Missing (The Cass Lehman Series Book 3)

by Melanie Casey

  ‘Huh. Go figure,’ she said when he’d finished explaining about Cass.

  ‘That’s it?’ Dave said.

  ‘What? You think I’ve never heard of the police using a psychic before? Why not, if it gets results? Though personally I think Bruno here will be more useful — and he comes with the added bonus of not having to touch the body.’

  CHAPTER

  10

  I heaved a sigh. To say the silence in the car was frosty would have been a gross understatement. Ed had barely said three words to me since he’d picked me up. I didn’t have the energy to get into it with him again, so I sank back against the seat and replayed the call from DCI Arnott.

  The insistent ringing of the phone had dragged me from sleep. I’d been dreaming of the night sky, reliving the feeling of hope and elation the suicide victim had experienced just before he jumped. I hoped I never found myself so disconnected from the world that I’d be longing to leave it. Thankfully, the phone had woken me before I got to the pain and fear part, but my exhaustion told me that I’d been dreaming about the vision on a continuous loop throughout the night. It was something that had happened before; my brain’s way of processing, I suppose. Gran and Mum had regularly heard me talking, moaning or crying in my sleep after a vision. Sometimes the flashbacks went on for days.

  I was still in a half-confused state when Arnott began talking about the dump case and whether I could get a read on the victim’s last moments. It wasn’t until after I’d hung up that the words ‘partial remains’ popped back into my head.

  Partial remains meant the body wasn’t whole. I’d only ever touched a body twice before. Once by accident and once just after the person had died, because I was desperate for information. I wasn’t sure I could deal with partial remains. The problem was, I’d agreed before I’d really heard or understood what he was asking. Note to self: don’t make any serious decisions for twenty-four hours after a vision. It was like I’d come out of surgery, incapable of operating heavy machinery or making life-changing decisions.

  ‘Ed?’

  ‘Hmmm.’

  ‘I’m sorry you think this is such a bad idea. I just want to help.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘I don’t understand why you don’t want me to help your team solve cases?’

  ‘It’s not your helping that’s the issue. I don’t want you in danger. I don’t like what visions do to you emotionally or physically. And I was a bit surprised that you decided to help without talking to me, especially when you’d just finished bagging me for not consulting you about major decisions.’

  The words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush and I could see his colour rising as he said them. Clearly he’d been bottling. It was the most he’d said to me for days. At least he was finally addressing the issues.

  ‘I don’t think I’ll be in much danger at the morgue,’ I said. It would have been wiser to shut my mouth, but I was annoyed by his paternal tone. He was treating me like a child. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  I studied him out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was set in a rigid line that told me he was clenching his teeth.

  ‘There’s something else I need to tell you,’ he said.

  His tone drew my full attention.

  ‘It’s about Brian Jenson.’

  ‘Yeah I know, Crackers told me.’

  ‘He did?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s not catatonic anymore. Pity.’

  ‘No, that’s right, but there’s more than that. Cass, he got out.’

  ‘Out?’ I didn’t understand. ‘They let him out?’

  ‘No, he’s escaped. It’s going to be all over the news shortly. There’ll be a massive man-hunt.’

  My mind buzzed and I felt sick. I stared out the window trying to process the news and we finished the short drive in silence. He pulled down Divett Place, a narrow side street off one of Adelaide’s main roads, then parked.

  ‘Are you OK?’

  I shook my head. ‘Not really.’

  ‘You don’t have to do this if you’re not up for it.’

  ‘I’m up for it. I’m not going to let Brian Jenson stop me from doing anything.’

  He grunted, then got out of the car. I took a moment to gather my wits then followed him.

  We passed into an entrance foyer where Ed used a phone to call through to the pathologist’s suite. We were buzzed through the security door, then made our way down a corridor to another small reception area, where we were met by a man in a white coat.

  Ed introduced us. ‘Hi Bill, this is Miss Lehman. Cass, this is Bill Trenear, the primary pathologist assigned to the case.’

