The Darkness Beneath, page 23
‘Cutler.’
It was still dark out and she glanced at the alarm clock as the caller spoke, noted it was nearly one thirty so assumed it was probably Tommy or one of the other deputies.
‘Newt, slow down; you’re not making sense. Start from the beginning.’
The mention of her brother’s boyfriend’s name had Nell bolting up. Why would Newt be calling at this time of night? Neither he nor Michael would call unless it was an emergency, and the fact it wasn’t Michael calling had her heart leaping into her mouth.
‘What’s going on?’ she demanded, grabbing Alex by the shoulder, annoyed when he shook her off. ‘What’s happened?’
He didn’t answer her, instead getting out of bed and reaching for his clothes. ‘Okay, wait for the ambulance. I’m on my way,’ he instructed Newt, shrugging into his jeans.
Ambulance? What the hell had happened?
Nell clambered from the bed, grabbed her robe, belting it as she stalked Alex round the bedroom. He didn’t turn to face her until he ended the call.
Dread coiled in her belly as she took in his grave expression.
‘What’s happened to my brother?’ Her voice sounded calmer than she expected, given her insides were like jelly and she felt like she wanted to throw up. ‘Tell me. What’s happened?’
‘Someone attacked him over at the storage unit he works out of.’
‘Is he okay?’
‘Ambulance is on its way.’
Nell sucked in a deep breath, held it. He had to be okay. He just had to. The thought of anything happening to him was unbearable. She shuddered, not prepared to even let her mind go there.
‘I need to go meet Newt. I want you to stay here and keep the doors locked.’
‘What? No… I’m coming with you.’
‘Nell, it’s a crime scene. I –’
‘I don’t give a shit. He’s my brother. I’m coming with you.’ When Alex clenched his jaw, looked ready to argue the point, Nell gave him a steely look. ‘If you leave here without me I’ll get in my car and follow. You can’t stop me.’ She crossed her arms defiantly.
He narrowed his eyes, looking annoyed as he considered her ultimatum.
‘Okay,’ he relented. ‘Hurry up and get dressed.’
They drove out to the site in silence, the only noise coming from the radio. Alex seemed distracted, caught up in his own thoughts, and Nell was conscious of him drawing into himself, shutting her out. Although it bothered her, Michael was her only priority right now, and she pushed the uneasiness aside, focusing on her brother, desperately needing him to be okay.
When they arrived at the site fifteen minutes later, Newt was with the paramedics. Nell was out of the Jeep before Alex had fully pulled to a halt. She grabbed hold of him. ‘What the hell happened?’
‘Someone attacked him, Nell.’ Newt’s face was pale, his eyes tearstained. ‘He went to get his jackhammer and when he didn’t come home, didn’t answer his phone, I knew something was wrong.’
‘Where is he?’
As she asked the question more paramedics stepped out of the storage unit carrying Michael on a gurney.
‘Michael?’
One of the paramedics caught hold of her arm. ‘We need to get him to the hospital.’
‘Is he going to be okay? He’s not moving.’
‘We’re doing everything we can.’
Nell glanced back at Alex. ‘I need to be with him.’
He nodded, but said nothing, his expression grim and distant. She waited a beat, wanting him to say something, tell her it was going to be okay, but there was only silence. Frustrated by his sudden coldness, dread coiling in her belly for Michael, she made her way to the ambulance.
*
Alex spoke briefly with Newt and the paramedics before watching the ambulance drive away. Nell had shot him a look before the doors shut, as she sat in the back of the vehicle, holding onto her brother’s hand. Alex hadn’t reacted, knowing she was safe, and needing time to himself to process everything that had happened. Two of his deputies were waiting inside, having already sealed off the crime scene, and he got them to talk him through what they had so far, pushing all thoughts of Nell from his mind. His best friend had been attacked tonight and the call from Newt had stirred up unwelcome memories of the last time he had received bad news about someone he cared about. He tried to push them away, focus on the job at hand, but the past kept gnawing at him as he worked, grinding on the edge of his temper.
