Dead Eyed (38 page)
Authors: Matt Brolly
Tags: #Fiction, #Thrillers, #Crime, #Mystery & Detective, #Police Procedural, #Private Investigators, #Suspense, #General, #Psychological
The strength had left Hastings. The gun by his side, his hands reached for his neck where a stream of blood flowed in thick gushes. Lambert didn’t have time to say anything before Hastings closed his eyes for a final time.
They shook hands. It was an awkward exchange. It had been two months since they’d last seen each other.
‘This is silly,’ said May. ‘Come here.’ She kissed him on the cheek, wrapped her arms tight around him.
Lambert savoured the touch of her skin against his, the now familiar smell of vanilla on her skin. ‘So you have it?’
‘All here,’ said May, waving the document in front of her.
They had successfully delayed publication of Hastings’ book. An emergency hearing had upheld their argument that the book contained information sensitive to further investigations. This hadn’t stopped thousands of people placing advanced orders online.
It hadn’t stopped Hastings reaching out.
The day after his death, Hastings’ book went viral online. It happened so fast, that it became impossible to take it down. It had appeared on Hastings’ website first. Looking through older posts, he’d promised an online exclusive days before. A free download of his next, non-fiction title.
It only took a couple of downloads and soon it was national news. It was his life story and more. Lambert had since trawled through every word, countless times. It listed every Souljacker killing, plus the killings of Samuel Burnham, Kwasi Olumide, Lance Crosby, as well as a number of other murders which were currently under investigation. Hastings revealed that Campbell had paid Roger Haydon a visit on the day he’d committed suicide. He’d given him an ultimatum, his life or Thomas Langtree’s. Haydon had made the ultimate sacrifice, and for Hastings it had merely been a diversionary tactic.
The latter chapters had been hastily put together. Thanks to these chapters, Lambert had become somewhat of a celebrity. Hastings had predicted the ending with an unnerving accuracy, though in his version things went much smoother. Lambert killed him with one bullet to the forehead. An instant kill, not the slower death he eventually endured.
The book was low on explanation. Hastings repeated what he’d told May and Lambert: that the first killer, and second Souljacker victim, Graham Jackett, had been sent as a guide. That his goal had been to save the soul of each victim whose eyes he’d removed.
Lambert spent the subsequent weeks researching Hastings’ background. Both his parents had died years before. His mother had fallen down a flight of stairs when Hastings was twenty, his father a victim of hit and run when he was seventeen. Lambert tracked down some of Hastings’ ex-school friends. He had been an awkward teenager, intelligent, but somewhat of a loner. There had been rumours of something odd occurring in the Hastings household, but nothing of significance had ever come to light.
Lambert’s theory was that something had happened to Hastings when he was twelve which had changed the boy forever. Unfortunately, it was unlikely he would ever know.
They walked together across College Green, their hands by their sides never quite touching. He wanted to tell her he missed her, that it was possible they could be together.
‘How’s Sophie?’ asked May.
‘Large, grumpy.’ He hesitated. ‘I shouldn’t say that really, should I?’
May’s face crumpled into a smile. ‘We can keep it between us. Is she working it out with whatshisname?’
‘Taylor? No. I don’t want to go into the sordid details but from what she’s told me it was a fling. He’s going to do the right thing financially, and he says he’ll be there for the kid. So we’ll see.’
The publisher’s office was on the third floor of a large Victorian building. May buzzed up. ‘DCI May and Michael Lambert to see Angela Sutton.’
‘Please use the lift. Fifth floor,’ replied a muffled voice on the other end of the line.
‘DCI, huh?’ said Lambert in the lift.
‘You know it, buster.’
They had seen each other during the months following Hastings’ death. It was strange that something so horrific could bring them together. Lambert rented a place in Bristol, but had spent nearly every evening at May’s. It had been too much, too soon. Lambert told her he would return to London. That they could try again sometime in the future.
‘DCI May, Mr Lambert,’ said Angela Sutton, greeting them outside the lift. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’
May in particular had spent time with the woman in the past few months. She was immaculately dressed, in a figure-hugging black skirt and cream blouse. Her face was heavily made up, and reminded Lambert of the women he occasionally saw at the make-up counters at Boots. What are you hiding, he thought.
May showed her the warrant. ‘You could make it easy on us and you, by giving me the document.’
Sutton read the warrant, as if examining an ancient artefact in a long-extinguished language. She sighed. ‘If you wait here, I can print up a copy.’
‘Make that two copies, and we will need all electronic versions,’ said May.
‘It won’t stop it getting out, you know that?’ said Lambert, once Sutton had gone.
‘I know but at least we can make a head start on things.’
May interlocked her hands and gazed at her shoes. ‘So, is there anything keeping you in London?’ she asked, eventually, not looking up.
‘Tillman has asked me to return,’ said Lambert.
‘Oh?’
‘I’m considering my options. Sophie’s pregnancy has thrown me a bit.’
‘Of course.’
‘It’s strange, a child growing inside her. You know, after Chloe and everything.’
‘You don’t have to explain, Mike.’
‘But I do. We’re not getting back together, it’s just that I feel I should be there for her. She has this whole future ahead of her. Chloe would have been her sister. Oh, I didn’t tell you, she’s expecting a girl.’
May placed her hand on his.
‘Anyway, this girl will be linked to Chloe forever, and Sophie will be linked to them both. But me, well…’
Angela Sutton returned with two documents, neatly tied in a blue ribbon. She handed them to May along with a memory stick. ‘This is everything,’ she said.
‘Do you know if he planned any surprise online launch?’ asked Lambert.
‘You’ve closed his website down.’
‘So? If you know anything, Angela, you need to let us know,’ said May. Lambert could tell she was going through the motions. There was no way the woman would share any information with her.
Lambert bought them drinks from the same coffee shop where they’d first met months ago. They walked to the green and sat on the lawn, reading the documents as if they were no different to the idling students who congregated in the area.
Hastings’ book had concluded with a preview of a follow up. Lambert flicked through the pages, staggered by what he was reading, a list of missing people Hastings had claimed to have killed in the period since Billy Nolan’s death.
‘This can’t be true, can it?’ asked May.
Lambert thought about what Hastings had said to him about the unmarked graves. ‘Nothing would surprise me now,’ he said, frowning.
May stood, the hem of her dress tinged with smudges of grass. ‘I need to get this back to the station.’
Lambert wanted to say so much but didn’t know where to begin.
May pulled out something from her bag and dropped it onto his chest with a wink.
Lambert watched her walk away. He took the set of keys from his chest and placed them in his pocket.
CARINA™
ISBN: 978 1 474 04503 2
Dead Eyed
Copyright © 2015 Matt Brolly
Published in Great Britain (2015)
by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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