The Sullivan Gray Series Box Set

by H. P. Bayne

  Because he would be. He had to be. There was a family death to contend with, a meeting with Forbes Raynor to attend, a killer to identify and a ghost who would, no doubt, return to torment him back into action all too soon.

  But, for a few hours at least, he’d had a break from all of it and, right now, that was all he could ask.

  He knew he shouldn’t have been surprised to find Dez outside waiting for him, eyes reddened with a brutal combination of tears, lack of sleep and hangover as he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat of his SUV and approached Sully with the most pathetic expression he’d ever worn.

  Dez opened his mouth to speak but, like Sully with Ara last night, appeared to be struggling for the words. Finally, he gave up on the attempt, closing the distance between them and grabbing Sully in a hug he couldn’t have escaped if he tried. In the midst of that, Dez finally managed to speak, his words, choked around emotion, sounding in Sully’s ear.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Sull. I didn’t mean it and it isn’t true. Please tell me you know that.”

  “I know.” There was nothing much else Sully needed to say. This was Dez, after all, and this was the two of them, two guys life had been kind enough to throw together when they’d both needed a brother.

  A lot had changed within the past twelve hours, but some things blessedly had not and would never.

  “I know, Dez.”

  21

  Dez’s fingers drummed the steering wheel as he took in the news Forbes Raynor had confronted Sully at the hospital last night, demanding he come in to talk to him today.

  “Like hell,” Dez said.

  “I don’t think I have a choice.”

  Dez drummed some more, reached up his other hand to rub at eyes that felt dry, hot and scratchy. Between grief over his dad and worry about Sully, he hadn’t slept a wink last night and he felt every inch of it, his brain now twisting around Forbes’s poorly timed accusations and demands. Dez knew his father would tell him to calm down, take a breath and let it go, and only then speak to Forbes and tell him unless he was planning on laying charges, Sully needed time to deal with personal matters before being dragged back into the investigation into Betty’s death.

  But Flynn wasn’t here and all Dez could think to do was drive over to headquarters, find Forbes and create an open floor plan in the Major Crimes Unit by taking out a few walls with the man’s body.

  For now, they were still sitting outside Ara’s, Sully having climbed in with him and allowing more time for Dez to try to wrangle his thoughts into words to ensure he and Sully were really okay. He’d gone completely off the rails last night, and he’d probably spend the rest of today apologizing to everyone. But Sully and Lowell had gotten the worst of it and, while Dez felt bad about what he’d said to Lowell, he fought nausea every time he recalled his words to his brother.

  “I was only trying to get rid of you last night,” Dez said. “That’s why I said it, not because I meant it. Because I didn’t.”

  Sully chuckled and Dez felt a swell of relief. It was an indication of normal, the sound his brother made whenever Dez cocked something up and felt the need to offer an apology Sully wasn’t demanding. “I know that, D. We’re good, okay? Promise.”

  Dez reached over, locking an arm around Sully’s neck and pulling him in until their heads touched, Dez’s forehead against his little brother’s mop of brown hair. “I’m still an ass.”

  “I know that, too.”

  Dez released Sully and cuffed his brother lightly on the side of the head, drawing another laugh, this time from both of them. The levity didn’t last long, as they both knew it couldn’t.

  “I know it’s a stupid question,” Sully said. “But are you okay?”

  “Honestly? Not even close. I keep thinking it’s a nightmare, you know? I used to have those all the time after Aiden, where I’d dream I was waking up in our house and it would be empty. And I knew they were all gone, my whole family. You were right last night, you know. I’m scared shitless about being alone.”

  “I think we all are, in a way.”

  “You like time by yourself,” Dez said. “I can’t handle it.”

  “I like being alone sometimes, but only because I know I don’t have to be. I had to learn to deal with it before I met you guys. It’s a hard habit to break, I guess.”

  “Childhood fucked us both up pretty royally, huh?”

