I tossed and turned that night, thinking of Alex, then the investigation, then Alex again. In the morning, I bought two double espressos at Coffee Glitch instead of one, despite my vow to keep him off my mind. And I was ridiculously pleased when I reached our office and saw that he'd also been thinking of me.

"That's a lot of cookies." I put a coffee cup on his desk and eyed the packet of chocolate chip cookies in front of him. My heart somersaulted.

Because of the chocolate, obviously.

"Yes," he said. "I thought you might want a chocolate fix."

"I can have some? Thanks." I scooped up a large handful and carried them over to my desk, where I felt relatively safer. Slinging my bag off, I crammed one in my mouth. "Delicious."

He watched with an eyebrow raised. "I'm glad you think so."

I swallowed and picked up my coffee. "I have a plan of action for this morning. We have two remaining explanations for the murders."

"Two?"

"Yes." Deciding it was my magic number, I picked up two more cookies and paused between my sentences to eat them. "The first explanation is the one I favour: Maxx is the murderer. He killed the two women who were holding him back from having a chance with Gem."

Alex still didn't look convinced. "And the second explanation?"

"An avenue we haven't really gone down. Elena Ackerman hated Zoe, and she hated Bryony. Now they're both dead. Elena was in the room when we confronted Maxx about his affair with Bryony -- then Bryony was killed less than twenty-four hours later. Could it be that she's trying to salvage the family image? First she got rid of the wife who was his step-sister. Then she got rid of the eighteen-year-old he'd been sleeping with."

"She was alone when Zoe was murdered," Alex said thoughtfully. "Supposedly in the botanical garden, but she could have been anywhere."

"And she could have slipped out while Daniel was sleeping to kill Bryony." I dusted crumbs off my hands. "I want to talk to her again."

***

"This is harassment," Elena Ackerman said as we sat down, alone, in the home office. The workstations didn't seem to have been touched, and all the bizarre robots were frozen in the same positions: their backs open, their wings spread, and a strange assortment of eyes watching us. I suppressed a shiver.

"We could escort you down to the station if you prefer," I replied. "But we won't take up very much of your time if we just talk here."

"Collectively, you're taking up a lot!"

"Mrs Ackerman, you've confessed your distaste for Zoe and Bryony. Both are now dead. Do you still stand by your alibis?"

Her face hardened. "Of course I do. As I've said, Zoe and I simply didn't give each other the time of day. There was nothing proactive in our uneasy relationship."

"What about Bryony Gold-Digger?"

"I let her know that we were all aware she was with Jason for his money and that no one liked her. I did not go out of my way to make her feel welcome in the household. That's all."

"She was given automatic access to your home."

"That was Jason's doing. Not mine." Elena smiled. "He's here, by the way. He's been released on bail, and our solicitor is confident that he'll destroy your drug accusations in court."

"They're not my accusations," I said. "I'm here to talk about murder. How did Bryony and Jason meet?"

"They both studied English Literature at Socrico University. I imagine they met at their lectures."

"Jason didn't tell you?"

"Of course not. He's an eighteen-year-old boy. Why would he tell me anything?"

I shrugged. "He brought Bryony to meet the family."

"Yes." Elena frowned. "They'd only been seeing each other for a week when she first came. She looked at everything like she was imagining how much she could sell it for. Her intentions were written all over her face."

"I suppose that's when you Christened her Bryony Gold-Digger."

"Yes," Elena said crisply.

Alex only appeared to be half-listening, and there was a distant look in his eyes. I thought again of his vague reason for leaving Rosek. A case that had hit close to home...

I hoped he wasn't going to bugger off after this one.

"What about Zoe?" I asked Elena. "Why didn't you get along with her?"

She shrugged. "Our personalities clashed, I suppose. You know she wasn't my child?"

"She was from Daniel's previous relationship."

"Yes, and she made a point of keeping that at the forefront of her mind. She acted as if she was leagues above the Ackerman family until sometime between the birth of Lynn, and Maxx reaching puberty. She didn't like my partnership with Daniel until then. She thought her father was too good for me."

"Partnership?" Alex repeated, startling me.

"Our marriage. It was arranged by our parents so that Ackerman Electronics and Castle Robotics, both each other's greatest rivals, could come together like sister companies instead of destroying each other."

"That's very old-fashioned," I said.

"Yes, like a Medieval lord marrying his daughter off to prevent a war. That touch of history is as romantic as my relationship with Daniel has ever been."

