“Why are we going this way?” Rupert demanded. “Where’s your office?”
Rose waited till they’d dropped two levels before looking around in all directions.
Now they were alone.
She grabbed Rupert by the crotch and forced him against the wall.
“We. Are. Through,” she hissed at him.
“You owe me,” Rupert said.
“What?”
“You’re not going to just throw me away like garbage.”
Rose went to backhand him across his face, but Rupert caught her wrist.
“You don’t have it in you, Rose. You never did.”
Their eyes locked together.
Her defenses melted. She closed her eyes to receive his kiss.
But it didn’t come.
“My sister’s been abducted,” Rupert stated.
She opened her eyes slowly. “What?”
“Abducted,” he repeated.
He slid away from her and walked out to the edge of the steps.
Rose leant against the wall where he’d been, crossing her arms.
“Well don’t just say ‘abducted’,” Rose exclaimed. “What’s the situation?”
“She was walking home by herself,” Rupert said. “Someone found her phone on the ground somewhere, and apparently she was filming herself just as she was attacked. I haven’t seen the footage.”
He sat down and lit up a cigarette.
Rose sat down next to him. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to make sure everything’s been done to find her. We don’t know how long she has.”
“Of course. I’ll do everything I can.”
He offered her the smoke.
She accepted it apologetically. Sucked. Inhaled.
Exhaled.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Rupert said standing up.
CHAPTER 24
Nadine wanted a conference with Sal. It was time to talk it out. Time everything they knew was out in the open so they knew it together. No need to rush things. Not until they were on the same fucking page.
They pulled into a deserted parking lot west of the CBD, and they both got out of the car. Nadine had one of Sal’s pre-mixed vodka and soda cans, and she knew he appreciated her drinking with him.
He had bought them for her after all.
“That was insane,” Nadine said. “I can’t believe it just happened.”
“Which part?” Sal replied.
“You and that guy. Shooting at each other in the middle of the bleeding lobby. What the hell, dude?”
“Did you get a look at him?”
Nadine shrugged. “Briefly.”
“Did you recognize him? Was it him?”
Nadine reflected. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not.”
“Is it that you didn’t get a good look at him, or your memory of the man in the elevator is clouded?”
“Well, both of those.”
“But one more than the other?”
Nadine shrugged. “I just feel like … there’s more to it. More to it than we’re seeing.”
“How do you mean?”
“This tape, okay. This tape we watched. I feel like … it’s from someone I already know.”
“Why is that?”
“He was asking me to send his name to that email address. And that I have until midnight? It’s like the person who kidnapped me is someone I already know in real life.”
“How is that possible?”
“I don’t have all the answers, man.” She stepped away from the car. Drank from her can.
She heard Sal shift a little behind her.
“Well, you didn’t recognize that guy in the lobby tonight, did you?”
“I don’t think so.”
“But he recognized you. How is that possible unless he’s the one who kidnapped you?”
“Are you sure he recognized me?”
Sal moved round to face her. “I saw him. He was staring right at you. And he had those blue glasses on –”
“He didn’t wear glasses.”
“Pardon?”
“The man who took me. I could see his eyes.”
“Right. Look, it doesn’t matter if you knew him or not. We have his prints now. If he’s in the system – and I’m betting he is – then we’ll be able to ID him. Which means he can be cleared if he’s innocent. How are you receiving this so far? You with me? What’s wrong?”
Nadine hesitated. “There was an abduction earlier. It came in over the scanner.”
“Okay…”
“Said the suspect was a man wearing blue sunglasses.”
“Our guy?”
“I just feel like we have to tread very carefully with this. If it’s him, if he really did recognize me – then what we do could determine whether the girl lives or dies.”
“What girl?”
“The girl who was kidnapped! God!”
Nadine threw the can away and started walking.
Sal ran after her. “Where are you going?”
“Stop it!”
“Stop what?”
“Stop following me!”
“Nadine, I’m trying to help.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Jesus Christ, Nadine! What did I say? Why are you acting like this?”
She stared down at the ground. “I need my glasses.”
“What?”
“Get them for me.”
“Okay…”
Nadine waited as Sal went back to the car. He retrieved her glasses and handed them back to her.
Nadine wiped the shades clean with her jumper and put them back on.
She immediately began to feel calmer. Her thoughts were making more sense.
“Alright. I think I’m ready now.”
“Ready for what?”
“Let’s do it your way. Let’s go back to the precinct. Run the prints.”
“Great!” Sal exclaimed. “I’m so glad we’re on the same page again!”
“One more thing, Sal. Before we go.”
“Sure,” he nodded. “Anything.”
“Disconnect your freaking GPS, will ya?”
