The Dark Series

by Catherine Lee

  Cooper pushed his hunger aside and glanced at Meg, indicating for her to continue.

  “Sorry to crash your breakfast like this, Bryce, but we wanted to have a little chat before you left town. Is that alright with you?”

  He shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to hide. Unlike you — you didn’t mention being a police officer last night.”

  “Detective. And no, my apologies for that. But I wasn’t at the meeting last night in an official capacity. I was there on my own time supporting a friend. I just happened to recognise you, though, from our investigation into Jill Fisher’s murder. We have you on camera, shall we say, fraternising, with Miss Fisher in the State Library.”

  “I told you last night that Jill and I met at the library.”

  “You did. What you didn’t mention was that you were having a relationship with her. I assume you didn’t want to say anything in front of Beth, maybe you didn’t want to hurt her now that Jill is no longer with us. So I thought we’d give you the opportunity now to straighten things out. With Beth not here, I mean.”

  Bryce’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two detectives. He took a sip of what looked like tea, Cooper couldn’t be sure. Just when he thought they were going to have to use the fingerprint trump card, Bryce spoke.

  “Okay, yes. Jill and I were involved. It was just a fling to me, I’m sure you can understand. I have a wife, detectives, and I don’t want anything to jeopardise my marriage. But Jill was intriguing, and she was clearly interested in me. One thing led to another, and, well, you can guess the rest.”

  Indeed they could. “You took these relations to Jill’s apartment?” asked Cooper.

  “On several occasions, yes. Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I was very fond of Jill. I would never have done anything to hurt her. And I had no reason to. She understood my relationship with my wife, she knew we had to keep things between us quiet. I think she enjoyed the secrecy, to be honest.”

  “So as far as you’re concerned your relationship with Jill was mutually secret?” asked Meg.

  “Yes, you could put it that way.”

  “What about the ancestry stuff? Did you really find out that the two of you were related?”

  Cooper was taken aback by this comment, and Bryce obviously noticed.

  “It was a very distant relationship,” he explained. “My fourth great grandmother and her third great grandfather were brother and sister. That makes us about eighth cousins or something, hardly relevant to today. Besides, it wasn’t as if we were planning on having kids or anything. It was a bit of fun for both of us, that’s all.” He turned to Meg. “Everything I told you and Beth last night was true. Including the fact that I’m willing to help her with her family tree when I return from this trip. But that’s only on the condition that you don’t tell her about this, please. She doesn’t need to know about me and Jill.”

  “That depends, Mr Allen,” Cooper interrupted before Meg could speak. “Where were you on the night of Tuesday the second? The night Jill Fisher was murdered?”

  Bryce pulled an iPad out of his briefcase and consulted the calendar function. He smiled. “I was in Brisbane from the first, came home on the evening of the third. You can check with these guys,” he added, indicating the airline. “I always fly with them. Plus I can give you the names of the people I met with each day up there, if you like.”

  Cooper looked at Meg, who shrugged. She didn’t have anything to add. He gave Bryce a card. “Send the names to my email address, please. If your story checks out, we’ll have no need to mention the affair to Beth.”

  They stood, and Bryce shook both their hands. “I hope this doesn’t change things with Beth,” he said to Meg. “I really would like to help her finish Jill’s work.”

  * * *

  Back at City Central, Cooper couldn’t get his mind off Bryce Allen. There was something creepy about the guy, and he said as much to Quinn once he’d finished explaining the interview and how it came about. Meg had gone to get a couple of hours sleep before meeting Anderson at Beth Fisher’s residence, so he and Quinn were left to figure out their next steps.

  “What makes you say that?” asked Quinn.

  “Remember that librarian we spoke to, what was her name?”

  “Jo,” he replied, without even consulting the never-ending notebook.

  “That’s right. She said he was smarmy, and that’s exactly the right word. All full of himself in his fancy expensive suit, acting like we couldn’t touch him.”

  “We can’t. He has an alibi.”

  “Which you need to check. Thoroughly, Joe. If there’s the slightest chance this guy wasn’t where he says he was, I want to know about it.”

  “Sure thing, boss.”

  Cooper began pacing in a small square next to their desks. It helped him think. If this guy was having an affair with Jill, which he’d just admitted to, it made him suspect number one. She was murdered in her own home, and Cooper wasn’t a fan of the burglary theory. Nine times out of ten when a woman was killed in her own home, the partner had something to do with it. And it didn’t help that the guy rubbed him up the wrong way. Cooper knew his type, they treat their wives and girlfriends like property. He’d seen too many Bryce Allens in his time.

  He was about to start checking Allen’s alibi himself, when the room suddenly got a whole lot louder.

  “Senior Sergeant Munro, where can I find him?” said one guy as he flashed a badge at Cooper. Another three followed, all showing their credentials and assuming don’t-fuck-with-me poses in the middle of the open plan office.

  “Who wants to know?”

  “Senior Sergeant DeSousa. Drug Squad.”

