that he was making work. No way was he addicted to drink and drugs, because in that state he just wouldn’t have been able to produce the system currently in Dale’s testing lab.”
Jilly sat back in triumph.
“Maybe he did the work earlier?” Elspeth offered.
“Some, maybe,” Jilly agreed. “You can’t bring concepts like these to life overnight. But everyone agrees his big breakthrough, his big push came between March and August, when no one was checking up on him. Dale, his colleagues, his friends all knew he was in geek-cave mode and left him alone. He’d split up with Roxy, who was in America anyway. No one saw him to deny the rumours of his drug addiction. But his friends laughed at tabloid reports like these. Until he died, of course. He told no one he was going to Australia—except, apparently, the newspapers. Never told anyone he was selling out to Dale either. Both stunned his friends. Both were announced to the press via unattributed sources: so-called friends, ‘those close to him.’”
“You’re saying all this could happen without Adam even noticing?” Sera said in amazement.
“Yes,” Jilly said flatly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. He wouldn’t have noticed an earthquake until he had his system ready to show to Dale. That was in August, after which he apparently sold off his fabulous idea with his share of the company, emigrated, and died of a drug overdose.”
Sera frowned. “Unlikely, put like that.”
“Even more unlikely if he died in August. Everyone was told he’d gone to Australia, recovering from his addiction. No one heard from him after August, not even Roxy.”
They stared at Jilly. Jilly stared back.
“I’m almost buying it,” Jack said carefully. “But what about the legal documents? What about Adam’s solicitor? He must have had one, and you can’t forge death certificates.”
“Actually, with the right money, you probably can. Or buy a dodgy doctor for the purpose. And as it happens, Dale and Adam shared the same law firm. Adam’s lawyer didn’t know Adam planned to sell out, but was presented with the signed documents all in order. He knew the addiction stories. Basically, he’d no reason to question it or investigate.”
Jilly leaned forward to grab her laptop back. “And that’s the point of this whole thing. No one had any reason to question any of it until it was too late to bother. It’s all too easy to leave a basic paper or digital trail that’s just enough.”
Sera eyed her with fascination. “Have you chased it any further? Can you prove any of this?”
“I know what I can’t find. And that’s any record of his registration at a rehab clinic in the UK. Or any proof that he was ever in Australia, beyond a one-night paid-for-in-advance hotel reservation at a hotel in Sydney. There’s no proof that he ever took it up. And a house in Sydney that he’s meant to have owned, where he died, according to the death certificate. I’ve got an Aussie friend investigating that, but I’m pretty sure we’ll find no one ever saw him there and that the house was sold after his apparent death in October.”
“That’s crazy,” Elspeth murmured. Her gaze lifted from the table to Jilly. “And utterly wrong! Who would have done all this?”
“His killer,” Jilly said steadily. The words seemed to freeze her own blood. “And unless we find there were other people in the house, that’s beginning to look like his old pal Dale.”
Sera shifted in her seat, swung it back on two legs. “So Dale hired Killearn to take Adam out so he could own the whole company and its new toy without splitting the profits? Only Adam killed Killearn. And Dale had to kill Adam himself?”
“Looks that way,” Jilly said in a hard voice.
“Then where is Adam’s body?” Sera wondered.
Jilly raised her brows. “I’m hoping you can tell me that.”
Sera opened her mouth with clearly blistering intent, then closed it again and fished in her pocket for her phone. Along with everyone else, Jilly watched in silence while Sera found the number she wanted.
“Hello, Mrs. Ewan? Hi, it’s Sera. I take it the police told you they’ve identified the body and his killer?”
Petra’s voice drifted out of the loudspeaker, sounding panicked. “They think we knew about it, that we must have covered up what Adam did.”
“Well, they have to wonder,” Sera soothed. “It’s their job. But Adam knew your house and grounds well, didn’t he?”
“Yes, of course he did.”
“Bet he even stayed overnight in the old days, before you