Perfect Prey

by Helen Fields

  He had begun to accept that the trail to Sim’s killer had run from lukewarm to cold. It seemed more likely than ever that it was just some random attack, perhaps mistaken identity, perhaps someone Sim had crossed unknowingly. Since the funeral, his girlfriend had left Edinburgh and returned to her parents’ house in Newcastle, leaving only a forwarding address and a message to say how disappointed she was that there had been no progress. Callanach could sympathise.

  Since then, he’d lost two more squad members to an attempted rape outside a nightclub, and even Begbie hadn’t asked for a progress report for a couple of days. Callanach watched as DCI Edgar’s team trotted out of the incident room and down the corridor like an army squadron given the go for a secret mission, albeit carrying warrants and laptops instead of guns. Tripp looked half-embarrassed, half-bored as he kept pace in the line towards the stairs.

  ‘Sir,’ Salter said, coming up behind him. ‘We’ve had this passed on from the uniformed team on duty. An elderly gentleman, missing all night. Wife is distraught. He’s never failed to come home before.’

  ‘The Major Investigations Team is doing missing persons now, is that right?’ Callanach sighed.

  ‘Seems likely to be more than that. His mobile and wallet have been found on a park bench on top of a pile of books. Name is Michael Swan. This morning he missed a community awards ceremony. He was due to be recognised for the child literacy programmes he’s set up across the city. Wife said he’d been looking forward to it for weeks.’

  ‘Sounds more like he’s had a breakdown and run away. Come on then, Salter. That’s if DCI Edgar has left any vehicles for the rest of us.’

  They headed east across the city towards Craigentinny golf course. The expanse of greenery would have been visible from Michael Swan’s bedroom window, Callanach realised, as his wife described how her doting husband had always dreamed of retiring next to a golf course. Ironically, he’d then become so consumed with what began as a part-time librarian’s post that he’d barely picked up a club since.

  ‘Has he been unwell, or acting out of character at all, Mrs Swan?’ Salter asked, sipping the coffee that had appeared courtesy of an adult daughter who was comforting her mother.

  ‘No. My husband was a creature of habit. He came and went at certain times. Had clothes for work and clothes for the weekend. He always told me if something was bothering him. And I could tell, you know. It’s like that once you’ve been married long enough. But to leave his wallet and phone in a public place? He’d never be so careless.’ The daughter handed her mother more tissues from the box rapidly being used up and Callanach checked his watch. The library wasn’t normally open until later but the caretaker had agreed to meet them there and open up. If Michael Swan had left a note anywhere, it was likely to be on his desk.

  At the library it was confirmed that Michael Swan had checked out with his swipe card at 8.37 p.m. the previous day. Salter immediately radioed through to the station for a CCTV check of the route he’d have taken to the point where his wallet and mobile had been abandoned. Callanach moved forward at the caretaker’s beckoning and looked through the documents left on a modern reception desk.

  ‘Is this where Mr Swan would have spent most of his time?’ Callanach asked.

  ‘Aye, here to check books in and out. The building is on two levels. Library down here, meeting rooms upstairs, used for educational programmes and whatnot. Sometimes authors come here to talk about their books. Other evenings it’s used for community meetings, you know, the local historical society, a dieting club,’ the caretaker leaned down to whisper in Callanach’s ear, ‘and the local alcohol and drug addiction service is in on a Wednesday, but we’re not supposed to talk about that. Bit sensitive for those attending, you know.’

  ‘And this is everything? He has no employee locker, no personal area?’ Callanach asked.

  ‘There’s a little staff area behind that glass there. Used for administration, but also for coats, mugs, a place to concentrate without being pestered.’

  The caretaker unlocked another door into a thin room at the side of the main library hall, half wall and half obscured glass, with desks lining one side, and full of the sort of mess that busy, hard-working people leave in their wake.

  ‘Here you go, laddie. This was Mr Swan’s mug. I’m sure it’s all just a terrible mistake. He’s a good man. No harm’ll have come.’ The caretaker picked up a well-used, slightly chipped mug bearing the legend, ‘Eat well, drink well, read well’, clutching it to his chest rather too tightly.

