New York Night

by Stephen Leather

  There was desk by the window with a top-of-the-range Apple computer and a pair of expensive headphones. He switched it on but it was password protected. Nightingale switched off the computer. There was a white chest of drawers against one wall with a collection of soft toys on it. One was a white bear holding a heart on which were the words LOVE YOU. Nightingale picked it up and showed it to Perez. ‘Sweet,’ she said.

  Nightingale worked his way down the drawers. There were t-shirts in the top one, sweaters in the second, shorts in the third, and in the bottom one, a Ouija board, white candles and a box of matches. ‘There you go,’ he said.

  Perez came over and looked down at it. ‘What is it?’

  ‘It’s an Ouija board. They sell it as a kid’s game but it’s basically a way of communicating with spirits. I’m guessing Mrs Walker didn’t know about this.’ He bent down and picked it up. He took it over to the bed and took off the lid to show her the board and the white plastic planchette that came with it.

  ‘It’s a game?’ asked Perez. ‘How does it work?’

  ‘You put your fingers on the plastic thing, the planchette, and ask a spirit to spell out messages.’

  ‘So this isn’t Charlie Charlie?’

  ‘It’s like a step up from that.’

  ‘You think she used this to try to talk to her dead boyfriend?’

  ‘Maybe. Or it could have been in the drawer for years and forgotten about. But the candles in there suggest that she’s been using it recently.’ He put the lid back on the box and took it back to the drawer.

  ‘So she was still grieving for the boyfriend. She was trying to talk to him beyond the grave. What’s that got to do with her going to Manhattan and getting into an empty apartment?’

  ‘Maybe someone was offering to help her. She arranges to meet him in the apartment for a séance or something.’

  ‘A séance? Are you serious?’

  ‘She tried Charlie Charlie. Her mum told us that. She’s been using a Ouija board. Maybe neither worked and she wanted to move up to the next level.’

  ‘A séance?’

  ‘Or a medium. Someone who channels spirits.’

  ‘You believe in that nonsense?’

  ‘You’re a Catholic, Cheryl. You believe in an immortal soul, in Heaven and Hell?’

  ‘Me believing in God and believing in holding hands around the table to talk to the dead are two different things.’

  ‘In my experience there are mediums who can make contact with spirits,’ said Nightingale. ‘There are a lot of charlatans, sure, but there are a few who are genuine. But that isn’t the point, the point is whether or not Kate believed it. If she did, she might have contacted someone who offered to help.’ He turned to look at the computer. ‘We could do with looking at her files.’

  ‘We’d need a warrant and that’s not going to happen because I’m not a cop any more.’

  ‘Even if Mrs Walker agreed to letting us have a look?’

  ‘It’s password protected.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ve got computer experts, haven’t you?’

  She thought about it for a couple of seconds, then nodded. ‘Okay, it’s worth a try,’ she said.

  They went back downstairs. Mrs Walker was still sitting on the sofa, dabbing her eyes. ‘Thank you for that, Mrs Walker,’ said Perez. ‘We won’t take up any more of your time?’

  ‘Did you find anything useful?’

  Perez shook her head. ‘Unfortunately not. Mrs Walker, did the investigating officers examine your daughter’s computer?’

  ‘Her computer?’

  ‘In the bedroom. The Apple.’

  ‘The detectives who came here didn’t go upstairs. They spoke to me and my husband and we gave them…’ She blew her nose before continuing. ‘We gave them a DNA sample. Her toothbrush. But I went upstairs to get it. They stayed here.’

  ‘Can we borrow the computer, just for a few days?’ asked Perez.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We’d like to check her emails, that’s all. It’d be easier for the technician to do it in our office rather than send them here.’

  ‘You think she might have emailed the person who killed her??’

  ‘That’s a big leap, Mrs Walker,’ said Perez. ‘But it might help us to know if she was talking to anyone before she went to Manhattan.’

  ‘What about her cellphone, Mrs Walker?’ asked Nightingale.

  ‘That was with her, in the loft,’ said Mrs Walker. ‘The police took it with them and they still have it.’

