No Good Comes When You Dig Up the Dead, page 28
“Fuck, how did you know?”
“I wouldn’t have known if I wasn’t poking myself,” Jack admits. “I take it you’ve seen this date he’s set up?”
“Yeah, but…” Brody gives me a super shifty side-eye. “Won’t Miles Bolton have been arrested by now?”
“Is Erin with you?”
Brody lets out a sigh that sounds a lot like relief. What don’t they want me to know? “Yeah.”
“He hasn’t been arrested yet. It took me a while to arrange everything, and it looks like Bolton has bolted.”
“Theo didn’t tell Erin anything about his session earlier.”
They’re definitely keeping something from me.
“Get up to my office, and we’ll go find Theo.”
“We’ll be there in five.”
“Tell Ambrose to get on with her real work.”
“Fuck,” Cordie mutters.
“I heard that,” Jack says.
Cordie grimaces. “Sorry, Chief.”
Brody shakes their head as we leave the pen. “I never should’ve let him go when he was so distraught, but he said he wanted to talk to you at home, and… He was asking questions about your case before he went under… about how the husbands were suspected of killing each other’s unfaithful wives after they went to All Saints Hospital for their paternity tests.”
“Wait, they all went to All Saints?”
Brody frowns. “That’s exactly how Theo said it. But yeah, and I only remembered the part about the husbands because it reminded me of that Strangers on a Train movie. It’s one of the few things I know about your case.”
“But how do you know they went to the same hospital? I don’t remember that being in the file.” Fuck, I’ve given myself up now, but I don’t care. “Was it?”
“Yes, Erin. It was in the file… the file you don’t have access to. I mean, it might’ve been updated since you saw it.”
I freeze as my brain tries to fit the pieces together. The first time Brody put Theo under, he said something about a cuckoo in the nest. His grandad said they all cheat. Obviously, he was talking about women.
Oh fuck. Evan wasn’t his son.
But who were the man and woman he was talking to in Theo’s memory? Who were they looking for? And why was he admitting to them that his wife cheated on him? She was the second victim.
Something Evan told me years ago pops into my head. His dad, Theo’s grandad, was a phlebotomist at All Saints Hospital. “It was him. Oh fuck, it was him. Theo’s gone after his grandad.”
Brody just nods, no shock on their face. Nothing.
“You knew? This is what you were hiding from me?”
“I wasn’t hiding it, Erin. Theo wanted to be the one to tell you. He thought you’d hate him for being related to a monster. He’s… Fuck, come on. Let’s just find Jack.”
I call Theo on the way, but there’s no answer. I expected it, but it still makes my gut burn.
Fuck, what is he thinking now? That I would hate him for this? That I could think his grandad being a murderer—my murderer—would make me blame Theo? Has he forgotten that he’s a victim in all this too? That he was willing to call the police on his own grandfather the night he died?
Then a gnarlier thought reaches inside me, shredding my heart with vicious thorns. What if Theo thinks I planned this all along? What would he do if he thought every moment of our time together was a lie? What if, as he hurtles towards this date with his murderous grandfather, Theo really believes he has nothing to lose?
Jack looks grim when we reach his office. “This isn’t looking good. Bolton received a call on his landline a few hours ago.”
“I know who it is, Jack. You don’t have to keep calling him Bolton.”
He nods. “Leslie Burnden, then. It lasted barely a minute, and it looks like he left immediately because someone called a few minutes later, left a message on his answerphone, which he would definitely have deleted if he was still in the house.”
I swallow hard. “What did it say?”
Jack glances up at me from beneath dark eyebrows. “You’re going to know how it feels to be hunted, old man.”
I drop into the chair opposite his desk. “This can’t go on his record, Jack.”
“Erin, come on.”
“No. He had a fucking terrible revelation during a hypnosis session, and he wasn’t properly cared for afterwards.”
“She’s right,” Brody says, even though I feel like shit making threats. “We should’ve done better. I knew he was distraught when he left, and we didn’t talk him through it, Jack.”
Jack looks from Brody to me, running his hands through his thick hair. “Fine. Fine, but if this comes back to bite us on the arse, it’ll be my neck on the line, so let’s not go off half-cocked, alright? Let’s just think about this logically.”
I breathe out a long, weighty sigh. “Alright, but we don’t have all day to procrastinate. So, exactly why were you poking around in Theo’s phone?”
“I was worried he’d do something stupid after the session. Then I saw he’d hired a car—”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I thought you’d be with him… that you’d gone off on some Bonnie and Clyde adventure, and…” He closes his eyes. “I didn’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Jesus, Jack.”
“I checked minutes before he made that call, then I got distracted trying to make sure everything was lined up before I took my shot with the police. I was just about to send the file over to my contact when I checked on Theo again and heard the message.”
I arch an eyebrow. “Anything else?”
Jack answers with an emphatic, “No.”
“Do you think his grandad will still show up for this hookup?” I ask. “Or will he be too suspicious after Theo’s phone call? Do you think he knows it’s a set-up?”
