He took out his pack of Marlboro and lighter from his raincoat pocket and lit one as he considered his options. Jenny had taken out full insurance when she’d made the booking for the rental car, so it wasn’t going to cost him anything. He looked at his watch. If he waited for a tow truck to come out and pull the Vauxhall out of the ditch he’d miss his flight to London. He could phone a taxi from Berwick to come and pick him up, but he was starting to get a bad feeling about the citizens of the UK’s northernmost town. He was still smoking and thinking when a Good Samaritan in a pick-up truck pulled up. ‘Are you okay?’ asked the driver, a man in his fifties in a sheepskin jacket.
‘Think a tyre burst,’ said Nightingale. ‘Spun off the road. Don’t suppose you’re going Edinburgh way, are you?’
‘I am actually,’ said the man.
‘You couldn’t give me a lift to the airport, could you?’
‘Sure,’ said the man. ‘But aren’t you supposed to stay with the car?’
‘No one’s been hurt and it’s a rental,’ said Nightingale. ‘Give me a minute to get my bag. I’ll phone the rental company while we’re on our way.’ He flicked the cigarette butt into the road. Finally he’d caught a lucky break. It was about time.
20
Nightingale placed his overnight bag on the conveyor belt and undid his belt. He dropped the belt, his phone, watch, wallet and keys on top of his raincoat and walked through the metal detector arch. It remained silent and he smiled at the two shirt-sleeved security personnel, but they stared back stonily.
His coat and belongings came through first, and he put on his belt and coat. A bored woman chewing gum slouched in her chair as she stared at the screen in front of her. She waved her hand in the air and said something, and she was joined by an Asian man in a grey suit. He bent down to get a better look at the screen and nodded. As he straightened up, Nightingale had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realised that he’d forgotten about the knife.
The bag appeared from the scanner and the man in the suit picked it up and looked at Nightingale. Nightingale smiled apologetically. ‘I know, I know, I forgot all about it.’
The woman picked up a phone and began talking into it.
‘Is this your bag, sir?’ asked the man.
‘Of course it is. That’s why I’m standing here.’ Nightingale could see from the look on the man’s face that he’d chosen completely the wrong time to be sarcastic. ‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Do you mind if I open it?’
Nightingale bit back a second sarcastic comment. ‘Sure. It’s a ceremonial knife. I forgot it was there.’
The man ignored his comment, moved the bag to a side table and unzipped it. He took out Nightingale’s washbag, his laundry and travel alarm clock, then pulled out the evidence bag containing the crucible and frowned at it before putting it down next to the washbag. Then he pulled out the bag containing the knife. He held it up and looked at Nightingale, one eyebrow raised.
Nightingale shrugged. ‘I know, I know.’
‘Why were you trying to take this onto the plane?’
‘I forgot it was there. I’m sorry.’
‘You forgot you were carrying a foot-long knife?’
‘It’s not really a foot long, is it? Nine inches, maybe.’ He smiled. ‘Not that size is everything, right?’
The man stared at him with cold eyes, still holding up the evidence bag. ‘You think this is funny?’
‘We have a comedian, do we?’ said a gruff voice behind him. Nightingale turned to see two uniformed officers standing either side of him. One was carrying a carbine in the ready position, the other had a Glock in a holster on his hip and his arms folded.
‘It was an honest mistake,’ said Nightingale.
The uniformed cop with the folded arms shook his head. ‘No, sir. Forgetting to zip up your fly is an honest mistake, trying to take a knife onto a plane is a criminal offence.’
21
There were two of them and they could have been twins. Hard faces, receding hairlines, carrying more weight than was good for them and wearing cheap suits. They both had the weary faces of men who had been lied to for decades. Detectives. They looked the same the world over, and Nightingale figured that if he’d stayed in the job he’d probably have looked just like them by now.
Nightingale had been escorted to the room by the two armed policemen and left there until the two detectives had turned up.