  ‘But you’re okay for us to take the computer?’ asked Perez. ‘I’ll get it back to you in a few days.’

  Mrs Walker nodded but didn’t say anything. She was dabbing at her eyes as Perez and Nightingale left.

  CHAPTER 12

  The technician was a Korean girl in her twenties with a fringe that overlapped the top of her black-rimmed spectacles. Her name was Yung-yi and it took her less than ten minutes to crack the password of Kate Walker’s desktop computer. Nightingale and Perez had given her the computer and gone off to get coffees and by the time they returned she was printing out a dozen or so sheets of Kate’s emails.

  ‘There’s everything she sent over the week before she died,’ said Yung-yi. ‘Most of it is school-related.’

  ‘What about social media?’

  ‘Not a problem, she stored all her passwords so I can log onto anything,’ said the technician.

  ‘Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, give me everything you can find,’ said Perez. ‘Also I need a list of everything she searched for and any websites she visited.’

  ‘I’m on it,’ said Yung-yi. She had a bowl of popcorn next to the computer and she tossed a couple of pieces into the air and caught them in her mouth.’

  ‘Show off,’ laughed Perez.

  There was a large white-topped table at the far end of Yung-yi’s office and Perez sat down with Nightingale and gave him half the printed sheets. The technician was right, they were mostly involved school assignments. There were a few personal emails to friends making arrangements to meet but they were always local meetings. ‘I’m guessing she was more chatty on her phone,’ said Nightingale.

  Perez nodded. ‘The cops will have been straight onto that so we can assume they didn’t find anything,’ she said.

  ‘Can you ask Andy? Just to be sure.’

  ‘Andy’s not an idiot,’ said Perez. ‘But yes, okay, I’ll ask.’

  ‘Nothing in those?’ asked Nightingale, nodding at the papers she was holding.

  She shook her head.

  ‘I’d really like to talk to Kate’s brother,’ said Nightingale.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The Ouija board was in her room. Maybe she had her brother help her with it. It needs at least two people, ideally three.’

  ‘You seriously think the Ouija board has something to do with her death?’

  ‘It’s possible. The brother would be able to tell us if she was using it. For all we know it could have been in that drawer for years. An unwanted Christmas present maybe.’

  ‘So why didn’t you ask Mrs Walker about it?’

  Nightingale shrugged. ‘I didn’t want to worry her.’

  ‘Ouija boards are nonsense, right? A toy.’

  ‘They were sold as a toy, back in the sixties,’ said Nightingale. ‘But they’re a serious occult tool.’

  ‘To talk to the dead?’

  ‘Sometimes. But it’s an open channel. Anyone can use it. Devils. Demons. If you use one, you’re leaving yourself open to be contacted by anyone or anything. It’s a lot like an internet chat room. You’re never sure who you’re really talking to. They became popular at the same time as automatic writing, where you hold a pen and close your eyes and let a spirit write through you. That’s one on one and takes a lot of practice. A talking board is easier. Pretty much anyone can do it.’

  ‘Talking board?’

  ‘That’s the generic name. The word Ouija was patented but there had already been talking boards around f
or years. Ouija was a made-up word, combing the French and German words for Yes.’

  ‘Someone always pushes, I thought that’s how they work.’

  ‘When it’s a game, yes. Either consciously or subconsciously, someone moves the planchette. But when a spirit is present….’ He left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘So what do you think happened? You think she used the board and tried to contact her boyfriend?’

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘But how do we get from there to her being sliced to death in a Manhattan loft?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’m taking this one step at a time.’

  ‘From the look on your face I’d say you weren’t telling me everything, Jack.’

  ‘All I have is theories. Nothing concrete. But as soon as I know for sure, I’ll tell you.’

  ‘Okay, I have her Google history now,’ said Yung-yi. She pressed a button and her printer kicked into life. ‘And just so you know, she has Tor software on here.’

  ‘Which means what?’ asked Perez.

