by Alex Barclay
Looking at Matt, my heart breaking all over again. Matt was a journalist: an honest, thorough, fact-checking, morally upstanding, award-winning investigative journalist. Telling the truth was his vocation. But how quickly he stood up, and how Gary had looked at him like he thought he was leaving. But, how, instead, without a word spoken, Matt had walked over to the printer, slid out some pages and started to write notes.
They were up all night, they learned their lines.
Remember your fucking lines.
‘They were also my colleagues,’ said Ren.
‘You were late for the meeting,’ said Neubig.
‘Yes,’ said Ren.
‘Why was that?’
‘I was with Detective Joe Lucchesi investigating a building that I believed Duke Rawlins was holed up in.’
‘And Rawlins was not there,’ said Neubig.
‘No,’ said Ren. ‘But he had been. I told Detective Lucchesi that I would go to Safe Streets and bring the team back to the Ostler Building.’
‘You said in your original statement that you believed Duke Rawlins was watching Safe Streets from that building,’ said Neubig.
‘Yes,’ said Ren.
‘Yet you didn’t think that the purpose of that was, perhaps, to gain access to that building at some particular point?’
‘It wasn’t as simple as that,’ said Ren. ‘I believed that he was in pursuit of Detective Lucchesi … and possibly Gary Dettling. Yes. But I couldn’t have predicted what Duke Rawlins was going to do. It was unlike anything he had ever done before. I had studied him, Detective Lucchesi had, the profilers at Quantico had, even Detective Lucchesi’s son had studied him for his Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology. No one predicted this.’
‘OK, thank you, Agent Bryce. That’s all for now.’
For now? Jesus. No more. No more. No more.
57
Jimmy Lyle walked through the airport terminal, angry and red-faced, dressed in a black jacket, blue jeans and black boots. He was coiled like a spring waiting for a reason to launch; his broad shoulders hunched, his arms rigid, ending in tight fists. But he’d kept his eyes down, because he couldn’t launch, he couldn’t draw attention to himself.
He’d do one night in the house, that was it, then get to the retirement home, pack up his daddy’s things, show his face at Longacres, stand there mourning his fucking eyes out for a couple hours and get the fuck back to his vacation, his car, the plans he’d been forced to rearrange.
After fifteen minutes driving Jimmy’s rental car was suddenly illuminated by flashing blue lights. His breath caught. He felt like his head was going to explode. His leg spasmed and, for a brief moment, his foot struck the accelerator and the car jerked. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the police car, its presence like a looming tank that would roll over the rest of his life.
Jimmy got his breathing under control, because his mind had quickly taken him to an image of an officer asking him to pop the trunk of his car. Jimmy knew how to tame the wild breaths because it was what he had learned to do. Just as he was regaining the rhythm – and visualizing an alternative scenario, picturing charming the officer, instead of sitting in the driver’s seat, pale and sweaty and suspicious – the police car drove on.
Jimmy’s relief came out as something between a growl and a cry.
You’re in a rental car. You’re in a rental car. Idiot. You emptied the trunk. Idiot.
You are nothing. You are nothing. You are nothing.
58
Ren arrived back at Tate PD on Wednesday morning. Ruddock was in his office. He had ordered proper coffee and blueberry muffins from a café in town.
‘God bless you,’ said Ren.
‘Welcome back,’ said Ruddock. He pointed to the table. ‘Good timing …’
‘Thank you, kindly,’ said Ren, grabbing a muffin. ‘Yes – it is. I can sense four things from a thousand yards: coffee, pancakes, blueberry-flavored foodstuff, and Cinnabons.’ Plus wine, beer, champagne, and carnal opportunities.
There were three long black boxes on his desk, the kind that held photos.
His wife’s …
Ruddock saw her noticing. ‘I’m channeling my wife. The local newspaper is running a memorial for an old teacher from town who died.’ He paused. ‘Took his own life, in fact.’
‘Was that the guy in the retirement home?’ said Ren. ‘Beckman mentioned it.’
Ruddock nodded. ‘He was the swim coach for years at the school.’ He paused. ‘You just never know what’s going on in people’s heads, do you?’
