Souls At Zero (A Dark Psychological Thriller) (16 page)

Edger cursed when he heard the detective identify himself at the front door. "Not a sound," he warned the McGinty's, as the two of them sat stiffly on the sofa, the only thing stopping them from crying out for help being the gun Edger had trained on them.

Jesus, what a fucking mess this was turning out to be.

The detective must have been following him earlier. How else would he know Edger was there?

The tension in the living room was palpable. Edger's scalp itched madly under the woollen balaclava, so much so that he wanted to rip it off.

How was he supposed to do what he had to do when there was a fucking detective prowling around outside the house?

For a second, he thought about sending McGinty's wife to the front door to tell the detective that everything was fine, but the woman looked so distressed, Black would know immediately that something was amiss.

There was silence from outside.

Then Edger remembered the back door.

It was still unlocked.

Black took out his standard issue Glock 17 and pushed down on the handle of the back door, glad to see it was unlocked. He gently pushed the door open and stepped inside the McGinty's kitchen.

The house was too quiet.

A familiar coldness swept over him, telling him that something wasn't right. He should have called for backup. But he was inside the house now, and something was compelling him to continue.

"Hello?" he called out as he looked through the kitchen door and down the hallway. "Mr and Mrs McGinty? Police. Is anyone here?"

No answer.

He moved through the kitchen door and down the hall.

"Quiet," Edger whispered to the McGinty's, pointing the gun at them. "Don't move."

The McGinty's stared back at him, their faces tense with fearful anticipation.

Edger moved to the living room door and opened it as quietly as he could, then he peeked around the door frame and looked down the hall.

His heart leapt in his chest when he saw the detective standing by the kitchen door. Both men stared at each other for a second, then Black threw his gun up and shouted, "Don't move!"

Edger ducked back into the living room. "Fuck," he said.

Then Maureen McGinty called out. "We're in here! Help!"

Edger moved back from the door as he heard footsteps coming quickly down the hall.

Adrenaline pumped through Black as he made his way down the tiled hallway towards the living room. The face he had seen in the doorway was masked, but he knew it was Edger. "I know it's you Edger," he said, standing in front of the half open door. Through the gap he could see Maureen McGinty on the sofa, her wrists and ankle bound with duct tape.

Where's the husband?

Black pushed the door open with his boot and edged his way into the room, gun held out in front of him.

Edger stood in the centre of the living room, one thick arm wrapped around Brian McGinty's neck as he held the Mayor tight to him, the other hand holding the Glock as he pointed it at McGinty's head. The politician shook with fear in his grip.

Upon making his entrance into the room, the cop's eyes widened when he saw Edger was holding a gun to the Mayor's head.

"Drop the gun, Edger," Detective Black said, standing to the side of the sofa where Maureen McGinty still sat.

"Help us!" she screamed.

Black ignored the woman's plea as he kept his focus on Edger.

"You fucking followed me," Edger said. "Why couldn't you have stayed out of this?"

"I'm a policeman," Black said, his gun unwavering. "You know I can't do that. Drop the gun. Now."

Edger made no move to lower his gun from McGinty's temple. He knew the second he did it would all be over. He would go to jail and Kaitlin would be killed by her kidnapper. Yet what was he going to do? Shoot a cop?

"I know what you're thinking, Edger," Black said, his voice calm like he had faced off against armed men before. "If you kill that man, I will be forced to kill you, and you will never see your daughter again."

"She's dead anyway if you stop me doing what I have to do," Edger said.

Black took a step closer. "And what do you have to do? I know your daughter's kidnapper asked you do something. Is it this? You were going to kill McGinty here?"

McGinty groaned and Edger tightened his grip on the man's neck.

"I wasn't going to kill him," Edger told the cop. "I planned to fake his death."

The detective stood silent for a moment, obviously trying to wrap his head around everything, then he said, "Let the Mayor go and drop your weapon. We can talk about this."

"Down the station?"

"Yes. We can still help get your daughter back."

Edger snorted and shook his head. The whole thing was fucked now. When Kaitlin's kidnapper didn't hear from him, the cunt would hurt Kaitlin to punish Edger for his mistakes. And there wouldn't be a thing Edger could do about it, not from a prison cell.

"Come on now," the cop said. "Do yourself a favour—do your
daughter
a favour—and drop the gun."

"You have no idea how wrong you are," Edger said. But he lowered the gun and let McGinty go, who immediately ran back to where his wife sat on the sofa.

"Toss the gun behind you," Black ordered. "Get down on your knees and put your hands behind your head."

