Hold Hands in the Dark (10 page)

Chapter 22

T
hey didn’t say another word to each other on the way back to the station. Dani thought she’d give him time to cool off before broaching the issue of his re-training again.

              The DCI went straight to her office and closed the door. There was a message from James on her voicemail. She wanted to listen to it in peace. His mother was feeling much better and the clients happy with his legal argument. He’d be on his way back to Glasgow in the next few days.

              Dani smiled with relief. She wanted him in the flat when she got home at the end of the day. This situation with Phil was exactly the kind of scenario where you needed a partner to spill your guts out to. They’d hold you tight and tell you it wasn’t your fault. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes when Alice knocked at the door.

              ‘Come in!’

              ‘Is this a bad time, Ma’am?’ The DS eyed her boss warily.

              ‘No, go ahead.’

              ‘I’ve been working my way through that list of boyfriends Vicki’s agent supplied us with.’

              Dani pulled out her notes. ‘A name from it cropped up in our interviews this afternoon. Alain Mercier.’

              ‘That’s interesting, because I’ve just come off the phone from him.’

              ‘Take a seat.’

              Alice made herself comfortable. ‘Vicki had a handful of brief love affairs since her divorce but this Alain chap seemed like the most serious of them. I called him at work. He’s the floor manager at one of the opera houses in Paris. Thankfully, his English is very good. He met Vicki in 2011 when she was performing there. They went out to dinner a few times and Alain came to Glasgow and stayed in her house.’

              ‘Did he know that Vicki was dead?’

              ‘No and it seemed to come as a terrible shock. I’m sure it was genuine. He’s staging an opera at the moment anyway and claims he’s not left Paris for weeks, let alone the country.’

              ‘We can get our French colleagues to check that out.’

              ‘Alain says their relationship ended because of the distance between them and their work commitments. I asked if he knew if she was seeing anyone else. He said they’d not been in touch for eighteen months.’

              Dani sighed deeply. ‘Then this lead is also getting us nowhere.’

              Alice shook her head. ‘I don’t know, he did suggest some intriguing things about Vicki.’

              Dani raised an eyebrow.

              ‘I pressed him on why Vicki couldn’t have settled in Paris with him. From looking at her diary for the last five years it seems as if her job was fairly peripatetic. She could have lived anywhere. Alain hesitated to answer at first, but then he said it wouldn’t have worked out. He wasn’t happy with the level of Vicki’s drinking. He’d asked her to seek help but she’d refused.’

              ‘Maybe she did have a serious alcohol problem, or it was escalating in the last few years.’

              ‘It wasn’t just the drink Alain was unhappy about. He said that Vicki drank because of her psychological problems and that she could have gone for professional help but refused. He told her that in this day and age she could get a prescription for these kinds of issues, counselling perhaps. She didn’t have to drink herself to death. Vicki simply dismissed his concerns. I sense that’s why they broke up.’

              Dani sat up straighter in her seat. ‘What kind of problems did she have then?’

              ‘Alain claims that Vicki had a deep, pathological fear of the dark.’

              Dani screwed up her face in puzzlement. ‘What, like a child?’

              ‘Apparently, she was fine when she was busy, performing in concerts or out with friends, but when she got home to the house, Vicki’s fear started to escalate, even alone with her lover she could hardly bear it. Her only solace was to drink. It smoothed away the anxieties and helped her sleep. But Alain said it was getting worse as he knew her, like a terrible dread was creeping up on her and Vicki somehow knew this threat would come at her from the dark.’

              Dani put a hand up to her face. ‘Oh God, that’s exactly what
did
happen. Had Vicki suffered a premonition of her own death, is that why she was so desperately fearful?’

              ‘Or she’d
always
known it was coming,’ Alice commented levelly. ‘When we’re guilty of something awful, aren’t we constantly aware that our sins will eventually catch up with us? There’s really no escape.’

              Dani did not reply, but she felt herself shudder.

Chapter 23

D
ani had decided to clean the flat from top to bottom. She had a woman who came in twice a week, but this didn’t mean that the kitchen cupboards got cleared out or the wardrobes were tidied. She wanted James to understand that she’d made an effort for him. That he’d been missed.

              Her phone started to bleep. There was a message from Sam Sharpe. He and Andy were back from Ayrshire and wanted to meet to discuss developments. Dani looked at her watch, it was only half seven. She could go out for an hour and still finish her chores when she got back.

              Dani changed into jeans and a blouse, pulled on her jacket and headed out of the door.

Sam was seated in a window booth at the Metro Bar in Merchant City. He had a bottled beer placed in front of him and a glass of red for her.

