The Frailty of Flesh (9 page)

Luke didn’t argue. They cautiously made their way to the landing on the second floor.

The house was remarkably still. Craig had been in and out so many times while his parents were away, and he’d barely noticed the quiet. It was expected. But knowing his stepmother was somewhere in the house made the silence seem threatening.

Halfway to the second floor the stairs curved to the right, putting them at the juncture at the end of the hallway, the start of the living room and the entrance to the kitchen. The hallway led past the dining room, two bedrooms, a bathroom and the entrance to the den before it reached the master bedroom. Every room would have to be cleared.

It didn’t take long, and once they’d established there was no further evidence of the intruder upstairs Craig told Luke to wait in the living room, went back down the hall and approached the door to the master bedroom.

“Alison?”

Silence.

He knocked again. “Alison, it’s Craig. We’ve checked the house.”

At last there was the sound of muffled footfalls on carpet, drawing closer, then the click as the door was unlocked.

Alison Daly had only been part of Craig’s life for just over a decade, but he was startled by how much older she seemed since he’d last seen her, a few months earlier. Less color in her dark hair, which was cut shorter than he was used to. Crow’s-feet had spread out from the corners of her eyes, which were wide with worry.

Craig kept his voice low. “We’re going to call for a team.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want anyone else in the house.”

Alison’s mouth twisted with anger, but before she could say anything else a voice from behind Craig interrupted. “Perhaps you could tell us what happened?”

Craig felt the annoyance in the form of heat on the back of his neck. He hadn’t been aware of Luke approaching, and there was no way Alison would cause a scene unnecessarily in front of a stranger, but he’d told his partner to wait.

Alison turned to look at Luke and folded her arms across her chest, then shifted her gaze back to Craig. Her eyes pinched just a touch, the way they always did when she was annoyed with him.

He ignored the look. “Why don’t we go to the living room and you can tell us what happened?”

Luke and Alison introduced themselves as Craig watched Alison sit down on the sofa and cross her legs. She was wearing a pair of dark slacks and a sweater. Craig wondered if she’d lost a bit of weight, but brushed the thought aside. She’d been startled by the intruder, which explained her pallor, and the dark clothes made her white face more noticeable. It was just an illusion of color and circumstance.

Her story was simple. She’d come home early to get ready for the holidays. At first she thought she’d unpack and relax, but then she decided to go out and get some groceries.

When she returned she put the groceries away and went to her room to finish unpacking. That was when she heard the sound of glass breaking, and someone in the rec room.

“I locked my bedroom door, called Craig and waited for you to arrive.”

Craig saw Luke glance at him, and he could see the questions in Luke’s eyes. When Craig didn’t comment Luke continued.

“I wasn’t aware the intruder was in the house when you phoned.”

Alison’s eyes widened as she looked from Luke to Craig and back. “I guess I didn’t say that. I just told Craig someone had broken in.”

Luke looked at Craig again, and Craig gave one curt nod.

“Can I ask why you didn’t call 911?”

A dark look flickered across Alison’s features, gone in almost a heartbeat. “I’ve already had one intruder. I don’t want another group of strangers invading my home.”

She got up and walked across the room and down the hall. Her bedroom door closed. No scene, no confrontation, but it was unusual for Craig’s stepmother to react that way. Still, someone had broken in, and Steve was in Regina. It was understandable that she was upset.

Luke stood up. “I’ll call Zidani. Maybe we can be discreet.” He pulled out his cell phone and pressed a couple buttons as he walked to the kitchen.

Craig wondered if Alison had called Steve.

There was movement in the kitchen, the sound of the airtight fridge door being pulled open, then shut. Craig entered the room as Luke opened the pantry door.

Without hesitation Luke said, “Zidani promised to send a couple guys, quietly. Just photos, prints, blood samples.” He closed the pantry. “I’m looking for the glasses. I need some water.”

Craig turned toward the counter and opened one of the upper cupboards. He took out a glass and handed it to Luke instead of challenging the flimsy lie.

CHAPTER FIVE

Daylight had been waning during the drive to the Daly home, and by the time Luke and Craig returned to the station it was dark. Some said in Vancouver in December there really wasn’t any such thing as day, only varying shades of gray and black. No matter what you called the hours that weren’t black you knew when night had come. Unlike the prairies, where light could linger in the sky hours after the sun had officially set, in the GVA any light that remained was artificial. The darkness was the kind that hung heavily, like a blanket over the sky.

Craig cut the engine and got out of the vehicle. It wasn’t until he started to follow Luke inside that he saw the figure emerge from the shadows. She stopped him by the sidewalk, in a well-lit area not far from the entrance to the building.

“You’re a hard man to track down,” she said.

He didn’t need to ask who she was. The voice was enough.

“I have a report to write, Ms. Fenton. I don’t have time for this.”

“That’s fine. I’ll wait.” She smiled. “Once you’re finished your paperwork maybe you’ll be able to give me something on the break-in as well.”

He stopped walking and looked at Luke. “Go ahead. I’ll just be a minute.”

Luke glanced at the reporter for a split second, then turned and continued walking to the building without comment.