You sure don’t. ‘You sure don’t,’ said Ren. ‘Any updates on the case?’ She looked at him properly.
Jesus – he looks shattered.
‘I’m sorry to say, there was an incident Monday night,’ said Ruddock. ‘With Gil … and Seth Fuller.’
What?
‘Gil assaulted him,’ said Ruddock. ‘He messed him up pretty badly, but we got him to the hospital, he’s been patched up, he’s OK … some damage to his back, but mainly cuts and bruises, a black eye. He’s had a few stitches, he’s in pain, but he’ll live to fight another day.’
‘What happened?’ said Ren.
‘According to Gil, it was over a pool debt. Seth owed him fifty dollars.’
Buuuullshit did this happen over $50. She scanned Ruddock’s face. You don’t believe that either, surely …
She nodded politely.
‘Our saving grace,’ said Ruddock, ‘is that Seth’s keeping it quiet, and he’s not pressing charges. At the hospital, he told doctors he didn’t know who the assailant was. And it wasn’t his plan to tell his aunt either.’
You are so fucking lucky. But why would Seth cover for Wiley? Is he afraid of him, like Clyde is?
‘And where’s Wiley now?’ said Ren.
‘Well, he’s taken a short leave of absence,’ said Ruddock. ‘But, he’s extremely contrite, nothing like this has ever happened before. He’s under … personal stresses. I don’t want his standing in the community to be impacted on, either – it’s a very visible post – so once he’s cooled off, I will have him back on different duties. You won’t have to deal with him any further on the investigation.’
Damn fucking right we won’t.
‘Well,’ said Ren, ‘I’m sorry to hear all that. You look like you’ve had a long night.’
Ruddock nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, I have.’
I want to hug you.
Gary was waiting for her outside the CARD team’s office.
‘How did Denver go?’
‘They’re circling around me,’ said Ren.
He held up a hand to stop her walking on through the door.
She ‘This meeting was about me, Gary. This was person—’
‘What? No, it wasn’t,’ said Gary. ‘It was standard going-back-over-the-facts—’
‘It wasn’t,’ said Ren. ‘They know something, I’m telling you. Why else would they have told you two inspectors were going to be there who weren’t.’
‘What? Who was there?’
‘Neubig and Brinks. Do you know them?’
‘No, I do not.’
‘Well, that’s reassuring,’ said Ren. ‘They switched them at the last minute to fuck with us.’
‘Ren, that sounds a little paranoid.’
‘It’s not paranoia,’ said Ren. ‘They’re questioning me, wondering if I should be working at all. They’re—’
‘You’ve been cleared to work,’ said Gary. ‘You’ve passed your psych eval—’
‘But—’
‘Ren!’ said Gary. ‘Pause for one second. Do you think there is any evidence anywhere that that meeting was an intervention? Think about it: none of this was in writing. The only people who knew were me, Ben and Matt. It was only spoken about on my landline. And you know that neither Ben nor Matt would have betrayed either mine or your confidence. Janine didn’t know, but would have been no less trustworthy if she did. Everett didn’t know. Joe Lucchesi didn’t know. OK? So relax
.’
‘Why are they asking those questions, then?’ said Ren.
‘Standard procedure,’ said Gary. ‘It was a major incident.’ He looked at her. ‘It’s over. You’re back here. You still have your job.’
‘For now,’ said Ren. ‘They want me to come in again.’
‘They know nothing. Relax.’
Why do people ever tell people to relax? Who reacts well to “relax”? Who actually relaxes?
‘Yikes about Wiley,’ said Ren.
Gary nodded.
‘It was only a matter of time,’ said Ren. ‘I thought if he was going to assault anyone, it would be me.’
When they went into the office, Paul Louderback waved them over. His laptop was open on a screen-grab from a traffic cam. Ruddock walked in to join them.
‘So,’ said Paul. ‘It turns out Seth Fuller was not at The Crow Bar the night Aaron drowned. Not for the entire night, anyway. He was parked for a lot of it on Richmond Road – a residential street. He doesn’t get out of his truck. It looks like he was the only one in it.’