  We shook hands. ‘Just Cass is fine,’ I said.

  ‘Then call me Bill like everyone else. DCI Arnott told me you’d be coming.’

  ‘He told you about me?’

  ‘He did. He said you’re a psychic and you need to touch the remains. It’s a bit unorthodox, but if DCI Arnott authorised it then who am I to argue? This way. I’ve prepared the remains and laid them on a table for you. You’ll want to suit up. The smell’s pretty bad, even with the extractor fans on.’

  I blanched. My stomach flip-flopped and I was suddenly very aware of the mass of porridge and tea swirling around in my midsection. I really didn’t want to reacquaint myself with my breakfast.

  I followed him into an antechamber where I donned a gown, gloves, a hair net and a mask. Ed put on the mask but didn’t worry about the rest. I figured he wasn’t planning on getting too close. Lucky him.

  ‘Ready?’ Bill asked.

  The ability to blink had completely deserted me. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights because Bill put a hand on my arm.

  ‘You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.’

  ‘I want to help,’ I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

  He shrugged and opened the door. We stepped into the autopsy suite. A stainless steel table sat in the middle of the room. I looked down at my feet as I began to cross the room. After about three steps I stopped. My eyes crawled up from the lino floor, inch by inch, until they finally rested on the table. Saliva filled my mouth and I had to swallow a few times, forcing myself to pretend I was looking at something in a butcher’s shop. Clumps of remains were clustered on the table. There wasn’t much.

  ‘That’s it?’ My voice was barely above a whisper.

  ‘That’s all we’ve found so far,’ Ed said.

  I straightened my shoulders and walked up to the table. The smell came at me in waves, forcing me to breathe through my mouth under the mask.

  My surroundings completely receded. I forgot Bill and Ed were there. I stared in open-mouthed horror at the mess in front of me. A severed hand, two feet and a head, partially covered with putrefied and oozing flesh. I covered my mouth and spun away as bile hit the back of my throat. I yanked my mask down.

  ‘Here!’ Bill thrust a bucket into my hand and I vomited until I thought my stomach was going to come up as well.

  Ed came over and patted my back. When I finally raised my head, my eyes were streaming. I could imagine how I must have looked.

  ‘All right?’ Ed asked.

  I sniffed. Bill passed me a tissue and took the bucket. He strode over to a large stainless steel sink and dumped the contents, following it with a stream of water and rinsing the bucket a few times with a hose-like extension from the tap.

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, blushing furiously.

  ‘Don’t worry, even some of the most seasoned coppers have that kind of reaction to this sort of thing,’ Bill reassured me.

  I blew my nose, then gave him an approximation of a smile.

  ‘Are you ready to leave?’ Ed asked.

  ‘Leave? No, I’m not going anywhere.’ I replaced my mask and turned back to the table. ‘I’ve got a job to do.’ I stepped up to the remains and stretched out my hand. With shaking fingers, I gingerly laid a hand on top of the skull. The flesh covering the bone was soft and felt a bit
like firm jelly. I closed my eyes. Long moments passed as I waited for it to hit me. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and shifted my touch to the severed hand. Again I closed my eyes and waited for the vision to take over. It didn’t. After what felt like an eternity, I opened my eyes and stepped back from the table. I turned towards Ed and Bill, standing a few steps behind me.

  ‘I’m not getting anything.’

  ‘Really?’ Ed asked. ‘Not a thing?’

  ‘How does it normally work?’ Bill asked.

  ‘I’ve touched two bodies before and instantly flashed back to the last few minutes of their lives.’

  ‘Maybe it’s because this body’s not whole?’ Ed said.

  ‘I don’t know, maybe.’

  ‘How did it happen the other times?’ Bill asked.

  ‘The first time was by accident. The body slipped off a stretcher. The second time was just after the person had died. I reached out and touched his arm.’

  ‘So you weren’t wearing gloves?’

