Exit Wounds (14 page)

Richard’s thoughts kept returning to that one name. Giacometti. He knew it was probably an alias, but it was still his only lead.

After he had brought his brother home and introduced Uncle Paul to his two nephews, Richard had returned to work. It was the first time since he’d been back that Colgan and he had the chance to speak. His boss wasn’t sure about him coming back to active duty so soon after the shooting. Richard told Colgan that he would have thought he’d welcome all the help he could get with this Blind Lover, as the papers were starting to call him, still on the loose. Tony had claimed the original homicide as his own case but the murders had become such a priority that Colgan was now leading point on the investigation personally with the entire team behind him.

Richard was just playing Colgan so that he would allow him to stay in play. He had no intention of playing an active role in the Blind Lover investigation. It wasn’t that he didn’t care. It was just that this Plug case was too big to ignore and in the last month he had made more progress on his own than the combined efforts of the national S.O.C.A.. If they weren’t going to do anything about it, he would.

“Richard!”

Richard turned suddenly at the sound of his name, “What?”

“I’ve been talking to you for the last fifteen minutes and you haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?” Jade was sat in bed, dressed in a night gown with the blankets over her and a baby book rested on her lap.

Richard shook his head, “Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing, I’m fine.” He walked back over to the bed and climbed in, resting his head back on the pillows. “What were we talking about?”

Jade sighed, “Baby names. I was asking what you think of Declan?”

“As in Donnelley?” Richard cringed. “No thank you.”

Jade laughed, and slumped down closer to him. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Richard nodded, “I’m fine.”

“You haven’t been yourself lately,” Jade told him. Her eyes floated down to his torso, the edge of one of his scars was just visible under his vest. She reached out and rubbed his chest, “Maybe Andrew’s right, it is too soon. You’re still entitled to more leave. You could spend more time at home. Help me decorate the baby room.”

Richard chewed on his tongue. “I’ll think about it,” he said. He turned out his bed side light and slumped down under the covers onto his side.

Jade watched his back rise and fall for a moment and then turned her own light off too.

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Richard knew he had to say something to Jade. As he walked downstairs the next morning he reflected on their conversation the night before. He was keeping her at arms lengths and it was starting to affect their relationship. He wanted to tell her the truth and explain why he was so preoccupied recently, but he didn’t think she would understand. She would ask him to stop. He couldn’t stop.

Jade was in the kitchen hunched over the stove, frying eggs and bacon, standing further back than usual from the cooker to mind her growing bump. Adam was already in his school greens and was teasing his younger brother. Simon thumped the tabletop with his chubby fists in frustration. Jade turned at the commotion and told the boys to behave. She spotted Richard by the door and smiled. He smiled back thinly.

Richard had told himself before he had met Jade that if he were to ever get married, he would never abuse or mistreat his family the way his father had. Yet now he was sure that even inadvertently he was finding his own way of hurting those he loved.

Jade brought the pan over and pushed some bacon and eggs on to Richard’s plate.

“Hey, what about the rest?” Richard asked.

“Paul’s gotta have something to eat and I haven’t had the chance to go to the shops yet to buy extra,” Jade said.

“He doesn’t eat fried bacon anyway. Has to be grilled.” Richard snatched an extra slice of bacon off the pan, waving his hand as he burnt his fingers.

“There, that’ll teach you.”

Adam and Simon giggled.

“What you two laughing you at?” Richard poked out his tongue and turned back to the bacon on his plate. “Where is Paul anyway?”

“Still in his room I think,” Jade said, dishing out the rest of the eggs and bacon on a second plate. She snatched a piece of toast from her own plate and grimaced. It was cold. “I’ll give him a shout now.”

Richard finished his mouthful. “He’s not upstairs. I checked on my way down. I thought he was down here with you.”

Jade shook her head, “I haven’t seen him all morning.”

Richard put down his fork. He was just about to get up when the door bell rang. Jade left the kitchen and went to answer the door.

“Paul!” she exclaimed.

“Sorry,” Richard listened to Paul’s voice apologise. “I didn’t have a key to get back in.”

“I’ll get Richie to have one cut for you. You look freezing! Come get some breakfast.”

Paul emerged into the kitchen. His face was pale and his cheeks flush. He pulled down his jumper’s hood and smiled awkwardly, “Alright?”

Richard nodded back, “Where you been?”

Paul sat himself down and Jade pushed the plate in front of him, with a knife and fork. “Just went for a run. I was up early.”

“Why? You off anywhere special?”

Paul looked up from his breakfast, he swallowed his mouthful before speaking. “No. I just woke up early.”

Jade nodded her head in Paul’s direction, “I thought you said he doesn’t eat fried bacon. He’s tucking into that lot alright!”

Suddenly aware of himself, Paul slowed down his chewing. He smiled again. “Sorry. It’s the training. Eat whilst you can, because you don’t know when your next chance might be.”

“Don’t apologise,” Jade said. “At least you’re aware there’s more than just using a fork to eating with cutlery.”

Paul looked over to Richard who was busying himself, cutting up a sausage with just a fork, his knife left untouched on the side. Jade and Paul laughed.

Jade picked up a mug of tea and wrapped both her hands round it and took a sip. “So what are your plans for today, Paul?”

