Taboo

by Casey Hill

She ran the flashlight over his face; there were no signs of trauma, no marks or injuries here other than the animal bite marks on the neck; just that face, teeth clenched, eyes locked shut in a death mask of horror. A streak of maggot-infested vomit ran down the front of his shirt.

  Reilly clicked off her flashlight and sat back on her heels. Who would do something like this? Besides the gunshot wound, the odd posing, twisted grimace and pointed finger seemed to be an attempt to deliver some macabre message. But what?

  Could this be drug related? It seemed the mountains were a long-time favorite amongst Dublin drug lords for dumping bodies. But this particular body hadn’t just been dumped; it had been painstakingly exhibited. Why?

  A quiet voice disturbed her reverie. ‘Reilly?’

  She looked around and saw a bleary-eyed Chris Delaney outside the tent. ‘Hey.’

  He paused and running his gaze over the body, seemed to shudder. ‘The face … it’s beyond weird, isn’t it? Wonder what the hell that’s all about?’

  ‘I have no idea.’

  ‘Poor bastard; the rats really did a job on his neck.’

  She nodded. ‘Looks like he’s been up here a few days.’

  ‘Kennedy reckons it’ll just be another gangland dump but I’m not so sure. Those guys don’t waste time setting up tents and camping gear; usually they just toss the body and leave.’

  ‘That’s what I thought. It doesn’t feel like a dump to me.’

  ‘Well, I’ve certainly never seen anything like it before. Find anything significant?’

  ‘Not yet. I’ve not long arrived and the rest of the team are still on their way.’

  Chris lurked in the opening. ‘Well, we’ve got the hikers who discovered the scene to interview.’ He glanced at his notebook. ‘A couple in their thirties. They found the body earlier while out walking the dog.’

  And compromised our crime scene, Reilly thought, irritably. Then she paused, trying not to betray her annoyance. ‘Why don’t you go talk to them? The crew and I will process this and then we can compare notes later?’

  He nodded. ‘Sounds good. Anything of interest we’ll let you know.’

  When he left Reilly’s gaze returned to the scene. She was thinking, scanning, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Her eyes fixed on an un-smoked cigar sitting on a camping stool. Well, if this was gangland, somebody involved certainly enjoyed smoking the odd Corona.

  Her reverie was interrupted once more by the arrival of the GFU team at the tent, their kit boxes in their hands.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Gary exclaimed.

  Lucy said nothing but her face was pale.

  ‘Hey, guys.’ Reilly was suddenly struck by how inexperienced they were, how unprepared to deal with this level of decay, and felt a pang for them. She thought fast. ‘Gary, you help me with the body. Lucy, you start with the …’ The younger girl’s eyes seemed to be fixed on the squirming maggots. ‘Lucy?’ She finally looked away, her eyes still glazed by the nastiness she had just been confronted with. ‘You start processing the camp area.’ Reilly indicated the array of expensive camping equipment. ‘It seems there was food being prepared at the time as the stove is on but the gas has run out – I’d like to know what was being cooked amidst all of this.’

  Lucy finally shook herself back to life. ‘Right. I’ll get on it.’

  Reilly watched her as she crouched beside the stove, set her bag down and snapped on some gloves before pulling out her flashlight. Good girl, Reilly thought, you’re learning fast.

  She turned back to Gary. He looked far more composed and was already scanning the area. ‘Seems there are two sleeping bags inside. We have some officers sweeping the area in case there’s a second victim, but there’s also a chance this guy was sleeping with the enemy so to speak, so I want this tent picked through with a fine-toothed comb.’

  ‘No problem.’

  ‘We’ve got to work quickly,’ she told him. ‘This guy’s been dead a while and you don’t need me to point out that our scene is degrading fast.’

  Meanwhile, the couple who’d found the body, Mark and Rebecca Ward, were being looked after by a couple of uniforms. They sat in the back of one of two four-by-four vehicles that were able to negotiate the rocky trail from the forestry road. The Jeeps had now become an assembly point for ferrying people to and from the crime scene. The couple’s Yorkshire Terrier, Banjo, sat between them on the back seat. Mark’s fingers were looped through his collar, in order to rub his neck and keep hold of him at the same time.

