by Mary Birk
ARMED WITH a search warrant issued after Lizzie’s body was found, and on the strength of Harry’s receipt of a tip from a “confidential informant” that Lizzie’s belongings had been in the house after she’d left for the last time, they’d been able to seize Gunderson’s laptop, as well as do a complete search of the Gunderson house, and Douglas Gunderson’s office.
Back at High Street, Harry went through Gunderson’s laptop. Gunderson had started dumping files that morning right after he’d been notified that Lizzie’s body had been found. This was almost too easy, Harry thought. Everything important, everything Gunderson had wanted to hide was bunched together in the deleted files on his hard drive. Too soon to have been overwritten, so still retrievable. Gunderson, being in computer security, should have known better.
Harry glanced quickly through the deleted files of porn involving young girls, just enough to make sure he didn’t recognize the faces of any of the Gunderson children, using for comparison framed photos they’d seized from the house.
He concentrated next on Gunderson’s deleted emails. Gunderson had kept up a sexually-charged conversation with someone called Lily White. What a wanky name. Her email featured a photograph where her signature would usually have been. If whoever wrote the email actually was the girl in the photo. Lily White was a young teenager with pouty lips and a stupendous body suggestively clad in a school uniform. Underneath the photo was the moniker, “Barely Legal.”
As Harry read the correspondence between Gunderson and Lily, he realized that this wasn’t just an internet relationship. Meetings were set up at least once a week, meetings for which he’d put in a request, or more to the point, describe a recent fantasy he had of her, ask her if she could do something like that for him when they met. Lily seemed to be more than cooperative, but also demanding in a spoiled girl manner which seemed to drive Gunderson to distraction. Presumably she charged him for the in-person sessions; she definitely charged for the internet sex, sending a receipt to him after each session.
Harry printed off her photo and the charge card receipt. If Gunderson was meeting her every week, she had to be in the area, and they’d be able to find her without too much trouble.
Allison looked up at the sound of the printer humming. “What did you find?”
“Our family man’s a regular client of a young prozzy. I can’t tell her age; she might just be dressing young for her clients. I’ll try to track her down. His internet traffic says he’s a fan of young girls. I’d say ten to fourteen is the age range that turns his crank.”
“Yuck. He’s got daughters around that age.”
“And younger. I’ve sent a referral to family services. They’ll check it out.”
“What a sleaze.”
“What we need now is something that tells us what was going on between him and Lizzie. I don’t think she simply answered an advert. He was involved in her abduction in one fashion or the other. He didn’t just happen to go into her room and pack up her clothes and suitcase on the off chance she’d decide to disappear that day.”
“You’re sure it was him?”
“He was the only one home.”
“Too bad he won’t talk to us anymore.”
“He will, eventually. Still no call back from the car service?”
“Nothing. I’m going to head over there. Maybe I’ll get faster results in person.”
“On foot?”
“No, I’ll take the subway.”
“Call with what you find out.”
“I will.”
“I’m going to take a copy of our Douggie’s hard drive upstairs to where Oscar’s got his floaters working and let them finish up. I want to see if they’ve found anything else on the kid’s computer.”
“You weren’t able to pull up the son’s deleted files?”
“Not without more work than I have time for right now. He’s smarter than his father, and I have a feeling he’s been hiding more than just that his father cleaned out Lizzie’s room.”
* * * * *
Harry came downstairs after another frustrating bout in the computer lab. He looked around, but there was no sign of Allison. She’d come back hours ago after getting no joy from her trip to the car service company. The door had been locked, she said, and a note on the door said so sorry, they were all out on jobs, but someone would be in the next day. He walked by her desk on the way to get a cup of tea. Her purse was gone, her computer shut down. He looked at his watch. Half-six. Not like her to knock off work so early.
Barlow had called Allison earlier. Harry’d heard the surprise in Allison’s voice when that call came through. Harry hadn’t been surprised, though. He could tell from the way the guy had acted earlier that he was into her. Did she like that kind of guy? Most women would, Harry assumed: tall, good looking, personable.
Had she always had this many guys interested in her, or could they sense a change in her? Was there a change in her? She seemed the same to him, as long as he didn’t think about the time they’d spent in her room. Unfortunately, that was impossible. Every time he looked at her he thought about it.
Maybe she hadn’t gone out. She might be at home by herself. Just because she wasn’t at work, didn’t mean she was on a date. Still, calling her mobile would be taking too much of a chance at catching her on a date. So, instead he dialed the house land line. If she answered, he’d say he was picking up some takeaway for himself and did she want him to pick up some for her as well. But the phone rang and rang, she didn’t answer. He tried not to let himself feel disappointed.
Either she was out with Barlow, or she was making it up to Michaud for having cancelled their lunch date. She’d not had a chance to get to a clinic to get fitted up with birth control, but surely she’d remember to stop off to get condoms. Or at least he hoped she would. It wasn’t his problem, he told himself. She was a grown woman. His mobile rang, and he jumped.