“I, um, I don’t really know. Do you need a hand doing anything? Shopping? Washing maybe?”

Jade shook her head. “I’m dropping Adam off at school and then me and Simon are going round to see my friend Jess and her son, Tommy. You can come too, if you like, but I can’t imagine you’d have much fun talking to us mums,” she laughed. “Why don’t you take him to work with you, Richie? Show him round the office?”

Richard’s face dropped. Quickly he said, “He’d be just as bored as he would be listening to you and Jess talk about tampons and shit!”

“Mommy, what’s tampons?” Adam asked.

“A very naughty word. Finish your breakfast.”

“It’s ok, I’ll find something to do,” Paul said.

“Don’t be daft! Richie, stop being an idiot and take your brother out! You can afford to mitch off a couple of hours for one day, all the late nights you’ve been putting in.”

“Alright! Alright!” Richard rolled his eyes, tossing the last piece of bacon down the back of his throat. He got up, flung his coat over his shoulders and walked round the table to kiss each of his sons on the top of their heads and pecked Jade on the lips. He tapped Paul on the shoulders. “Come on, bro. Let’s roll.

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“So where’d you go this morning?” Richard had asked his brother once they were alone in the car.

Paul shrugged, “Just went for a run round the estate.”

“Bit early ain’t it?”

Paul shook his head, “I just woke up early. Old habits you know.”

Richard nodded as though agreeing but asked, “So where’d you really go?”

Paul looked up from his hands at his brother who in turn glanced away from the road. Paul smiled and shook his head, looking back out the window. “I went to see mum.”

“How’d you get in? The crematorium doesn’t open till nine.”

“Just vaulted the gate.”

Silence filled the next few minutes as Richard busied himself with driving and Paul found stuff to look at through the passenger side window.

“Have you seen him recently?” Paul asked, finally breaking the silence. He didn’t bother to look at his brother.

“Adam got sent a birthday card this year. It had the wrong age and it wasn’t written in. I don’t have much to do with him to be honest.”

Paul nodded, “Yeah.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah.”

Richard focused on the road and decided not to push the subject any further.

The rest of the journey was silent, and it was only when they pulled into the M.I.T. underground car park that Richard spoke again. “Here we are. This is where I work.”

Paul climbed out of the car and looked round before turning back to Richard, “You work in a car park?”

“Very funny, bitch. I work upstairs. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Paul followed Richard across the parking area to a lift with a blank metal plate with no buttons below a small rectangle with a black film over it. Richard pulled out a plastic card from his wallet and held it up to the black area. There was a small beep and then the doors slid open and they stepped inside.

Walking down the corridors of M.I.T. with his brother, it was clear to Paul that Richard wasn’t comfortable with him being there. Paul couldn’t say he was overjoyed either. He didn’t really have any desire to see the inside of another police station. He had seen his fare share back when he had stolen cars as a teenager.

“I need to get my prescription changed, I’m seeing double.”

Paul was ashamed to admit that he hadn’t even noticed the man walk up to Richard and him. He was tall, with blonde hair, and something about him commanded authority.

The man extended his hand, “You must be Paul. I’m Andrew Colgan.”

Paul shook his hand. “How you doing?”

“He’s the boss round here,” Richard told him, confirming Paul’s initial impression.

Colgan laughed. “Richard’s one of our best men, even if he does keep ignoring my request for him to take some leave every once in awhile. Honestly though, we could do with a few more like him. Say, you’re not looking for a job now are you? We’ve still got a lot of spaces to fill in our Armed Response Units, and with your training-”

“Hey, give my brother a break,” Richard cut in. He gave a little laugh, but it held no warmth. “I mean he just got back. He’s gonna want to enjoy being a lady of leisure for a bit before he thinks about doing anything.”

Paul looked at his brother. He didn’t know how much his brother had told his colleagues about him but it was clear that he had left Paul’s reasons for living the service out of any conversations. If Colgan had known he would know that Paul could never work in a combat situation again.

Paul’s line of thought was broken by the sound of ringing.

Colgan reached inside his pocket and retrieved his mobile phone. After a few seconds, every feature on his face fell. “I’m on my way.”

“What is it?” Richard asked once Colgan had finished the call.

Colgan let out a long sigh, “They’ve found another body. Victim number eleven.”

19.47 BST (British Summer Time)

Three Months Ago

Cardiff. Wales. Great Britain.

M.I.T. (Murder Investigation Taskforce), Cardiff Branch

Colgan was just shutting down his computer and clearing his desk before heading home when the door to his office opened.

He shook his head. “John, it’s a bit a late in the day to be making house calls isn’t it?”

Zeddemore shrugged, his arms folded. “The department never sleeps. Even if you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Colgan straightened up. Zeddemore’s games of verbal sparring often grew tedious. Colgan was old school. He wasn’t scared of confrontation and he preferred to get straight to the point rather than spend hours dancing with another man.

Zeddemore stepped forward, “Fourteen, Andrew. That’s fourteen young girls this monster has killed in the last five months. Do you know of any of killer in British history having such a large body count in such a short space of time? I think you’d be hard pushed to find any killer in the world who slaughters with such recurrence and relentlessness! And you’ve still yet to come up with any strong leads!”