Taboo (22 page)

‘Yes. At first I wondered if the killer might have fed the victim some of his flesh but then I figured that this would be too risky – he wouldn’t leave anything of his that might track him down through blood or DNA etcetera. So I got to thinking, if this particular piece of flesh wasn’t from the killer, where did he get it?’

‘Good point.’

‘So I analyzed it further, and looking at it more closely, recognized what looked to me like some latent crystalline fibers …’

‘Crystalline
fibers?’

‘Yes.
Which later turned out, as I suspected, to be water crystals, which suggested that the sample wasn’t necessarily fresh and had at some point been frozen.’

Daniel was unrestrained in his praise.
‘An excellent spot in my opinion.’

Reilly nodded, thinking the same thing. And what she liked most about this was that Lucy had done all of this on her own steam without needing to consult with her superiors beforehand. This boded well for the role of the GFU.

‘So I asked the ME’s office to take a look at the Ryan and Redmond autopsy reports, in case he may have taken it from one of those victims and frozen it until he was ready to use it.’ Her eyes shone with exhilaration. ‘You know the way you’re always telling us never to rule out a hunch, however crazy it might seem?’

Daniel was smiling. ‘Sounds like good advice.’

‘It’s good thinking, Lucy, that’s what is. So was the ME’s office any help?’ Reilly urged. ‘Did the sample come from one of those victims?’

‘Well, yes, it seems it did. But oddly, not from the ones I’d considered. Dr Thompson called me herself this morning. I was going to tell you, but first I wanted to lay it all out properly in my report …’

‘What do you mean “not from the ones you’d considered”?’

Lucy looked mightily pleased with herself. ‘Well, I’d mentioned the sample’s crystalline elements in the request, and when Dr Thompson called to ask me about that, I told her what I was looking for.’

‘And?’

‘This morning, she told me that she’d asked her office to widen the search and they’d matched the sample to a victim from another
ongoing investigation – an identified floater from a couple of weeks back. I believe Detectives Delaney and Kennedy have been working on it.’

Reilly was dumbstruck, but in a good way. ‘That’s a fantastic find, Lucy. I’m sure they’ll be hugely grateful.’

The younger girl smiled. ‘Thanks, although I guess it also means we have yet another victim to add to the taboo killer’s list, doesn’t it?’ she added, her tone suddenly grave.

‘Even so, that was excellent work, young lady,’ Daniel pointed out.

‘Absolutely,’ Reilly agreed. ‘I’m going to call the detectives and advise them of this right away. In the meantime, keep up the good work.’ Reaching the doorway she turned back to Daniel, who was looking thoughtful. ‘Aren’t you coming?’

‘You go ahead,’ he said, distractedly. ‘I’m going to talk to some more to your staff, see if there’s anything else that might be helpful for my profile.’

Reilly shrugged. ‘Sure.’

Leaving the lab, she returned to her office, looking forward to giving Chris and Kennedy the heads-up on this latest piece of information. Although the lab’s discoveries weren’t exactly going to break the case wide open, this new information was yet another glimpse, a brief insight into the world of the deranged killer they were tracking.

O’Brien was wrong; they were learning more and more about this guy by the hour and Reilly was determined that by the time they were finished, there would be no safe place for the taboo killer to hide.

It was the following morning before Chris returned Reilly’s numerous calls. ‘Reilly, sorry I was late home last night and just got your messages now.’

He sounded tired, she noted, and wondered what he might have been doing. Maybe blowing off steam with Kennedy in a bar or something, although she remembered him mentioning before that he didn’t drink much. A first for a homicide detective, and an Irish one at that, she thought wryly, then she berated herself for the lazy stereotyping

‘Well, firstly I have some new information on your unidentified floater
and
I think we might have found out more about this guy’s whereabouts—’

‘Actually, I was just about to call you,’ Chris interjected. ‘It looks like we’ve found the missing crime scene.’

Reilly was stunned. ‘What – where?’

‘A couple of uniforms reported something out by the airport earlier this morning. Kennedy’s on his way there now, but I’ve got
erm … something else to do before I can get down there.’ By the halting tone of his voice, she understood that he’d evidently decided to see someone about his condition, but understandably he couldn’t confide this in earshot of everyone at the station.

‘I understand. Good luck with that.’ Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Daniel come into the room. ‘I’ll rustle up a crew here in the meantime and see you down there later?’

‘Yes, I was going to cancel but the witness I’m seeing could only see me this morning.’ Chris was clearly trying to justify his absence to someone in close proximity.

‘Well, you do what you have to do; I’m sure Kennedy can hold the fort until you get there. Can you give me some idea of what to expect – from the crime scene, I mean?’ she said and she saw Daniel raise an interested eyebrow.

‘Pair of teenage boys,’ he confirmed. ‘They’ve been missing for just under a week, everyone had assumed they had run away to London or somewhere.’