CHAPTER 25
Rose McGuiness’s head was spinning. Rupert was in the corner of her office, on his feet, yelling at her. There were biscuits near where he was. A few magazines and a coffee she’d made especially for him. She’d tried to calm the situation. But call after call around kept putting her on hold, kept transferring her between people who knew nothing about anything. She kept her posture tidy. Her mouth not too wide. Her words not too loud or sharp. Taylor called to let her know Justin had let Nadine and Sal go. Justin called to say he was hanging it up for the night. The computer screens were telling her nothing she needed to know. The solitaire cards were spilling out her fingertips.
“ENOUGH!” Rose suddenly shouted.
“No, listen here, I’ve been trying to –” Rupert argued.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” she screeched. “I’M TRYING TO THINK!”
“Alright,” he muttered. “Fine. You do that. Think.”
He slumped into the chair by the wall. Picked up one of the biscuits.
Threw it away.
Rose opened and closed her eyes. “Okay. There’s someone else I haven’t tried yet. Hold on…”
“Who is it now?”
“Just be quiet, will you?”
Rupert lowered his eyes, sulking.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hi,” Rose said quickly. “I’m looking for Simon. He’s not around is he?”
“Who’s calling?”
“Just an old friend of his.”
“Your name.”
Rose inhaled sharply. “Rose McGuiness.”
“Oh my gosh, Rose… Wow. It’s been ages. This is Saman–Sam. How are you?”
Rose nodded. “Okay. I need Simon’s expertise on something. If he doesn’t still hate my guts that is.”
“Yeah. Well, we couldn’t really expect anything less
, could we? After all that –”
“Is he there or not?”
“Not at the moment. He’ll be back later.”
“Do you have a cell number I can reach him on?”
“I’m not sure I should give it to you.”
“Come on, Samantha. Lives are at stake here.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Sam!”
“Goodbye, Rose.”
Click.
She put her phone down.
“Who was that?” Rupert asked.
“Nobody.”
“Didn’t sound like nobody.”
“It was an ex-friend,” Rose explained. “Guarding the door to an old flame.”
“Simon?”
“Yeah.”
“As in Simon the Psychic?”
“No more yelling, please.”
Rupert’s eyes darted round the room. He stood up. “Fuck it. Let’s go see him.”
“What? You mean –”
“Yes, now. Let’s go to his house.”
“You’re okay with this?”
“What you mean because you used to fuck him?”
Rose nodded.
“I don’t know,” Rupert shrugged. “I used to fuck you. Perhaps the similarities don’t stop there. He could be my kind of guy.”
“And you’re willing to give the psychic thing a shot? You don’t think it’s a waste of time?”
“You tell me. You know the guy.”
Rose stood up. “Alright. I just hope he doesn’t freak out too much.”
“Well, I doubt he’ll be that surprised.”
“What’s that?”
“If he’s really a psychic then he will already know that we’re coming.”
“Yeah,” Rose muttered. “I’m sure he has it circled in his calendar.”
CHAPTER 26
Nadine was afraid. Afraid as the precinct drew nearer and nearer. Afraid as the car stopped and the lights overhead splashed across her face. Nadine hadn’t the faintest clue who the man on the video tape was, but as they moved forward in their investigation, Nadine was beginning to feel restless. As though she too was being exposed…
She could say the words. The words of what had supposedly happened to her. When you say the words and think the thoughts and imagine yourself there, back in time, and under the killer’s control, with him hurting and hurting and hurting you – it was hard to hold it together. To keep a straight face.
It was always there, itching.
Just below the surface.
Bang, bang.
They were already both out of the car. Walking towards the elevator. Nadine touched her glasses, making sure they were there. They entered the elevator and waited for it to move up to the ground floor. When the doors opened again, Nadine could hardly move. She was cold all over.
Sal looked back at her. “This is us.”
Nadine nodded. “I know.”
“You’re afraid, aren’t you?”
She pushed her hands into her pockets and kept her head down whilst walking past him. “Of what?”
“Nothing,” Sal said quietly.
So far they hadn’t been interrupted. There was no one about patrolling the corridors in search for them. They stepped into an empty computer lab and Sal carefully followed procedure to lift the prints from the gun. Next it was to the scanner where they would have to wait to see if they would be identified. It would probably take at least a few hours, if not days to get through.
“That’s it then?” Nadine asked. “We just camp out here until there’s a match?”
Sal snorted. “No. Pull up a chair why don’t you?”
Nadine reluctantly sat down in front of one of the screens.
“Let’s do a search while we’re here,” Sal suggested. “See if you can find anything about cases of abduction associated with blue glasses.”
“What does his glasses have to do with anything?”
“Well, I’d be very interested to see if someone has tried to identify him before. Come on, let’s see what comes up.”
“Okay…”
Nadine plugged in the keywords.
The results hit the screen. She scrolled through.
“What do we have?” Sal asked, leaning over.
“Nothing’s standing out.”
“Try ‘Blue glasses, murder.’”