              She slid along the bench opposite, scooping up the drink. ‘Thanks. This place is a bit trendy, isn’t it?’

              ‘I’m a tourist. I just wandered in by mistake.’

              Dani laughed. ‘Where’s Andy?’

              ‘He went straight back home to the girls. I told him I could take it from here.’

              ‘Oh, okay. Fine.’

              ‘He’s been away from them for a couple of nights as it is.’

              ‘Yeah, sure, not a problem.’ Dani cleared her throat. ‘So, what did you find out?’

              Sam filled her in on their discovery about the McNeil clan and its links to Richmond.

              ‘Well, it’s fascinating, but I still don’t see the connection to Dale’s murder. It could simply be a coincidence. That kind of thing happens all the time.’

              ‘That’s true, but the situation may have changed.’ Sam’s expression was grave.

              ‘How do you mean?’ Dani took a gulp of wine.

              ‘I got a call from my department in Richmond today. The landlord of the house where Dale was shot returned to the city. We’d finally released the place back to him. The guy realised he’d have to do a serious clean-up job if he ever wanted to be able to get decent tenants in there again. He’d pulled out all the old fixtures and fittings. A mate of his took a mini digger out in the back yard to tidy the plot up a bit. Short-lease tenants not being known for their landscape gardening.’

              ‘Oh hell.’

              ‘Yep, that’s right. He churned up a human body, then a second one. A man and a woman, late middle-aged. They’d not been down there long; a few weeks, maybe a month at most, according to the medical examiner at the scene. We’re still waiting on the formal PM results.’

              ‘The McNeils.’ Dani finished her wine in a single swig.

              ‘It looks that way. But we won’t know until the ME can perform a proper identification.’

              ‘So it wasn’t John McNeil who killed Dale. Where does this leave your investigation?’

              ‘Somehow I never thought it was the schoolteacher who’d done it. I reckon the McNeils were innocent bystanders who stumbled into a situation that got them killed. As for the investigation, I’ve not got a clue. What I do know is that house is gonna be ripped apart by my officers, piece by piece. If there’s so much as a single rogue hair left in that craphole my team will find it. The landlord’s not gonna have much left to rent when we’ve finished with it.’

              ‘Shit,’ Dani shook her head in frustration. ‘It means you’ll have to go back to the US straight away.’

              ‘Of course.’ Sam took a mouthful of beer, looking his companion directly in the eye. ‘And I want you to come with me.’

*

Dani returned a while later with her round of drinks. ‘Sorry it took so long, the trendier the bar, the worse the service.’

              ‘It’s the exact same in the States, sweetheart, don’t you worry.’ Sam gratefully took the bottle and emptied a quarter of it down his throat.

              ‘Look, I appreciate the invite, but I’ve got the Kendrick murder to handle, and James is due home tomorrow.’ Dani ran a hand through her shoulder length hair, feeling strangely awkward about the whole situation.

              ‘I wasn’t inviting you on vacation, Dani. I want your help to catch these killers. I’m certain the same person that murdered Dale also butchered his sister. The only way to crack this case is to go back to Richmond and find out who put the hit on Dale. I believe it was
me
who brought the killer to Vicki’s doorstep, so the entire investigation revolves around us solving the Virginia crime.’

              Dani sat back against the bench and considered this. ‘We certainly aren’t making much headway here. I can comfortably leave Alice and Phil in charge of the Kendrick inquiry.’

              ‘Does that mean you think I’m right?’

              ‘Oh, sod it. Yes, I do. I’ll have to speak with my DCS but I should be able to get a flight out in the next few days.’

              Sam flashed her that winning grin. ‘Great. I fly back tomorrow so you’d better get packing. I’ll need you on this straight away.’

              Dani smiled back, wondering what the hell she’d just agreed to.

Chapter 24

I
t was sunny but cold. Dani had a view of the James River from her hotel room in downtown Richmond. She’d brought a file of notes on the Kendrick case with her, which was lying on the bed.               Dani winced as she recalled the conversation she’d had with James the previous morning. He’d decided to stay on in Edinburgh until she got back. Dani couldn’t tell if he was pissed off or not. He’d not said much about the fact she’d be working with Sam. There wasn’t much he
could
say, she supposed.

              Her mobile phone started to bleep. There was a message from Sam to meet him at the department at nine. He was sending a cab to pick her up. Dani started opening and closing drawers, looking for the hairdryer, deciding to forget about her personal life for now and focus solely on the case.

*

When Bevan reached the third floor of the Virginia PD Headquarters, she found herself faced with something of a reception committee.

              Sam was dressed smartly, in a dark suit and tailored shirt, open at the neck, but with high, crisp collars.