Craig waited until Luke had put some distance between them but still lowered his voice. “How do you know about that?”

“How does a reporter ever know about anything?” She smiled. From what he could tell the hair tucked under her beret was a lighter shade of strawberry blond and she had a few freckles on her cheeks, wide blue eyes, not a lot of makeup. He guessed she wasn’t much more than five feet tall, which added to the overall impression. She didn’t seem threatening.

But she was still a reporter, and Craig had had his share of run-ins in the aftermath of Lori’s death and his own shooting. He heard another vehicle pull up, the engine stop, the doors open. The longer he stood there the more people who would see him talking to a reporter, and the more likely Zidani would hear about it…“What do you want, Ms. Fenton?”

The smile slipped from her face, but she didn’t look angry. Instead, the corners of her eyes dropped just enough for her to look hurt. “Just let me talk. Hear what I have to say. If you still decide you don’t want to comment”—she held up her hands—“no problem. What have you got to lose? Let me buy you dinner.”

That was when he realized the footsteps had stopped. He looked up as Tain reached for Ashlyn’s arm, tilting his head toward the door. Ashlyn stood frozen for a moment, looking from Emma to Craig before letting Tain lead her inside.

“Look, I’ve already told you I didn’t even work this case. And I don’t know how you heard about the break-in, but that’s hardly front-page news. A few dozen homes are broken into every day in the GVA.”

“But how many of those homes are owned by a ranking RCMP officer who just happened to get promoted after closing a high-profile murder investigation, the same murder investigation that is now under review? Word is, Donny Lockridge plans to file a lawsuit against your father over his wrongful conviction—”

“Alleged wrongful conviction. He was put on trial and convicted by a jury. That wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t evidence to support it.”

She smiled. “See? We’re talking and you weren’t struck by lightning. It probably didn’t even hurt.”

Craig blew out a breath and ran his hand over his head, pushing his hair back before pointing at her. “Look, I’m sure you’re a nice person, don’t take it personally. But you’re jumping to conclusions without facts and printing such speculation would be irresponsible and unprofessional.”

“Which is why I’m here, talking to you, trying to find out what did happen. Don’t you want to know? Aren’t you curious?” She looked him in the eye. “Is there any part of you that doubts Donny Lockridge murdered Hope Harrington?”

“How can I answer that? I’ve hardly even had a chance to look at the files.”

Craig almost groaned when she smiled. “So, you admit you’re looking into this?”

He raised his hand to stop her. “I am reviewing the case only because I have been ordered to. It has nothing to do with my father, the break-in, you, Lockridge’s lawyer or anything else.”

Craig started to walk to the building, but she wasn’t deterred from following him. “Is that why you met with Lisa Harrington today?”

He grabbed the door and didn’t even acknowledge her question with a glance as he marched into the building, thankful that she had enough sense not to follow him any farther.

“I’ll catch up in a minute.” Ashlyn pushed the door to the ladies’ room open and disappeared inside.

Tain paused. Should he wait, make sure she was okay? They’d had a long, hard day with little to show for their efforts, but he hadn’t seen her shoulders sag so low since they’d been working almost around the clock on the child abductions and murders. The “angel arsons,” as the press called them.

He continued down the hall, knowing how she’d react if he checked up on her. Still, he wondered about Craig and the woman outside. Ashlyn had never been the jealous type. Then again, as far as he knew, Craig had never given her reason to be. His own instincts told him that whoever the woman outside was, she was far more interested in Craig than he was in her. The bit of their exchange he’d heard had been strained, the woman trying to sound casual, pleasant, but Craig’s posture had been tense and he’d looked agitated.

“Did you get it?”

Tain looked up and almost wished he hadn’t. Zidani was nodding at Luke Geller, whatever response he had kept low enough that Tain couldn’t make out the words.

They were in an adjoining hallway, not the one Tain needed to go down. He just hoped they were too busy with their chat to notice him.

A small stack of notes waited on his desk. Updates from various officers following leads on the case. So far, no luck anywhere. Shannon hadn’t been seen at school. Her friends had been questioned but hadn’t offered anything useful. The 911 call had been tracked down, with the tape sent to Zidani, but they hadn’t gotten any useful prints from the phone. Nothing that would allow for an identification that would stand up in court.

He clipped the notes together and put them on his “in” tray.

Ashlyn entered the room and stopped at the cooler to pour a cup of water. Tain watched her push her hair back from her pale face and take a sip. After a few gulps she dropped the cup into the wastebasket and walked to her desk, which faced his.

She dropped into her chair, propped her elbows on the desk, let her head fall into her hands and rubbed her temples with her fingers.

Tain pulled a bottle from the top drawer of his desk and passed it to her. “Here. I’ll get you another drink.”

She wasn’t lacking the energy to glare at him. “I’m fine.”

“Ash—”

He was familiar with the look she was giving him. The one that said
I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.
He forced a look of contrition. “You sure?”

She straightened up, forcing her body to hold the weight of her head as she dropped her hands. “I’m good.”

He lowered his voice. “Just a word of warning, that headache’s about to get worse.”

Her eyes narrowed and then closed when she heard the words “My office. Now.”

