by Helen Fields
* * *
The apartment was on Annandale in a brand new brown brick, smoked-glass square block opposite the carpark and bus station.
‘This is expensive, so close to town,’ Mina said. ‘Who’s the friend?’
‘Someone I used to do a bit of work for,’ Christian said. ‘He’s away on business a lot and prefers it to be occupied, so I get to look after the place. It’s got two bedrooms, it’s an easy enough walk from the uni, and he always leaves the bar stacked. What can I get you?’
‘Vodka?’ Mina asked, standing at the window and staring down into the street.
‘With orange, Coke or neat?’
‘Neat,’ Mina said. ‘Is there ice?’
‘Knowing Mikey there’ll be enough ice to sink a ship. Give me a second,’ Christian said walking through to the kitchen. ‘Should you not at least text your parents to let them know what time you’ll be home?’
‘They’ve both turned their phones off. The police agreed to make sure all contact goes through the landline. Too many concerned friends, too many requests for stories from the press. Mum threw her phone into a bin in the street then realised she still had photos of Lily on it and ran back. She had to empty out the whole thing. By the time she found it there were people standing around staring at her.’
‘You said on the phone the police had found something,’ Christian said. ‘Do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to. We can watch a movie or you can just sleep on the couch, whatever you need.’
‘Could I maybe just lie down a while? I can’t sleep at home. Lily’s everywhere I look. I can hear her music, smell her perfume. Then there are the nightmares.’
‘Come with me,’ Christian said, taking her by the hand and leading her into a short corridor. ‘This is my room for now. Take my bed.’ He opened the door and let Mina through, remaining in the doorframe as she kicked off her shoes.
‘Stay with me?’ she asked. He shook his head slightly, running a hand through his hair, and closing his eyes. ‘Please?’ she said, lying down. ‘I can’t stand to be alone anymore.’
‘Just until you fall asleep then,’ he said. ‘But nothing can happen between us, Mina. When you look back, I can’t have you feeling as if I took advantage. I care about you too much for that, and my life is kind of complicated at the moment, too.’
He lay down, slipping one arm under Mina’s head so she could move closer to him, resting her forehead against his shoulder and staring up into his eyes.
‘Why did they suddenly call the press conference today?’ he asked, stroking hair away from her eyes.
‘The lab results came back, all those tests they ran. The levels of cannabis in her body were crazy high. They think that’s what made her fall asleep up there.’
‘Cannabis?’ Christian asked. ‘You said she didn’t smoke. I’ve never known anyone get so high on weed they didn’t know they were getting hypothermia.’
‘That’s what the police were interested in. Apparently, she ate something with cannabis oil in, a really strong form of it. It’s not fair,’ Mina said, putting a hand over her eyes. ‘She hated drugs. Lily was fit and healthy. She didn’t even take sugar in her tea. When she realised she’d been drugged, she must have been so scared! Oh God, I’m sorry, I promised I wouldn’t break down again. I just … I don’t know how to live without her. It’s like being torn apart inside. The pain is crushing. I wake up in the night and I can’t breathe. I miss her so much. Do you know what this is like? Because I need someone to tell me that it gets better. If this is what it’s going to be like from now on, then I don’t think I want to bother waking up.’
‘Where’s her body now?’ Christian asked. ‘Will they let you see her?’
‘Still at the city mortuary. Mum and Dad have been, but I can’t face it. I don’t want to remember Lily like that. It’s not her anymore.’ Mina lay shaking, her body beyond control, her head butting against Christian’s chest.
‘Maybe you should,’ he said. ‘Perhaps it’ll help you come to terms with what’s happened. Knowing she’s gone so you don’t keep hearing her at home. I know it’ll be hard but I lost someone once. I tried to push it away but in the end facing it, accepting it, was the only way to stay sane. It’s no bad thing to be able to say goodbye.’