  Sully chuckled. “You got that right. At least I got something good out of the deal later on. Dad really saved my life when he took me home with him after the fire. You all did.”

  Dez smiled. “Back at ya.”

  “Listen, I know you don’t like it, and I appreciate that, bro, but I need to deal with Raynor,” Sully said. “He isn’t going away, and I don’t want to be sitting under the weight of this all day, waiting for him to come looking for me. I’d just rather get it over with.”

  “He doesn’t have anything else on you, you know. If he did, he would have just arrested you and hauled you in. All he’s after is getting you back in an interview room and seeing if he can crack you. He knows Dad’s not around now to stop him, and he knows you’re not going to be at your mental best. That gives him the upper hand in a big way. Don’t let him have it, Sull. Trust me on this.”

  “So what am I supposed to do? It’s not going away.”

  “I know that. You aren’t going to do anything. We are, you and me. We’ll get back into this thing, start asking around, doing some real digging.”

  “Dez, it’s an open investigation. Dad told you not to get involved.”

  “Yeah, well, Dad’s not here now, is he? There’s you and there’s me, and I’ll be damned if Raynor puts you away for something you didn’t do just to satisfy some stupid grudge. Look, I’m just going to say this because there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t get to tell Dad and I’m not making that mistake with anyone else. I love my job, but I love you more, okay? If it means getting you out of Raynor’s crosshairs, I will gladly leave policing and spend the rest of my life working security at LOBRA’s front desk. Got that?”

  Sully sighed, the sound bordering on exasperation. “Love you too. And I appreciate that, but I’m not letting you risk your job for me. That’s not going to make me feel any better about anything, all right?”

  “Well, I’m not just going to do nothing. Hell, I can’t do nothing. Sully, I can’t just sit around right now, okay? I need to do something, keep my mind off things.”

  “So that’s what this is about.”

  “That’s not what it’s about,” Dez said. “Not most of it, anyway. It’s about needing to protect what’s left of my family.”

  Sully didn’t argue that point, at least. “Okay. Given that, what I’m thinking is that the key to this thing is buried somewhere within another family.”

  “The Schusters.”

  “Yeah. Listen, I don’t know how aware Harry is in a physical sense, but I’d really like to try to talk to him if possible.”

  “It might look kind of suspicious, us going back there again.”

  “Not if Harry’s son is with us.”

  Dez studied Sully’s face, didn’t see any signs he was joking. “Sull, something kinda told me Thackeray wants nothing to do with the guy.”

  Sully shrugged. “Only one way to find out.”

  To Dez’s surprise, Thackeray Schuster waved them in immediately, then closed the door solidly behind them.

  The house’s interior was bathed in shadow and, from what Dez could tell, all the curtains and blinds had been drawn.

  It was a cloudy day, the forecast calling for light showers, so it wasn’t the daylight that was bothering the man.

  “What’s going on?” Dez asked.

  “Those damn posters,” Thackeray said. “I’ve seen a couple guys hanging around outside today like they’re hoping to bag themselves a skinner.” As if to accentuate his point, he eased up to the sitting room window and edged a drape to the side to look.

  “I didn’t see a
nyone when we pulled up,” Dez said.

  Thackeray didn’t acknowledge the statement. Instead he took two quick, measured steps toward Sully. Dez provided six-and-a-half muscled feet of disincentive as he shifted into Thackeray’s personal space, causing the shorter man to take a step back. It didn’t faze Thackeray in his accusations against Sully.

  “You stole something yesterday. What did you take?”

  Sully cast his brother a look and Dez shrugged. “I told him pretty much everything. I had to.”

  Sully nodded and returned his gaze to Thackeray. “I don’t remember taking anything. I don’t really remember much of anything from being in your house or what happened after. What I do know is that my dad apparently found a thumb drive in my pocket later on.”

  This was news to Dez. “What? Did you look at it? What was on it?”

