‘So you say.’
‘That’s why a major/outer pair looks into all serious crime,’ Troy said. ‘Better to form a duo than sing solo. And there’s something else.’
‘What’s that, honey?’
‘Sorry, but I’ve already eaten. With Lexi.’
‘With Lexi, eh?’ she replied, glancing at him. She didn’t quite manage to disguise the hurt in her expression. ‘I dread to think what was on the menu. Never mind. You can have your share tomorrow. It’ll keep.’
SCENE 9
A counsellor had already broken the news to the Backhouse family that Dmitri’s body had been found. Now, Troy wanted to talk to Dmitri’s daughter, Coral. He felt that he could extract a clearer picture of Dmitri Backhouse from someone not far from his own age. But Coral was not at home. The counsellor had advised her to go into school as normal, because he believed that routine and lessons would take her mind off the terrible news about her father.
Shepford was laid out like most other cities. It had a commercial hub and concentric rings of neighbourhoods. At the city’s heart were shops, the entertainment complex, industry, Crime Central, the temple, the sports centre and schools. Separated by strips of parkland, there were six zones of housing. Four were dominated by majors and two by outers.
Approaching Coral’s school, it was clear to Troy and Lexi that there was a scuffle taking place between students on the playing field. When they were close enough to see what was going on, they realized that Coral Backhouse was at the heart of the punch-up. They both raced towards the brawl.
Blessed with superior fast-twitch muscles, outers were better sprinters, even if they didn’t have the strength of majors. Lexi got to the fight first and waded in straightaway. Inside a circle of students, Coral was facing three outer girls and putting up a good fight, despite being outnumbered. Lexi grabbed the leading outer, locking her arms expertly behind her back. At the same time, she yelled, ‘Oi! Stop. Detective!’
Troy arrived and grasped Coral in the same way, defusing the situation. ‘Show over!’ he shouted. ‘Go on. Back to classes.’
‘Except for you three,’ Lexi said to the outer girls.
‘And you, Coral,’ Troy added.
Coral twisted round. ‘How come you know me?’
‘Photographs,’ Troy said.
A teacher flew out of the nearest building and dashed towards the group. ‘What’s going on? Who are you? You can’t just walk in here and …’ Glancing at Lexi and Troy, he noticed their life-loggers and his protest faded away.
With a wry smile, Troy said, ‘Oh, yes, we can.’ He paused before adding, ‘We need to talk to Coral. You can take the other three and get their side of the story.’
The teacher marched back towards the school building, shepherding the outer students.
Lexi laughed. ‘You enjoyed that, didn’t you?’ she said to Troy. ‘Overruling a teacher.’
Letting go of Coral, Troy admitted it. ‘They told me what to do for years. Now it’s my turn.’ Then he faced Coral and asked, ‘What was that all about?’
‘Nothing,’ she answered.
‘I was always having fights like that — over nothing I’d admit to a teacher. But I’m not a teacher. My name’s Troy, by the way. And you were giving it some welly with a nifty right-hand jab.’
Surly, she didn’t reply.
‘Let me guess,’ said Troy. ‘They were outers, right? And if they heard about your dad … Were they teasing you about him?’
She didn’t utter a word, but there was surprise in her eyes. She almost gasped at Troy’s insight.
‘Not all outers are like that,’ Lexi told her. ‘Not many at all.’
Coral glanced from Lexi to Troy. Apparently persuaded that she had a sympathetic audience, she muttered, ‘The counsellor said he didn’t kill himself.’
‘It’s true,’ Troy replied. ‘I’m sorry, but we’re a murder investigation.’
She shook her head. ‘It wasn’t murder,’ she insisted. ‘He’d been threatening to do himself in for ages. I bet he got someone to do it for him.’
‘That’s still murder,’ Troy told her. ‘Have you got anyone in mind?’
‘No. He didn’t have any friends and no one in the family would’ve … you know.’
‘What about someone he’d met on the internet?’
‘I don’t know but, near the end, he spent a lot of time online. It’s what he did instead of sleeping.’
‘I’d like to get my hands on his computer,’ said Lexi.
‘Mum told the police. His laptop’s gone. He took it with him, I suppose. All we know is, he called himself Backdown online.’
‘How did you get on with him?’ Troy asked.
‘He wasn’t the easiest … I hated the long periods of silence and panic attacks, but … He’s my dad. Was my dad, I mean.’ Coral shrugged. ‘No one gave me a choice.’
Troy nodded. ‘You love what you get, though, don’t you?’
‘Sort of. Yeah.’
‘You’d want to know who killed him and why.’
‘Yes.’
‘So,’ Troy said, ‘you can help me and Lexi sort it out. Think back to just before he disappeared. Anything unusual happen?’
‘What sort of thing do you mean?’
Troy took a long breath. ‘Anything. Maybe he said something strange. Any weird behaviour? Did you see him surfing any freaky sites?’
Coral leaned her head to one side while she thought. ‘Well …’
‘What?’
‘I lost my mobile and I was desperate to see an email. Dad wasn’t around so I turned his laptop on. I didn’t really look but there was a message about fishing.’
‘Phishing with a ph,’ Troy asked, ‘or fishing with an f?’
‘The watery sort. Only, I don’t think he’s ever done it before, so it was kind of freaky. But I thought … Whatever. It’s not against the law if he wants to torture poor defenceless fish.’
Troy nodded slowly. ‘Thanks. That’s … interesting.’
Lexi glanced at her partner. He had clearly seen some link with the case.
‘The message came from … I don’t know, but Angel was part of the name. It caught my eye.’
‘Charon Angel?’
‘Something like that, yes.’
‘That’s useful as well,’ said Troy.
‘Is that it?’ Coral asked. ‘Because I’d better go in and find out how much trouble I’m in. By now, those girls will have made up all sorts about me.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ Troy replied, ‘after I’ve had a few words with the Head.’
‘Will you?’
‘Promise. You’ve been punished enough already.’
Before leaving, Troy told the head teacher about the death of Coral Backhouse’s father. He insisted that Coral had been provoked into reacting. She needed support more than punishment.
Walking out of the school grounds with Lexi, Troy was still thinking about Coral’s troubled relationship with her dad. He said, ‘We’re all victims of our parents’ failings.’
‘Not me,’ Lexi replied. ‘Not any outer.’
‘Oh yes. What’s it like not to have a real mum and dad?’
Lexi shrugged. ‘What’s it like to have a real mum and dad?’
Getting into the car, Troy didn’t answer. Instead, he said, ‘It must be weird to have paid people looking after you.’
‘Huh. Professional nannies are paid because they’re good at it. They don’t have failings. A mum and dad might be rubbish at bringing up children. I doubt if Dmitri Backhouse was great.’
‘Even so …’
Lexi butted in. ‘Outers are cooperative breeders — we share out caring for our babies. You do it in families — even ones that aren’t any good at it. You just let them get on with it, instead of changing things to make it better.’