Zidani waited for them instead of letting them follow him, which meant they had no time to come up with excuses. He walked behind them and as soon as he’d followed them into his office he told Tain to shut the door.

They weren’t invited to sit down.

Zidani passed a note to Ashlyn, who took it without comment. “No teachers, staff, volunteers, students or parents of students are to be questioned on school property without making arrangements with the principal and the school’s lawyer.” He sat down in his chair, leaned back and smiled. “Tell me something I want to hear.”

Ashlyn glanced at Tain for half a second before she responded. “We did develop a useful lead. A few of Shannon’s close friends were absent, and we spoke directly to one of them and Shannon’s boyfriend, who told us that Shannon had planned to run away today.”

Zidani frowned, but still kept the sarcasm out of his response. “She’ll be even harder to find if she was prepared, won’t she?”

Ashlyn nodded. “Yes. But we sent other officers to question her friends who weren’t in class. We know she’s not with any of them. This morning we thought it was spontaneous, that she was on the run. Now we know she’d made arrangements, probably had money saved. What we need is to figure out where Shannon would plan to go, if she has a friend who might have had a job for her to go to. We’ll also be monitoring the boyfriend closely.”

“He’ll know where she is. They always do.”

“I don’t think so. He was pretty convincing. He said that Shannon wouldn’t tell him where she was going so he wouldn’t have to try to lie.” Ashlyn paused. “I believed him.”

“So did I,” Tain said. “The kid was jumpy. I had the impression—” He looked at Ashlyn, then continued, “I got the feeling there were problems at home, that something was going on that prompted her to run away.”

“Well, kids don’t usually take off on a whim,” Zidani said.

“Unless this was just a case of trying to get attention, maybe being unhappy because she thinks her parents love her brothers more and she wants a car for Christmas or something.”

Ashlyn’s mouth twisted and then she shook her head. “No, I agree with Tain. We tried to get access to the house, just to check Shannon’s room. We wanted to see just how prepared she was, if there were bags missing, a lot of clothes and personal items, but the lawyer wouldn’t let us without a search warrant. Without more proof we’ve only got what the boyfriend told us.”

“Which was corroborated by one of Shannon’s school friends,” Tain added.

“Still…” Zidani smiled. “Young girls love drama. What better way to get attention? This friend you spoke to, was it a girl?”

Tain saw Ashlyn draw a breath. “Yes.”

Zidani nodded. “And the witness? The one near the park?”

“Not home when we went there. We’ve been back twice.”

Zidani leaned back, folding his hands behind his head. “So what’s next?”

Tain saw Ashlyn glance at him again. They’d come in, prepared for a confrontation, and Zidani’s demeanor seemed to be throwing her off as much as it was unnerving him.

“Sims recovered what’s believed to be the murder weapon and clothing discarded near the scene that was stained with blood. We’ll check with the lab to confirm that, see if we can link the items to the Reimer family. We’ll try to get the lawyer to give us access to the family to question them. Of course, we can’t expect much there. Smythe will have spent the day coaching them,” Ashlyn said. “We do have officers monitoring the Reimer home, in case Shannon tries to return and will expand the search for her, question all relatives, acquaintances.”

Tain waited, but it never came. He knew what he thought Ashlyn really wanted to do with the investigation, but even Zidani’s attempts to play nice weren’t enough to get her to take the bait, if that’s what this was. She waited silently, hands now clasped behind her back, chin jutting out just a touch.

Whatever Zidani thought, he was keeping it to himself. No smile, no snide comment… Nothing. “Right. Sounds like you have things under control. It’s pretty much a slam dunk anyway. Tragic murder of a young boy by his older sister, who clearly has some emotional issues. Go home, get some sleep.”

Tain only hesitated for a moment before opening the door. Once they’d put a safe distance between themselves and the office he looked at Ashlyn.

“You know what this means, don’t you?” she said. “This afternoon, while we were looking for Shannon Reimer, aliens landed and replaced our acting sergeant with a clone.”

“They didn’t get the personality right.”

She smiled, and once they reached their work area turned around and leaned against her desk. “Part of me wants to ask what the hell just happened, but the other part’s mumbling something about gift horses.”

“Go home. Get some sleep. Before the Martians realize what a bastard Zidani is and swap him back.”

This time she didn’t smile. Instead, her eyes took on weight. “Tain, you know I want to look hard at—”

He held up his hand. “Yes. And you’re right.” He tilted his head in the direction they’d just come from. “And we’d best keep it quiet until we have more than the word of two teenagers to go on.”

“So it wasn’t just…?” She shrugged.

“No. But it wasn’t like he gave us a direct order, was it?”

He squeezed her shoulder and held her gaze for a moment. When he saw the flicker of a smile he let go and went to his own desk.

She said good night and left without further comment. Another message had come in since they’d gone to Zidani’s office, and he picked up the slip of paper. It only took a few seconds to read it, and then he slipped it in his pocket and reached for the Tylenol he’d offered Ashlyn earlier.

Just another headache he didn’t need.

As soon as Craig arrived at his desk his partner stood. “It’s finished. Nothing left to do.” Luke pulled on his coat. “See you tomorrow.”