  ‘Thank you,’ Callanach said. ‘We’ll have a quick look round and let you get on with your day.’ Across the main hall of books was the entrance hall where they’d come in. Steps leading upwards were signposted to education rooms. Another side door bore no marker. ‘What’s through there?’ Callanach asked the caretaker.

  ‘That goes down into the basement. Holds books not currently on the shelves, ones that need mending or replacing, old posters, redundant furniture. More of a storeroom than anything.’

  ‘Did Mr Swan have a key to that as well as to the front door?’ Callanach asked.

  ‘Not on his own set, although there’s one kept on the keys in the desk so the staff can get in if someone asks for a book that’s not on display.’

  ‘Could you get it for me please?’ Callanach asked.

  ‘I’m not sure why he’d have left anything in there, particularly. But I’ll open up anyway.’

  The caretaker walked ahead and Callanach followed, checking the time. He was due in a meeting with the press liaison officer to give another useless update on the Sim Thorburn case, but he should at least phone and say he’d be delayed. The heavy door swung open and the caretaker reached around the side to flip on the lights. Nothing happened.

  ‘Fuse box?’ Callanach asked.

  ‘I’ll go and see,’ the caretaker said. ‘Give me a moment.’ He wandered off back into the main hall as Callanach stepped inside, taking the few steps down into the basement. The door had been heavier than he’d anticipated and it swung shut behind him. The area was effectively windowless, with a dim pane of glass glowing green-brown with moss and mud from decades of a lack of cleaning, and only the faintest vein of light from beneath the door at the top of the steps. Something rotten hung in the air, as if the basement had been built too close to a sewer pipe, polluting with its sulphurous putrescence.

  Callanach took out his mobile and switched on the torch app that would drain the battery in no time, but it would do for him to get his bearings and stop wasting any more minutes. He walked between rows of books, all neatly stored, with boxes at the end of each line containing the expected jumble and junk. Children’s toys, some costumes, ageing furniture that no one had decided what to do with. He turned a corner, letting his phone shine at the floor, sensing rather than seeing obstacles as he walked away from the neat rows of books. There was a noise behind him. He spun round, disoriented. One foot flew out from beneath him and he threw a hand to the side to grab what he could to stabilise himself. His other foot followed the same fate, slipping on the floor, and his free arm shot up rather than out, clutching at the first thing it touched. It was a textile, smooth and slippery, wet on one side. Callanach shouted as he fell, landing on his back as whatever his hand had found loosened in his grasp. He closed his eyes as pain shot through his coccyx. A few moments later he repositioned his mobile and shone the light upwards.

  Above him was, without a doubt, the body of Michael Swan. He had been suspended horizontally from a metal structural beam by his neck and his bound ankles. Callanach could only see fragments as the beam of torchlight moved, shakily, along the length of the corpse. Whoever had hung him had almost entirely skinned Swan’s face. Callanach had read numerous articles about it but never seen a case where it had been done. An incision had been made around the outer circle of facial skin, starting at one side of the lower jaw, heading up around the cheekbone, across the forehead and back down the other side. Finally, like a perfectly s
kinned rabbit, his face had been peeled.

  Callanach felt the stickiness in his palm and knew that the resulting flap of skin had been what he’d grabbed as he’d slipped. He didn’t need the torchlight to confirm the pool of blood he was lying in.

  ‘Police officer, put down your weapons,’ Salter shouted from the doorway, no doubt assuming an assault and possible injury.

  ‘I’m all right, Salter. There’s no one else here.’ He may not have checked every inch of it, but Callanach was sure the assailant had left the building the night before, taking Swan’s mobile and wallet with them.

  ‘The fuse box is fine, the light bulbs must all have blown.’ Callanach could hear the caretaker’s voice getting closer.

  ‘Salter, get everyone else out of here right now. Close down the scene. Contact the pathologist immediately and call forensics in. Do not enter. I’ve already compromised the evidence.’