It was almost dawn when he finally left the storage unit and, as he made his way home, the sun rose in a sky of orange and yellow hues. Normally Alex would have appreciated the view, but this morning it only managed to darken his mood.
He walked and fed the dogs, mind working overtime as he tried to piece the previous night’s events together. Michael had headed over to the storage unit wanting to load up his truck, which suggested he had disturbed whoever had attacked him.
They would need to do an inventory of the place, but it was looking like the motive had been robbery and Michael had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Alex grabbed a shower and a change of clothes before heading into work, stopping to pick up coffee before skulking into his office and calling the hospital. The update did nothing to lighten his mood. Michael had sustained a fractured skull and had swelling on the brain. He was about to go into surgery and the doctor promised he would be in touch as soon as he had any news. He felt guilty not being at the hospital, but it was a waste of his time to be sitting around waiting for Michael to come out of surgery. Better to be working on catching the son of a bitch who did this.
There had been no prints at the scene, suggesting the attacker had been prepared enough to wear gloves, but that was at odds with the amateurish way the lock had been smashed on the door. If it was robbery the stolen goods would be hot property and word would quickly spread around the island. Nothing about any of this added up.
Needing to focus on something else for a moment to give his addled brain a break he glanced at the jotter pad where he had scribbled the name Sarah Treadwell. He had intended to check her out, if only to put Nell’s mind at rest, but things had been too busy. Tommy’s reaction had bothered him though. He ran the search, expecting it to offer answers, but instead found himself frowning at the screen. Sarah Treadwell had worked for Bella Golding in the summer of 2005, but after she left the island it was as though she ceased to exist. There were no further employment records, no new addresses. She was a ghost.
Alex turned his thoughts to Nell. Generally when people disappeared it was because they were running from something or someone. Had Sarah been fleeing someone on the island? His cellphone started to ring. Alex recognized the caller as one of his deputies, Josh Hudson, who had been working with the coastguard. Sarah Treadwell would have to wait. This was more important. He clicked off the screen, answered the call. ‘Josh, what have you got?’
The deputy’s voice came over the line, sounding excited. ‘I think we may have the rest of Penelope Maher.’
‘You’ve found her?’
‘We’ve found more than her. There’s another woman’s body – well parts of one at least.’ Josh paused, catching his breath. ‘Jesus, Chief, I think we might be dealing with something big here.’
*
‘You should have called me sooner.’
Nell glanced up at the voice as Luke rushed into the waiting room where she and Newt had spent several uncomfortable hours. As Newt rose, crumpling into fresh tears, Luke hugged him fiercely.
‘It was the middle of the night. No point in us all being up worrying.’ Nell answered him, getting to her feet and stretching, every muscle in her body aching from both the tension of the situation and the hardness of the chair. Her tone was dull, her mood black, worry about her brother taking precedence, but annoyance and worry gnawing away that Alex hadn’t been in touch for hours. She understood he was the chief of police and had to work the crime scene, but the complete lack of contact bothered her. She had felt a wall going up as they drove over to the storage unit and it pissed her off, not so much because Michael had warned this would happen, but because she had told herself it wouldn’t matter, and it did.
She didn’t protest when Luke pulled her into the hug, tightening his arm around her, appreciative of his support. ‘You still should have called. I would rather have been here with you guys,’ he told her. ‘Is Michael in surgery?’
Newt nodded, stepping back and sniffing. ‘Yeah, we’re waiting on news. The doctor says he’ll let us know as soon as he’s out.’ His eyes were raw from crying and Nell felt a twinge of guilt that she had yet to shed a tear. It wasn’t she didn’t care – hell, Michael was her only family and she loved him to bits; the possibility of losing him terrified her – but she had never been good at expressing emotion, tended to keep her feelings bottled up. Bella had once commented it was a fear of leaving herself vulnerable and exposed and Nell often wondered if that was why she had the panic attacks; that it was those very emotions that she tried to keep in check fighting their way out.