“DS Ross.”
“Hi, Harry, it’s Rita.”
“Oh, hi.”
“You haven’t called since you broke our date Sunday.”
“Sorry, I’ve been busy. Lots going on.”
“How about tonight?” Her voice was playful.
“Tonight?”
“I thought we could have a couple of drinks at my place, and you could stay over. I could cook us something.” When he didn’t say anything, she added, “Or, we could go to your place.”
He spiked his fingers through his hair. He didn’t want to go to her place, and he was definitely not bringing her back to the house. “Sorry, I can’t. Work’s crazy. I’m underwater here.”
“You have to go to bed eventually, don’t you?” Her coy tone made him cringe.
“Actually, I’ve got to get to work early tomorrow morning.”
“So, we’ll get up early. I’ve got to get to work, too.”
He took a deep breath. This was stupid. He needed to just tell her. “To tell the truth, I’m not sure we really work together.”
“Don’t work together? In what way, exactly?” Could frost actually travel over wireless transmissions?
“It’s not you. You’re great, Rita, I’m just, I don’t know, too into work or something.”
“I thought we had fun.”
“Sure, but . . .”
“But what?”
This was not going well. “Rita . . .”
“Oh, my God.” The words came out as if through clenched teeth. “That bit of fluff you’re living with let you into her knickers, didn’t she? Now you’re getting everything you want right there at home.”
“What? No. It’s not like that.” Even as he got the denial out, he knew he sounded guilty.
“You goddamned fucking bastard. Is she doing you for free or did you give her a break on the rent?”
The phone hung up before he could say another word.
How had Rita known? He hadn’t seen her since the morning after the party, before he’d known he was going to sleep with Allison. Had he wanted to, even th
en? Of course, he had, but he’d also known it was unequivocally a terrible idea to sleep with someone you worked with. Then, at the party, he’d realized that Allison was the kind of girl he might want to be with long term. The way she looked, the way she dressed, the way she laughed and moved. A girl like Allison, but not Allison. He worked with Allison.
Besides, them sleeping together hadn’t had anything to do with the two of them. She’d simply trusted him as a friend to teach her, like he’d taught her so many different things. Now he needed to let it go.
TUESDAY, APRIL 13
Chapter 38
ALLISON PUT DOWN her rucksack and took off her coat, feeling guilty about having left the office so early the night before. Just her luck that right when she had plans that couldn’t be cancelled, work would get so busy. She glanced through the messages on her desk: a note from Harry saying to see him, and one from Frank about needing her to schedule her vacation time.
Harry hadn’t even looked up from his computer when she came in. He’d been gone this morning by the time she even got up, and he’d still been here when she left last night. She felt more nervous talking to him than she had before, well, before.
At the time she’d asked for his help, it had seemed a logical way to solve her problem; he’d helped her with everything else since she’d come to High Street. But in retrospect, having sex with Harry had been a gigantic mistake. As much as they’d sparred with each other, he was, in many ways, the person she was closest to besides her parents. Now, after they’d been together in the most personal of ways, she couldn’t think about him without remembering that he knew her in a way no one else did.
It was different for him, the things he’d done with her, he did with lots of other women. For him, there was nothing special about it. She took a deep breath, put a smile on her face. Whatever she did, she couldn’t let him see any difference in her.
“Anything new?”
He looked up. “Something was bothering me about what the Gunderson kid told me, about how he knew Lizzie’s things were still there that morning after Lizzie left, and a remark he made about his father not being interested in a girl Lizzie’s age.”
She raised one eyebrow “And?”
He made an impressed sound. “One eyebrow? You’ve been practicing.”
She smiled, pleased that he’d noticed she’d finally got the one eyebrow thing down. He raised one of his own eyebrows, then the other. So far, she could only do it with her left one. The right one was impossible.
“And so I asked Oscar to go through Gunderson’s laptop again, and search everything else he could, not just email or accessed internet sites, considering Gunderson’s job is electronics.”
“And?”
“He found a surveillance camera network connecting cameras in various locations at the Gunderson house.”
“Like what?”
“He couldn’t tell. The camera data’s been deleted, and so far hasn’t been able to be retrieved. Oscar’s going back out to the house now to see if he can find the actual cameras.”
“Can we do that without a new warrant?”
“We still have the right to access the place under the original search warrant.”
“Gunderson’s going to make a fuss.”
“He won’t be there; he’s on his way here right now.” Harry looked at his watch. “I’ve set up an interview with him starting fifteen minutes from now. I was hoping you’d make it into the office in time.”
She wasn’t actually late for work, but she felt badly, nonetheless. “If I’d known, I’d have gotten in earlier. Just leave me a message next time, Harry, or text me, or knock on my door, for pity’s sake.”
He got up, headed to the kitchen. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything.”
Allison went after him. “When did you leave here last night?”
He shrugged, plugged in the electric teakettle. “Late.” He took the tea down from the cupboard, put a bag in his big mug. “You want some?”