  “I didn’t see it,” Sully said. “Mom told me Dad took it into his office, and then left to see Lowell. From what we could tell, he took the thumb drive with him.”

  “So ask your dad what he did with it,” Thackeray said. There was something beyond anger in his expression now, his eyebrows having risen and a notable widening of both eyes and enlarging of pupils speaking to fear.

  “We can’t,” Dez said. “He ….” He stopped, blowing out a breath that whistled between teeth and lips. Sully came to his rescue, saying the words Dez couldn’t.

  “He died last night,” Sully said. “It looks like he had a heart attack.”

  The appropriate thing would have been some expression of sympathy from Thackeray, but they’d moved well past appropriate—and Dez found he couldn’t blame Thackeray. “Did it happen around Lowell? I mean, would Lowell have been able to get his hands on the drive?”

  “He was with Lowell at the time, yeah,” Sully said. “Thackeray, what was on it? You know, don’t you?”

  “Does Lowell have it?”

  “I confronted him about the thumb drive at the hospital last night,” Sully said. “I just threw the words out there to see how he’d react. The way he answered me, I think he’s got it.”

  Thackeray’s hands came up, raking through his hair and getting caught up in the roots, tugging back hard enough to force a momentary facelift. “Son of a bitch. Goddammit. Why’d he fucking take it over with him? What the fuck was wrong with him?”

  A bubble of irrational anger exploded inside Dez’s chest at the insult to his father, and he started to move toward Thackeray without any real idea what he’d do once he’d closed the remaining short distance. Sully prevented anyone’s finding out by throwing out an arm that miraculously proved enough of a barricade to stop him.

  Thackeray apparently sensed the danger he’d stepped into. “I’m sorry about your dad, all right? But, fuck!”

  “I know,” Sully said. “And I’m sorry too. From what I can tell, Harry knew where your mom had hidden it and he’s the one who made me pocket it. He obviously wanted to confront Lowell about something, but I don’t know what. If it’s about the thumb drive—”

  “Give it up with the thumb drive, all right? It’s family stuff, that’s all. Just leave it alone.”

  “I think it’s pretty obvious it was more than that.”

  “Look, I don’t know, okay? That’s it. I don’t know!”

  Dez had been working on taking some deep, calming breaths and found he was able to carry on his end of the conversation. There was no point pressing him further on the drive, but there was something else Thackeray might be able to help with. “When I got up to Lowell’s office, Sully—or Harry, really—was trying to attack him with a letter opener. He kept saying the same two words: ‘blue room.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

  Thackeray shook his head in the negative. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like that.”

  “So I guess that leaves us with the bigger question,” Sully said. “Do you think we could ask your father?”

  Thackeray’s answering chuckle was devoid of humour. “You’re kidding, right? You’d have better luck talking to a potato.”

  “I’d still like to try,” Sully said. “I’m hoping I can at least get some sort of response, even if it’s just eye movement. If he’s got any sort of awareness—and, based on my experience the past couple of days, he does—I’m thinking there’s a chance he could at least provide us with a clue.”

  “Far as I’m aware, you’re free to visit without me.”

  “That’s true,” Dez said. “But if Sully and I keep showing up, visiting people we don’t know, someone’s bound to start wondering whether they shouldn’t fix us up a room in there, too.”

  “You guys owe me big time for this.”

  It was the first thing Thackeray had said since they’d crossed the Kimotan for the north shore. Now, with Dez pulling to a stop in the parking lot outside Lockwood, Thackeray’s nerves showed.

  Dez put the gearshift into park before peering at Thackeray in the back seat through his rearview mirror. “You’ve really never been here in all this time?”

  “Mom made me come here a couple times, but she eventually gave up trying. I think it was pretty clear neither me or my dad were getting anything much out of it.”

  Sully turned in the front passenger seat to face the reluctant passenger. “You going to be okay in there?”

