Grind Their Bones (12 page)

He looked over and held eye contact with her as he located the front door key and opened up, standing aside like a gentleman should to allow her to enter first. She smiled and trailed her hand down his cheek as she passed, trying to compute the significance of the fierce intensity in his eyes which was at odds with the rest of his facial expression, and feeling a small seed of disquiet in her stomach.

‘You can relax, you know? We’ve got as much time as we need and I’m not about to tell anybody about this.’

She talked over her shoulder while she explored the space inside, mindful of his feelings and not wanting to make him feel threatened.

‘Yes. I know,’ was all he could manage in reply, his voice hoarser than usual.

Everything was tastefully decorated, with an open living and dining area, separate country style kitchen, and steep stairs leading off the hallway up to what she assumed must be the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. She wandered through the living room first. A fire was burning in the grate, so presumably he’d headed up here before coming to collect her. A chunky oak coffee table sat before the fire in front of an antique-looking leather settee big enough to accommodate several people, and behind the settee was a modest dining table with places set for two. She dropped her handbag onto one of the chairs.

‘This is very nice.’

She turned back towards him, feeling his presence at her shoulder and catching him staring at her. Outwardly tactful person that she was, she pretended not to notice and ran her hand over a furry throw resting on the back of the chair.

‘Thank you. May I fix you a drink? There’s champagne cooling in the kitchen.’

He seemed to be snapping back out of his weird fugue and remembering his manners at least, but she still felt the awkwardness like a weight pressing down on them both.

‘You sit back and I’ll pour the drinks, sometimes it’s nice to let a woman take charge.’

She winked at him and guided him down into the chair gently, feeling him tense and then relent and relax.

The kitchen was compact but pretty, with a Belfast sink inset into a solid wood worktop, and flowers in a vase on the window sill. The champagne flutes were standing right next to the bottle chilling in a silver ice bucket, but much of the ice had already started to melt. She removed the cork with ease, being no stranger to bar work from her college days, and decided to look for fresh ice while she was in here. The split stable door to the left must be where the fridge-freezer lived since there was no sign of any food in here.

‘ARE YOU OKAY THROUGH THERE?’

He sounded slightly anxious and tense and she wondered idly whether he was planning dessert without the dinner, with the champagne to seal the deal.

‘YES, COMING IN A MINUTE, JUST FETCHING…ice…’

The volume of her voice dropped to a whisper on the last word as she pushed open the door through into the ‘utility’ room and saw what was inside. The space was almost empty, with only a large ceiling hook, a bench saw and an industrial looking machine that she didn’t recognise sitting in the middle of the floor. The walls and ceiling appeared to have been freshly repainted, but strange dark stains still showed through.

‘It’s for mincing up large portions of meat.’

His voice came from right behind her ear, unmistakeably low and menacing, and her heart rate accelerated as she began to put all of the pieces together in her head and quietly wished that she hadn’t left the bag with her stun gun in the other room.

Chapter 39

After Lee had taken David away and I had stopped shaking again I opened up a bottle of Chianti and poured myself a deep glass, then grabbed a pen and a pad of paper and sat down to write. Lee had wanted to stay with me, but after I’d explained about the cream on my neck and arms and assured him that I was doing just fine and planning an early night, he’d finally relented. I’d made him promise not to take a bloodied and bruised David into custody, despite his uninvited entry into my home, on the basis that his injuries would prompt questions that could result in big trouble for Lee. He’d only agreed after explaining to David in painstaking detail what his fate would be if he ever pulled a stunt like that again, and that he needed to thank me copiously for intervening before he’d gotten into a proper rhythm.

I tried to block the image of David pushing his way into my home with his face twisted into a mask of cold rage, and I tried even harder to push away the humiliation I felt about how powerless I’d been sprawled out on the floor in my own hallway with his heavy foot on my chest. I needed to do something more constructive than drinking a whole bottle of wine today, if I wanted to start convincing myself that I could catch the Grey Man before he decided to do something horrifying to yet another unsuspecting victim. I won’t forget what you did though, David. I’m not Emily, not by a long chalk, and I’ll make sure you know how it felt to be in my position today.

I took a big gulp of wine and flipped open the pad to a fresh page to resurrect the list of male names that I’d begun to collate for my suspects list. Fred Russell had agreed without question to my earlier call asking for a list of arrests of white males that I’d made since starting up with the Warwickshire police force. That fact was in itself slightly disturbing. Fred questioned everything I did as a general rule, and we’d already pretty much ruled out this line of enquiry earlier in the investigation. Not that I was about to start digging deeper into the reasons for his sudden new strand of leniency.

After some consideration and another few swallows of wine, I started with guys from my university days, reasoning that towards the end of my degree I’d all but decided to pursue a career with the police, so it was just about feasible that some of them might have remembered that fact after all this time. The list of ex-boyfriends from that time was disappointingly brief. I’d been awkward and shy around men until I hit my mid twenties – the ‘rugby’ years as I now thought of them, when I’d courted a taste for slightly older bearish guys – so I dropped in a couple of names that I remembered as casual acquaintances and friends for good measure, in order to avoid the inevitable mockery from Hallie later.

I stopped and headed to the kitchen for a refill, hesitating and then bringing the whole bottle back through to keep me company. I could always screw the lid back on what was left when I was done, I kidded myself. The rugby years were trickier, not that I’d been more active than most of the women that I’d known back then, but because what guys had featured had not been especially significant to me. I finished off the modest list of lovers and boyfriends, there’d been very few once my career had began to take off, and started to drop in the names of anybody else with an unsavoury reputation that came to mind.