One of the detectives was an inspector but he hadn’t said anything. His colleague, a detective constable, had done the introductions and swung Nightingale’s bag onto the table. Nightingale got the feeling that the constable was new to CID and the inspector was assessing his performance. The conversation wasn’t being recorded and there didn’t appear to be any CCTV cameras, which he took as a good sign, despite the hard stares. The constable’s name was McKee and he had an accent so impenetrable that Nightingale had trouble understanding him. He held up the evidence bag containing the knife. ‘What is this?’
‘A knife. A ceremonial knife. It’s an antique.’
McKee wrinkled his nose as he stared at the knife. ‘It looks old, I agree. But it doesn’t look like an antique. And why were you taking it onto the plane?’
‘I’m taking it to London.’
‘You know that you can’t take knives onto planes?’
Nightingale held up his hands. ‘It was a mistake. An honest mistake. I’d forgotten it was in my bag, that’s all.’
‘And why is it in an evidence bag?’
‘I’m taking it to be analysed.’
‘Analysed?’
‘I want to run it through a lab.’
‘A lab?’
Nightingale was about to make a joke about the detective repeating everything he said, but he doubted that he’d appreciate the attempt at humour. ‘I wanted to get the blood checked.’
‘You know there’s blood on the knife, then?’
Nightingale nodded. ‘I’d noticed it.’
‘And can you explain how the blood got there?’
Nightingale took out his wallet. ‘I’m a detective, private,’ he said. He handed over a business card. ‘The knife and the crucible are a case. Evidence.’
The detective studied the card and then passed it to the inspector. ‘Evidence or not, you can’t take a knife onto a plane.’
‘Absolutely, I’m sorry. It was a genuine mistake. Look, I used to be in the job. I was a detective with the Met.’
‘Were you now?’ He looked over at the inspector as if seeking his approval. The inspector nodded.
‘CO19. And I was a negotiator. If you need a reference, I can give you the name of an inspector who’ll vouch for me.’
The detective held out his hand. ‘Do you have your passport?’
‘Sure.’ Nightingale took his passport from his pocket and gave it to the detective.
The detective flicked through it, then studied the photo. He handed it to the inspector, who also flicked through the pages and checked the photograph. He checked the name in the passport with the name on the business card, then stood up. ‘I’ll be back shortly,’ he said. His voice sounded more Northern Irish than Scottish.
Nightingale looked at his watch. ‘I’m going to miss my plane.’
‘We’ll get you on the next one, Mr Nightingale,’ said the inspector. ‘Assuming that you check out.’ He went out of the room.
Nightingale smiled at the remaining detective. ‘Any chance of a coffee?’
‘About as much chance of Hell freezing over,’ growled the detective.
‘Good to know. Don’t suppose I can smoke in here?’
The detective stared at Nightingale silently, his lips a thin bloodless line.
Nightingale folded his arms and sat back in his chair. Five minutes later the inspector reappeared and gave him back the passport. He sat down and interlinked his fingers. ‘Well, a police officer you were, Mr Nightingale. You left the Met under a cloud but at least you didn’t kill anyone.’
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‘That would be the silver lining,’ said Nightingale.
The inspector pointed at the knife. ‘You said that the knife was evidence in a case. Would that be a criminal case?’
Nightingale looked at the inspector and tried to smile as amiably as possible. Lying to police officers was never a good idea, especially detectives, but he didn’t want to start a conversation about the murders in Berwick. ‘Divorce,’ he said.
The two detectives frowned in unison. ‘Divorce?’ said the inspector.
Nightingale tried to keep the casual smile on his face as he nodded. ‘I’m acting for a woman who thinks that her husband is messing around with a coven of witches.’
‘Witches?’ repeated McKee.
‘Well, they claim they’re a coven but the lady suspects that her husband is using it for casual sex. She found the knife and the crucible hidden in their house so she wanted me to get it checked to see if that’s animal blood.’
