Cut to the Bone

by Alex Caan

  Zain nodded, looking for clues in the thousands of lines of data dumped to his screen.

  ‘Try to reset her password, it will be easier,’ said Michelle.

  Zain logged into Yahoo on an official work terminal. The first prompt for password reset was ‘favourite novel’. He recalled the titles on Ruby’s bookshelves, scanning them in his mind. Which would be her favourite? He remembered one set in particular; she had it in paperback, hardback and a special edition. He typed in Northern Lights. It didn’t work.

  ‘You remember the Philip Pullman books?’

  ‘His Dark Materials?’ said Michelle.

  He typed that in. Yahoo said it was successful, so prompted him with question two. ‘Name of your favourite uncle.’ He tried Karl Rourke, Mike Day.

  ‘Is there an uncle character in those books?’ he said.

  ‘Lord Asriel,’ she said.

  ‘That’s it, I’m in,’ he said.

  Zain scanned the emails, but they were general ones. Nothing stood out as he started combing through them.

  ‘I better get someone to read all these,’ he said.

  ‘I’m busy,’ said Michelle.

  ‘No, one of the admins,’ he said. ‘Is Lia still here?’

  ‘They leave at normal times, do normal office hours.’

  ‘OK,’ he said. He emailed the details to Chris Lewis, who managed the admin teams, and asked her to get one of them to go through Ruby’s emails. He searched instead for emails from Dan or MINDNET. There weren’t any.

  ‘Can I use your cracking software? For her Hotmail?’ he said.

  Michelle came over, gave him a USB key. She smelt of tangerines; it was pleasant.

  ‘It’s called PITO57095,’ she said. ‘From when it was all done through the Police Information Technology Organisation. They haven’t renamed the software yet.’

  He set PITO57095 to crack Hotmail, YouTube and Facebook. Zain used the Yahoo password to change the Gmail account. Ruby had set up a password recovery email from her Gmail to her Yahoo.

  Zain scanned the same empty emails. Again nothing from Dan or MINDNET.

  ‘This doesn’t make sense,’ he said. ‘They must have sent her something.’

  Zain plugged in his USB stick again. He had tools that would allow deleted emails to surface if they hadn’t been overwritten on the hard drive yet. He started the software running, but it pulled up fragmented data. Most of it was meaningless. He ran a cleansing tool, which gave him better results.

  ‘This is more like it,’ he said.

  There were emails that Ruby had read on her laptop, which had opened as internet pages, which she had then deleted. Messages from Dan included.

  Zain read through recent ones. His heart started racing as he did, excitement in his blood.

  ‘Fuck me,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve got the bastard.’

  Chapter Forty-eight

  DS Stevie Brennan was pacing, trying to keep her blood flowing. Her nails were turning blue, her nose threatening to leak. She was wearing a three-quarter-length black jacket. Underneath, she only wore a dress, stockings and ankle boots.

  She sat down on the plastic chair they had given her, rubbed her thighs to warm them, then picked up the styrofoam cup with hot tea in it. She held it against her skin, which burned under the intensity of it.

  The ward was dark, patients put to bed. Dan had his own room, the door closed. Heart monitors provided a ticking clock. Nurses gave her curious stares as they passed by. She should be home, having a hot bath, catching up on a box set.

  Her phone buzzed. A nurse from the nurse’s station looked over at her. Stevie looked back. It was on vibrate; it didn’t exactly ring and wake the whole ward up. She pressed a green button by the main door, went out into the even colder main corridor.

  It was Harris. She thought about not returning his call, but put the idea aside. It wasn’t his fault she had been passed over. She hadn’t given him a chance, seeing in him her failure personified. He hadn’t exactly set their unit ablaze, though; she was still confused why Hope and Riley had picked him as second in command on the team.

  ‘What?’ she said when he picked up.

  ‘You still at the hospital?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I think we may have something.’

  Was he crapping her? Trying to act as though he was having a breakthrough, while she was left on guard duty? PC Plod could have sat in a chair; she didn’t understand Riley insisting she stay here.

