“Ryan,” Amelia said, taking his hand. “Stop.”
He looked at her.
Looked at the hand.
“This is the only way forward for us.”
Ryan looked up to Justin.
Their eyes met.
And they nodded.
“Good luck,” Ryan said.
Chapter 27
Nadine stepped through the door of Detective Leoncelli’s office to find him standing over his desk with a glass in his hand. There was another glass on the table. Next to a bottle of liquor.
“No Officer Dobbs?”
“He’s on his way,” Nadine answered. She approached him. “Is that really necessary?”
“I’m afraid so,” Leoncelli replied. “I thought you might join me.”
She crossed her arms. “Be your drinking buddy?”
He shrugged his shoulders. Drank his drink.
“So what do you have for me then?” Nadine asked. “I assume there’s something.”
Leoncelli nodded. “Come round here. Take a look at this.”
His computer was on. The screen displayed security footage of an internet café.
“This is tonight. Just before nine pm. An associate traced the first email to being sent from this location. Are you ready?”
“Can we make them out this time?”
“Indeed we can.”
Leoncelli put his glass down and scrolled through with the mouse. “Recognize anyone?”
Nadine leaned forward. There were three young women scattered throughout the café – none of their faces familiar. “No.”
“How about now?”
Leoncelli scrolled forward. The timestamp was marked at 8:55pm. A hooded figure was hurrying into the café, quickly paying before hopping onto a computer. As Nadine stared at them closely, she saw some resemblance to the person in the footage from Justin’s building.
“Holy shit,” she exclaimed. “That’s them. You got them.”
“Wait for it,” Leoncelli said. “They pull the hood back in a second.”
The door suddenly opened, and Officer Dobbs stepped through. Leoncelli hit pause.
“What can I help you with?” Dobbs asked.
“Pull up a chair,” Leoncelli instructed. “I was just showing Detective Shields some footage of the person we believe sent the emails. Would really love your take on this as well.”
“Sure. No problem.”
Dobbs pulled the chair away from the front of the desk and went round with the pair of them, sitting next to Nadine. She looked back up to Leoncelli anxiously. “Are we getting on with it then?”
“No,” he said after a moment. He turned off the screen.
“Hey,” Nadine protested.
She went for the button but Leoncelli stopped her.
“Let’s take a drink first,” he said. “Both of you.”
Chapter 28
On the side of the road, a couple of streets away from the precinct, Justin and Amelia were standing about waiting for their taxi. The plan was to go back to Justin’s building where Amelia was parked nearby. They’d fetch her car and then set off to the next location which suddenly seemed central to this – so central Justin wasn’t sure why he hadn’t made the connection sooner.
“That was Rhiannon you spoke to,” Justin said under his breath.
Amelia nodded.
Rhiannon was one of the girls in the photograph.
“And they’re all there?”
Amelia nodded again.
“Do they know we’re coming?”
“They’ll be expecting us.”
Justin closed his eyes. Chuckled to himself.
“What?” Amelia asked.
“I’m nervous.”
“That’s better than me.”
“Is it?”
“I’m scared.”
Justin shrugged. “Same thing.”
“No. Not really.”
He sighed. “Do they know about Kellie yet?”
“I don’t think so.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
“You’re not going to tell them?”
“I … Should I…?”
Amelia shrugged. “We’re going to have to tell them something.”
“Yeah.”
“But I guess we’ll have to figure it all out first.”
Justin sat down on the pavement. A chill went by him. His eyes managed to lift.
“What are you thinking?” Amelia asked.
“I’m thinking about who it could’ve been.”
“And?”
“And…” Justin trailed off. He touched his chin. “I think it’s someone close to us.”
“That would make sense.”
“I mean really close.”
“What? Like Ryan? Like me?”
He looked up at her. “I know it wasn’t Ryan.”
“Yeah?”
“He was outside when it happened.”
Amelia bit her teeth together. “You said it yourself. You let the person into the apartment. By accident of course. But they have the person on the surveillance. We just have to match their build with one of our old classmates. Maybe even match their clothing. If they’re stupid enough to be wearing the same jumper.”
“Does it make sense though?”
“Does what?”
“That it’s just going to be one of those random idiots. I just … I just feel like if someone hated Kellie and I that much I would know it…”
“Maybe… Maybe they don’t hate you…”
He looked up at her. “What?”
“Maybe they’re just nuts. You can’t expect this person to fit the criteria of a normal individual. Their motivations are warped.”
“I don’t know. It feels personal. Like someone is mad at me about something.”
She touched his shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself.”
He looked away. “If it turns out to be you, I’ll never forgive it. I’ll never understand. You have no idea what you’ve done…”
“Hey,” Amelia said.
Justin remained frozen.
“Hey,” she said with a firmer touch.
He looked up at her.
“I’m not your enemy. And of course. I’m not responsible.”