  “I’m Munro,” answered Munro, before Cooper could respond. DeSousa marched into Munro’s office without acknowledging anyone else, closing the door behind him. The conversation didn’t take long, but for Cooper and the rest of the team it felt like hours with DeSousa’s men staring at them. Finally the door opened and the two Senior Sergeants shook hands. DeSousa led the way out, the other three following menacingly behind. Cooper wasn’t surprised that they took the stairs, probably saw it as extra cardio work their gym trainers would be happy with.

  “What was all that about, Sarge?”

  Davis, Saulwick, Cooper and Quinn all gathered around Cooper’s desk, and Munro joined them.

  “We need to back off the Chiefs.”

  “Including Macklin?” asked Davis.

  “Especially Macklin. Drug Squad have an investigation going, and they reckon we’ll fuck it up if we keep hassling Macklin.”

  “Did he give you any details?” asked Cooper.

  “Some. Enough to know they don’t have much.”

  Cooper pushed his chair back and stood with the others. “So we’re supposed to back off a murder inquiry because they have an ongoing drug investigation that’s going nowhere? Are you serious, Sarge?”

  “No, but he was. Look, we can go two ways here. We can carry on as we were, and piss off another squad, possibly two if Gang Squad are involved as well. Or we can be a bit more discreet, and keep everybody happy. I vote for the second option.”

  Cooper wasn’t sure he understood, and judging by the looks on other faces he wasn’t the only one. “What exactly do you mean by more discreet?” he asked.

  “Just keep your enquiries low key. Don’t go knocking on the doors of any Chiefs members, and stay away from their clubhouse. Give Macklin a wide berth. But that doesn’t mean we don’t keep looking. We just need to be more resourceful. Got it?” Munro looked at Davis and Saulwick as he said that last part.

  “Yeah, we got it,” Davis replied. “Macklin wasn’t exactly forthcoming, anyway. We asked him if he knew Terry Dorman, he stood there with his arms folded and five goons behind him and said ‘No fucking comment.’ Didn’t push much further, Sarge.”

  “Good. Leave it at that for now.”

  “What if we get on the front foot with Gang Squad, Sarge?” asked Cooper. “They’ll have plent
y on Macklin and the rest of the Chiefs. Perhaps we could ask to take a look at their files, see if we can find a connection between them and Terry Dorman, or them and Fisher & Co.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” said Munro with a nod. “Davis, get in touch with a guy called Bryden. I did some work with him a few years ago, I think he’s still with Gangs. See if you can work together in the spirit of cooperation.”

  Davis didn’t look happy at the prospect of going through another squad’s files, but he made a note of the name and didn’t argue. Munro returned to his office, seemingly happy they had a direction to pursue. That left Cooper and Quinn.

  “Where are we up to, boss?”

  “Same place we were ten minutes ago, Joe. We’re going to take a closer look at this Bryce Allen character. You get busy with his alibi, I’ll see what I can find out about the man himself.”

  24

  “Can we talk?” Beth asked Louis once they’d kissed the kids goodnight. It had been a long day, but she knew she owed it to her husband to try and explain why she had to finish the family tree. They hadn’t had a proper conversation since she left to attend the meeting last night with Meg.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re insisting on putting yourself in danger?” They both went into their bedroom, and Beth closed the door while Louis started brushing his teeth in the en-suite.

  “I don’t think I am putting myself in danger, Louis. Meg is there with me, all the bloody time. She’s even helping me with the research. And they’ve got officers watching all of us around the clock.”

  “But they asked you to wait, didn’t they? The police don’t want you doing this, so that means there’s enough of a risk for it to be serious.”

  Beth took her own toothbrush out of the holder and squeezed some toothpaste out of the tube. She couldn’t help but think of Jacob just a few minutes ago squeezing more of the gooey blue stuff out of the kids’ tube than he could possibly need, and sucking it through his teeth from the brush. It tasted good, was his only explanation, and at least it was better than not wanting to brush. She attended to her own teeth before finally answering Louis.

  “The police want to find out who killed Jill and Mr Dorman. I want that too, believe me, but I also want to know why. It must have something to do with whatever was on that memory stick. It’s the only common denominator.”

  “Don’t you think the police want to know why as well?”

  “Yes, but they won’t be concerned with whatever the answer is. What if it’s got something to do with Fisher & Co?”

  “I’m not following you.” Louis began taking off his clothes, folding and placing them neatly on the chair in the corner of the room.

  “If Jill found something incriminating amongst our family’s past, then chances are it has to do with Fisher & Co. What if there’s some kind of scandal in the company’s history? Something that would ruin us now? The Fishers have spent a hundred and forty years building up that business. I’m not sure I can stand back and let the police ruin it.” She came out of the bathroom and stopped to find Louis standing there, stark naked, staring at her. “What?”

  “So you’re saying that Jill found something incriminating against Fisher & Co. She obviously wasn’t going to keep quiet about it, so someone killed her to hush it up. But before she was killed she put whatever it was on a memory stick and gave it to you, but told you not to look at it. You gave it to another person, who looked at it, and now that person is dead too. And now you’re saying that you want to find out what it is so you can keep it quiet to protect the business? You’re not making any sense, Beth.” He put on a pair of boxers and climbed into bed.

  “Well, when you put it like that… Oh, I don’t know. I just feel like I need to find out for myself. I can’t let it go.”