  He could hear urgent instructions being given and the sound of footsteps disappearing away.

  ‘You sure you’re not hurt, sir? It sounded bad,’ Salter called.

  Callanach unlaced his boots and left them where he’d trodden so as not to spread any more evidence around the room.

  ‘Missing person confirmed deceased. I’m uninjured. It’s going to be a difficult crime scene to process. I want an absolute lockdown on communications going out of here.’ Callanach moved gingerly towards the door, feeling his lower back as he went. He’d cracked it hard as he went down and parts of his legs were numb.

  ‘What the fuck?’ Salter said before she could stop herself. She started forwards to grab him, but Callanach raised a warning hand.

  ‘Don’t touch me,’ he said. ‘If there were trace fibres or evidence on the floor, they’re on me now.’

  ‘God, sir, you’re covered in it. Are you sure you didn’t injure yourself? Only that looks like too much blood …’ her voice trailed off.

  ‘Take a breath,’ Callanach said, ‘then call Begbie for me. He needs to see this for himself. I want the whole building sealed off. No one touches anything. Make sure the caretaker doesn’t re-enter this part of the building.’ He could hear his own voice shaking.

  ‘How bad is it, sir?’ Salter asked. Callanach just stared at her. ‘Will I send uniforms round to notify Mr Swan’s wife?’

  ‘That’ll be our job, I’m afraid, but this will take a while,’ he said. Sirens were approaching at a pace. Salter made her way out of the building to ensure that the scene was protected from the outside of the building in.

  Callanach stayed as still as he could, knowing every item of his clothing would need bagging and testing. He tried not to think about the gore dripping from his trouser legs and hands. He had witnessed horrors before, but the gruesomeness of this was its staging, the dreadful dramatic love with which it had been conceived. Even to the point of smashing the light bulbs, he now realised, so that the full effect of the killer’s creation could only be witnessed in torchlight. Michael Swan’s face reduced to a horror mask, still dripping with bloody gore, would forever be a scream in his memory. He felt dizzy, sick, made himself take air and get a grip.

  Technicians appeared carrying swathes of plastic sheeting and battery lights by which to work. They said little as Callanach described the scene so that they could properly equip themselves, both practically and mentally.

  Ailsa Lambert arrived looking concerned, issuing businesslike orders.

  ‘You’re holding your back,’ she said, looking Callanach up and down.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Callanach said. ‘Just a slip. Ailsa, this may be the worst …’

  ‘I’m going to organise a car to take you home, Luc,’ she said, pulling out her mobile.

  ‘There’s no time,’ he said.

  ‘Then you’ll have to consent to a paramedic assessing you for shock. If you try and drive in the next two hours I’ll have you disciplined myself. Understand?’ Callanach considered arguing but didn’t. ‘Good,’ Ailsa said. ‘Now this. Is it torture?’

  ‘Yes. Not sure if it was pre or post mortem. He’s strung up parallel to the ceiling.’

  ‘My job would be easier if human beings had evolved without imaginations. Right, strip off – I’ll have someone bring you a suit. They’ll have to swab your hands and face as well. We’ll need every fibre,’ Ailsa said.

  ‘What happened to you?’ Begbie roared, storming towards them, almost bursting out of the crime scene coveralls he was wearing. ‘Has this whole city gone mad?’

  ‘You’ll achieve nothing like that,’ Ailsa told him gently. ‘And my crime scene needs minimal disruption so go in easy, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘And we’ve no idea who we’re looking for, is that right?’ Begbie aimed at Callanach.

  ‘Not as yet, sir,’ Callanach responded. The Chief was already pushing himself through the doorway into the basement that was still in the process of being lit.

  Callanach heard a string of expletives bellowing from the storeroom in an ever more guttural and breathy Scots accent. Begbie was both furious and bewildered, a combination of emotions with which Callanach could sympathise. There was a pause, a loud groan, then a thud. Other voices called out. Ailsa and Callanach went running. DCI Begbie was on his side on the floor, one hand clutching his chest, feet paddling furiously against the pain.

