TRACE - CSI Reilly Steel #5 (Forensic novel Police Procedural Series) (17 page)

Chapter 31

Gary was focusing in on the Keating brothers, as Reilly had asked him to.

Now that Rory was back, he didn’t have to devote so much of his time to playing around with people’s computers. He had felt himself getting closer to Lucy, as well, which was another reason to keep going on this case. Something was definitely growing between them, and he just hoped it was more than friendship.

He had asked his buddy in the Justice Department for a list of known aliases on Brendan Keating, but, unlike his brother, it seemed as though the guy didn’t use any.

Gary thought about it some more. It seemed to him that the real key to what had happened to Lucy’s sister was the house in which they had found Grace’s necklace. He shivered. It didn’t bear thinking about that place, really, not when you were all by yourself in the GFU lab late in the evening.

He did a search on the O’Toole house, which was currently up for sale and found its listing details and current valuation. It was set at a really low price, maybe because of the location in a rougher part of the city, or maybe because it had had a police cordon around it for three months. He shot a quick email off to the seller: “Interested in this property. Can you let me have more info? Thanks.”

It was a long shot, but maybe it might drag something up from the depths. At least he still felt as though he was doing something. And it wasn’t a total lie. He was interested in the property, just not in buying it.

It would be nice to get a result on at least one of these cases. He could see the stress of the murder investigations was getting to Reilly. It was wholly unusual for the boss to show any sign of what she was feeling internally, but the last few days she had seemed stretched tight. As always she had too much going on, and though he and the others on the team tried to take some of her load, she was too dedicated to let them do too much.

Despite being told off by Lucy for speculating about Reilly and Detective Delaney, Gary couldn’t help but think that something
had
gone on between them. Delaney, too, seemed even more preoccupied than usual, particularly over the last twenty four hours.

Anyway, no point being here thinking about his colleagues when he should home be in bed getting some shut eye. Reilly set the pace for her team and she was always at work before eight. He often wished for a boss who wasn’t such a morning person, but what are you going to do?

Reilly held the stick with a resolutely still hand. She placed it on the vanity in her bathroom, then went out into the living room to wait.

On a whim, she grabbed a piece of paper and pen and wrote:

“Mr Keating, I am not in the habit of being manipulated by criminals, no matter how good their penmanship may be. However, first and foremost, I try to solve crime. So if you can help me with that, then I guess it’s worth the correspondence.

You ask if I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed by a feeling that you would later not claim to be your own. Of course. This is a very human feeling, one that we are all prey to. It is a human trait to be overwhelmed by rage, passion, grief. But the true mark of being human, I think, is being able to control these behaviors. We are nothing but animals if we do not know how to overcome our baser natures.

You say that you are attempting to rein in your anger, and your letter shows the marks of someone who is coming to self-awareness, perhaps after years of having your mind and thoughts controlled by someone else. So why don’t you believe in the possibility of redemption, or at least of improvement?

I send this letter being sure that it will lead to no good, but it’s true that I want the information you say you have for me. So, try to give some thought to the position this puts me in. Try to think of Grace’s family.”

She went outside and posted it in the nearby letterbox before she could change her mind. If she waited until morning, she knew she would rip it up into pieces.

When she came back from the brisk night air, she headed to the bathroom with determination. She was not one to be afraid, or to turn away from knowledge about herself.

But this was the kind of knowledge she could do without.

Reilly inhaled. There they were, two tiny lines, glowing pink.

Such a small thing, to send someone’s life completely out of control.

Kennedy and Chris met for breakfast the next morning.

‘You know,’ said Kennedy, biting into a huge muffin. ‘I often wish I had been a cop in New York. The food is just great over there. The delis, especially. You’ve never tasted anything like it. Josie wanted to go shopping and I said: “Off you go. Meet me here in six hours.’”

Chris smiled and shook his head. The mushroom incident may have knocked Kennedy for six, but his appetite remained intact. Perhaps it had even grown.

‘Are you all right, mate?’ the big man asked. ‘You’ve been a bit quiet the past few days. I mean, even more so than usual. Job’s not getting to you, is it? Or are you just upset to see my ugly mug back at work again?’

Chris laughed. ‘Nah, nothing like that. Just the flavor seems to have gone out of things lately. I want to get some movement on this case and now it feels like we’re back at square one.’

‘Maybe you should take a few days off. How long is it since you saw the sun, my friend?’

‘About six years,’ said Chris, deadpan. ‘Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that too. Maybe I do need a change of scenery.’

Kennedy was surprised. He hadn’t actually been serious. For as long as he had known Chris, the job had been his life. When he was forced to take time off, he grumbled about it.

‘Not having women troubles, are you?’ From Kennedy’s experience, the one thing that could bring a man down like this was affairs of the heart. He didn't think Chris had been seeing anyone recently, but you never knew.