  “No, but if you think this is going to help get to the bottom of everything that’s been going on, I’ll give it a go. Someone’s been screwing with me and my family for years, and I’ve got a pretty good idea who.”

  Dez knew whom Thackeray meant, but he wasn’t ready to go there just yet. Lowell was his dad’s brother and he’d always been there for them. Lowell and Kindra had rarely missed Dez’s elementary school Christmas concerts or his high school football games, had always visited at Christmas with incredible gifts. And Lowell had supported Sully too, getting him set up at the Black Fox with a full-time job and a roof over his head. Lowell was family; Dez knew that reality carried with it a distinct possibility Lowell treated them differently than he might others. But he had a hard time believing that treatment would include what Thackeray was implying—helping to have Harry committed and, if Dez was reading this right, even playing a role in setting Thackeray up for child porn offences. Dez knew it was entirely possible Lowell was behind the first—he had, after all, spoken to Dez a couple times now about putting Sully into Lockwood—but there was no way Lowell was behind the other. It just didn’t fit with the man Dez knew.

  And he’d known Lowell all his life.

  Dez glanced over at Sully to try to get a read on his thoughts, and found his younger brother watching him—or, if Dez was to be more accurate in the description, studying him. Dez raised an eyebrow, a silent question, and Sully responded with a put-on smile before turning away quickly enough to reveal a truth he might not have intended.

  Sully shared Thackeray’s suspicions.

  Dez knew Sully and Lowell didn’t enjoy the same close relationship Dez did with his uncle, and he’d always been aware of some tension there. But as much as Dez loved his brother, he bristled sometimes at how quick he was to doubt Lowell.

  They let Thackeray pick his time and lead the way to the main entrance, giving Dez a chance to sneak in a quick word with Sully as they followed.

  “You’re buying into Thackeray’s opinions about Lowell, aren’t you?”

  Sully’s eyes were fixed on the ground as he walked, hands stuffed deep in his pockets so that his responding shrug was a minimal one. “I don’t know, man. I guess I’m keeping an open mind.”

  “Look, I know the two of you haven’t always seen eye to eye on things, but he’s still our uncle. He wouldn’t do the things Thackeray’s implying.”

  Sully’s only reply was another shrug. It was all they had time for with the steps leading to the door right in front of them, Thackeray waiting for them at the top.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Dez said.

  Problem was, he wasn’t sure it was a promise he wanted to keep.

&n
bsp; 22

  They found Harry Schuster where Sully had last seen him, sitting in his wheelchair, staring out the window overlooking the back gardens.

  They’d gotten in with no issues, one of the older nurses working the front desk remembering Thackeray once he’d provided his name. Thankfully, this nurse didn’t seem to be an avid reader of the city’s newspaper or a watcher of any of the local news channels, and so showed no sign she knew the man in front of her as someone who’d recently left behind a prison term for a repugnant crime.

  She had, however, heard about Betty, and the tears in her eyes appeared genuine as she offered her condolences to Thackeray and the two young men he introduced as friends. She’d pointed them in the direction of the sunroom without asking any questions, seemingly satisfied with Thackeray’s explanation of wanting to see if he could rebuild a relationship with his surviving parent.

  And so, moments later, here they were, back in this room and making their way across to the man whose spirit had been making Sully’s recent life a waking nightmare.

  Dez inched close to Sully, ensuring his comment remained between the two of them. “That’s the man you’ve been seeing, huh? Jeez, no wonder he freaks you out. He’s doing a number on me, and I’m looking at a living, breathing guy.”

  Sully glanced back to check on Thackeray, finding him dragging behind like a condemned man approaching the entrance to the gas chamber.

  “Do you want to try to talk to your dad?” Sully asked.

  Thackeray reached them, but kept a safe distance by using Dez as a solid wall. He looked only briefly at his father—who had yet to show any sign he’d so much as registered the arrival of visitors—before shaking his head quickly and moving off to stare out the window much as the older Schuster was.