  Chris was glad of the opportunity to talk to them so soon after the discovery. Normally by the time reality kicked in and people had time to consider the enormity of what had happened, the less helpful their witness statements were, and the more susceptible to outside influence they became.

  ‘Hey there. Mark and Rebecca, isn’t it?’ he said, sitting down in the front seat while facing into the back between the headrests. ‘I’m Detective Delaney, and this is Detective Kennedy. We’d really like to ask you a few questions if you’re up for it.’

  They both looked pale and tired as they acknowledged the detectives. Rebecca’s entire body was shaking, and Mark raised his eyes with a small nod. Someone had given them blankets and she was trying to pull hers in as tight as she could to stop the shaking, as if it was the temperature and not the shock of seeing and smelling the rotting corpse of Gerry Watson that was making her shiver.

  Kennedy stood outside the open passenger door and took out his notebook. ‘So, probably best if you just tell us how it happened from beginning to end, or what you can remember, anyway.’

  Chris patted Rebecca’s arm. ‘Talking about it will let it out, help get it off your mind.’

  ‘Yeah, OK.’ Mark spoke first. ‘We hike this area all the time and often bring Banjo up here at weekends. He loves charging around in the undergrowth and you can’t let him off the lead anywhere near our house.’

  Banjo looked up, his ears twitching at the mention of words ‘walk’ and ‘lead’. His tongue lolled happily at the side of his mouth as he licked his already moist nose. If it hadn’t been for that, Chris thought, the body would probably still lie undiscovered now. ‘We always stay on the forestry road, because most of the smaller trails up the hill are muddy this time of year.’

  Taking up the story, Rebecca rubbed Banjo on the head. ‘We were just on the way back to the picnic area where our car was parked. I couldn’t see Banjo anywhere so we called him but there was no sign. Mark started walking back the way we came and shouting louder.’

  ‘He usually comes when he’s called,’ Mark added. ‘I heard him bark and saw some movement amongst the ferns up the hill, so I shouted again. I thought he was probably chasing something or digging in a rat hole, there are so many smells up here he goes crazy.’

  Rebecca smiled a little. ‘We were just laughing at him as we made our way through the ferns and it was only when we reached the top of the hill where the ground flattens off that we saw the tent.’

  She pointed to edge of the clearing two hundred yards from where the Mountain Rescue Jeeps had forced their way through. ‘We didn’t want to go over at first,’ she added.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Well, it was so early, I didn’t want to go barging over and interrupt anyone’s privacy. I called Banjo again, he was sniffing around the side of the tent and then he cocked his leg on it.’

  ‘I was mortified,’ Rebecca said, looking less pale as a slight blush crossed her cheeks. ‘Little did I know …’

  ‘Go on,’ Chris urged.

  She continued speaking. ‘I called him again, this time more firmly and walked over with the lead, it was then I—’ She stared at the back of the seat and tears pooled in her eyes. ‘When I saw the man’s legs in the doorway I just thought he was asleep.’ She shook her head, and Mark patted her hand for reassurance.

  ‘When I reached Becky’s side and saw Banjo sniffing the guy’s shoes I thought it was sort of funny. That was before she started to scream.’
He paused and looked away, reliving the memory. ‘I ran over and saw rats at the guy’s neck … maggots moving … and then the smell.’ Mark rubbed the side of his face as if trying to remove any lingering traces of the deathly air he’d breathed. ‘Then I threw up,’ he added, somewhat ashamed.

  Always the blokes, Chris thought, wryly.

  Reliving the scene was obviously taking its toll on Rebecca and she was sobbing gently. ‘What do you think happened to him? I mean, that look on his face … and the way his arm was pointing …’

  ‘It’s too early to make any assumptions at this stage,’ Chris soothed, cringing slightly as he knew he sounded like a press officer throwing out sound bites to dodge the question. But the truth was there was no room for speculation.

  Kennedy studied his notes. ‘Can I just clarify a point before we go any further? You said, when you first saw the tent – quote: “I didn’t want to go barging over and interrupt anyone’s privacy.” So you thought there was more than one person, correct?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ Mark confirmed. ‘When I said that I just meant that I naturally assumed it would be more than one, what with the size of the tent and the amount of gear lying around.’