‘Any recent burglaries in the area?’ said Ren to Ruddock. ‘Could he have been up to no good? Why else wouldn’t he have told us?’
‘No burglaries reported,’ said Ruddock.
‘He could have been waiting for a woman,’ said Ren. ‘One who didn’t show. A married woman? Stalking someone? How long was he there?’
‘Three hours,’ said Paul.
Ren opened up a street view of the area on her laptop.
‘Can we get a list of the addresses on this street?’ she said. ‘Who owns them, who’s living there?’
She zoomed out. ‘Hold on – this is the Middle School right here? And there was a dance on there that night? He was parked here for three hours during that time?’
‘Yes,’ said Ruddock.
Everyone looked at each other.
No, Seth. No. You need to be innocent for me to have faith in humanity … and trust in my gut.
‘And now for my next trick,’ said Paul. He handed Ren a printout. ‘Nice call on the PlayStation.’
She read the results. ‘So, Caleb Veir has played it,’ she said. ‘I fucking give up.’ She read the results again. ‘Hold on – he was the first person to play it?’
Paul nodded.
‘That’s very weird,’ said Ren. ‘No kid is going to let another kid play it before they do.’
‘No,’ said Paul.
‘I think I may need to pay another visit to The Crow Bar,’ said Ren.
59
Ren winced when she saw Seth Fuller. ‘Ouch …’
He looked up from the sofa where he was watching television.
‘I’m just here to clear a few things up,’ said Ren.
Seth paused, then turned off the television. He struggled to sit up straighter.
‘Seth, we know that Caleb Veir was the first person to use your PlayStation. That’s what the lab came back with when they analyzed the hard drive. Did he play that with you?’
‘No!’ said Seth. ‘No way. And remember – it was Aaron’s PlayStation. As far as I know, he wasn’t even friends with Caleb.’
There was a noise behind them, and they both turned around. Shannon was standing in the doorway, looking at Ren.
‘I can explain about the PlayStation,’ she said. ‘If you’d like to talk privately?’
‘Sure,’ said Ren. She followed her into the kitchen.
‘Seth doesn’t know anything about this,’ said Shannon. ‘It was John who bought the PlayStation – for Caleb. He paid cash, so it wouldn’t have shown on his credit-card receipt. John and I bumped into each other at Target in the middle of December – we were both looking for it for our boys, but there was only one left and John got to it first. He was planning to give it to Caleb for Christmas, but because of Caleb not behaving the way he said he would, John changed his mind and gave it to me for Aaron. He didn’t know that Caleb had already found it in the garage, and had already sneaked it out to play with it. He dropped it, which is why it has a dent in the corner.’
Ren stared at her. ‘How do you know that Caleb had found it?’
‘It’s not a pleasant story. Caleb cycled out here one day. He had climbed a tree, and was just sitting there—’
‘What do you mean “just sitting there”?’
Shannon flushed. ‘I didn’t say anything to John, but that tree overlooks my bedroom window. Whether that was a coincidence or not, I don’t know.’
‘Do you think he might have suspected the affair?’ said Ren.
She shrugged. ‘I don’t think so, because he fell from the tree – I think it was the shock of seeing John arrive, pull up outside the house, and … well, I came out to greet John. It was a fairly passionate encounter. Caleb fell, banged his head. We rushed over to him, brought him inside, lay him down on the sofa, made sure he was OK. While he was there, he saw the PlayStation – he recognized the dent, so he knew it was the one he had found in the garage. He went nuts. We had to calm him down. He wanted to take it home – he said he’d tell Teddy about us. We … asked him not to. John promised to buy him one with his next pay check, and Caleb promised not to tell Teddy.’
Poor Caleb. So that was how he got the bump on his head. ‘Thanks for letting me know,’ said Ren. ‘But why didn’t you say it before?’
‘More lies for Teddy Veir to hear,’ said Shannon. ‘Not a lot for any of us to be proud of.’
‘I’m going to go back in to Seth,’ said Ren. ‘And I’d like to talk to him in private.’
Shannon nodded. ‘I’m sorry for intruding earlier. I heard “PlayStation” and I just figured something was up.’