“Maybe he’ll be eager for one more thrill before he’s hunted down,” Jack suggests, his fingers clacking on the keyboard like he’s never learned how to type.
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing,” he says. “Just… deleting Theo’s message… and making a requisition.”
“We can’t order shit by the book, Jack. What if someone asks why you needed it? Wait, did you order a frisbee?”
“Relax. Not that sort of requisition.”
He’s barely done talking when War arrives in the doorway. “You’re lucky I’m at a loose end right now.”
I’m not sure how we’re supposed to keep this whole thing secret, if everyone involved just keeps bringing new people on board, but I do trust War, and translocation is the quickest and most untraceable method of travel.
“Good call, Jack,” I say. “But nobody else.”
“What a welcome.” War huffs. “Where’s Gaga? I thought you two were attached at the hip these days.”
I sigh. “He’s in trouble.”
“Well, he certainly fits in around here, then.”
Jack’s phone rings. “Chief Cavelli. What is it, Ambrose?” He leans back in his chair with a sigh. “Good work.” He ends the call, then looks up at me. “We have a location.”
54
Theo’s Proposition
POV: Theo
I stare at the back of my grandfather’s head, imagining what it would sound like to crack his skull, to just slam his head into the wall. The man didn’t give me a second look when he joined me and a handsy couple in the lift.
When it stops at the third floor, I unclench my jaw and follow him out of the lift and along the corridor. I ignore him as I let myself into my own room, glancing briefly in his direction as I close the door, clocking that he stopped at the second to last room on the right.
He’s in disguise tonight, dressed in a suit I’ve never seen, his grey hair covered by a dark wig and a hat. It’s unsettling, like I never knew him at all. I suppose I didn’t.
I still don’t have a plan. I have no idea what I was thinking when I hired the car, or when I called Grandad to threaten him. I shouldn’t even call him that anymore, not just because of what he did to me, but because he’s not my grandfather after all. Not if Evan was a cuckoo in his nest. Did my dad know that’s why Leslie hated him so much?
I know one thing though. Leslie left the house in a rush. There wasn’t time for him to have gone into the darkroom to scrub it of evidence, and I doubt he would’ve emptied the room in the months since I died, not when he had a thirty-six year old shrine down there.
Which leaves the question of what happened to Derek. Leslie would’ve been shaken when he got home after killing me, and Derek would’ve expected answers about why I was so upset when I left. Then he would’ve heard what happened to me the next day and immediately suspected Leslie. Things weren’t looking good for the poor man, and I wish I could go back in time and insist he leave the house immediately. If I’d been thinking clearly that night, I would’ve done.
I can’t believe I’m really doing this. If I was still human, I’d be sweating buckets by now, wearing a hole in the carpet with my pacing, chewing the skin off around my nails, but I’m lying still as death on the bed, hands folded on my stomach. The outward calm doesn’t reflect the tumultuous storm of my overactive mind as I ruminate on and reject theory after theory, strategy after strategy.
Would Erin come after me? If she does, it will be because I made it too easy for her. Cascade traces the phones of all new bloodborns; I’ve always known that. And I work in a phone shop, for crying out loud. If I wanted to hide my activities, I could’ve just picked up another phone. Do I want to be caught? Do I want Cascade to arrive before I have the opportunity to do anything irreversible? I can’t even decide that much, let alone formulate a plan for the conversation that’s coming.
My phone chimes from the bedside chest.
Miles
I left a key for you at reception. Room 308.
I glance at the clock. Ten minutes to go. I need more time.
Mandy
Can’t wait. Stuck in traffic. Be there as soon as I can. Maybe 20 minutes.
I just need a little more time.
When Erin calls a minute later, I answer, one ear on the corridor beyond the door.
“Theo, what the hell are you doing?”
“You know exactly what I’m doing, Erin.”
“I’ve been going out of my mind here. We all—”
“Did you know?”
“No. Brody didn’t even tell me. I figured it out when they mentioned All Saints Hospital. I remember your dad telling me his dad worked in the phlebotomy lab there. Jack said he was asked about it at the time, but he wasn’t at the hospital on the days the blood tests were administered, and he didn’t technically have access to test results.”
Relief surges through me. She didn’t know. She wasn’t looking for revenge this whole time.
“He knew anyway… without doing a test himself,” I tell her. “He knew my dad wasn’t his.”
“I know.”
“I’ll make him pay for what he did to you.”
“You can’t confront him, Teddy. He thinks you’re dead.”
Tears fill my eyes. “Do you hate me?”
“No, I could never hate you. Never.”
It sounds like the truth, but I don’t trust anything anymore, least of all my own judgement.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Theo,” she pleads. “I’m coming for you, okay?”
“Don’t. You need to go to the house. My grandad’s house. Don’t... Don’t go into the darkroom. Take someone with you, just… don’t go down there yourself. It’s in the cellar. There’s a key on the ledge above the stairs, and the light switch is at hip height on the right side of the door when you go in. Make sure it’s all there.”
“Are you at the hotel?”
I battle a wave of frustration. I don’t have time for this. “Are you even listening to me? You need to make sure it’s all there, Erin. The photos, the… the underwear, the phones. No police until you find all the evidence.”