‘I don’t think I’m brave enough. How can I look at my sister’s face knowing it’s the last time I’ll ever see it?’ Mina rolled away to face the wall. Gently, Christian pulled her back into his arms and lifted her face to his.
‘I’ll look after you. You don’t have to tell your parents. You’re an adult and a family member. You have a right to see Lily and you’re braver than you know. The truth is, I don’t think you can feel any worse than this. Imagining it is almost certainly worse than seeing her. She’s at peace now. Whatever did or didn’t happen to her, it’s over. Perhaps if you see her for yourself, you can stop making up horrible scenarios in your mind and deal with the reality. I’ll be there to catch you. You know that, right?’
‘Don’t leave me, okay? Just don’t leave me and maybe I’ll get through it,’ Mina muttered, closing her eyes. ‘If something happened to you as well, that would be the end. I know you told me right at the start that there was someone else in your life, so I understand this is all there can be between us, but I really appreciate you being here. You’re a good person. The truth is you kind of remind me of my sister in that way.’
Mina let her body relax, breathing more slowly until finally her body lost its tension into sleep. Christian held her for the two hours until she awoke, watching each dreamed emotion cross her face, protecting her from the spectre of waking upset and alone. He knew too well how badly that stung.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Good afternoon.’ Callanach began the briefing. ‘You’re all aware of the general circumstances of Lily Eustis’ death. What we were unaware of, was that Lily had ingested a substantial amount of extremely potent cannabis oil such as would have prevented her from being in a fit state to have made her way safely back down the hillside. The press conference today was an appeal for witnesses city-wide who might have seen Lily out that night. We know she was not alone. Finding the person or persons she was with is the only way to establish whether Lily died as the result of a night out gone wrong or if there was a motive that might indicate murder.’ He brought a map up on the screen. ‘This is where the body was located. A small fire had burned out several hours before the body was found.’
‘Do we know anything about what was used to start the fire?’ a constable asked.
‘There was nothing unusual in either the wood or the accelerant. Both could be purchased widely at petrol stations and elsewhere,’ Callanach said.
‘There wasn’t much in the way of ashes,’ Lively cut in. ‘That means whoever laid the fire had no intention of letting it burn for a long period of time.’
‘Or Lily passed out very early on, they couldn’t revive her and ran. Maybe they never got the fire to the point they’d intended,’ Callanach replied.
‘They were never in the boy scouts, then, Detective Inspector. I’d have set the main log with kindling beneath it from the start, to get the underside properly dry otherwise the kindling would have burned out too fast. Looks to me as if whoever was with her made a show of lighting a fire but never really meant to get it going,’ Lively finished. There were murmurs of assent around the room. Callanach considered the scene anew. It was possible that it was just a teenager who had set the fire naively, but then they had taken the time and trouble to make a stone circle to contain the flames. More likely than not they had some experience of lighting fires in the past.
‘Right,’ Callanach said. ‘This is the drone footage that led to Lily’s body being found.’ He pressed play and the screen came to life. ‘As it comes over the ridge, you can see the body in the distance, and it ends up directly overhead in a few seconds. Her clothing is littered randomly down the hill though we can’t be sure if Lily did that herself, if someone else did it
, or if the wind moved the clothes overnight. There’s no particular pattern to them that we can make out.’
The screen was frozen on a close-up of the body. From the middle of the room someone muttered, ‘Oh shit, I completely forgot.’ Callanach looked up to where a red-faced PC Biddlecombe was chewing her knuckles.
‘You forgot what?’ Ava asked from the back of the room.
Biddlecombe’s head shrank beneath the line of her shoulders. ‘I forgot to pass on a message from yesterday,’ she said. ‘From Lily Eustis’ sister. She couldn’t get anyone from MIT on the phone and the call diverted to me. Sorry, sir,’ Biddlecombe said, daring to look up for half a second and meet Callanach’s eyes.
‘Constable,’ Callanach said. ‘It might be more helpful if you told us what the message was.’