  ‘Did you see anybody else in or around the campsite, or pass by anyone going to or from the scene?’ he queried.

  ‘No, there was nobody else around; we didn’t meet another soul on the walk. Sometimes you might, but it was so early, not to mention it’s a pretty unknown area round here, most people are drawn to the more popular walks like Glendalough.’

  ‘How did you alert the authorities?’ Chris continued.

  ‘I had my phone but there’s no signal up here so we went back to the car as quick as we could and drove until we got one.’

  Rebecca spoke while looking in the direction of the white illuminated forensic tent, which looked so out of place in the surroundings. ‘After we called in the report and gave directions, we traveled back up to the car park to wait for the first officers to arrive like the lady on the phone told us. Then, when they arrived it was dark and Mark showed them the way.’

  He nodded. ‘I actually wasn’t sure if I’d find the trail again so I brought Banjo hoping he’d lead the way back in.’

  ‘Looks like we have a police dog in the makings,’ Kennedy quipped, reaching in to pet the terrier’s head, but Banjo quickly flashed a sideways snap at his hand.

  ‘Fuck me!’ he cried, massaging his hand, even though no contact had been made.

  ‘Banjo! Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Rebecca said, coloring.

  ‘Don’t worry, Detective Kennedy often has that effect on people too,’ Chris said wryly, hoping to relieve the tension. ‘Thanks for that; I think we have all we need for now. You’ve been most helpful and here’s my card just in case anything else springs to mind.’ The couple looked relieved and he and Kennedy shook their hands, all the while trying to keep out of range of the little terrier. ‘I’ll get one of the Mountain Rescue guys to drop you back to your car.’

  He knew that there was in reality very little light these people could shed on what had unfolded here; once again, there would be no quick and easy solution.

  And until they could find one, this misfortunate camper was simply another addition to the city’s burgeoning crime statistics.

  12

  Darkness had fallen and Mike Steel was just about to settle down to a well-earned cold beer when he heard the scream.

  ‘Goddamnit!’ He got up from the sofa and headed down the hallway toward the source. ‘What’s going on?’ he grunted, switching on the overhead light.

  ‘Monstaw – in the closet,’ Jessica announced, the 3-year-old’s fluffy blond head barely visible above the bedclothes. Her blue eyes were wide with fear as she pointed to one corner of the small room.

  Sighing, Mike shook his head from side to side. ‘Jess, honey, we talked about this before, didn’t we?’ He went to the closet and opened the doors. ‘There are no monsters in there – look, it’s just your clothes and your toys, nothing else.’

  The toddler shook her head in defiance. ‘See shaw him too!’ she insisted, pointing her stubby finger accusingly at her sister in the bed opposite.

  ‘Did she now?’ Mike raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Reilly? What’s going on?’

  ‘Look, I’m sorry, OK?’ Reilly shrugged guiltily, her eyes downcast. ‘I was trying to get to sleep, and she was driving me nuts, yacking on and on … So, I told her that if she didn’t shut up, the monsters would come out and get her.’

  Mike’s jaw tightened. ‘Christ, I don’t need this shit …’

  He sat at the side of Jessica’s bed and gathered her into his arms before softly stroking her downy curls.

  ‘Want Mommy,’ the little girl moaned into his chest.

  Me too, Reilly thought, sadly.

  ‘Don’t want the monstaw to get me, Daddy.’

  ‘Hey, nobody’s going to get you, OK? Whose gonna get past a big, strong guy like me?’ At this, a faint smile appeared on Jessica’s face. ‘Anyway, remember what I said before, OK? There are no monsters in that closet. Your sister was just playing tricks on you. And your mom should be back soon.’

  ‘I was only joking,’ Reilly said. ‘Sorry, Jess.’

  ‘OK,’ Apparently satisfied, Jessica nodded before yawning widely.

  ‘Now, try and get some sleep, honey. Your sister has to be up early for school in the morning and she needs to rest too.’

  ‘Will you stay with me, Daddy?’ Jessica’s eyes were huge as she stared mournfully up at him.