‘I’m not even going to answer that. You know I lead the life of a monk.’

‘Well, maybe that’s your problem,’ said Kennedy. ‘It’s just not healthy.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ said Chris. ‘I just need to get my head straight. Get something really good on this chef guy.’

‘How did it go with Peroni?’

‘Still nothing out of him. He doesn’t have alibis, but then we don’t have anything to tie him to the scene. Reilly’s got the GFU working round the clock, trying to match up the samples.’

‘Well,’ said Kennedy, ‘in my experience, a man with nothing to hide doesn’t act quite so much like he does.’

‘You’re right,’ said Chris. “Maybe today will be the day when we get the big break.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Kennedy replied, crumbs all over his mouth.

It hadn’t been an easy night for Reilly. In fact, it had probably been one of the worst nights of her life. She found herself identifying even more closely with Naomi Worthington. What were you supposed to do when a bomb like this went off in the middle of your world? A world that you thought you had a pretty good handle on.

She knew that it wasn’t a completely ridiculous idea for her to become a mother. She knew that she had a great capacity for love. She knew that she would be capable.

But she definitely hadn’t seen it happening this way. How could she possibly handle a baby and a career? She was in an important position at the GFU now, the top of her game. If she took time out now, she might never get back to where she was. She might never climb her way up the ladder. She might be reduced from leading the investigations, to being a lackey on someone’s team again, having to suppress her own instinct because she wasn’t the boss.

On top of all of her confusion, Reilly felt a sense of shame. How could she have ignored her body like this? She had been pushing the symptoms aside, repressing any doubts or fears that she had. She was a grown thirty-something woman, supposed to be well in tune with her own body, yet Chris had to be the one to tell her what was actually going on with it.

It was embarrassing.

She had no idea what to do. She would have to keep acting as normal. Getting up, going to work, doing what she always did. But at some point she would no longer be able to hide what was going on, which would in turn lead to a whole lot of very awkward conversations.

Apart from the mess of her feelings, there was the practical side of things to consider as well. She had to make a doctor’s appointment. That’s what you were supposed to do, wasn't it? She was probably supposed to eat lot of iron rich foods, take folic acid, all that stuff. Luckily, she hadn’t been drinking much since her return from Florida, on the one hand because there was little opportunity but on the other, because she had thought it might aggravate her “stomach bug.” What a joke. It was times like these that Reilly most yearned to have her mother back, so that she didn’t have to be tough, or strong, but could just break down and have someone tell her: “It’s going to be all right.” Not that Cassie was ever too good in that department but Reilly guessed such a yearning for a motherly love was only natural at a time like this. Should she tell Mike? Her father would be floored at the very idea …but more to the point, Reilly realized, as a fresh anxiety hit her, what on earth was she going to tell Todd?

She didn’t even know how he felt about children. The relationship hadn’t gone deep enough for that kind of discussion — obviously, or the thought of taking precautions might have occurred to them. But to think that Daniel, her mentor, her long-time father figure, would now in fact be her baby’s grandfather … It didn't seem real and Reilly’s brain hurt to think about it.

So many implications, worries, decisions….

Well, for the moment all she could do is just take each day as it came. It was early days yet, and by her reckoning she couldn’t be more than five weeks into the pregnancy tops. She could only steel herself to get through this as best she could.

She wavered at the thought of Chris, and how to face him, given the breakthrough between the two of them. Just when she’d wondered if there might be something good happening between them; if they might even have a future, now that possibility was ruined for good.

Chapter 32

‘OK,’ said Julius, the next morning at the lab. ‘Brace yourself. I’ve got something for you, and I think you’re going to be happy.’

‘Great,’ said Reilly. ‘I’m all ears.’

‘The DNA we took from Nico Peroni matched some of the trace found in Rose Cooper’s flat
and
Harry McMurty’s.’

‘What about the other two?’ asked Reilly.

Julius looked disappointed. ‘No, nothing from Armstrong and Worthington. No yet, anyway. But this is pretty major, Reilly. Peroni was all over McMurty’s place. I mean, everywhere.’

Reilly felt bad for making these findings feel small. The team had been working so hard lately. ‘It’s great news,’ she said. ‘Really it is. We finally have something to hold the guy on.’

And it was good news. They were one step closer. Peroni fit the bill in so many ways. And yet … no, she wouldn't go there; she wouldn't go down that route. These days Reilly no longer trusted her instincts.

They just had to bring Peroni in and confront him with the evidence against him.

Nico Peroni was in bed when the detectives came for him, and he looked the worse for wear.

‘You’re ruining my life,’ he cried, as he pulled on some trousers.

