Page 17 of Under His Skin

There was a moment where Alex blinked at him stupidly, like he hadn’t been paying attention, but then he smirked. “You think this is my first time dealing with the authorities? Me and Nick did get pulled in a few times. I know the deal.”

He probably had been pulled in for petty theft once or twice, or maybe conning people, but Tracht was sure that whoever the case officer had been on those occasions, they wouldn’t have been half as clever, or cared half as much, as Kuroyama. This sort of case was a career-maker; if Kuroyama managed to provide the evidence that locked Anna away…

“Just don’t say anything at all. Pretend you’re mute for all I care.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Alex shrugged his shoulders and stretched. “Man, I feel like crap. I just wanna punch Kuroyama in the face.”

“As lovely as that would be to see, I have no interest in antagonizing them. Now, for the third time, get dressed.” Tracht took some satisfaction that his voice made Alex flinch, and Alex finally snapped out of his funk and got moving.

Tracht started a call to his lawyer while he went down to meet Kuroyama. There wouldn’t be anything to find in the office, but he still didn’t want anybody rifling through there unsupervised.

===

The interview at the station the next day was unpleasant, to say the least. They’d separated Alex and Tracht, leaving Tracht and his lawyer—a Mr. Krantz—to be questioned by Kuroyama. There were a lot of probing questions that Tracht was happy he could honestly say no to. Mr. Krantz was in top form, giving Kuroyama nothing and creating his own copy of the interview too.

Tracht sat in the waiting room while Alex was questioned. Krantz waited with him, but they’d both agreed it wasn’t safe to talk about anything while they were in the Internal Affairs building.

The screen in the corner continued to play the news. Anna had given another carefully scripted interview, and the newscasters were overanalyzing every single line.

“Judge Tracht is on the defensive. You can tell from her posture,” the news anchor said, pointing toward a clip of Anna.

Tracht thought she did an admirable job of looking calm, yet hurt about the accusations. He doubted he would have presented better on camera, but then again, he never let himself get into these sorts of situations in the first place.

“If this is true, it’s going to put all the cases she’s worked on under scrutiny. She was primarily involved with contract law cases…”

What did any of them expect? Tracht honestly wondered how she’d gotten the job in the first place, given who she was married to. There was no question that she was completely biased in favor of large corporations. If they’d wanted somebody who was free of undue influence, they should have grabbed somebody off the streets.

Finally, Alex walked out of the interrogation room, his face flushed dark and an extreme scowl marring his features. The scar on his cheek seemed even harsher than usual.

Tracht extended his arm, and wasn’t at all surprised when Alex rushed over and sat next to him, nestling right up against him.

“I hope you kept your mouth shut,” Tracht said mildly.

Alex shrugged, but the lawyer who’d accompanied him, Ms. Walter, gave a curt nod. She was younger than Tracht’s own counsel, and he suspected she’d drawn the short end of the stick in being forced to represent Alex.

“He never said a word. He allowed me to do all the talking,” Walter said. She walked over to Krantz. “I think we need to meet to discuss the best strategy from here on out.”

Before they could make any further plans, Kuroyama came out. “I’m glad I caught you all before you left. Captain Tracht, Mr. Stone. As part of the investigation, the Sigrun will be monitored. At this time, we cannot allow you to return to the ship.”

Anger spiked through Tracht. That was his ship. He’d paid for her, in part with his inheritance and in part through Vasilis’s generous gifts. Nobody had the right to keep him off his ship.

Krantz was already up and protesting. “That was not part of the warrant as originally signed.”

“We’ve amended it,” Kuroyama said. He made a tapping motion. “I’ve sent it to all of you. If you have further questions, please direct them to the judicial office.”

Then they left. Tracht thought he saw a slight smile on Kuroyama’s face before they turned, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if Kuroyama was secretly enjoying all this power they had over them.

Tracht pinched Alex’s arm.

Alex flinched, but he didn’t make any effort to move away. “What a raging dick.”

“Quite. We can get a hotel, I suppose, although I don’t necessarily want to put another drain on my finances without knowing when I’ll be able to start my business again. And—” He stopped when his tablet buzzed, indicating a call. His eyebrows rose when he saw the caller. He quickly put in an earbud. “Vasilis?”

“Johannes, hello. I’ve finally made it through. We don’t trust most of the communications networks right now… Anyway, I wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’m at the Internal Affairs head office right now. I have Alex and two lawyers with me.”

There was a brief pause. “Of course. I suppose I should have expected that they would target you as well. Anyway, it’s not safe to talk much over these networks. Come to the main house, and we’ll discuss matters there. Bring your lawyer. And Alex too.” Vasilis said a brief goodbye and ended the call.

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