  ‘No … I wasn’t …’ My voice trailed away and I stared at him, then looked back at the decomposing remains on the table and swallowed. I felt like there was a golf ball lodged somewhere in the vicinity of my larynx.

  ‘Cass, don’t do it,’ Ed said. ‘Not even Crackers would expect that.’

  I peeled the glove off my right hand and flexed my fingers a few times.

  ‘Cass …’ Ed let my name hang in the air.

  I ignored him and stepped back to the table. I closed my eyes, reached out and touched the hand. Laying down my fingers as lightly as I could, I tried not to think about the source of the slimy wetness beneath my fingertips.

  Something was wrong, my vision was blurry and I couldn’t focus on anything. All I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep but a voice was telling me I couldn’t sleep where I was. I could smell food. I tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out right. They sounded slurred and indistinct.

  ‘Sorry, not feeling very well …’ I mumbled. Everything went black.

  The vision receded and I opened my eyes. I looked at what I was touching and yanked my hand away. My stomach heaved again.

  ‘Bucket!’ I gasped.

  Bill thrust it under my chin. I grabbed it with my clean hand and stood, dry retching, while Bill walked around to my other hand, which I was holding horizontal to my body and at arm’s length. He grasped my wrist and began to rub at my fingers with a damp cloth that reeked of disinfectant.

  After a couple of minutes my stomach and I reached an uneasy truce. Bill and I went through the nose-blowing and bucket-washing routine again.

  ‘Did you get something?’ Ed asked.

  ‘I did, but it wasn’t much,’ I said. ‘DCI Arnott will be disappointed.’

  ‘Tell me anyway,’ Ed said.

  I looked over at Bill. He was studying me like I was some kind of new and unique specimen.

  ‘It’s OK. Bill can listen in,’ Ed said.

  I closed my eyes and recounted the brief vision. ‘I couldn’t see properly, my vision was all blurry. I don’t know where I was, but there must have been someone else there because I was trying to talk to them and apologise for being sleepy. I was worried about going to sleep where I was.’

  ‘That’s it?’

  ‘I said it wasn’t much.’

  ‘Were you inside or out?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Was it light or dark?’

  ‘Light I think.’

  ‘And you didn’t see the other person?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. My vision was so blurred I couldn’t make out anything much.’

  ‘Was the other person male or female?’

  ‘I don’t know! They didn’t speak.’

  ‘Huh.’

  ‘There was one other thing. I could smell food. Something savoury, meat of some kind I think.’

  We stepped out into the pale sunshine of the cool autumn day. The leaves on the trees lining the main road were glowing like fire. Flashes of the sparkling blue peeked through an army of fluffy white clouds that marched across the sky. I’d been so tense on the drive in, I hadn’t even realised it was a nice day.

  I gulped deep lungfuls of air. Even the city air smelled sweet after the combination of antiseptic and decomposition.

  ‘Come on, you look like you could use a coffee. There’s a good place a couple of blocks north of here, if you don’t mind a short walk?’ Ed suggested.

  I studied his face. Ed was wearing an expression I didn’t immediately recognise. Then it struck me. He was feeling smug. My inability to give him anything that might help with the case pleased him. He didn’t want Crackers to think I was useful and keep me on the team. It was my turn to clench my teeth. The temptation to unleash a stream of vitriol in his direction was almost more than I could resist, but I managed to smother it. It wasn’t his fault my talent hadn’t worked. Truth be told, I was probably more annoyed about my own failure than I was about his enjoyment of it.

  He led the way. We left the car where it was and walked back down the laneway and onto the main drag. We trekked the short distance to Pirie Street and Ed pointed to a coffee shop. Its signage was pink and black, and very girly.

  ‘BTS?’ I asked.

  ‘Better than sex,’ he translated.

  ‘Huh.’ I cocked an eyebrow at him.

  ‘They do coffee and really good cupcakes … if you’re interested.’

  I gave him a look. ‘I don’t think I’ll want to eat ever again. And since when did you eat cupcakes?’

  ‘You don’t know everything about me.’