‘What the hell happened?’
‘Someone attacked him over at the storage unit. It looks like he disturbed a robbery.’
‘Jesus, Newt.’ Luke scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘Who would do something like that?’
‘Alex is trying to find out.’
Nell noticed Luke’s face tighten at the mention of Alex’s name. Although he hadn’t said anything on the couple of occasions she had seen him since it had become public she and Alex were involved, she couldn’t help suspect he disapproved.
Was it for the same reasons as Michael – perhaps he was concerned Alex was going to hurt her further down the line – or had she mistaken his interest in her? She had assumed he was only interested in friendship, had relished the opportunity to get to know him better given their brothers were in a relationship. Had Luke wanted more?
He had been in a relationship when they first met and seemed broken-hearted that Stacey had left him. Nell was tired, she was stressed, and she was misreading the situation. Luke was friends with Alex and his interest in her was platonic. She told herself to chill.
She glanced at her watch, noted it was almost midday. She had been awake for hours and would likely be at the hospital for a lot longer. It was time for another shot of caffeine.
‘I’m going to get coffee. Do you guys want one?’
Returning to the waiting room ten minutes later, balancing the three plastic cups between her hands, her heart leapt into her mouth as she spotted Doctor Singh talking to Newt and Luke.
‘Has something happened?’
The doctor turned at her voice, gave Nell a warm smile. ‘Your brother is out of surgery. We managed to successfully reduce the swelling and he is currently resting.’
‘Is he going to be okay?’
‘We are going to need to keep him in for a while, but he’s stable and we’re doing all we can.’
‘Can we see him?’
‘He’s not awake yet, but you can sit with him for a short while.’
As Newt grabbed Nell in a hug she let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, relief easing in her shoulders. Michael was going to be okay. Now they needed to catch the asshole who’d done this.
*
Hunter Stone let out a low whistle at Alex’s news, before dropping his own bombshell.
‘We have another missing girl.’
Alex’s heartbeat quickened. ‘From Winchester?’
‘This one is closer to home for you, it’s East Haven. Caroline Henderson, thirty-six, separated. She’s been reconciling with her husband, but they had a big fight last Sunday. He figured she had gone back to the friend’s where she had been staying. The friend thought the pair of them were still trying to work things out, hence the delay before they realized she was missing.’
‘And you’re sure it’s our guy?’ Alex had Hunter on speaker as he drove down to the harbour. ‘If she was having marital problems, we’ve got to look at the husband.’
‘I already did. He has an alibi and it checks out. After Caroline stormed out he went over to his neighbor’s, crashed the guy’s barbecue and got wasted. A dozen or so witnesses can vouch for him ruining their evening. Meanwhile we have security footage of Caroline in one of the bars in town. She went there alone, got hit on by a guy, and left shortly after. Her car was found in the lot where she had left it.’
‘She left with the guy in the bar?’
‘Not this time. She left alone, but he followed shortly after.’
‘You get him on camera?’
‘Not enough to get an ID. He knows where the cameras are, is smart enough to avoid them. Looks like it could be the same guy who was with Penny Maher.’ Stone was silent for brief moment. ‘I think he’s been at it for a while, Alex. He’s been going undetected because we didn’t have any bodies.’
‘Well, we do now. I’m heading out to join the recovery team. We figure out who he’s been killing, it’ll hopefully get us one step closer to catching the son of a bitch.’
‘Okay, in the meantime I’m going to pull police reports on all missing women in the area, see if we get any matches. Call me once you know what we’re dealing with.’
‘Will do.’
Alex killed the call, pulled into the marina. Relief they had uncovered the killer’s maritime dumping ground was tempered with guilt. While they had been desperate for a break in the Maher case, the timing sucked, given what had happened to Michael. The bodies had been found in his jurisdiction though and, much as he wanted to personally deal with Michael’s case, this had to take precedence.