‘Why does it matter what sort of blood it is?’ asked the inspector.
That was a very good question, Nightingale realised. His mind raced, trying to come up with a believable answer. ‘It’s more so that when she sues him for divorce she can say that she found a knife with chicken blood or whatever in his wardrobe. If she doesn’t do the checks then he might just turn around and say it was a rusty knife he used in the garden. He’s got a lot of money and he’ll fight any divorce tooth and nail so she wants to get all her ducks in a row.’ He leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially. ‘He’s quite well connected, which is why she came to my firm. We’re in London, so no one’s going to tip him off.’
The inspector nodded as if he was buying it.
‘So can I go?’ asked Nightingale.
‘I don’t think we need to keep you any longer. But you can’t take the knife on the plane, not in your hand luggage anyway. I’d suggest you check it in with the airline. Put it in a box or a padded envelope and it can go in the baggage hold. Or use a courier service. It’s Saturday, so you won’t get next-day delivery, but it’ll be in London Monday or Tuesday.’
‘Thanks,’ said Nightingale. He stood up and put the bagged knife into his kitbag.
22
‘Are you okay, is she making you happy?’ asked Candy, watching Eric’s face carefully for any sign of disapproval. Eric kept his feelings to himself most of the time. He never said if he was happy or sad, excited or worried, but sometimes, if she watched his eyes, she could get a clue to what he was thinking.
He smiled at her, but she knew from experience that a smile from Eric Lucas meant nothing. Smiling was his camouflage. He smiled to get his own way. He had several smiles, like an archer with a quiver of arrows, each one slightly different to the next.
‘She’s good,’ said Eric. ‘You made a good choice.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’ said Candy, nodding enthusiastically. ‘I knew she’d make a perfect princess for you.’
Eric reached out and slowly stroked Candy’s hair. ‘You did good, Candy. You did real good.’
Candy smiled and felt her cheeks flush red. They were sitting at the kitchen table. She had made them cheese omelettes with toast and a pot of tea. The girl was asleep in the bedroom. Candy had given her a sleeping tablet to keep her quiet, but had tied her to the bed just in case the tablet wore off. Not that the girl could do anything even if she could move around the room. They had nailed boards over the bedroom window. The blinds were between the glass and the boards, so from outside no one could see that the window was boarded up, but there was no way that the girl could get out and no way that anyone would hear her screams. When they had first boarded up the window Candy had stood in the room and screamed her lungs out while Eric had paced around outside. He’d heard not a sound.
It was Sunday and they’d had the girl for two days. She knew that Eric enjoyed the first day the most and that his enjoyment decreased day by day until the fourth day, by which time it was over. Candy hated the fourth day, but she loved Eric so she helped him do what had to be done and then she helped him bury the bodies because without the bodies they would never get caught. That was what Eric always said and Eric was always right. Eric would never say how many girls he’d done it to over the years but Candy was sure there had been some. He was her only helper, that was what he said, and she didn’t think that he was lying.
‘You do love me, don’t you, Eric?’
‘Of course. More than anything.’
‘And the girls. They’re just for fun.’
‘That’s all it is. Fun. And you want me to be happy, don’t you?’
Candy nodded. ‘More than anything.’
‘And you know that after I’ve had fun with the little princesses, things between us are so good, aren’t they?’
‘Yes.’
‘So it’s a good thing we’re doing. Anything that makes our relationship stronger is a good thing.’
She reached over and held his hand. ‘No one loves you like I love you, you know that?’
‘Of course I do.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re one in a million. A billion maybe.’
‘And we’ll be together for ever?’
Eric grinned. ‘For ever and ever.’
23
First thing Monday morning Nightingale stopped off at Costa Coffee and brought two lattes before heading up the stairs to his office. ‘A coffee run, how lovely,’ said Jenny when she saw him. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’m hurt,’ said Nightingale, placing one coffee in front of her and carrying the other through to his office. ‘I just wanted to show you how much you’re appreciated.’ He had a carrier bag tucked under his arm.