  ‘Clearly not.’

  We walked in and found a tiny table in the corner. The place was packed. I noticed there were a lot more women than men clustered around the tables, all with delicious-looking cupcakes and coffees in front of them.

  ‘You sure you don’t want one?’ he asked.

  ‘Just a coffee — but can we get a cupcake to takeaway?’

  He ordered and we settled into a comfortable silence. The tension between us had evaporated, for the moment.

  Ed studied my face when we were sitting. ‘Cass, they’ll find him. They’ll find Jenson.’

  I nodded, but dark thoughts continued to creep into my mind. ‘I’ll have to ring Mum and Gran and tell them.’ I paused. ‘He wouldn’t come after us would he?’

  ‘I doubt he’d be so stupid but you need to be careful until they catch him. Lock the doors and don’t go places by yourself.’

  I felt sick again but for completely different reasons.

  We were halfway through our coffees when Ed’s phone rang.

  ‘Sorry, it’s Dave, I’d better answer.’

  I watched his face as he took the call. He listened impassively, then his eyes widened with surprise.

  ‘Already?’ Ed said.

  He nodded into the phone a few times. I could hear the reedy tones of Dave’s animated voice on the other end.

  ‘All right, I’m on my way.’

  He ended the call and looked at me. ‘The dog found more remains.’

  ‘That was quick.’

  ‘He’d only been there for ten minutes before he got a hit.’

  ‘Wow. Is it more of the same body?’

  ‘Not unless the guy had two heads.’

  With the roof of my mouth still smarting from downing a near-boiling cup of coffee, I trotted along two steps behind Ed as we headed back to our car. The routine was familiar, he always strode ahead when he was annoyed or stressed, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. Feeling like a serf following my master was guaranteed to put me back in a bad mood. The moment of harmony in the café had been so fleeting I wondered if I’d imagined it.

  We climbed into the car and Ed zoomed off before I’d even had a chance to buckle my seatbelt, making my irritation climb another notch.

  ‘Sorry you had to rush. I’m just keen to get down to the site, and it’s a forty-five minute drive as it is. Bloody Crackers and his stupid ideas. If it weren’t
for him I would’ve been down there already,’ Ed said.

  I’d been staring out the window watching the city buildings zoom past and trying not to be annoyed, but the mention of Crackers and stupid ideas in the same sentence made my head snap around.

  ‘Using me is a stupid idea, is it?’

  ‘Oh come on! Don’t pick a fight again. Are you trying to tell me that touching decomposing remains was a good idea? Surely you realise now that the whole idea of you working this case is crazy.’

  ‘Would you be saying that if I’d had a more useful vision?’

  ‘But you didn’t.’

  ‘That’s not my fault.’

  ‘I never said it was, but I assumed that what you’ve just been through would be enough to convince you to tell Crackers to shove his job offer.’

  ‘I’m not convinced of anything.’

  I watched him out of the corner of my eye. His neck was turning red.

  ‘I’ll drop you off on the way,’ he said.

  ‘It’s not on the way, it’s in the opposite direction. Will you go to Fairfield this afternoon after you’ve been to the dump?’

  ‘More than likely.’

  ‘I think I’d like to go home for a few days. I can tell Mum and Gran about Jenson and I’d feel safer than being alone during the day while you’re working. Can you drop me at Jewel Bay on the way through?’

  He didn’t say anything for so long that the silence began to feel like a lead weight pressing down on me. But I didn’t break it. We were driving through the southern parklands, so I concentrated on the open fields and trees that formed part of the green belt surrounding the CBD, determined not to look at him.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to take you to the crime scene,’ Ed finally said.

  ‘I can stay in the car.’

  ‘I’ve heard that before.’

  I knew he was referring to the last case we’d worked together. He’d taken me to a crime scene in a cemetery, and I’d got out of the car for some fresh air. It wouldn’t normally have been an issue. Cemeteries are good places for someone like me. No one dies in cemeteries, and the bodies are usually six feet under — well out of reach.