He held her gaze a while.
“Do you believe me?” she asked.
Justin exhaled. “Honestly?”
“Sure.”
“I almost do,” he whispered. “But I almost don’t…”
Chapter 29
Nadine wasn’t a fan of alcohol. She didn’t like drugs in general. She’d seen too many people in her personal life affected by them, and in the long term there was never a positive outcome.
Detective Leoncelli clearly didn’t share her philosophy. As much as she hated being forced to put unwanted substances into her body, Nadine realized that in order to get on equal terms with him, she’d have to lower herself to his level. Still, when the glass was full and in her hands. She hesitated.
Ryan did not hesitate.
Leoncelli moved around the desk as the glasses were emptied, checking outside the door to make sure they weren’t being overheard.
Nadine watched him carefully.
“You’re both new at this,” Leoncelli said. “Which is why I’m going to lay it on you easy. Hopefully the lesson will sink in.”
He turned around to face them.
“I’ve got connections in the C.I.D.,” he said. “It’s as simple as picking up a phone. I read the files on Officer Hodge. I also read up on you, Officer Dobbs, while I was there. And your brother Lachlan.”
Ryan shifted in his chair. “What’s my brother have to do with anything?”
“Maybe nothing,” Leoncelli said edging towards them. “Maybe everything. The point is I looked into it. And everyone is hiding something.”
His eyes rolled and twisted.
Until they were on Nadine.
“What?” she said.
“Your file probably made for the
most interesting of a read. Secrets. Secrets are everywhere, are they not?”
Nadine shivered. “What happened to me is none of your business.”
“It’s funny how even us – members of the city state police – it’s funny how broken we all are. How fractured. How we’re all just hanging onto right side of good and evil by the skin of our teeth.”
“Is there a point to all this?” Ryan demanded. “Or are you just criticizing us for no particular reason?”
“There is a reason. And it’s not a criticism.”
Leoncelli went to the table. Refilled the glasses.
Drank from his own.
“The reason I’m telling it to you like this, is to illustrate that no one is above suspicion. And when I say no one, I mean no one. Not you, Nadine. Nor you, Ryan. Certainly not Justin. And … especially not me…”
Detective Leoncelli moved back around the table again.
Stood in front of the computer screen.
Put his glass down.
“Where is this going?” Ryan wanted to know. “Surely this isn’t a confession.”
Leoncelli started laughed, then quickly broke into a coughing fit, covered by his arm.
When that was finished, he belched.
“Excuse me,” he said. “Sorry.”
He flicked on the screen. Used the mouse to scroll through the recording.
The figure in the chair, the one who had just come in.
The one who had also appeared on the apartment building footage in the moments leading up to Kellie’s death.
They pulled back their hood.
Moved their chair closer as they began typing the very first email.
“Oh God,” Ryan said. “Isn’t that –”
Nadine could hardly believe her eyes.
“Taylor,” she whispered.
Chapter 30
The Evil One was home.
Home, as in, at their house.
The front door wide open, hard shoes on wooden boards, pacing from one end to the other.
The house itself, was empty. If you screamed loud enough in here, there would be an echo.
Not much in the way of lighting. Just the bare minimum so they could see.
The closet was open and they were laying clothes across the bed.
Black clothes.
With a black jacket. And black jeans. And black gloves.
Black shoes.
The Evil One went further into the cupboard and found a genderless, porcelain mask. With curling fingers they pulled the elastic back and dropped the mask over their face.
They pushed the cupboard door open wider, and stared at themselves in the mirror.
Moonlight reflected across the surface of the mask.
Their eyes flinched.
Pulled back further.
Wider and wider.
Invisible claws ran down the killer’s back evoking first a feeling of sick, shuddering pain. And then equally sick. Equally shuddering.
Sensations of pleasure.
They reached to the back of the mask again and pulled it off. Tossed it on the bed with the rest of the junk.
The phone in their pocket vibrated. They pulled it out and looked down at the message.
Fingers quietly tapped out a response.
The phone flipped back.
Shoved down into the pocket.
They walked out of the room a minute later with a gym bag containing the costume. They opened the back door, climbed down the steps and hurried out to the shed.
Pulled the door back.
Shined the phone for light.
Then went for the nearest weapon.
Chapter 31
She didn’t believe it. A part of her, inside. A part of her, screaming doubt. Detective Leoncelli was getting ready though. The USB ripped out from the desktop. Some quiet words with Officer Dobbs by the door. He was ready to go the whole way with it. Call in the Captain. Call in the precinct. The C.I.D.. Squad cars filled with uniformed cops. Swat vans and assault rifles and police dogs –
“Alright, I’ll do it,” Nadine said standing up from the chair.
Leoncelli and Dobbs looked back at her. “You’ll do what?”