“What are you going to—”
“I left a note for you.”
“What?” she whispers.
“At the flat. I left a note.”
“Fuck. Theo, are you at the hotel? Theo?”
I end the call, leave my phone on the bed, and head into the corridor. I stand outside the door of Leslie’s room, listening to the shuffling sounds inside. He’s talking to the telly like he always does, and I rub away the pain in my chest.
I take the lift downstairs, only realising as I emerge into the overly marbled lobby that the receptionist might get suspicious if Miles Bolton told them a woman would come for the room key. They might even call up if I try to collect it. I need to find a woman. I head for the cashpoint I spotted on my way in, and draw out two hundred quid, hoping it will be enough of a bribe.
The hotel bar is busy but not full. Two lone women sit at either end of the bar, one ogling the barman, the other sighing into her drink. The latter seems a better prospect.
You’re the predator now, I remind myself as I stalk towards her.
She looks up at the last minute, eyeing me warily. “Yes?”
Knowing it’s probably a mistake, I plough on anyway. I don’t have a choice anymore, not if Erin’s already figured out where I am. “How would you like to earn two hundred quid for five minutes work?”
Her mouth falls open. “I’m not sure which of us you’re selling short there.”
I frown. “Pardon?” Oh fuck… She thinks… “No, no, no. Oh fuck, sorry. That’s not what I meant at all.”
The woman is smiling now, so I smile back.
“You seem nervous,” she says.
I nod. “A bit. What I’m asking is, how would you like to earn two hundred quid just for collecting a key from reception and bringing it to me?”
“Sounds suspicious.” She takes a sip from her glass. “Why can’t you get it?”
“I’m not sure I’d pass for a Mandy,” I admit.
“So, is there a person in that room expecting a Mandy?”
“There is.”
“And what do you want with them?”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters if I become an accessory to a crime.”
My heart clangs behind my ribs. “Good point. It’s more like a prank.”
“I don’t believe you,” she says simply. “You’ve got a desperate look in your eyes.”
“He hurt someone I love,” I blurt. “He hurt… a lot of people, and I’m going to make sure he confesses.”
She blows out a breath. “I was not expecting that.”
“Which part?”
“All of it… the honesty.”
“How do you know I’m telling the truth now?”
“You’re a shit liar.”
“Thanks?”
Her smile is soft. “I’ve known a lot of liars.”
“I’m sorry.” For a second, I forget about predator Theo, and give her the adorable Theo. “So, am I wasting my time?”
She drains her glass. “I’ll do it, but I don’t want your money. Now, tell me what to say and get me another one of these while I’m gone.”
55
The Murderer’s House
POV: Erin
Leslie Burnden’s house is dark, the heating off, and all I can hear is the rumble of an ancient boiler and the high-pitched hum of the fridge. I stand on the doormat, gaze directed at the top of the stairs, where Theo sat during his first session with Brody. Who were the couple he saw that night?
“Get the curtains,” Jack tells Brody.
A shiver runs up my spine. I’m inside the house of a murderer. My murderer.
I thought I’d be able to smell him, to feel evidence of him here, but aside from the faint whiff of stale cigarette smoke, I can’t.
“Jack, did you say you were investigating someone called De L’Isle?” I ask, determined to act like this is just an everyday occurrence. Like my heart isn’t igniting inside my chest.
“Where did you hear that?”
“I overheard you talking to Darcy.” I wave a hand. “It’s probably nothing, but Oz is doing a job with someone with that name, and I thought—”
“I’m aware.”
“Good, I don’t want Oz waltzing into danger.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll always look after him.”
When the streetlights are extinguished by the thick curtains, Jack turns on the light, fixing it to more comfortable levels with the dimmer switch.
My sharp intake of breath doesn’t go unnoticed, Jack and Brody sharing a look when they spot the same thing I did—a photograph of Theo and his grandad on the mantelpiece. My feet are already taking me there.
“How does he have the nerve?” I whisper. “How can he think he has any right to have this in his house?”
The smile on Leslie Burnden’s face makes me feel sick, dragging me back to that night. To the wind whipping at my bare legs when I leant against the chicken-wire fence of the playground to take off my shoes. Running across the grass in bare feet as the car drove away, crashing into something solid as I rounded the bushes. Iron bands wrapping around my arms, pinning them to my sides. Trying to pull away, trying to get a knee to his groin, but he was holding me too tight. I couldn’t even swing the heels of my shoes into his temples. I couldn’t do anything. The shoes fell from my fingers as he dragged me behind the bushes where nobody would find me. The scent of eucalyptus and cigarette smoke engulfed me, and the face looming above me morphs into that of an older man—the man in the photo with Theo.
I slam the photo frame against the mantelpiece until it splinters, the glass smashing and tinkling to the hearth.
Jack grabs my wrist, wrestling what’s left of the photograph from my hands. “I knew this was a fucking bad idea.”
I shake my head. “I’m fine. Theo needs us to do this. If everything is here, the police can get in here and put this whole thing to bed.”
