“I’ll just come out and say it then,” Taylor began. “I’m a little disappointed you couldn’t take this on your own. I know you haven’t been with us for long but you can’t expect me to hold your hand the whole way through these things.”
“I’m not sure it’s a one person job.”
“Well, of course. But you had a whole precinct full of people to bounce your ideas off of. I can’t be expected to solve every investigation on the books – you know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah. Just…”
“What?”
“This was really personal. With Justin and … well, with Officer Hodge being targeted and all.”
“And where is he now exactly? Has he helped you figure out who put this thing together?”
“I was … Well, he…”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been sitting up there all by your lonesome.”
Nadine exhaled. She shook her head. “I’ve had some help.”
“From who?”
“Detective Leoncelli.”
Taylor glared at her. “That asshole? Jesus Christ.”
“No, he’s been helpful –”
“Trust me, he’s not helpful. He’s a total clown. Completely unprofessional. No. No, you need to stay away from him. Shit. Maybe you really aren’t ready for this…”
Nadine took out her phone. Inspected it closely.
“Am I meant to turn yet?” Taylor asked.
“No. Just keep driving.”
Nadine flicked the record button. She put her phone away.
Eyed Taylor carefully.
Taylor was looking at nothing but the road.
“What time did you wind up finishing today?” Nadine asked.
“Huh?”
“You know. Um. Did you have a long day?”
“Twelve hours. Seven to seven. You know. The usual.”
“Were you doing much at home?”
“I’m always working,” Taylor said.
“You were working on stuff tonight?”
“That’s right.”
“Okay.” Nadine took a deep breath. “Did you … go for a walk or something…?”
“A walk? Like where?”
“Maybe you did some work away from home.”
Taylor glanced at her, frowning. “You know you’re a terrible liar.”
“What?”
“It’s all over your face.”
“What is?”
“Salvatore Leoncelli’s cum.”
“What?!”
Taylor pulled over to the side of the road. They sat there a moment. Nadine’s pulse flaring.
“So did you sleep with him too?” Taylor asked.
“Did I – what the hell are you on about?”
“Well, it’s obviously him who put you up to this. I thought he might have tried it on with you as you’re pretty casual about that sort of thing I’m told.”
“Shut – shut up. Who – Fuck!”
Nadine stormed out of the car. Started walking.
Taylor drove alongside her. Wound down her window.
“Don’t take it personally,” Taylor said. “I’m just trying to understand.”
“I’m not sleeping with Detective Leoncelli!” Nadine shouted. “This might’ve been his idea, but I was still giving you the benefit of the doubt. Now, I don’t know anymore.”
“What did he show you?”
“Nothing.”
“Must have been something.”
“And I’m sure you have an explanation for it.”
“If my explanation is that Detective Leoncelli doctored some evidence to try and frame me for this bullshit, then yes. That would be an explanation.”
Nadine stopped. Turned her eyes to face Taylor.
The car pulled over.
“He has a tape of you in some internet café,” Nadine said. “Apparently in addition to evidence that the email was sent from the café’s server. At the same time you were in there.”
“Well, regardless of whether or not Leoncelli can prove the email was sent from there, I can assure you that whatever bullshit footage he conjured up, it has nothing to do with me.”
“You’re saying he faked it.”
“I’m saying he faked it.”
“For what possible reason?”
“Because he doesn’t like me,” Taylor insisted. “And I don’t like him.”
“And he’s what – going to try to frame you for murder.”
“Oh it would never stand up in court. It probably wouldn’t even get that far. He’s just doing this to fuck with me. He’s probably sitting up there with the Captain having a glass of whiskey or whatever having a laugh about this. Our smashing new recruit. Detective Nadine Shields pins her first case on her freaking partner. Come on. It’s ridiculous.”
Nadine shook her head. “I saw you. It was you.”
Taylor leant further out of the car. “I promise you. On my entire life. I did not send those emails. And what I want you to do is show me them. And I’ll help you solve this thing. I doubt it will take long. I kind of have a knack for these things.”
Nadine took a step away from her.
Hesitation. Reluctance. Confusion.
“Jesus Christ!” Taylor said getting out of the car.
Nadine continued to back away.
“I want to know right now,” Taylor demanded. “It’s me or it’s Sal.”
“Sal?”
“Detective Leoncelli! It’s me or it’s him. Who do you believe?”
Nadine shook her head. “I… I…”
“Hey,” Taylor said grabbing her shoulders. “If you think I did this. Then we’re through. Do you understand me?”
Nadine stared back at her.
“Let me see your eyes.”
“NOOO!!!” Nadine screamed.
She pushed Taylor away and started running, just as another car was pulling up alongside them.
“Detective Shields?” a familiar voice called. “Nadine…?”
Nadine turned.
It was Ryan.
She quickly got into his car as Taylor was getting to her feet.
“You’ll be sorry!” Taylor shouted after them.
“Drive,” Nadine said quickly.