  ‘Emails he sent to Ruby. She deleted them, but I managed to recover them from her hard drive. Some nasty shit; he’s a demented fucker. And now I have him in his own words.’

  Stevie felt a spasm of annoyance. Why did he have to have a breakthrough? She felt bad then, thinking of Ruby.

  ‘You told Riley?’

  ‘Not yet. I need you to do something. I need access to Dan’s phones.’

  Dan Grant was dozing in bed, propped up, topless. There was a drip, taking care of his dehydration. His skin was yellow, with areas of pale green and pure white. A bruise on the side of his face, his shoulder and arm. It was where his body had hit the floor when he collapsed in the reception of his building.

  Stevie moved closer to the bed, the sour smells of illness pungent around it. The phones were lying on the cabinet to the side of the bed, where Dan’s top was folded. They had been in his pockets when he was brought in.

  His heart was beating at a rapid rate, she thought, checking the monitor. A hundred bpm. Shouldn’t it be seventy?

  Dan opened his eyes as she approached.

  ‘Feeling better?’ she said.

  He stared at her, his big eyes bloodshot, grey circles around them.

  ‘We’ll need a statement if you are.’

  He didn’t blink. Stevie was used to oddballs. A messed-up kid wasn’t going to freak her out.

  ‘It’s just a statement, not an interrogation. You won’t need a lawyer.’

  Dan’s eyes closed and his head fell forward; he whipped it back. It was the sleep you sometimes fell into on a train, your body waking up before your head fell too far forward. He followed her with his eyes as she walked to the side of his bed.

  ‘Is there anything I can get you in the meantime? Anyone you want me to contact? Your parents?’

  The door to the room opened, the duty nurse came in. She was just as frosty to Stevie as she had been before. Smiling at Dan, she said she had to check his vitals. She deliberately came to the side where Stevie was standing, took out her digital thermometer. Stevie had coached her before she came in, told her exactly what to do.

  Distracted by the nurse, Dan couldn’t see Stevie. She slipped his phones into her pocket.

  ‘I’ll be back when you’re done,’ she said to the nurse.

  ‘No consideration,’ muttered the nurse, engendering an alliance with Dan, despite being embroiled in Stevie’s plan.

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Stevie closed the door of the main office the nurses used for processing paperwork. A terminal sat in the middle of the leaning towers of files and paperwork. The computer was logged on, the internet switched on.

  She called DS Harris.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Describe the phones to me,’ he said.

  She did.

  ‘OK, he mainly uses his Android one for personal stuff. Ditch the iPhones. Is there a cable to connect the phone to the computer?’

  Stevie looked around, but couldn’t find anything. ‘No,’ she said.

  ‘Shit. OK, we’ll have to do it the hard way. Is the phone pin-protected?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said.

  ‘Double-fuck,’ Zain said.

  ‘Does it matter?’

  ‘Depends if he’s switched on the encryption,’ he said.

  ‘Explain,’ Stevie said.

  ‘They encrypt the data on them by default now. Makes it impossible for anyone without the pin code to access. Even Google can’t get to the data on the phone without the pin c
ode.’

  ‘Great. I get protecting privacy, but not for fucktards like Grant,’ she said.

  ‘Have you got wireless on your phone?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said.

  ‘OK, I need you to open your wireless connection manager, and see what networks are available.’

  Stevie did, a list of half a dozen appearing.

  ‘Any of them look like they might belong to Dan’s phone?’

  ‘No. They’re all generic.’

  ‘OK, have you got Bluetooth switched on?’

  ‘No, it’s not secure,’ she said. ‘Michelle forbids us from using it on work phones.’

  She heard the accusation in her tone, the defence of her friend. She had to stop being so prickly; it couldn’t be easy being the new guy.

  ‘Switch it on, and see if you pick up Dan’s phone,’ said Zain.

  Stevie changed her settings, and immediately Dan’s phone appeared as a connection she could make using her Bluetooth.

  ‘He’s called himself Wolf,’ she said. ‘WolfDan and WolfDaniP.’