I sat back and began to read over the growing list but unfortunately nobody really leapt out at me as a potential serial killing cannibal, so it looked like I was going to have to do it the methodical way. I was about to put it aside for the night when I recalled Mike and Hallie’s words, and jotted down Mike’s name along with David’s and several of the male officers that I’d partnered or worked alongside at various stages, feeling horrible as I did so. I stopped at the last line on the page, my pen hovering as I drained the rest of my glass of wine and considered. Finally I scribbled down the name anyway, reasoning that it was too stupid to even consider and that he’d probably just laugh it off if I told him anyway. Lee was my best friend, partner in crime, or crime prevention anyway, and obviously above suspicion. I’d be able to discreetly scrub him back off again in no time at all, and he’d never even have to know about it.

Chapter 40

The day didn’t start out feeling like it would be full of tragedy and pain. The sun was shining brightly enough to wake me up naturally before my alarm sounded, and it was already warm enough for me to take breakfast out onto the little suntrap patio area that served as my back garden by the time that I’d showered and changed.

The previous day’s events seemed vague and unreal against the backdrop of singing birds and soft floral scents that permeated the breeze, and I felt something like normal again. Reinvigorated by the sunshine and realising how early it still was, I weighed up my options. Finally deciding to change into leggings and a vest top and fit in a short run over the other option of getting into the office even earlier than usual. I figured that after yesterday’s events I could take some me time without guilt, and I already pulled in more hours than virtually anybody else in CID anyway.

Ten minutes later I was entering the cool shade of birch and cedar trees in the country park, feeling surprisingly fresh considering the bottle of wine that I’d drunk last night. Startled squirrels chattered angrily at me as I passed, scampering up high into the canopy until I was safely out of sight again, and unseen small creatures rustled in the thick leaf litter. I’d forgotten my mp3 on my way out of the door, but I soon drifted into a comfortable rhythm and zoned out, inhabiting that special runner’s place where you feel like you could run effortlessly forever.

It was as I emerged at the far end of the trail that I was pulled back out of my Zen state by the vibration of my phone in my pocket. Here the woodland gave way to twin tarmac drives leading up to a large country house hotel, and, after that, sloped down towards the edge of a large housing estate that cannibalised yet another patch of the idyllic surroundings each time the council relented and granted more planning permission. I slowed to a fast walk, cooling down while I fumbled for my suddenly evasive mobile.

‘Wade.’

A call at this time of the morning was going to be business related, so I dispensed with any attempt at a more extended greeting.

‘Erm…hello? I’m trying to get hold of a Zara Wade…is this her?’

The person calling was thrown by the curt manner in which I’d answered, and I backpedalled, dropping the office voice in recognition that this was definitely not work after all.

‘Sorry, I thought you might be work. Yes, this is Zara Wade, how can I help?’

My mind raced through possibilities in the fraction of a second before the reply came.

‘My name’s Doctor Rashid, Ms Wade, I work at the University Hospital Coventry and I’ve been looking after your sister Emily.’

He paused to allow me to absorb some of the information and I stepped straight in.

‘What’s happened to her? Is she okay?’

I could feel my resolution to have nothing more to do with her melting away as I tried not to panic about what might have happened.

‘She’s asleep at present, but her condition is stable. We believe that she took a deliberate overdose of antidepressants late last night, but thankfully she made a phone call to the emergency services before it was too late, and we’re optimistic that the damage to her major organs won’t be severe when she comes back around.’

He delivered the news in a matter of fact but warm fashion, and I thanked him for his call and received permission to call in later in the day when visiting hours were open.

I put the phone back in my pocket feeling utterly numb with shock and started jogging again, but at a much slower pace than before. I mentally ran back over as much of my actions from the previous night as I could recall, looking for any sign that I might have missed that she was going to do something this stupid, but drew a blank. Angry, hurt and betrayed, yes, majorly pissed off too, but not suicidal, not when she’d left me anyway. This couldn’t be my doing, there had to be more to it than that, didn’t there? I stopped and took my phone back out again and rang Lee.

Chapter 41

‘Hi there gorgeous, I’m taking it that you’ve heard, too, then?’

Lee’s deep voice filled my ear through the receiver and immediately confused the hell out of me.

‘You know already? But why would they tell you before they told me?’

I was deeply upset at the revelation, trying to understand what else could have happened for other people to learn about it before me.

‘Of course, the whole station knows about it by now I imagine, I figured I’d tell you when you arrived. I didn’t think it would affect you quite like this though, I have to admit.’

His voice was hesitant now as he recognised the hurt in my tone.

‘Why the hell would I not be upset at that? She’s MY bloody sister but apparently I’m the last to know anything as usual.’

It came out as a cross between a hiss and a shout, but I didn’t care about the venom, I felt fully entitled to be aggrieved in this situation.

‘Wait. We’re obviously talking about two different things here. You’re saying that something’s happened to Emily?’

His voice was suddenly full of concern and empathy.

‘Yes, she took an overdose last night. I’ve just got off the phone to the hospital. I thought for a minute that…what were you talking about?’

I shook my head, involuntarily trying to rid myself of the residue of frustration and anger from the last twenty four hours that had started to cling to me again.

‘I am so sorry, Zara. My news was about Fred Russell, he suffered a heart attack on the golf course yesterday afternoon, managed to survive it even though they didn’t find him for a while, but it’s looking like the end of his career anyway. It’s the talk of the station, of course, but that can wait. Did they say how Emily’s bearing up at the moment, or give any indication of what sparked it?’