              ‘This is DCI Dani Bevan from Police Scotland.’ Sam nodded towards his colleagues, ‘Dani, I’d like to introduce you to Detectives Cassie Sanchez and Gabe Kelly. Gabe was with Dale on the callout the night he was killed.’

              Dani stepped forward and shook their hands. Cassie Sanchez was an attractive brunette in her late thirties, amply built but with a very pretty face. The DCI knew this lady had been Dale’s girlfriend before his death. Gabe Kelly was in his forties, tall and fair-haired.

              ‘Since the discovery of the bodies in the back yard, the internal disciplinary inquiry into Gabe’s actions on the night Dale was killed has been dropped,’ Sam explained. ‘I managed to persuade the board that Dale was clearly connected to something going on at that house and had a motive for ordering Gabe to wait outside. Thankfully, I’ve got him back on the case.’

              Dani smiled at the detective. ‘That’s good news. It means we can concentrate on the important stuff.’

              Cassie pulled across some chairs, a determined look on her face. ‘Let’s get started, shall we?’

              ‘Has the Medical Examiner’s report come back on the bodies yet?’ Dani asked.

              ‘Yes,’ Sam replied, opening up a screen on his computer. ‘We are definitely looking at one male and one female cadaver; aged over fifty. Their bodies had been in the ground for three weeks, but the pair had been dead much longer, possibly even a couple of years.’

              Dani crinkled her brow. ‘How come?’

              ‘The ME reckons they were frozen. There’s a large chest freezer in the basement of the house. The techs are testing it right now. It looks like it’d been locked shut for some considerable time.’

             
‘Jesus
. Could the ME identify the original cause of death?’

              ‘Yeah, the flesh had all but decayed to nothing, the process having been sped up by the de-frosting process.’

              Dani grimaced, feeling her stomach churn.

              ‘But the initial wounds damaged the bone, so we can pin-point the cause of death as massive blunt object trauma to the head. Basically, someone bludgeoned them to death.’

              ‘So there would have been blood, and lots of it,’ Gabe put in.

              ‘I suppose we can’t be certain that the house was the original murder site,’ Dani added.

              ‘We may be able to do just that,’ Sam clarified. ‘The techs discovered blood stains in the kitchen. There had been an attempt to clean them up, with powerful detergents, but a certain amount had soaked down into the floorboards. Some of it was Dale’s but certainly not all of it.’

              ‘Can it be tested for DNA?’

              ‘Not the older stuff, but at least we know the murders took place in that house, at around the time the McNeils were tenants there, just before their disappearance in 2014. The ME has used dental records to identify the bodies. It’s definitely John and Rita. The couple never left Richmond at all.’

              ‘But they were planning to,’ Dani continued. ‘They’d both left the jobs they held at local schools.’

              ‘Maybe someone wasn’t keen to let them do that,’ Gabe commented.

              Cassie screwed up her face. ‘So why did Dale get a call to go to the house
two years
after the murders of the McNeils? Who was waiting there for him?’

              ‘That’s the big question, Cassie,’ Sam replied sombrely. ‘The techs have been all over that townhouse. The landlord had already ripped out a lot of the fittings. But there was still DNA everywhere. The problem is, we reckon there’ve been tenants in the place for decades. We haven’t found a match on any of the DNA we’ve run through the system, except for Dale and the landlord, who volunteered a sample for elimination purposes.’

              ‘So the two year old murders took place in the kitchen, then someone took the bodies down into the basement and put them in the chest freezer. Only to bring them out three weeks ago and bury them in the back garden,’ Dani summarized. ‘That’s a week or so before someone lured Dale to the house and shot him. There was no attempt to hide Dale’s body. He was left at the kitchen table to be found. Do we think we’re looking at the same perp in both cases?’

              Cassie’s cheeks flushed up. ‘How could it not be the same perp? When
three
dead bodies turn up in the exact same crime scene?’

              ‘But two years apart and with different M.O.s,’ Dani persisted. ‘I’m not saying the crimes aren’t connected, I’m just suggesting we keep an open mind as to whether we’re looking at more than one perp, that’s all.’

              Sam rubbed at his freshly shaved chin, which still bore some tell-tale nicks from the razor. ‘Dani’s right. We haven’t explained the two year gap yet. The first place we need to start is with Dale. His phone records, computer hard drive and apartment need to be taken apart.’ Sam turned to Cassie. ‘I won’t ask you to do that, Detective Sanchez, but I want you to tell Gabe everything you can recall about Dale in the weeks leading up to his death – who he spoke to, what his mood was like, absolutely anything that springs to mind, however trivial.’

              Cassie nodded her head, trying to keep her emotions in check. ‘Sure, Chief. I’m onto it.’