  ‘The Tor browser lets you access the dark web,’ said Nightingale. ‘It’s a shadow internet that runs through a network of relays around the world. No one can see what sites you visit and the sites can’t learn anything about you. There’s a lot of illegal stuff on the dark web. Drugs, killers for hire, money laundering.’

  ‘What would a Forest Hills teenager be doing on the dark web?’ asked Perez.

  Nightingale left the question unanswered and went over to the printer. It had already churned out half a dozen sheets and he picked them up. Most of her search engine queries were homework-related and he smiled at the fact that several times she had Googled ‘pre-written essays’ for several subjects. She had Googled reviews of restaurants in Forest Hills and had spent some time looking at the drug ecstasy and its chemical name, methylenedioxy-metamphetamine. Which suggested either she was using it or someone she knew was.

  ‘When did the boyfriend die?’ he asked Perez.

  ‘Three months ago, Mrs Walker said. I don’t have the actual date. Why?’

  ‘Because two months ago she was Googling “séances” and “Ouija board” “contacting the dead” and a lot of spiritualist stuff.’ He handed her the sheets and picked up more from the printer’s tray. He flicked through them. ‘Then suddenly she stopped.’

  ‘That was when she downloaded Tor,’ said Yung-yi.

  ‘Which means what?’ asked Perez.

  ‘It means she stopped using the internet and went into the dark web.’

  ‘What did she look at there?’

  Nightingale smiled. ‘That’s the point. There’s no way of telling. And because it’s all anonymous and untraceable, there’s some seriously disturbed stuff there.

  Perez looked over at the technician. ‘He’s right,’ said Yung-yi. ‘She’s cleared her cache so there’s no way of knowing what sites she went to and what she downloaded.’

  ‘But we do know her interest in the Ouija board was recent and so almost certainly tied in with her dead boyfriend,’ said Nightingale.

  Perez sighed in exasperation. ‘But I don’t see how that gets us any closer to finding her killer.’

  ‘That’s why we need to talk to her brother,’ said Nightingale. ‘I’m hoping he’ll be able to tell us what she did with the Ouija board.’

  CHAPTER 13

  Nightingale wasn’t sure what he expected Forest Hills High School to look like, but the main building took him by surprise. It was in a Georgian style with a red brick exterior trimmed with limestone and pitched grey-black slate roofs. There were towering white columns supporting a triangular pediment with a clock in the centre and at the top of the building was a circular tower made of columns. It looked for all the world as if it had been lifted straight out of London and dropped into the Queen’s landscape.

  ‘How old is the school?’ Nightingale asked Perez as they climbed out of her car.

  ‘1940s,’ she said. ‘It’s got a good reputation.’

  Perez had phoned ahead and Eddie Walker was waiting for them in the principal’s office. The principal’s secretary was a pretty young girl in her twenties wearing a black blazer over a yellow dress. She seemed to think that Perez and Nightingale were with the NYPD but Perez was immediately upfront that they were private detectives but they were looking at the Kate Walker case.

  ‘Does Mrs Walker know that you’re talking to Eddie?’ she asked.

  ‘We were just at her house,’ said Nightingale, which didn’t answer her question but seemed to satisfy the secretary.

  ‘Am I in trouble?’ asked Eddie. He was a good-looking boy with a strong jaw and a mop of dark brown hair that he kept flicking away from his eyes. He was wearing a red and black plaid shirt over a white t-shirt, and black jeans, He had a rash of white spots across his forehead and a larger spot on his chin that he kept scratching as he looked at them. He was sitting on a sofa at the far end of the room by the window.

  ‘Not at all,’ said Perez. ‘We just need to ask you about your sister.’

  ‘Do you need me to be here or can I get on with my work?’ asked the secretary.

  ‘Whatever you’re happy with,’ said Perez.

  The secretary nodded at her work station, close to the door that led to the Principal’s office. ‘I’ve some emails that have to go out this afternoon,’ she said. ‘Just let me know if you need anything.’

  She went over to her computer and sat down. Perez joined Eddie on the sofa while Nightingale pulled up a chair.

  ‘Eddie, we need to know what Kate was doing with the Ouija board,’ said Nightingale.