Ryan smiled at her. Then took them back out to the road.
Chapter 34
They were in the car park when Justin’s phone started ringing. He removed it from his pocket and laid it flat on his palm’s surface. The vibration sending a chill through his entire body.
Amelia was out of the car in this time. Her door was closed before he knew it.
Then she was at the trunk.
Justin answered the call.
“Justin? Are you there, Justin…?”
“Yeah,” he said softly.
“Where are you?”
“Who is this?”
“Justin, are you kidding? It’s me, Ryan.”
He sat up. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Come on buddy, where are you? We’ll come pick you up.”
“Who is we?”
“I’m with Detective Shields.”
Silence. Justin pushed open his door and stepped out of the car.
“Shall I go in then?” Amelia asked from the other side.
Justin waved at her without looking.
“Justin? Are you there?”
“Does it have to be her?”
“Who?”
“Nadine…”
“What about her?”
“I fucked up, man. It’s all my fault.”
“Don’t say that. Just tell us where you are.”
Justin looked up. Amelia was already a figure in the distance.
The function hall’s eerie lights spilled across the yard.
“There’s a class reunion type of thing happening tonight,” Justin said. “We weren’t going to go. Kellie or I. I mean we must have been invited … but we just didn’t care enough. Our current lives were too important.”
“Do you have an address for it?”
“It’s too late. They’re already here,” Justin said. “I just hope that my life will be enough. And everyone will be spared…”
“Justin – you’re not making sense – you’re –”
He threw the phone away.
Stuffed his hands in his jacket.
Trudged across the gravel towards the music.
Chapter 35
Detective Leoncelli was still in his office. He hadn’t left since Nadine had stormed out of there, and then later Officer Dobbs. The blood around his nose had finally dried. He pulled the tissue away, discarding it into a wastebasket, and picked up his bottle to pour himself another drink.
Taylor Shandling’s image at the café was on freeze frame.
Leoncelli continued to stare at it. As if this was the centre of some wave he’d been riding.
He saw her.
He saw her in the black and white freeze frame.
Leoncelli put the glass down after taking a drink and stared down at his hand turned up. His fingers all stiff. Slowly he turned them so that they were facing the screen. The fingers, gradually extending themselves. Wiggling about. Like spider legs. Over Taylor.
The door to his office opened and his hands fell into his lap.
It was someone he wasn’t expecting – Special Agent Ross.
“There he is, the old bastard,” Ross said, grinning. “Getting smashed in his office as usual.”
Detective Leoncelli stood up. “I thought you were done for the night. What do I owe this intrusion?”
“I’ve got someone here I’d like you to meet,” Ross said. He turned back towards the corridor. “It’s alright. You can come in.”
The Detective’s eyes grew smaller as a tall, middle aged man stepped through his door, carrying a stack of files.
“Who is this?” Leoncelli asked. “Your private eye?”
“Not exactly,” Ross said.
“My name’s Special Agent Ardent,” the man said extending his hand. “I’m one of – well, how should we put it? I’m one of Dwayne’s friendly faces around the office.”
“Special Agent Ardent helped me put together those files you asked for,” Ross explained.
“Well, I appreciate the effort you made,” Leoncelli said shaking his hand. “Thankfully we’ve managed to figure out who sent the emails. We’ve got one of our detectives making an arrest as we speak.”
“Yes, about that,” Ross said. “It appears there’s been a mistake made.”
“Really?”
“Why don’t you tell it to him, Will. That’s what you’re here for.”
Special Agent Ardent smiled thinly. “Very well. Uh, Detective Leoncelli. You might recall when Dwayne informed you the location the original email was sent. Unfortunately an error was made during our server analysis.”
“What sort of error?” Leoncelli asked.
“We were looking at the wrong email,” Ross said. “Somehow someway we’d found ourselves hacked into Detective Shield’s account instead of Officer Hodge’s.”
Leoncelli looked at them. “I’m not following you.”
“It was my mistake,” Special Agent Ardent said. “I got the accounts mixed up.”
“So technically the trace was accurate,” Ross said. “But we were tracing the email sent to Nadine from nine o’clock or whatever. Just some memo from Taylor about needing to complete some health and safety exam.”
“You mean you didn’t even read the email you were tracing?” Leoncelli demanded.
“It’s uh, well,” Ardent mumbled. “It was an oversight. I apologize.”
“But – but it’s the same hoody – She was in the Goddamn apartment surveillance –”
“I looked into that as well,” Ardent said opening his file. “And you’ll see right here that the jumpers don’t match.”
Leoncelli peered over.
“You’ll see there’s a small logo on Taylor’s shoulder in the café, but when we look at the apartment footage it’s just black. No logo.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Leoncelli exploded.
“Settle down, pal,” Ross said. “We’ve got the right info this time.”
“Oh this is amazing. Just unbelievable.”
Ardent flipped through his pages. “No, I can confirm we do have it this time. No mistake.”
“Well who bloody sent it then?”