Gary and Lucy were waiting in the kitchen. They had a warrant to go through the house and look for any other evidence that would help put Peroni in jail. Gary looked down at his feet as the man was led past them, but Chris noticed that Lucy’s eyes bore right into the suspect’s face. He knew that she was thinking of her own sister, and the fate that had befallen her, whatever it was. He wondered what Reilly had done with the new information about the Keating brothers, the discovery that had rattled her enough the other night to send her into his arms.

The ride back to the station felt long, made worse by Peroni’s muffled sobbing in the back. He looked at Kennedy and saw that the older detective had composed his face into a mask. No wonder people thought cops were emotionless, thought Chris. Look at what they had to face every day. There was so much pain in the world. People did each other so much damage, and they kept doing it. Humans had the power to brand others as monsters, and to become monsters themselves. The infliction of pain begat more pain.

He thought of his ex-girlfriend, Mel with a mixture of regret and pity. She had been the complete opposite of Reilly. She was a lively brunette, and he had fallen in love with her because she was kind, compassionate and had a wicked sense of humor. Until all of that, and his life - their life - was ruined by some random scumbag. Now, Mel was a shell of the person she used to be, and Chris could no longer reach her. He looked out the window, wondering why he was thinking about all of this again. He knew why though. It was because he was fairly certain that such happiness was about to be wrenched from underneath him again. At least this time, he hadn’t been in too deep. He wondered if Reilly had taken a test and if his concerns were realized.

If they were, what would happen next? Not with them; Chris knew that ship had no doubt sailed, but how would Reilly cope? He supposed it was none of his business but he knew that something like this would be a major upheaval for a woman like her. Still, again it was none of his business, Reilly had told him as much when he’d made the suggestion.

They pulled up at the station. Chris found he had little appetite for interrogating the falling-to-pieces Nico Peroni yet again, but he would have to do it.

‘We’ve got Peroni in a holding cell, awaiting his lawyer,’ he told Reilly over the phone. ‘Your crew is at his place already.’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘I’m especially interested in his reaction when you confront him with the DNA evidence that we found at the Cooper and McMurty scenes.’

‘You’re not coming in?’

‘No need. We’ve got enough on him.’

Her voice was clipped yet he sensed something underneath her tone, something more fragile. ‘Reilly, are you OK?’

‘I just can’t talk about it right now, Chris. I’m sorry.’ And just like that he knew his worst fears were realized. She’d taken the test; she was pregnant.

‘I’m here if you need to talk,’ he said uselessly.

Somehow, he didn’t think she would be seeking him out any time soon.

Lucy and Gary sometimes played a game when they were searching a house, or an area that didn't require the same concentration as a full-on crime scene. It was called “What do I have in my hand?” Of course, they never played it when the boss was around. That would
not
go down well. But sometimes they found really odd things in places and it was a bit of fun to make each other guess.

They had already done it this morning with a tiny bird skull and a lipstick that had been, according to its display case, Katharine Hepburn’s.

Gary enjoyed being alone on a job with Lucy. Even if they didn’t speak, it just felt good working side by side. ‘Any movement on the cold case?’ he asked her now.

‘I should be asking you that question,’ she replied. ‘No, nothing that I know of. She’s pretty tied up with the Chef investigation of course so I wouldn't expect anything different. I don’t know why she’s stopped the hypnotherapy, though. I really thought that we were getting somewhere.’

‘Maybe she’s just worried about you,’ said Gary. He surveyed the suspect’s bookshelf. He certainly had the library of a killer:
Famous Murders throughout History Grey’s Anatomy, Women and Deadly Secrets.
Added to that he had all of the seasons of
Dexter
on DVD
.
It didn’t mean anything, Gary himself watched
Dexter.
Still, it was a bit weird.

‘She doesn’t need to be worried about me,’ said Lucy, carefully going through the contents of Nico Peroni’s desk drawers. ‘This guy has some really strange stuff. Like this.’ She held up a cross on a silver chain. The cross appeared to be made of bones.

‘Nice,’ said Gary.

‘This place gives me the creeps,’ said Lucy. ‘But anyway, Reilly doesn’t need to be worried about me. I’m fine. I can take care of myself.’

‘Of course,’ said Gary. ‘But I think the boss sees you as a kind of protégée. You’re definitely her favorite.’

‘Don’t be silly.’ She d blushed a little and Gary could tell that she was really pleased with the thought.

He looked around the room. Lucy was right. This place was creepy. All signs pointed to this being the guy. There were huge black and white posters on the walls of women in 1920’s attire, holding weapons.

‘I’ll be glad when we’re finished here,’ he said. ‘Those posters are enough to give me nightmares. In fact, to ward off that likelihood, maybe you’d like to go out later and take in a movie? Nothing scary of course…’

He looked over at Lucy. She wasn’t listening.

‘Gary,’ she said, but her voice wavered. ‘Guess what I’ve got in my hand?’

He looked at what she was holding and automatically took out the phone to call the boss.