  ‘Call the paramedics,’ Ailsa shouted to the nearest scenes of crime officer. The Chief’s breathing was more reminiscent of a marathon runner than someone who had recently made a trip of a few hundred yards from a car, hauling air in and chugging it out. Ailsa removed his tie and loosened his shirt while Callanach grabbed a torch from a passing officer. The additional light showed Begbie’s face as ashen but slick with sweat. His jaw was clenched tight, eyes wide. Callanach took hold of Begbie’s right hand, half expecting rejection. The Chief squeezed Callanach’s in silent reply, gripping hard, holding on. Blood trickled from his knees and hands where he’d hit the floor and he looked unexpectedly like a victim. Confused, scared, helpless.

  ‘Help me sit him up,’ Ailsa said to Callanach. They sat the Chief with his back against a stack of boxes while a technician fetched a blanket. ‘George, these are aspirin. I want you to chew them slowly,’ she said, pushing two small pills into Begbie’s mouth. He grimaced but made the effort, his hands shaking as he steadied himself. ‘By God, man, I’m not supposed to be here looking after you. Have I not got enough to be getting on with? Quite the shock you gave me!’

  Begbie did his best to issue a response, but managed nothing other than a breathless wheeze, and went back to chewing. Ailsa checked him over for other injuries, wiping her face when the Chief closed his eyes for a moment. If Callanach didn’t know better he’d have thought she was wiping away tears.

  The paramedics were inside before anyone could get crime scene suits on them or even shoe covers. It took only a couple of minutes for them to get Begbie onto a stretcher with an oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose, but in that time Callanach saw the look on Ailsa’s face turn from deep concern to complete frustration. Bloody footprints ran all the way across the floor. Begbie had fallen into the middle of the key forensics area, followed out of necessity by the men saving his life. Everyone stopped, hands on hips, shaking disbelieving heads at how much more complicated and unlikely to yield results their tasks had just become.

  ‘I’ll follow him to the hospital,’ Callanach said. ‘Would you mind calling Ava, please Ailsa? She’s friendly with the Chief’s wife. Someone ought to pick Mrs Begbie up.’

  Chapter Ten

  Callanach’s mobile rang just as he arrived at the Royal Infirmary.

  ‘How’s the chief?’ Ava asked.

  ‘I don’t know yet. We won’t get anything out of the doctors until they’ve run tests.’

  ‘What the hell happened? Where were you?’

  ‘At a crime scene,’ Callanach said.

  ‘You’re kidding. Must have been one hell of an incident to have got the chief that worked up.’ There was an empty silence. ‘
Right, I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I’ve already had the superintendent on the phone asking what’s going on. She’s on her way too, so make sure everything’s under control.’

  Callanach’s lower back flared into a ball of agony. ‘Got to go,’ he said, grabbing a door handle to keep upright and breathing hard.

  ‘Sir, are you feeling all right?’ a nurse asked. Callanach tried to nod, thinking he should make a joke to reassure her so she could move on. What came out was a wail as he finally lost control of the pain. ‘I need a bed,’ the nurse shouted. An orderly came running, taking Callanach’s weight, slipping one arm around him as the nurse pulled back a curtain to reveal an unused cubicle.

  A doctor was with him in moments, stripping him and rolling him onto one side to press gentle fingers down the length of his spine.

  ‘Could you just give me some painkillers?’ Callanach snapped. ‘I’m with the man who’s just come in with a heart attack. And the superintendent is due any minute. I really can’t be on my back when she arrives.’

  The doctor wrote a couple of notes whilst managing simultaneously to look completely bored.

  ‘Have you had a bad fall?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Callanach said. ‘I slipped, but it wasn’t that dramatic.’

  ‘It was dramatic enough that it appears to have fractured your coccyx. You must have landed on the edge of it pretty hard. The injury won’t limit normal activities, but it’s going to be painful for six weeks or so,’ the doctor said.