"You told us that you sleep in the same bed when you alibied each other."

"Sex isn't romance, Inspector, although marrying Daniel is a beneficial arrangement beyond a business partnership. Aside from our personal benefits, my parents also wished for me to create a larger family than Maxx -- more heirs. Daniel was lonely after his divorce, so that also suited him. He enjoys being a family man."

"You don't," Alex said.

"Daniel was better with them when they were small and supposedly cute. I enjoy having them around now that they're older."

"You mean that you enjoy having useful heirs," Alex corrected. "Maxx and Jason work at Ackerman Electronics."

Elena smiled without any warmth. "Yes, they are useful. I will be the first to admit that I am not a loving mother, but it's hardly a crime."

"What you choose to do as an unloving mother might be." I drew myself up straighter. "What would you say is at the centre of your universe, Mrs Ackerman? The businesses?"

"The business."

"Singular?"

"I think of Ackerman Electronics and Castle Robotics as one. Last year, Daniel and I discussed finally merging them under the name Castle & Ackerman. But then Zoe Castle became Zoe Ackerman, much to the disgust of the nation, and we knew that to unify our companies would be to destroy the last shreds of our reputation."

"How did you react when you heard she was marrying Maxx?"

Elena pursed her lips. "I asked Zoe to move out immediately."

"Daniel let that happen?"

"He was at work. By the time he came home, she'd gone."

"I bet he was really happy to discover that you'd kicked his daughter out onto the streets."

"Onto the streets?" Her eyebrows rose. "Not as a Castle! The Ackermans and the Castles were millionaires in their own rights before we joined. She'd rented a flat by the time the lights had turned off. Maxx moved in with her the next day."

"And the threat of your reputation being destroyed was carried out," Alex said.

Elena pursed her lips. "Yes. They'd grown up as family. When Daniel and I married, they entered the public eye as some of the richest siblings in Britain. How could anyone accept what they became?"

"You resented Zoe for what happened," I commented. "But you don't seem to blame Maxx."

"Maxx lacks foresight. Zoe did not. She knew that marrying him would destroy our business, but she did it anyway."

"And what would happen if Britain discovered that Maxx was having an affair with an eighteen-year-old?"

Elena turned scarlet. "It would be the final nail in the coffin."

Was that enough to have made her kill the girl? After all, Bryony had apparently been adamant that she wasn't going to let Maxx walk away...

I looked at Alex. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. Then comes murder?

I wished some part of the rhyme said then comes evidence.

"Thank you, Mrs Ackerman." I stood up. "I believe that's everything we need to discuss."

She showed us to the door in silence. When she opened it, we found ourselves face to face with Daniel Castle, his hands tucked into his trouser pockets.

"My apologies," he said. "I was just about to come in."

"Did you enjoy your walk?" Elena asked crisply.

"Yes, I went around the neighbourhood today to get some fresh air." He moved aside to let us past, looking enviously immaculate for someone who'd been exercising. "Good day."

"Good day," I repeated on automatic, then felt too posh for words.

We rode the lift down to the ground floor of the duplex, then got another to the base of the building. When we finally emerged outside, my earpiece buzzed. I tapped it to answer and walked straight through a puddle.

I ground my teeth. "Rames speaking."

"Amber, this is Dixon. I've got bad news."

"Sir?"

"I've just dispatched a team of officers to The Silver Star. Gem Robinson has been assaulted."

***

The Silver Star was no less neon in the daytime, but it was quieter. Gem was standing at the back of the pub, talking to police constables and PRBs. We strode over to her.

She was pale, but she smiled when she saw us. "Amber!"

My gaze landed on the livid bruise around her throat, and heat seared through me. "What happened?"

"It was Maxx Ackerman." She shivered. "He came in to proposition me again. He said he was a free man and he'd fallen desperately in love with me. He wanted to get married. I think he was drunk. I laughed him off -- and then he put his hands around my throat..."

I closed mine into fists. "I warned him to stay away from you."

"He started choking me." Gem touched her neck. "Then one of the robots pulled him off, and he bolted."

"When I get hold of him, he'll regret it." I turned to Alex. "I'd say Maxx has violent tendencies."

Alex frowned. "We should track him."

"The PRBs are trying to do that now, sir," a constable said. "But he's blocked his tracking transmission."

That was illegal.