  ‘Ace. OK, can you connect to his Bluetooth for me? The WolfDan link. I’m guessing the IP is one of his iPhones. I’m emailing you something to your phone, and I want you to run it. It will force his phone to connect to yours,’ said Zain.

  Stevie did as she was instructed, once Zain’s email had come through, and sure enough she had her Bluetooth request accepted by Dan’s phone.

  ‘I’m sending a second lot of software. I want you to transfer it to his phone,’ said Zain.

  Stevie did this. Dan’s phone came to life, and she saw his password prompt disappear, allowing her full access.

  ‘You’ve impressed me,’ she said, monotone.

  ‘OK, now open up an internet connection on his phone. Is it 4G?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said.

  ‘Log in to the IP address I’m sending you,’ he said.

  She was focused, following what he said. She typed the address into a browser on Dan’s phone. There was a commotion outside, shouting.

  ‘I think he’s realised I’ve got his stuff. We don’t have long,’ she said.

  ‘No worries, shouldn’t take long,’ Zain said. ‘Just downloading from his phone now.’

  It took another five minutes, by which time the nurse was in the room, shaking her head. They were going to claim the nurses had taken Dan’s phones when he had been admitted. If he claimed they were by his bedside, they would say he was delusional because of the drugs.

  ‘OK, done,’ said Zain.

  Stevie disconnected the internet from Dan’s phone, and switched off the Bluetooth.

  ‘Thank you for your help,’ she said to the nurse, handing the phones over.

  Chapter Fifty

  Zain watched as the data downloaded to his screen. Text messages, thousands of them, sent and received by Dan Grant. Zain had managed to access those that Dan had deleted from his handset, but which had been backed up by his provider to the cloud.

  He couldn’t access the data files or photos on the phone; the pin code protected them. He needed the phone physically to get to those.

  As the text messages opened up, he glanced at Michelle. She was sitting with arms tight across her body.

  ‘What?’ he said.

  ‘I get that you have to lead on cyber protocols; I understand you are a cyber crime expert. Downloading from phones, technical support, though. That’s my role.’

  Zain opened his mouth, but nothing except air came out.

  ‘I think I’m done for the day,’ Michelle said.

  She shut down her computers, grabbed her coat, and was gone.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think,’ he said, as she walked past him. It sounded feeble even to him. ‘Shit, fuck, damn,’ he said.

  ‘Everything OK, Zain?’

  Zain turned to see Deborah Scarr walking into the room.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said.

  ‘Genuine question. I just saw Michelle Cable storm out of here.’

  ‘Thinks I’m stepping on her toes,’ said Zain.

  ‘And are you?’ Deborah said, with knowing overtones.

  Zain thought for a moment. Should he be candid with Hope’s right-hand woman? She had inducted him on his first day, shown him around. She had seemed genuine. Then again, would she repeat everything he said to Hope? Fuck it, he decided, he needed to vent.

  ‘Probably. Yes. It wasn’t intentional. She should be happy, anyway. I was getting stuff done so she doesn’t have to do it.’

  ‘Remember she has been doing this job for four months, in this unit. And she has been working for a decade in law enforcement. It is probably difficult for her.’

  ‘Don’t take her side. I’m the new guy being ostracised,’ he said, smiling.

  ‘Being facetious won’t help,’ she said, putting an envelope down on his desk.

  ‘You sound like Riley,’ he mumbled.

  ‘The warrants you needed to access the phones and computers . . .’

  Zain grinned at her. She raised her eyebrows in response.

  ‘Just pretend you had them before you did whatever it is you did. And brittle toffee with cashew nuts. Fortnum and Mason. Expensive, I know, but Michelle melts when she has them in her mouth. Just a tip.’

  Deborah patted him on the shoulder, then squeezed it.

  Zain did an online search, found the toffee she was referring to. It cost the same as an expensive bunch of flowers, but if it would ease the tension with Michelle, then it was worth it.

  His laptop told him it had reached the end of its download and search. Zain filtered for Ruby’s texts, and Dan’s replies to her.

  ‘You can hide, but you can’t be invisible,’ he said into the empty office.