“Sure, thanks. I would have stayed, but . . .”
He got another mug out, put a tea bag in, and turned to her. “No need for explanations. You put in a full day. Your after-hours time is your own. Grab your milk.”
“It’s just that . . .”
He held up a hand to stop her going any further. “No time for chat. Gunderson should be here any moment.”
“Right.”
After dousing her tea with milk and sugar, she followed him to his desk. “Did you get the okay to arrest him?”
“Aye. We confirmed the kiddie porn was really that. Not older girls pretending to be young.”
She sat on his desk, and he leaned back in his chair. “After we arrest him, then what?”
Harry steepled his fingers. “We need to pay a visit to that prozzy he’s been visiting, the one that specializes in blokes that like them young.”
“When did you get the okay on the arrest?”
“This morning. Reid’s been on with the Procurator Fiscal.”
“Is the guv still at home?”
“Aye. His mother-in-law gets here this evening, though, so he’ll be in tomorrow as long as his wife is all right.”
“But so far, she’s okay?”
“She’s blaming herself for Tabby going missing.”
“The baby’s okay?”
“The guv thinks everything will be fine.”
Allison decided to finally ask him something she’d wondered about. Why not? After what she’d already asked him, why be shy about anything else? “Harry, did you know she was pregnant last year when she was out here, and the guv and her weren’t together?”
He looked at her as if considering whether to answer, then said, “I guessed she was.”
She looked at him quizzically, waiting for an explanation.
“I grew up in a house full of sisters, all older than me. Our house wasn’t that big that I didn’t see a lot of female stuff going on. Three of my sisters got pregnant while they were still living at home. I saw Lady Anne a lot last spring, and I saw the signs.”
“Like what?”
“You’re a bird; you should know. At home, my mum would know before my sisters even knew they were knocked up, and when she went after them, the whole house heard it.”
“Right.” Allison didn’t know what the signs were besides missing your period. But apparently Harry did. Female stuff never seemed to bother him. She thought that must be part of why he’d been so comfortable to be with in bed, and it was probably why he got on so well with all kinds of women from Lady Anne to prozzies. “Did you tell the guv?”
He shook his head. “Not my place. I’m not the mum.” He moved his foot against her bottom and started to ease her off his desk. “No more chit-chat. Get your notes together.”
She hopped down and nodded.
Chapter 39
HARRY WAITED until Allison closed the door of the conference room and turned on the recorder. He motioned for Douglas Gunderson to sit down. Gunderson didn’t look as dapper as he had the first time they’d met. Today his clothes were wrinkled and reeked of anxiety sweat.
Harry stayed standing, leaned against the wall, his arms folded. Allison took a seat right next to the man, moving her chair so close that Gunderson tried to inch his own chair away to give himself some distance. Allison scooted closer.
Allison recited the introduction for the tape, told him that the interview was also being filmed, and droned out his rights. Gunderson said he understood. Significantly, he hadn’t asked for a solicitor yet.
Harry started the questioning. “Tell us about how you happened to hire Lizzie Frost. The truth this time.”
The man’s forehead was shiny, and the slick black hair no longer looked well-groomed so much as plastered against his head. “I told you. We put an ad in the online paper and she answered it.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Harry said. “It pisses me off.”
“That’s what happened.”
“We have your computer. We kn
ow about Lily White.”
“That has nothing to do with Lizzie.”
“I don’t know. I’m seeing a pattern. How about you, DC Muirhead? You see a pattern?”
Allison nodded. “Mr. G likes them young. So he lures Lizzie to his house with the promise of a nanny job. Once she’s there, far away from her family, he figures he’ll have easy access to her. She resists, and he kills her.”
“I didn’t kill her! I never even touched her!”
Harry pulled up a chair and sat down across from Gunderson. “You can’t tell me you weren’t attracted to her.”
“I didn’t touch her.”
“But you were attracted to her?”
“Okay, sure. I was attracted to her. Any man would be. But I swear I never even tried anything with her.”
“Why not?”
Gunderson rubbed his forehead as if trying to massage away a major headache.
“Mr. Gunderson?”
He blew out a defeated breath. “I was warned not to.”
“By who?”
“The people that made me hire her.”
“Who are?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“They’ll kill me.”
Harry decided to come back around to that point later. “Okay, a mysterious someone told you to hire Lizzie and not to have sex with her?”
Gunderson nodded, tears in his eyes. “They wanted her to stay the way she was.”
“The way she was?”
“A virgin. They said they could get big money for her.”
“What else did they tell you?”
“They said that after she got over here, they’d tell me when they were ready for her, then she was going to disappear, and I wasn’t to report it.”
“Do our mysterious someones know about your fondness for younger girls?”
“Yes. That’s what they were holding over me.”
“Getting back to that. Who’s they?”
Gunderson gave a miserable lift of his shoulders. “Do what you want to me. I’m more afraid of them than you lot.”
Harry took out the photo of the young man from the film of Lizzie’s abduction. “I’m guessing one of them is this man.”