  ‘Are you Australian?’ asked the boy.

  Nightingale smiled. ‘English.’

  ‘You sound Australian.’

  ‘I get that a lot.’ The boy’s attempt to change the subject was transparent and he was rubbing his hands together nervously. Nightingale leaned closer to him and lowered his voice. ‘This is just between you and us, Eddie. We won’t be telling your mom or your dad or anyone. That’s why we’ve come here to talk to you and not your home. Do you understand?’

  The boy nodded. ‘Sure. But I don’t know anything about a Ouija board.’ He looked over at Perez, smiling and nodding as if he could make her believe him by sheer force of will.

  ‘We found the board, in your sister’s bedroom,’ said Perez.

  ‘There has to be at least two people using it,’ said Nightingale. ‘She had the board in her room and she wouldn’t use it with your mom and dad, would she?’

  ‘They’d go crazy,’ said Eddie.

  ‘Of course they would. That’s why she asked you. Just tell us what happened, Eddie. No one else needs to know.’

  The boy folded his arms and stared at Nightingale’s Hush Puppies. ‘I told her I didn’t want to do it. It was stupid. But she kept on and on. She wouldn’t stop.’

  ‘What did she want you to do?’ asked Perez.

  ‘She wanted to talk to Ryan. We’d been playing that stupid Charlie Charlie game and she seemed to think he was trying to get a message to her.’

  ‘Did you play Charlie Charlie with Kate?’ asked Nightingale.

  Eddie shook his head, still staring at Nightingale’s shoes. ‘It’s stupid. The wind blows the pencil. That’s all.’

  ‘But Kate thought there was more to it?’ asked Nightingale.

  Eddie nodded. ‘She showed me the Ouija board. Said it would let Ryan talk to her. I told her, Ryan’s dead, the dead don’t say anything to anyone because that’s what dead means. She kept on at me and on at me. Then she said she’d tell my mom that I’d been smoking pot.’ He looked up guiltily. ‘Forget I said that, please.’

  ‘Eddie, we don’t care about pot,’ said Nightingale. ‘We don’t care about anything other than what happened to your sister. Anything you tell us stays here, it goes no further. I promise.’

  Eddie nodded. ‘She found a joint and said she’d show it to mom. Mom would have freaked, and I mean freaked. So I did what she wanted.’ He looked over at
Perez. ‘You mustn’t tell my mom.’

  ‘We won’t,’ said Perez.

  ‘Swear?’

  ‘I swear,’ she said, and touched the small gold cross at her throat.

  Eddie looked back at Nightingale. ‘She said it had to be done at midnight. She did it on a night when mom and dad were asleep. She came to get me and took me to her bedroom. She had the board set out on the floor and these candles around it. She lit the candles and had me touch the pointer thing.’

  ‘The planchette?’

  ‘I don’t know what it was called. It was a bit like a heart with a hole in it.’

  ‘Did she say a prayer before you started? Or sprinkle anything on the board?’

  Eddie shook his head. ‘Just made me put my hands on it and then she asked to talk to Ryan. She asked if Ryan was there and the pointer thing began to move. To YES. I was sure she was pushing it and I told her and she got really angry with me. She said I’d spoil it if I kept talking. She asked if Ryan was really there and it went to YES again. Then it started to spell out words.’ He sat back on the sofa and ran his hands over his face. ‘Can I have a drink of water?’ he asked Perez. ‘Or a soda would be better. A Pepsi. Or a Mountain Dew.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Perez. ‘Is there a machine or something?’

  Eddie nodded at the door. ‘Outside. In the corridor.’

  Perez went out to fetch a soda. ‘Are you okay?’ asked Nightingale.

  ‘Not really,’ he said. He shuddered. ‘I still can’t believe that Kate’s dead. And the way she died.’

  ‘So what did it spell out, Eddie? What did the board say?’

  Eddie took a deep breath. ‘Blindfold the boy.’

  ‘She wanted to blindfold you?’

  ‘It wasn’t her. It was him. Ryan.’

  ‘Or it was her pushing the planchette.’