Nadine complied.
“‘Blue glasses, suspect.’”
Hit.
“Right there. First one. Click on it.”
Nadine dragged the mouse. The page opened.
“What am I looking at? When is this?”
Nadine thumbed through. “2014. Three years ago.”
“Man with blue sunglasses and balaclava fired shots in a drive by… Okay. Nope. Get out.”
“Alright.” Nadine went back to the results. “Anything else here?”
There was a pause. “Don’t think so.” Sal inhaled deeply and moved away from the computer.
“You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?”
Sal shrugged. “We need something else. What do we know about this guy?”
“We don’t know anything.”
“He was at that building. He had to have had a reason for being there. If bleeding Taylor hadn’t –”
“Stop, Sal.”
“What?”
“Just … stop…”
Nadine stood up from the computer.
“What’s the matter?” Sal asked.
“It’s late. I want to go home.”
“Aren’t you worried about this guy coming after you? What about the girl who was abducted tonight? I need you with me on this.”
“No, Sal. I’m done.”
She moved past him.
As she was opening the door to exit, he snapped his fingers.
“The blue limousine!”
“What?”
“He – he got into a blue limousine after he –”
Sal hurried over to the computer. His fingers frantically went at the keys.
Nadine stared at him. Her feet couldn’t get off the ground.
“Sal?”
Nothing.
“Sal.”
“Just a second.”
Nadine stood beside him. “I haven’t been completely honest with you.”
“One sec.”
Nadine crossed her arms. She could still walk away. She wasn’t completely all the way in yet.
Still, he’d find out.
He was almost there already.
“Sal. The man in blue glasses. The man who abducted me.”
“Yes…”
“I know who he is.”
CHAPTER 27
Although he’d certainly argue otherwise, Sal wasn’t present in the room with Nadine as she tried to reach him. The lights from the screens, the humming of computer fans, the echoes of the bullets that had been fired from earlier – Sal was still living through it. He was back there outside on the grass again, his assailants towering over him. Sal couldn’t let go of the fact his daughter had been mentioned. Subconsciously, it was as though he was anticipating the thugs finding her, roughing her up. Not to the point where she couldn’t come back. Just to the point where Sal could come in and save her.
And then maybe.
With a little luck.
She’d love him again.
“SAL!”
Nadine was shaking him.
Sal straightened himself up, got out of the chair.
“Are you listening to me, or what?” Nadine demanded.
Sal shook his head. He looked around. “Do we have a match on something?”
“Sal, we need to take five. Come on.”
“Are you kidding, Nadine, we’ve got to –”
“Sal, come the fuck with me – right now.”
She stormed out of the computer lab. Sal glanced back at his surroundings with some reluctance.
Then he followed her.
Halfway down the corridor, Nadine had her phone out. Scr
olling through her pages.
“Is this something serious or –” Sal began.
Nadine handed him her phone.
Sal’s eyes widened.
It was a photo of a teenage girl bound and gagged to a mattress in a dark room. She wasn’t conscious.
“What’s that?” Sal mumbled.
“Someone sent it to me five minutes ago.”
“One of ours?”
“No,” Nadine said between clenched teeth. “It’s him…”
“How do you know?”
Nadine showed him a text message.
Just two words: Still waiting.
“For what?” Sal blurted out.
“For me to … tell him his name.”
“Which is what we’re trying to do.”
“Listen. Okay. Just … fucking listen to me for five seconds.”
“Alright. What is it?”
“I know where she is, dammit.”
“Okay.”
“I was there. I was on that bed. That’s where he held me.”
“But you don’t remember where that is now?”
Nadine looked away.
“Surely. You can’t. Know…”
“I’ve been back there heaps of times,” Nadine confessed. “I … I…”
Sal grabbed her shoulders. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“I helped him,” Nadine whispered. “I helped him with the other girls.”
CHAPTER 28
THIRD NOTE
Denial only gets you so far.
How easy it would have been for me to pretend as though it didn’t happen. As though there were two closed doors in front of me – one marked REMEMBER and the other FORGET – and I could have walked through the Forget Door and it would be as though I was never there. It wasn’t me doing those things. I was a good person after all.
Good person.
Good … person…
It was strange. I knew what I’d done and yet I couldn’t escape the notion of my being virtuous. I didn’t know of another way to exist. To be right with myself.
At work, around friends that were strangers, I contemplated the idea that 99.999% of myself was good. I saw a boxcutter sitting on a filing cabinet. An axe behind glass mounted to the wall. There were weapons all around me. I could take any one of them and start ending the lives of those nearest to me. This action would not be one that went against my moral fibers. It wouldn’t be one that deprived me of relaxation or pleasure. The motion of putting my hands on a gun, aiming it at someone’s head, blasting them in the face, watching the body fall…
Icy Stares (Guess The Killer Book 1) Page 6