Parking up he made a couple of calls, pulling Kyle Mathis, one of the deputies currently following Sam Kent, and reassigning him to Michael’s case then he rang the medical examiner, warned her of the workload about to come her way. As he ended the second call, a text came through from Newt.
Michael out of surgery. Went well and he’s stable.
Alex let out a sigh of relief, fired a quick text back, mildly irritated the news hadn’t come from Nell.
He spent the rest of the afternoon out on the water with the recovery team and when they returned to shore early evening they did so with a gruesome catch of severed body parts and weighed-down skeletal remains. The next hour was spent over at the ME’s office, Violet Marsden ready and waiting for them, unfazed by the task at hand, but mightily pissed off that a killer had chosen her pretty neck of the woods as his playground.
‘Make sure you catch this sick fuck,’ she told Alex, seeing him to the door. ‘And when you do you throw away the key. This is a good place and I won’t have some asshole running around cutting up girls and ruining that.’
Alex mustered a grin for Violet’s potty mouth. She had always been a straight talker and her colorful language belied her prim appearance. ‘We’re a step closer to catching him. Find me some answers on our victims and I’ll do my level best to see they get justice.’
He left her office, bone tired, wanting nothing more than to drive home, walk Sasha and Teddy, and drop into bed. He could call Newt and Nell, explain about the break in the Maher case. Newt would understand – Nell probably not so much if his experience with women was anything to go by. Plus it would make him a shitty friend. Michael had yet to fully forgive Alex for sleeping with his sister. He needed to repair his friendship, not damage it further.
When he arrived at the hospital ten minutes later he found Doctor Singh, got a progress update on Michael, learning he was still unconscious, but his vitals were good, the swelling having gone down, and his condition stable. The doctor accompanied him down the hallway to the waiting room.
‘Your friends should go home and get some rest,’ he told Alex. ‘Mr O’Connor is unlikely to gain consciousness for a good few hours. I have told them there’s nothing they can do here except wait.’
Alex stepped into the waiting room, found Newt sitting pale faced and staring into space as he gnawed on his knuckle. On the opposite chairs were Luke and Nell; Luke awake and deep in thought, his arm draped around Nell as she slept against his shoulder.
He glanced up, blue eyes meeting Alex’s. ‘Hey, Alex.’
He made no attempt to move his arm and Alex felt a flicker of irritation, quickly quashing it down. Luke was just offering comfort. He hadn’t been here, so had no right to judge or be annoyed that Nell had taken it.
She stirred awake at the mention of his name, blinked heavily as she took a moment to realize where she was, pulling away from Luke and sitting up, scrubbing her hands over her face. She looked exhausted, her cheeks drained of color and smudges of grey beneath her eyes. Although she didn’t go to Alex, she didn’t seem mad at him either.
‘You’re back,’ she murmured, voice devoid of any emotion. She pulled her legs up onto the chair, hugging her knees, looking lost. Her eyes paused momentarily on his face, her expression unreadable, before her focus shifted to the wall behind him.
‘Have you found the person who did this?’ That was from Newt, who was already on his feet. The worry of the last few hours was clearly etched on his face, like Nell’s, and he looked like an extra in The Walking Dead.
‘Not yet,’ Alex told him. ‘We’re still following leads.’
He had spoken with Kyle Mathis, the deputy he had reassigned, as he drove over to the hospital. With the crime scene clean, Mathis had run an inventory of the storage unit with one of Michael’s laborers. Half a dozen items were missing including the jackhammer Michael had gone over to collect, which suggested the motive had been robbery. Had his friend been so badly beaten just for a few workman tools?
‘I still can’t believe someone did this to him.’
Alex squeezed Newt’s shoulder. ‘The doc says he’s stable. You should go home and get some rest.’
‘I can’t possibly sleep. Not until Michael wakes up.’
‘Which won’t be for hours. You’re not doing yourself any favors sitting here. Go home, have a shower and try to sleep.’
‘Alex is right.’ Luke got to his feet ‘Let me drive you home. We can come back first thing tomorrow.’