‘Sounds like they should have.’

‘Yep. Look, I’d better go. I’m sure I’ll see you down there, but if not we’ll catch up later.’

‘Hold on a sec,’ she interrupted, seeing Daniel gesturing in the background. ‘Daniel’s here and I think he wants to talk to you.’

‘OK, put him on.’

‘Detective Delaney?’ the profiler said, smoothly. ‘I’m just putting the finishing touches to my official profile and I’d like to discuss a couple of things with you before I do. I realize this is a very busy time but if you could spare me a moment I’d appreciate it.’

‘Right. Well, why don’t you pop over now? I have to leave for a meeting at eleven, but I could fit in a few minutes before then.’

‘If you don’t mind, Detective – it’s just there’s just something specific about the investigation that I’d like your opinion on,’ he said, and Reilly looked at him, realizing that by engineering a one-to-one with Chris, Daniel was expertly making sure that the rest of the investigation team didn’t feel
sidelined by his appearance. While it was customary for him to speak to investigators in detail before signing off on a profile, Reilly knew that she was providing him with all the information he needed on the killer, and this was more of a shrewd co-operative move on his part. But more to the point, she knew that Chris would appreciate it and rather than feel threatened by Daniel, would instead be much more open to his participation.

‘OK, fine. Talk to you soon.’

‘Thanks, Detective. I look forward to speaking with you,’ he said, before hanging up the phone.

‘Nice move, Forrest,’ Reilly quipped, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she realized exactly what he was up to.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he replied, smiling. ‘Just doing my job and making sure everybody’s on the same page.’

The crime scene was as unappealing as any other. The two boys were found in an old battered blue Ford Transit owned by one of them. They had been dead for a while, and even in a chilly Dublin spring the decomposition was advanced enough to make the inside of the van a very unpleasant place.

Karen Thompson was in discussion with Kennedy when Reilly arrived. ‘Looks like this one’s more than a few days old,’ she told Reilly.

‘Were you able to ascertain time of death?’

‘Not yet,
decomp is too far advanced for that. And as for cause … nothing obvious but there are indeed needle marks, which could well be from our pentobarbital-happy friend. I’ll be able to rule that in or out once I’ve run the tox screen.’

‘Cheers,’ Kennedy mumbled, miserably.

Karen picked up her bag. ‘I’ll put a rush on it and let you know as soon as I have something.’

‘Appreciate it,’ replied Reilly. She turned to Kennedy. ‘Shall we?’

The van had somehow survived thirty-odd years of hard work and neglect. Between the rust and the dents and the half-hearted re-sprays it was a sorry sight – the perfect vehicle for a pair of teenage boys to use and abuse.

Rather than head straight inside it, Kennedy walked slowly round the outside of the van, Reilly beside him.

‘Think it’s our guy?’ he asked, quietly.

She shrugged. ‘The Doc seems to think it might be.’

They paused, staring at the front of the van, its cracked windscreen, a dirty pair of black and white fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror.

‘Kids … businessmen … old folks … what’s the connection?’ Kennedy asked, having filled her in on what little they’d learned from the homeless man. ‘Does he know these guys beforehand or what?’

‘I’m not sure there is a relationship of any kind,’ Reilly said, making a note to talk to Daniel about the charity angle. ‘I think he simply tracks down someone who meets his criteria. Daniel thinks he’s a watcher,’ she added, thinking about their conversation earlier.

‘Great,
If that’s the case, the asshole could be around here now watching us, couldn’t he?’

In the windscreen of the van Reilly looked at the reflection of the surrounding buildings. It was a rundown industrial area full of abandoned warehouses, their broken windows looking back at them like toothless homeless people.

‘I certainly hope not.’ She put a gloved hand on the door handle. ‘Let’s check this out.’

The GFU team were nearby – they had waited patiently, already knowing better than to disturb Reilly when she was talking to the police.

‘Lucy, you take the outside of the van. Gary, check the area around here – this is a pretty deserted spot.’ She glanced involuntarily up at the windows around them again then back at him. ‘Take a uniform with you – check if any of these buildings are unlocked.’

‘What am I looking for?’

‘Anywhere accessible that overlooks this site – if you find somewhere, look for any sign that someone has been there.’

‘Got it.’

Gary headed off and began explaining what he needed to one of the attending officers at the scene. Reilly watched him and couldn’t help but smile – he’d picked the
biggest uniform he could find. Lucy meanwhile, had her kit open and was already taking photos of the outside of the van.

‘You’ve done a good job with them,’ Kennedy observed, quietly.

She turned, surprised by the unexpected praise. ‘They’re a good group.’

‘They still needed training though.’

Reilly shrugged. ‘Just needed someone to awaken their instincts.’

They peered in the van. The two boys were naked, stacked one on top of the other. If it was the work of their killer, this time it was pretty obvious what he’d had them do.