‘Oh, sure. She wanted to know when she could get her sister’s ring back. They had matching rings given by their parents for Christmas last year, she said. Apparently neither of them had taken them off since. I told her either we’d be keeping it as evidence or it would be with the body at the mortuary.’
‘It’s definitely not in the evidence logs, and we’ve combined our list of items seized at the scene with all the items taken from the body and clothing at the mortuary,’ Tripp said.
Ava flicked to a picture of Lily’s corpse in her file and stared at the hands. ‘Get a team round to the Eustis’ home. I want it checked for that ring. Ask her parents when they last saw her wearing it. If we can’t find it …’ her voice trailed off.
‘Then it’s possible someone removed it from her body before we reached her. DS Lively, head up the team and report back before the end of the day. Tripp, phone the mortuary and double-check there was nothing missing from their evidence list. Also, have them inspect Lily’s fingers for indentations. If it was taken off shortly before or after death, there may still be a visible sign that she regularly wore a ring,’ Callanach said.
‘It’s George Begbie’s funeral Friday,’ Ava said. ‘Will you come?’
Callanach was at his desk scribbling notes from the calls he’d taken in the previous two hours since disbanding the briefing.
‘I will if I can,’ Callanach said. ‘Lily Eustis’ parents have confirmed what Mina said about the ring. Neither of the girls ever took them off. The ring can’t be found in Lily’s bedroom or anywhere else within the house.’
‘What did the pathologist’s office have to say?’
‘They confirmed there’s an indent on the fourth finger of Lily’s right hand, which is the finger on which the parents had independently told us she wore it,’ Callanach said, putting down his pen and looking at Ava.
‘The combination of the drugs, the zip bruising and the missing ring puts this into a different category. Shall I warn Superintendent Overbeck we’ll be upgrading it to a possible murder?’ Ava asked.
‘Yes. DS Lively notified the family when he was there. I’m withholding the details about the ring and the zip mark from the press, and I’ve requested that the family not discuss details with anyone. Finding the ring might be the only way we can put a suspect with Lily on the night in question.’ He looked at Ava who was studying her feet. ‘Was there anything else?’
‘Not really. Actually, yes. Are you okay?’ Ava asked.
‘I’ve got a dead girl, no motive, and no forensics from a killer who almost got away with making a crime scene look like a night out gone wrong. So no, not okay,’ Callanach said.
‘I didn’t mean this case, I meant …’
‘I know what you meant and I’m telling you I need to get on with sorting out this murder. I’ll do my best to get to the funeral on Friday. Did you make any progress regarding Louis Jones?’ Callanach asked.
‘That’s off my desk,’ Ava said. ‘Chief Inspector Dimitri is following up on Jones’ disappearance following a road traffic accident. Nothing for MIT to worry about.’
‘That’s good. You asked me before how Jones was with the Chief. I remember feeling uncomfortable not making any notes or recording the conversation. Jones was working beyond the law and the Chief was ignoring it. Whatever arrangement they had all those years ago, time hadn’t reduced its importance to either of them,’ Callanach said.
Ava nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
‘Keep me updated,’ she said, slipping out and closing the door behind her, hoping Callanach hadn’t noticed how badly her hands were shaking.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mina walked into the city mortuary alone on Wednesday morning. Christian had remained in his car over the road on Cowgate, promising to wait for her. She’d wanted him to go in with her, but only family members were allowed. She’d requested a viewing of Lily’s body the day before, been told the police had to approve the request, and notified of a time to attend shortly after that. It seemed perverse, needing police consent to visit her own sister, but Christian had said it made sense. Her sister was gone. The corpse was evidence. He had texted her on and off throughout the night as she fretted about whether she was doing the right thing. In the end she had fallen asleep knowing she had to see Lily’s face once more if she was ever to stand a chance of laying her to rest.
An assistant came out, sat her down and explained the procedure to her, telling her what to expect. Nothing she hadn’t suspected. That Lily’s face would be discoloured. That her sister might seem a barely recognisable shadow of the girl Mina loved.