“I’ll go undercover,” Nadine replied. “I’ll get her to confess. At least what she was doing there. Why she sent the emails. One way or another…”
“Emails?” Dobbs muttered. “I thought there was only one.”
Leoncelli took a step towards her. “You don’t actually think she’s innocent, do you?”
Nadine shrugged.
“We’ve got her on camera, in the chair, behind the computer –”
“We’ve got shit,” Nadine fired back. “We’ve got assumptions. Just because she was at the place where the email was sent, doesn’t mean she was the one who sent it.”
“No, it’s all confirmed, it was her computer –”
“WE DON’T KNOW,” Nadine stated. “Not yet.”
She walked by him towards the door.
“You’re her partner right?” Leoncelli said.
She stopped.
Officer Dobbs was looking away from them. At the floor.
“So what,” Nadine hissed.
A pause. “I don’t know,” Leoncelli said. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe you’re in on it too.”
Nadine whirled round and clocked him in the face.
Leoncelli stumbled back, his knees buckling, falling over.
Dobbs grabbed Nadine to restrain her.
“Get off me!” she squealed.
There was blood coming out of Leoncelli’s nose. He stared down at it in his hand.
Nadine elbowed Dobbs in the eye and he let go of her.
She drew her gun from her holster and aimed it at them, moving towards the door.
“You’re a fucking mental case, Shields,” Leoncelli said standing up. “Put that away.”
“No one touches me!” Nadine screamed. “No one! Do you understand?”
“We understand,” Officer Dobbs said motioning for her to lower it. “Please. No more violence.”
Nadine reluctantly put the gun away. “I know maybe you don’t believe it. How someone can appear guilty by surface evidence yet still be innocent. Either way. I’m going to go see Taylor now and get her to tell me what the fuck’s really going on.”
“What makes you so sure?” Leoncelli demanded. “How do you know she’s not the one behind all this?”
Nadine swallowed. “I’m not sure.”
She pushed the door open behind her and stepped out of the room.
Her shoes on the carpet. Her feet in the corridor.
Tears bleeding out of her eyes like ice.
Her glasses only kept her so warm.
Chapter 32
The taxi first to his apartment. From his apartment to Amelia’s car. She drove to her house first. Was in there for about ten minutes and then returned with some stuff for the trunk. Justin didn’t see what she’d put in there. His eyes were staring straight out the windscreen. Into the world’s violent cold.
He stared down at his hands. Trembling. Shaking. Absorbing the pain. Somewhere along the way he’d missed something. Something obvious. Something right in front of him. In his conscious mind he knew his future wife was dead and there was nothing she could say to him. Nothing to wrap up or complete the insanity he’d just witnessed. In his subconscious mind though, she was very much alive. He could see her falling … falling from the balcony… But it wasn’t her that found the ground. It was someone else who looked like her. Someone who had the same shade and length of hair. Someone wearing a similar outfit. And there was Kellie. Standing at the edge of the balcony looking down at the unknown woman she’d just pushed.
Perhaps.
Perhaps in some far away fantasy. He and Amelia could drive somewhere and find Kellie waiting for them under artificial lights. A hot cup of coffee in hand. They’d laugh over the echoes of the tragedy. How funny it was that Justin’s heart had almost stopped beating.
White teeth showed.
A smile emerged.
It was indeed amazing. How the mind could play all sorts of tricks on us –
BANG
Amelia was back in the car. Looking over at him.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Were you asleep?”
“No,” Justin said. “Just resting my eyes.”
“You ready for this?”
He nodded. “Let’s do it.”
The roads twisted. The roads bent. The car zoomed across flat surfaces but still Justin’s posture rose and fell in the chair. His lips moist and parted. His fists clamped together. Amelia flicked on some music, drowning out all possible thought and sensation.
His body jolted forward in silence.
The lips parted further.
He kept the scream to himself.
Chapter 33
Nadine’s arms were firmly crossed together as she stood waiting at the edge of the footpath outside the precinct. High beams engulfed her with each passing car. Some speeding. Some going at regular speed. Nadine refused to turn. To let the light meet with her eyes. Digits ticked over. Moment after moment after moment. Everyone she’d ever met who was still alive, they were all out there somewhere. Each in a different part of their journey. A journey that had nothing to do with her.
Beep, beep!
Her eyes darted. Taylor’s car was approaching.
Nadine waited until it was all the way in front of her, then pulled open the passenger door. Hopped in.
“So are we going in or are we –”
“Just keep driving,” Nadine stated.
“Around the block or somewhere specific –”
“Head south. I’ll tell you when the turn is.”
Nadine pulled her seatbelt on. Heard the click then let it fall back.
She didn’t want to look at Taylor. As if she was vulnerable for it. As if Taylor would see right through her.
But that couldn’t be so, now could it…
The Evil One (Guess The Killer Book 3) Page 6