‘Jesus, how does he get people to do these things?’ Kennedy said, sucking air through his teeth. ‘I’ve met some persuasive types, but this one really takes the biscuit …’

‘The threat of death can be very persuasive,’ Reilly replied. She climbed up and squatted in the van, Kennedy right behind her.

‘Want me to wait out here while you have a sniff around?’ he said.

She couldn’t help but smile. ‘You know, you really should think about trying some touchy-feely stuff yourself sometime; you might surprise yourself.’

‘That’s what the wife keeps telling me,’ he replied with a grin and Reilly shook her head indulgently.

She closed her eyes, trying to picture the scene.

The killer was in the back of the van with the two boys, there was an old mattress, a couple of grubby blankets, speakers from the van’s stereo fixed to the ceiling. They were … they were …

‘Anything coming to you?’ he asked, this time without cynicism.

She opened her eyes. ‘Could be the female accomplice we wondered about. Maybe she let the boys pick her up, knowing they had the van.’ She gestured to the mattress, the blankets, the speakers. ‘This was their little love nest, a place they brought girls.’

‘And our guy knew about it.’

‘Right. He needed two guys who weren’t homosexual to fit the taboo – there would be no fun if it wasn’t abhorrent them to.’

‘Good point. What else?’

Reilly tried to picture it in her mind. ‘Maybe she would pick them up, tempt them with an offer of a threesome, something like that. Then, when they got started – I think she’d let them have some fun for a while, knowing all the time that she was in control. Then he’d show up—’

‘And turn the tables?’

‘Exactly. It feeds directly into that need for risk, excitement, control … and in the end the taboo act itself – ultimate control.’

Kennedy looked around inside the van. ‘Didn’t leave us much this time, did he?’

‘No, and that’s worrying me a little.’

‘Why? He knows that by now we’d identify it as his work, so why bother leaving anything extra?’

‘Because he has done so far.’

He looked at her. ‘You think there’s something we’re missing?’

‘Either missing or haven’t found yet.’ She looked around. ‘Remember, based on the clue left at the lab, this one is supposed to have happened before the Miles women, and that one had a very clear Freudian message.’

Kennedy shone a torch around the gloomy interior of the van. ‘Not much space in here to hide something though.’

‘There are plenty of ways to hide something if you want to make it hard to find.’

Their conversation was suddenly disturbed by Reilly’s phone. She glanced at the display and saw that it was Gary. She stepped out of the van and looked up at the surrounding buildings, wondering where he was. ‘What’s up?’

‘I’m in the warehouse - there’s something up here you need to see,’ he said, sounding breathless.

‘Give me a second; I’ll be right there.’

Kennedy looked at her, expectantly. ‘He found something?’

She nodded. ‘Don’t tell me you’re surprised.’

‘I’ll keep going here – you go and see what it is.’

Minutes later, Reilly pushed open the broken door of an abandoned warehouse – it was just a few meters up the road from the van and would have a perfect view of the grounds. A set of dusty stairs took her up to the third floor, where the uniform waited at the top of the stairs to meet her.

‘In here,’ he said, somewhat unnecessarily, pointing at the only open door.

Reilly stepped into a huge dusty storage room. Abandoned boxes of files and papers littered the floor, and a rat quickly scuttled away into the shadows as she walked over toward the window where Gary stood.

‘What have you got?’

He pointed out the window. ‘Look.’

Reilly stood beside him and peered out through a broken window at the van, two stories below them. Her blood ran cold as she read the words, painted carefully onto the roof:

‘To lose one parent is unfortunate. To lose both is carelessness.’

Oh Christ
….

Reilly snatched her phone from her pocket and quickly punched in her father’s number. It rang, cold and harsh in her ear, once … twice … three times … and then on and on without an answer.

‘Shit!’ She darted from the room, her heart hammering, and charged down the old wooden stairs, her footsteps echoing through the building as her feet threw up clouds of dust. She stormed out of the building, eager to get back to Kennedy, and ran into the one person in the world she least wanted to see.

Jack Gorman stood blocking her path. And the head of the forensic unit clearly wasn’t at all happy about being summoned home early from his anniversary cruise.

‘What the bloody hell is going on here?’ he demanded. He was a small man with a sharp face and the bluster such men often wore to cover up for their insecurities.

‘Gorman?’
Reilly gasped, both amazed and horrified to see him standing in front of her. ‘I didn’t realize you were coming back so soon—’

‘Didn’t have much of a choice, did I?’ he snorted.
‘What with the shenanigans that have been going on in my absence.’ He pointed accusingly at the GFU van. ‘And what do I find? Young Lucy processing a crime scene and Gary running around like he’s in an episode of
Miami
-bloody
-Vice
!’ His face was almost puce – he looked in danger of exploding. ‘It’s like the whole place has gone mad since I left. This isn’t how we do things, Steel.’