Ren went into Seth’s room, and sat on the windowsill.
‘Everything OK?’ he said.
‘Yes,’ said Ren. Here goes. She took out the traffic-cam photo.
‘Why was your truck pictured on Richmond Road on the night Aaron died?’ she said. ‘We got this from a private camera. You told me you were here all night.’
Seth stared at the image for a while, twisting his mouth left and right. ‘I needed a drive. I wanted to clear my head.’
‘Why did your head need to be cleared?’
‘I get anxious sometimes,’ said Seth. ‘Driving helps.’
‘And does parking?’
He side-eyed her. ‘I just stopped there – there was no particular reason. It was just where I felt like stopping.’
‘Were you going to see anyone on that street?’
He frowned. ‘No, ma’am.’
‘You know the grounds of the middle school back on to that street,’ said Ren.
‘Uh … yes.’
‘And that there was a dance on there that night?’
‘Yeah, obviously,’ said Seth. ‘I dropped Aaron off at it.’ He paused. ‘Look, I went for a drive – that’s all that was, OK? I promise.’
‘I promise.’ There’s something so young about you.
She took a breath. ‘You know I’m separate from Tate PD,’ she said. ‘So anything you tell me about anyone who works there won’t go back to them, right?’
‘Really?’ said Seth.
‘Really.’ She paused. ‘What happened Monday night with Wiley?’
He shrugged. ‘It’s no big deal …’
‘It looks like a big deal from here,’ said Ren. She walked over to him and bent down. ‘And an even bigger deal close-up.’ She smiled.
‘That was about fifty bucks I owed him from a pool game,’ said Seth.
Ren returned to her seat on the windowsill. ‘Seth, I’m not sure what I’ve said or done to give you the impression that I’m stupid … but whatever it was, I apologize for misleading you. And I’m sure Pete Ruddock feels the same way about why Wiley thought that story would float.’
Seth stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Come on …’ said Ren. ‘No police officer – lieutenant – is going to beat the shit out of someone in the street over a fifty-dollar bet. This was a lot more per
sonal than that.’
‘I’m telling you – it was about the fifty dollars. I owed it to him for months.’
‘You can change the timeframe all you like,’ said Ren, ‘but I’m still not buying it.’ She paused. ‘What were you doing in town last night?’
‘I was going to Bucky’s to play pool. I was actually going to see if Wiley was there.’
‘OK … but you were found collapsed a block from the other side of Main Street, beside your truck, which was parked outside the church car park.’
‘I couldn’t get a spot by Bucky’s.’
‘I’m trying to be a grown-up here and not roll my eyes,’ said Ren, ‘but do you know how easy it is for me to check if there were parking spaces close to Bucky’s that night? Very.’
Seth’s shoulders slumped.
‘What’s going on?’ said Ren. ‘Are you protecting Wiley? Because Wiley doesn’t need protecting. And shouldn’t be protected – he’s an officer of the law. Or are you protecting yourself?’
‘Look,’ said Seth. ‘There’s something I was going to tell you about John Veir, but I was afraid to say anything … and then, it didn’t seem to matter any more.’
‘What do you mean, it didn’t seem to matter?’
‘I want immunity.’
I want to laugh. ‘Immunity?’
‘From prosecution.’
‘For what?’ said Ren.
He shrugged. ‘Just … in case there might be something unlawful I’ve done in this story.’
Ren smiled.
‘What?’ said Seth.
‘Honey, you’ve got ten seconds.’
His eyes widened. ‘OK, OK: Merrifield was dealing in BRCI, he hooked me up with a patch – fentanyl – and I OD’d, by accident. John Veir walked in, saved my life. Merrifield was still in my cell, happy to watch me die. When he was leaving, he said to John: ‘If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I will watch you burn.’
Jesus Christ.
And I meant ten seconds to begin your story. Not to tell it in. But, hey – works for me.
‘Why did you think it didn’t matter?’ said Ren.
‘Because Merrifield was linked to John Veir anyway. I saw the news report the day after the fire. Merrifield was linked to it.’