‘Let’s go through to the viewing room,’ the mortuary assistant said. ‘Are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ Mina said, knowing she never could be, standing anyway and following.
‘As the case is still active, you’ll need to stay behind the glass partition. Lily is already there. Just give me a moment,’ the assistant said, putting on an apron and gloves.
Mina touched the ring on her right hand. It was gold with a thin band and a knot on the top. Their parents had given the rings to her and Lily on Christmas morning the year before. As children Lily had copied everything Mina did or wore, and for years it had driven her mad. As young teenagers, she’d felt a growing sense of pride that her younger sister looked up to her so much, waiting patiently for every hand-me-down, always grateful. By the time Mina had turned eighteen, Lily was the same height and they had joked about wearing the same clothes, enjoying their bond, often choosing the same colours and styles. The rings they wore were a constant reminder of their love for one another.
Mina looked up. Lily was not as changed as she had feared. Her skin, devoid of the bloom of blood, was almost translucent, and Mina couldn’t look away from her eyelashes. They laid so gently against her cheek, so familiar, long and dark. Mina had been the first person to put mascara on those lashes, transforming her little sister into a doll, laughing as she applied lipstick, landing more on her chin than her lips. Mina longed to touch those lashes, to feel their softness. The eyes beneath would never open again.
Checking there was no one else in sight, Mina took her mobile from her pocket and switched on a mobile video-conferencing app, dialling Christian where he sat across the street. He’d suggested the app the day before when they’d realised he wouldn’t be able to go in with her. Holding the camera up to her own face, Mina let her tears run unchecked as Christian answered.
‘I’m here,’ she whispered.
‘You’ll be okay,’ he replied. ‘You look pale. Do you need to sit down?’
‘No, it’s weird, I don’t know what I was expecting, but she’s still her. Lily’s still beautiful. It’s almost harder being this close and not being able to touch her,’ she said.
‘I get it,’ he said. ‘Lily will always be your sister. No one can take that from you. What do you need me to do? Do you want me to see her or would that be too hard for you? It’s up to you.’
‘I think … I think I’d like that actually. I wish you’d been able to meet her when she was alive. You’d have really liked her. Do you mind if I show you?’ Mina asked.
Christian paused. ‘I’d be honoured. I
feel like I know her so well from what you’ve told me. Go ahead, whenever you’re ready.’
A few seconds passed with the phone camera pointing towards the floor, then it tilted and Lily’s face came into view, her body covered with a sheet as she lay serene in the viewing area. After a while, the camera view changed again and Mina’s face filled the screen again.
‘She looks so much like you.’ Christian smiled. ‘Kind of makes me wish I had a brother or sister.’
‘I wish I could make her come back to me,’ Mina whispered. ‘I’d give almost anything for one more day with her.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘Take your time. I’m here waiting, there’s no pressure.’
‘I’m coming out,’ Mina said. ‘I can’t look at her anymore. Part of me expects to be able to wake her up and take her home. Give me five minutes.’
She turned off her phone, putting one hand to the glass and kissing the place where she could see her sister’s lips.
The assistant was waiting to walk her back through the corridors. Mina left, retracing her steps towards Christian’s car. He was out and opening the door before she reached him.
‘Hey you,’ he said, putting his arms around her shoulders and hugging her tight. ‘Tell me how you’re doing.’
‘I shouldn’t have gone,’ Mina whispered. ‘I think … I think my heart broke. It may sound stupid but it’s as if I felt it. I don’t know why I’m alive anymore.’ Christian held her tight.
‘Sir, we’ve got a possible sighting of Lily Eustis in a bar in Dalkeith,’ Detective Constable Tripp said, putting his head around Callanach’s door.
‘How possible?’ Callanach asked.
‘The girl seemed pretty certain on the phone. We’re bringing her in to make a statement and work with an artist. She’ll be here in a few minutes.’