  No one was there to see his results, his handiwork. He didn’t feel a sense of triumph, though, just emptiness. A pocket of darkness enveloped him, and he felt himself fall through a series of ten floors. He ran to the bathroom, emptying his guts out into the sink.

  He was shaking, and feeling anxious as he looked at his face in the mirror.

  He checked his pockets, but he didn’t have any of the little green pills on him.

  Chapter Fifty-one

  The house was loud in its silence. The rafters stretching their muscles. Central heating gushing through radiators.

  Kate reset the alarm, left her shoes in the lobby. She walked up the stairs in darkness. Gently opened the door to her mother’s room. Loud breathing, but confident, assured. No nightmares tonight. She hoped.

  Kate went into her own bedroom. She stripped off her clothes, switching on the en suite light, walking on the cold tiled floor. She peeled off her bra and underwear, dropped it into the laundry basket.

  The water was hot. She stood under it for five minutes, letting it scald her. Washing away the grime of the day, the tiredness. Kate massaged soap into her skin, her scalp. She dried herself, brushed her teeth.

  Kate climbed into the bed, her body still damp, her hair still wet.

  Ryan was awake. She reached out for him, his skin warm, smooth. He let her pull him closer, let her feel her way in the dark. Kate found his mouth, salty from sleep, his tongue hard as it sought her own.

  He kissed her neck as she grabbed at his T-shirt, pulling it over his head. It got stuck and they laughed as he struggled. She tasted him, her mouth on his chest, following the line of hair down his stomach. He pulled her back up and they locked mouths as his fingers found their way inside her.

  Kate gasped as he pushed her onto her back. He moved his hands back between her legs, his tongue in her mouth, his feet rough against her legs.

  She pulled his lips down to her breasts, let him explore, felt soft hammer blows through her body, explosions she craved.

  He whispered into her ears, phrases her mother would term blasphemous. She undid the string on his shorts, and, naked, he covered her, then was inside her.

  They sunk into the mattress, covered by the duvet, trying not to cry out.

  She thoug
ht of Chloe then. The wife. The other woman. Something borrowed. A husband borrowed, to dull her desires.

  And sadness filled her, as Ryan did. Lonely in the arms of another woman’s husband, in a bed where her ghosts made love to her as much as any man of flesh.

  Ryan fell into a deep sleep soon after, having shifted to the guest bedroom. For appearances’ sake.

  Kate sat downstairs with hot cocoa, her laptop switched on. Darkness beyond the kitchen window. Shadows moving in the corners of her eyes. The wind picked up, the rain tapping on the glass. Don’t look; don’t let it disturb you.

  She called Stevie Brennan.

  ‘The duty nurse, Becky Molloy, she’s been great,’ said Brennan. ‘But Dr Kureshi, the consultant . . . guy’s a dick. Won’t let us near Dan. I said to him, what you going to do, call the police? He didn’t see the funny side. Said Dan’s too fragile. If we want to question him, we come back in the morning.’

  ‘So we will,’ Kate said. ‘Go home, get some sleep. I need his flat searched first thing.’

  ‘How? We’re not charging him yet?’

  ‘Yes, we are.’

  Harris had found incriminating messages and emails on Dan’s phone, saved to his cloud, or something. There were gaps, but on particular days Dan had sent enough vile words for them to start building a case against him.

  Kate scanned them now.

  If I can’t have you, no one else can. You think you’re going to be OK without me?

  You will regret leaving me.

  I’ll fucking hurt you, make you feel the pain you’re giving me.

  I never loved you, this was all a game, you know it was. Are you that stupid? Ugly and stupid. Girls like you don’t deserve to live.

  You might as well kill yourself. Before someone does it for you. Useless cunt.

  Was it enough? It might just be anger, high emotion, a spoilt brat losing his toys? Could she use these messages as a foundation, create a noose from the sentences swimming before her eyes?

  Dan had also cut and pasted cases from the internet, serial killer court cases. Detailed forensic minutiae on how women had been stalked and kidnapped, then, layer by layer, had their skin, hair, dignity taken from them.