"Bastard!" I exclaimed. "He knows this makes him look guilty. He did it. He killed Zoe and Bryony because he thought Gem would fall into his arms if he didn't have any baggage."

Gem was turning paler. "Wait, what?"

"I might be able to crack that tracking block." Alex got his tabphone out. "When they're coded in a hurry, they're usually weak."

It took him three minutes to crack the block while I paced. Then he grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of the pub.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

He steered me to the left so that we were moving further away from the high street. Rain was still falling, but he didn't stop to draw his fancy hood up. "Maxx is near Socrico University."

"I know a shortcut." Shaking him off, I swung around to the nearest set of metal stairs.

We ran up them, the wet steel slippery beneath our feet. I bolted across the first landing, breathing hard, then took us back down a narrower set at the other end, almost invisible in the shadows of the buildings.

As I started my descent, my foot slipped on the steps. I shot forward, towards the ground a long way below.

Alex grabbed me by the waist, and we fell back against the railings. He kept hold of me until I'd found my feet again. "That was close. Are you all right?"

My skin tingled where his hands were pressed against my jumper. I nodded, pulling away, and almost tripped again in my haste to bolt.

We trotted down the stairs and plunged into an alley, and the rain stopped falling on us. Alex checked his tabphone. "He's still moving; still in the area."

The alley was narrow. When we turned the corner, it became narrower still. Someone had blocked our way with an empty, yellow skip.

"Leg-up," I gasped.

I cocked my leg back, and Alex boosted me up. I tumbled into the skip and almost landed on my head. When he got in, we scrambled up the other side and jumped together. The impact jarred my bones.

We burst out of the alley, and Alex checked his tabphone again. "He's stopped at Betty's Caf -- "

A tram screamed towards us.

"Look out!" I pulled him back by the arm. "Jesus Christ."

"Sorry." Alex was still looking at his tabphone.

I rolled my eyes.

We ran across the street, past quaint stores and Friday shoppers. It was still drizzling, but sweat slid down my spine, and my lungs burned.

Around the corner, there was a neon sign for Betty's Café. I slowed my stride at last and drew my pistol. When we reached the doors, I shielded it behind my thigh and stormed in.

The café was quiet, and all three customers turned to look at us. I swept my gaze over them, searching for Maxx. He wasn't there.

Maybe he was hiding in the toilets.

I turned around, preparing to send my sergeant, but he was looking at the closest empty table. A tabphone was sitting in the centre, skewed as if it had been thrown down.

Alex woke it up, and his shoulders slumped. "It's Maxx Ackerman's. He's dumped us."

"What?" I gaped at him, then bunched my free hand in my hair. "No! Now how are we going to find him?"

The doors flew open behind me, and Lynn and Jason Castle-Ackerman entered Betty's Café. They stopped short at the sight of us. Jason's gaze fell on the tabphone in Alex's hand.

"What are you two doing here?" I snapped.

"We're trying to find Maxx," Lynn stammered. She wet her lips nervously. "A police officer called and asked if he was at home. Dad sent us to look for him."

I glanced around at the pink gingham tablecloths and elderly customers. "Does he come here often, then?"

"No," Jason said. "We tracked his..."

Lynn shot him an alarmed look.

Alex frowned. "Only the police are legally allowed to track tabphones. How did you even get the software?"

Jason shrugged, swallowing hard. I supposed that when you were the son of the CEOs of Britain's largest technology companies, everything was accessible.

Everyone in the café was still watching, and now the waitress was glaring. I sighed and lowered my voice. "Have lunch with us, and we won't arrest you again. We can talk about Maxx."

Lynn and Jason exchanged a look. Jason nodded. "Okay."

We sat down at the pink table nearest the door. I handed a pitifully small menu to Alex, caught a whiff of burning from the kitchen, and hoped that I hadn't just made a bad choice. "What did the police officer say?"

Lynn bit her lip. "That you needed to speak to Maxx urgently. Why?"

"He assaulted Gem Robinson at The Silver Star half an hour ago." Just saying the words made me angry. "He attempted to strangle her."

"No." Lynn shook her head slowly.

"Yes. If a member of staff hadn't intervened, he might have killed her."

"You don't think..." Jason frowned. "I mean, Maxx isn't my favourite person right now, but he's my brother. He's not a killer."

"We'll be arresting him for ABH, not murder," I said. Yet.

"But the longer he evades us," Alex added, "the more trouble he'll be in. Can you think of anywhere he might go to hide?"