‘You needn’t have got me a coffee, a pay rise would have been just as symbolic,’ she said.
Nightingale returned holding his raincoat. He handed her the carrier bag and hung up his raincoat. ‘I wanted a coffee, too,’ he said. ‘So it was killing two birds, really.’ He dropped down onto the chair opposite her desk.
‘How did it go up in Berwick?’
‘I got hit over the head with a blunt object and was almost killed when my car got forced off the road.’ He grinned at her and swung his feet up onto her desk.
‘Ask a stupid question …’
‘I’m serious,’ said Nightingale. ‘First night there I was cold-cocked and told to get out of town, and when I didn’t a Land Rover side-swiped me into a ditch.’
‘Did you tell the police?’
‘I didn’t see the point. I couldn’t identify anyone. And other than a sore head I’m fine.’ He gestured at the carrier bag and Jenny emptied the contents on to her desk. There were half a dozen Sunday newspapers and the evidence bags containing the crucible and the knife that Nightingale had taken from the barn.
‘Can you send that off to the lab, get them to check the blood that’s on these things.’
She held them up. ‘Where did you get them from?”
‘They were on a Satanic altar at McBride’s farm. It looks like that’s blood so I’m hoping the lab will confirm that and tell us what sort of blood it is.’
‘Lab work’s not cheap,’ she said. ‘But I suppose we just add it to Mr McBride’s bill.’
Nightingale took out his mobile phone and handed it to her. ‘I took some pictures as well – can you print them so I can get a better look at them? There’s a Satanic altar in the barn, or at least what passes for one. I’m going to make a few enquiries on that front, and the blood should go some way to either confirming or denying it’s genuine. But there were upside-down crucifixes and goats with horns and pentangles …’
‘But?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m sensing a “but” is on the way.’
Nightingale looked pained. ‘It was almost too Satanic, if that’s possible. It didn’t seem organic, it was as if it had been put together so that it would press all the buttons.’
‘Like a film set?’
Nightingale nodded. ‘Exactly like a film set. And
the brother was adamant he was in the barn two days before McBride kicked off. I don’t see he’d lie about that. I mean, what’d be the point? There’s no doubt McBride killed those kids. He said the Satanic stuff wasn’t there and I believe him. So if it wasn’t there two days before the killings, then either McBride put it all there or someone else did.’ He pulled out the sheaf of papers he’d taken from the altar. ‘And there’s these.’ He gave them to her.
She frowned as she flicked through the photographs on his phone. ‘What are these?’
‘They’re printouts, as if McBride had been to Satanic websites and then made copies. But there’s at least one wrong ’un in there.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s a site belonging to the Order of the Nine Angels. They’re a sect that’s said to be involved with human sacrifice, mainly kids. But the thing is, it’s actually called the Order of the Nine Angles. It’s a common mistake that, people think it’s about fallen angels but in fact it’s nine angles and it refers to their insignia. The website there is a fraud, it’s somebody messing about. And the real Nine Angles don’t have a website.’
‘How come you know so much about them?’
Nightingale shrugged. ‘Something I worked on a while back. But if McBride was serious about Satanism and sacrifice he’d know that site was a fake. I think that stuff was planted in the barn along with the rest of the Satanic stuff.’
‘But who on earth would do that? And why?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Nightingale. ‘Yet. One of the cops. Or both. Or maybe they’re covering for someone else.’
‘And what about the papers?’ she said, gesturing at the carrier bag. ‘I usually only see you with the Sun.’
‘I didn’t get much help from the cops I spoke to,’ said Nightingale. ‘But some of the journalists seem to have some half-decent sources. I need to work through exactly what happened. There’s something not right about it.’
Nightshade: The Fourth Jack Nightingale Supernatural Thriller Page 8