  ‘Of course I will,’ Mike held her close and continued to rub her back, hoping to soothe her into slumber. ‘I’ll stay as long as you like.’

  For a short while, there was silence in the small bedroom as they waited for Jess to go to sleep.

  ‘Look, try not to scare your little sister like that, OK?’ Mike whispered when the toddler eventually drifted off. ‘The last monster in the closet was there almost six months before he left and I can’t be dealing with a new one right now. I’ve got too much going on, honey.’

  Duly chastened, Reilly hung her head. ‘I know, I’m sorry.’

  She was sorry too but Jess was really starting to get on her nerves with her stupid singing and dancing and endless jabbering about nothing. Reilly wished she could have a room of her own, but their house was just too small for that, and although she wasn’t supposed to know it, anyone could tell that money was tight.

  ‘Dad?’ she asked. ‘You said Mom will be home soon – is that true?’

  Mike sighed and Reilly’s face fell, realizing that he’d only said this to make Jess feel better. Cassie, their mom, sometimes went away for a little while before reappearing again. When this happened, nobody ever seemed to know where she’d gone or when she’d be coming back. But, according to Mike, Cassie just got sad sometimes and needed to be by herself. ‘I certainly hope so, sweetheart.’

  There was silence in the room for a moment.

  ‘Hey, I know Jess can be an almighty pain in the ass sometimes, but don’t forget she’s only three and she doesn’t mean any harm.’ Carefully lifting the now-sleeping Jessica out of his arms, he lay her back down and gently covered her with the blankets.

  ‘I know.’

  Mike then moved to sit on the edge of Reilly’s bed. ‘So, from now on, promise you’ll help me convince your little sister that there are no monsters and she’s got nothing to worry about, OK?’

  ‘OK.’

  A few minutes later, when her dad had left the room, Reilly was just about to nod off when she heard an all-too-familiar voice. ‘Wiley?’ her little sister called out in a tentative whisper. ‘Wiley? Are you awake?’

  ‘What now?’ she groaned, turning her back to her. She couldn’t believe that Jess was awake again. Two minutes ago, when her dad had left the room she looked to be dead to the world.

  ‘Are there really no monstaws? No monstaws in the whole wide world?’

  In the darkness, Reilly rolled her eyes, wishing h
er little sister would just shut the hell up. Then remembering that her dad had asked for her help, she spoke softly. ‘Yeah, Jess, Dad was right. Just go back to sleep, OK?’ She pulled the bedclothes tightly around her and closed her eyes. ‘There really are no monsters – none in the whole wide world.’

  ***There are no monsters …

  At the sound of her alarm, Reilly’s head shot up off the pillow, her brain still fuzzy. Almost instinctively, her gaze rested on the closet at the foot of the bed. But it was OK. She was no longer ten years old and sleeping in the room she shared with Jess back home in Marin County. Instead she was an adult, sleeping in her own bed, or at least, trying to sleep in this excuse for an apartment she was leasing for crazy money.

  And there were no monsters. Not in the closet anyway.

  The dream – the one of her and Jess as kids – she hadn’t had that one in a while. Afterward, it was the scene that kept coming back to her, the one she kept replaying over and over in her head and in her sleep – the one in which she’d promised her sister that there were no monsters, no bad guys, and that no one could harm her.

  She bit her lip. If only they knew.

  Reilly got up out of bed, unsettled that the dreams were starting to come back with increasing frequency. Maybe she should think about taking the advice Dr Kyle had given before she left California about seeing someone here. But she was fine, wasn’t she? Anyway, she really didn’t need – or want – to try and explain it all to some strange Dublin shrink who knew nothing about her or her family, and probably wouldn’t be able to understand her fears anyhow. As it was, Reilly could barely understand them herself.

  She went into the kitchen and set about grounding some coffee beans, unwilling to let thoughts of her past get her down. Measuring out exactly a tablespoon, she took a deep breath, and allowed the rich aroma of freshly ground beans to fill her senses. Some people liked to grind them the night before as a timesaver, but Reilly knew that once the beans were ground there was a lot more surface area exposed to the air and this was how much of the flavour escaped, so what was the point?