Jason frowned. "I -- "

"Are you ready to order?" The glaring waitress appeared by our table.

I looked at Jason, his mouth shut now, and resisted the urge to throttle her. "No."

Alex handed me the menu. "Just pick something and get it over with."

We ordered sandwiches and fizzy drinks at random, and the waitress buggered off. I turned to Jason. "You were about to say something."

"I was going to say that I don't know."

I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

"He might go to his flat," Lynn said.

"The PRBs will have looked there."

"Oh." She pressed her lips together as she thought. "Mom said that the police officer called Ackerman Electronics as well, but his PA says he's not there."

I raised an eyebrow. "Are the family all at your flat again today?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "Mom and Dad are working from their home office, Lynn's been skiving off to sulk over her books ever since her break-up -- "

"I'm mourning Zoe," Lynn muttered.

" -- and I'm suspended from uni until my trial."

"You're lucky that you're not having two," I reminded him, because illegally tracking tabphones could, in extreme circumstances, offer a prison sentence. "Is there really nowhere else Maxx might have gone? Nowhere he likes visiting in his free time?"

"He's too busy to have free time," Jason replied. "He'll inherit Ackerman Electronics when Mom stands down one day."

He wasn't busy enough if he had time to assault bartenders!

Alex must have seen the anger rolling onto my face because he intercepted me. "We could just wait it out. Surely he'll have to go back to the duplex to look after Harley."

"Oh," Lynn said, "the babysitter's been doing extra hours. She's basically living with us now."

"And Maxx won't miss Harley," Jason added. "He hardly knows what to do with her. He's not a natural parent."

Clearly, that ran in the blood.

The waitress brought our drinks out, and we lapsed into silence as she plonked them down. Orange juice and cola splashed onto the pink tablecloth. When she'd gone, I picked up my sticky glass with a wince.

"I always knew it would end badly," Jason said suddenly.

I looked at him. "Knew what would end badly?"

"His marriage. Zoe threatened to divorce him on Monday."

Now we were all staring at him. Alex frowned. "You never mentioned that."

"No one asked me."

I put my drink down. "You heard the whole argument at the duplex?"

"Well, no -- just bits and pieces. I went into the living room after we'd eaten to play a video game. The dining room's next door. I heard Zoe threaten to divorce Maxx, and she sounded like she meant it." He looked at me. "She'd found out about Bryony, hadn't she? They were arguing about Bryony."

"Yes." I mulled the divorce threat over in my mind. If Zoe had meant it, that would have got her off the scene without using violence...so why kill her?

"If you didn't know about the affair," Alex said, "why did you think their relationship was going to end badly?"

"Because they should never have been together." Jason's jaw tightened. "It's wrong. They were still siblings, even if they weren't related by blood. We all grew up as a family -- I thought we all looked at each other as family. Then my brother married my sister..." His face twisted.

We were attracting attention again. I cleared my throat. "Did anyone approve of the marriage?"

Jason looked at Lynn.

"Dad did," she said. "And I was shocked, but I thought they were happy."

"Mom and I are pissed with him." Jason gripped his drink, his knuckles turning white. "He shagged my girlfriend, he married his sister..."

"And he ruined the family reputation," I finished.

But Elena had blamed Zoe and Bryony -- not Maxx. She was protective of him, in a cold sort of way.

The glaring waitress brought our sandwiches over. At least, I thought they were sandwiches. I took one look at them and decided that I didn't want to know for sure.

"I'm going to make a call." I stood up. "Excuse me."

I made my way outside. Once I was standing in the rain, I placed a call on my earpiece to DC Emily Laney.

She picked up right away. "Laney speaking."

"Laney, it's Rames."

"Oh, ma'am, I was just about to call you."

"Great minds think alike. I heard that someone spoke to Maxx Ackerman's PA at Ackerman Electronics?"

"Mrs Ackerman got in touch with the PA and relayed the message to me that Maxx wasn't there."

"Interesting that you didn't get to speak with the PA directly. Elena may be shielding Maxx. Put surveillance on their headquarters, Laney."

"Yes, ma'am. Um, we also have a situation here."

My scalp prickled. "What situation?"

"A message from Maxx Ackerman was left on our Xplora page twenty minutes ago...Dixon thinks it's for you, ma'am."

"Then spit it out."

The line crackled as she took a deep breath. "'The last girl dies tonight.'"