  “So what if you do find out what the big secret is, and it turns out to be something you can’t keep quiet.”

  “I’ll have to deal with that when it happens. But if there is some kind of scandal, wouldn’t it be best for Uncle Robert and David to get the chance to handle it themselves, before the police make it public?”

  “I suppose so, but I don’t like it. Whether you want to admit it or not, you’re putting yourself in danger.”

  “It’s for the family, Louis.”

  “Which family? Fisher & Co? What about us? Me and Em and Jacob? We’re your family, Beth. We’re the ones who’ll have to live with the consequences if anything goes wrong in all this.”

  “Nothing will go wrong. I’ll be careful, I promise.” She climbed into bed beside him and snuggled up. “I miss Jill,” she whispered.

  “So do I.” Louis turned over and flicked off the bedside light.

  * * *

  An hour later Beth was still wide awake, so she crept out of bed and went to the study. She fired up her laptop, wanting to take another look at the progress she and Meg had made on the family tree so far. With Bryce Allen’s help she could get the thing finished and then Louis wouldn’t need to worry anymore. It was just such a pity Bryce was out of town for a week. She imagined the wall chart she was going to get made of the completed tree. One for herself, and one for her parents as well. Every time they looked at it they’d be reminded of Jill, and how passionate she’d been about their beginnings two hundred years ago.

  Beth opened her email account. There were a couple of work-related messages that had come in after she’d left the office. She dealt with them, hoping to stay on top of things so she could continue catching up on other work in the office tomorrow. She was about to shutdown the laptop and go back to bed when a last message came through. It was from a hotmail address she didn’t recognise.

  Stop looking into your family’s past. Two people are dead already. If you don’t want to be next, stop asking questions.

  25

  “You’re in early, boss,” said Quinn, placing a coffee on Cooper’s desk.

  “If you didn’t expect me, why did you bring this?” Cooper replied, taking a sip of the welcomed drink.

  “Never said I didn’t expect you. What are you working on?” Quinn hung his jacket on the back of his chair and sat with more grace than a man of his size should have.

  Cooper leaned back in his chair. “I’m trying to look at this whole thing from a different angle. We’ve got two murders, seemingly unrelated except for the fact that the victims were both researching the same thing.”

  “The Fisher family tree.”

  “That’s right. But nothing about a family tree says murder, does it? Even if it is one of the most successful business families in the city.”

  “Are they?”

  “Yes. I just found this news article about Fisher & Co. They had a big do for the company’s hundred and fortieth anniversary.” He handed Quinn a printed copy.

  “I remember Beth saying something about this,” said Quinn, perusing the article.

  “This was written a month later, it quotes Robert Fisher as saying business has never been better since the party. Looks like it wasn’t just a party — they held a week-long marketing event.”

  “Smart. Give people something for nothing, and hit them with your brand marketing at the same time.”

  “Well it obviously worked for Fisher & Co. It’s still privately owned, but according to this article their reported earnings rose twenty percent in the last quarter.”

  Quinn made a note. “Okay, so the business is doing well. Does that have anything to do with researching the family’s past?”

  “That’s the part I don’t get.” Cooper folded his arms. “But then I was thinking about the document Zach found, the one that mentions Vince Macklin. We assumed it had to do with the family history because it was on the memory stick Jill gave Beth for safe-keeping. But what if her ancestry data wasn’t the only thing on the memory stick? What if there was something else?”

  “Like what?”

  “That’s what I’ve been sitting here trying to work out.” Cooper glanced over at the whiteboard they’d been using to no
te the key elements of the investigation. “Jill worked in the operations department at Fisher & Co. She liaised with Customs, didn’t she?”

  Quinn consulted his notebook. “Customs, port authorities, and something called AQIS.”

  “The quarantine people. Right. What if she found out something she shouldn’t have? Something to do with customs or a port authority? Something to do with Vince Macklin?”

  Quinn’s eyes lit up. Cooper could almost see the cogs turning as his partner finally saw where he was going. “Davis and Saulwick managed to get hold of some of Gang Squad’s files on the Chiefs yesterday,” said Quinn. “They reckon the group runs one of the biggest methamphetamine supply chains in the country, but so far no-one’s been able to get close enough to touch them.”

  “Exactly. What if Jill Fisher stumbled upon proof? What if she put it on a memory stick and gave it to her sister for safe-keeping? The same memory stick Beth gave to Terry Dorman, who found it and saved it to his cloud account?”

  “Shit, boss. We need that document.”

  “You talking about this document?” Zach Ryan knew how to make an entrance. He held a wad of paper aloft as he walked towards their desks, then separated it into two and handed a copy to each of them.

  “This the best you could do?” asked Quinn.

  “It’s good enough,” said Cooper, scanning the document with a growing smile. There were still some sections that were nothing but random letters and symbols, but the technician had managed to clean up enough to get the gist of the document. It was an email, and whoever sent it had not been very happy with whoever he sent it to. “Zach, you’re a genius.”

  “Yes, so I’ve been told.”

  “Can you trace the email account? See if there are any more?”

  “That won’t do us much good, I’m afraid. This email wasn’t actually sent.”