's knifing in the street. Then we'd been called to Iberia's flat. Then we'd met the rest of the wedding party and been plunged straight into suspicions, revelations, and lies...everyone pointing the finger at everyone but themselves.

It was strange that we'd been given an influx of information so quickly and that almost all of it had been voluntary -- Jade guiding us to William, Danielle guiding us to Levi, Levi guiding us to Brittany, Lavender shedding light on them all -- yet had gained so little true evidence.

Surely, the answer had to lie in their past. The whole wedding party had gone to school together. Then everyone had gone to college: Jade to one institute; Levi to another; and Iberia, Ethan, Danielle, and Ruby to a third. Then they'd changed places again for university: Iberia and Ruby at Socrico, Ethan in New London, Danielle with Levi at Bright Light, and Jade working in Rosek.

Which crossroads mattered? At which point had the motive for these murders taken shape?

Habitually, I thumbed the business card in my pocket, and my scalp prickled again. I withdrew it and showed it to Alex. "I found this in my coat yesterday afternoon. Lavender must have slipped it to me at the crime scene."

He took the card. "I suppose having us on her portfolio would look good."

"Don't you think it's strange? She could have just handed it to me."

He shuffled the card between his fingers. "Maybe she didn't really feel it was the time or the place, so she did it discreetly."

"I guess. I don't like it when people are sneaky, though. It makes me uneasy."

"We know lots of sneaky people -- like Clyde." Alex leaned back and met my eyes, the card stilling in his hand as doubt crossed his face. "Anyway, she was...helpful."

"Or was she? She came trotting along to tell us about the wedding party as soon as Iberia and Ruby were murdered, inserting herself right in the middle of our --"

The tram slid to a stop, and the robot driver announced our destination. We were still a little way from Danielle's flat, but the window boxes were all over the skyscrapers here as well, filled with pale flowers that glowed in the weak winter sun. It was a brighter morning than usual, chasing away some of Socrico's shadows and giving the city cold clarity.