Ardent and Ross looked at each other.
“We don’t know,” Ross said.
Leoncelli gave a walloping chuckle. “But you just said –”
“We don’t know who sent the email because there aren’t cameras or footage of the place it was being sent,” Special Agent Ardent said. “But we do have the correct IP address this time.”
“And?”
“It was sent from Justin and Kellie’s apartment.”
Chapter 36
Justin couldn’t go into the function hall right away. He stood outside of it, breathing heavily, looking back on the yard with all the cars. He wasn’t ready. To face them. To tell them what was going to happen. Or what could happen.
He opened his jacket and pulled out the pistol he’d taken back when they’d revisited his apartment. He checked the casing. The safety gauge. Returned it to his waist.
With one hand in his pocket, and the other one tapping away at his phone, he was on the move again.
He climbed up the wooden steps and walked across the concrete platform to the double doors. A security guard accepted a ten-dollar bill for admittance and then he was inside.
The room was dark. The music banging his eardrums.
Strobe lights spilling up and down the walls.
He moved around the perimeter of the hall, passing people by. So many faces he recognized. So many he didn’t. He cast his gaze across the main floor where people were mingling, trying to see who it would be. Who would step out from the pack. Who would make themselves known to him.
“Justin…?”
Justin turned.
A man in a woolen jumper and tie was wandering over.
At first Justin didn’t recognize him. But then, of course –
“Mr. Timbarro,” he exhaled.
“I thought that was you,” Mr. Timbarro replied. “Didn’t think you’d show up. Neither you or Kellie confirmed your invites. I take it she’s here too? I saw you were engaged recently.”
Justin eyed him suspiciously. “You did?”
“Yes, I’m friends with Kellie on social media.”
“You are?”
“Yes.” He looked Justin over. “Don’t seem so surprised. I might be part of the previous generation, but we’re all adults now. How old are you? Don’t tell me. It’s ten years since you were a student, so that makes you around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.”
“Like everyone else,” Justin scoffed.
“Can I get you something to drink?”
Justin pressed his hands together. “Sure. Why not?”
“Over here.”
Justin followed him out to a table in the corner. Mr. Timbarro handed Justin a plastic up and poured his drink for him. Washed it down afterwards with plenty of orange.
“Cheers,” he said butting the edge of Justin’s cup with his own.
They both took a drink.
“So is it you then?” Justin asked.
“Am I what?”
“Are you the one who is doing this to me?”
A pause. “Doing what to you?”
“Don’t play dumb with me.”
“I’m not. I…”
Justin stared at him intently. He was seeing red. His thinking unclear.
“Justin?” Mr. Timbarro asked. “What are you getting at?”
A hand fell on his shoulder.
Justin turned around.
“Phone call,” Amelia said handing him her phone. “You’re not answering yours.”
Justin took the phone. Blinked a couple of times. “Hello?”
“Justin, this is Captain Culhane speaking.”
“Hello,
Captain.”
“Son, I’m afraid we need you and Amelia to return to the precinct immediately.”
“What for?”
“I’m here with Detective Leoncelli and a couple of agents from the C.I.D.. I’m afraid I have to inform you that we’ve traced the email that was sent to your phone.”
“What?”
“Yes, it was sent from somewhere in your apartment. Which means both of you are still considered suspects in this matter –”
Justin dropped the phone.
He pulled the gun from his jacket.
“Oh shit,” Mr. Timbarro exclaimed. “What is that for?”
Justin raised it. Fired a shot into the air.
The place scattered.
Amelia went to run with them but Justin caught her arm.
“No, please,” she resisted.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Justin challenged. “It really was you after all.”
Their eyes met. And he saw something cold cross hers.
Something foreign.
“You don’t know anything, Justin,” Amelia said.
Chapter 37
Officer Ryan Dobbs lived in a two-bedroom share-house located in the outer city suburbs, not far from Justin’s apartment. The last woman who had been in his bedroom fell asleep on his lap, topless, while Ryan was strumming his acoustic guitar. As Nadine’s gaze hovered over the tiny room, she saw all the evidence she needed to paint a picture of what had happened. The curtains open, window ajar. Bra and skirt draped over the chair by the keyboard. Glasses fallen over to the floor. Yeah, she knew what had happened here. She wondered whether Ryan was hoping it would happen again.
“I know, I know,” he said emerging from behind her. “It’s not much. The cost of living these days…”
Nadine glanced over her shoulder. “No, it’s fine.”
“You can sit on the bed,” he said moving past, attempting to tidy up. “Or you can sit on the … You can sit on the bed.”
Nadine sat down.
“You’re free to keep trying Justin. Or touch base with Leoncelli or whatever…”
“Got it.”
Nadine stretched her feet out. Kicked off her shoes.
Ryan stood back up from the floor. Smiled nervously. “Do you want a hot drink or something?”
“You can make me a cup of tea if you want.”
The Evil One (Guess The Killer Book 3) Page 7