Edger did as he was told, tossing the gun on the floor behind him before sinking to his knees. He took off the balaclava, dropped it to the floor and put his hands behind his head, at which point Black rushed towards him and pushed him forward to the floor, kneeling on his back. Then the cop pulled Edger's wrists together and used a plastic cable tie to bind them. "You're under arrest, Mr Edger," he said.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Shortly after the cops took the mad man Edger away, Brian McGinty sat in his study, already on his third glass of Powers whiskey, the amber liquid going some way to calming his nerves. The cops had offered to take him to the hospital to get his nose looked at, but McGinty had waved them away. It wasn't the first time he had had his nose broken. He would visit the hospital tomorrow. For now, he had other worries. His wife Maureen was badly shaken up after the whole experience. Then there was the fact that she had openly acknowledged his sexual proclivities for the first time since discovering them ten years ago, shortly after they were married. Up to that point, he had been careful to hide the material he kept on his computers. But one night he got drunk and carelessly left one of the files open for her to find. She never spoke to him for days afterwards, and when she did finally speak to him, it was as if nothing had ever happened. It was like they came to a silent agreement that he could indulge his sexual preferences if he liked, as long as he continued to provide the socialite lifestyle she had grown so used to. In effect, he paid her for her silence on the matter, and that suited him fine.

But in the presence of that gun man, Maureen had cracked. It was a shock to hear her mention it after ten years of silence. McGinty was surprised Edger—whoever the hell he was—never mentioned the laptop to the cops. Of course, he still might. But McGinty wasn't all that worried. Whatever stupid and unjust charges that would potentially be levelled at him, he would ensure they were dropped quickly, and kept from the media, the way tonight's incident would be kept from the media also. He was the Lord Mayor. The last thing he needed was a load of questions thrown at him that would damage his career.

He had enough questions of his own anyway. Like how the hell did Maureen know about the Country Club and what went on there? Had she followed him one night? Or did she hear something about it from one of the other wives she liked to socialise with? It was one of the rules of the club that it must never be talked about in public. Maybe someone had overheard a conversation and relayed it to Maureen. He didn't know. The only thing that mattered was that she knew, and that was bad for her, and for him. If the people who ran the Country Club suspected an outsider knowing about it, that made that person a target. That made Maureen a target. McGinty wanted to find out how much she knew, but when the cops left, she had given McGinty a look of sheer disgust before going upstairs to their bedroom with a bottle of gin and locking the door. McGinty knew he wouldn't see her until the next day when she would likely emerge from hiding and begin to act as if nothing had ever happened. That's how they always handled things like this. She turned a blind eye to his many indiscretions, business and personal, and he pretended like she didn't know anything. It was an arrangement that allowed them both to get what they wanted.

But not this time. If she knew about the Country Club, he had to find out exactly what she knew. Both their lives depended on it.

Then there was the man who held them at gun point tonight. Harry Edger his name was apparently. The policeman who saved them, Detective Black, had said something about the man's daughter being abducted, and that holding the McGinty's hostage might have something to do with that. Of course, the detective had asked McGinty if Edger had said anything while he held them hostage, but McGinty had said no, that Edger never gave a reason for his actions. The detective was none too satisfied by that answer, but he had no choice but to accept it, at least for the time being until McGinty and his wife would inevitably have to give statements about what happened. McGinty's solicitor would be present then, so McGinty wasn't worried. Neither was he worried about his past run in with that detective. Black had tried to arrest McGinty before on child porn charges. The charges didn't stick. McGinty got the impression Black wouldn't have been too worried if Edger had of pulled that trigger earlier.

Putting two and two together, it was clear to McGinty that someone had kidnapped Edger's daughter, and then told Edger that he had to kill McGinty if he ever wanted his daughter back. That disturbed McGinty deeply. Why the hell did someone want him dead? The only reason he could think off was that it had something to do with the Country Club. But why get a man like Edger to do it? It didn't make sense.

McGinty sighed, and then winced at the pain in his face as he sat in his chair. He drank the rest of the whiskey in his glass before pouring himself another, downing it in one and putting the empty glass on the desk. Then he lifted his mobile phone of the desk and dialled a number. The call was answered, but the person on the other end said nothing.

"I thought you should know," McGinty said in an almost reverent tone. "Some man broke into my house tonight and held my wife and I at gunpoint. Apparently someone kidnapped his daughter and told him to kill me." McGinty swallowed nervously. "I think it might have something to do with the club. Maybe someone is on to us."

"We know," said a man's voice in a Southern accent.

McGinty froze. "You know?"

"It's being taken care of."

The line went dead, and McGinty stared at the phone in his hand for a moment, before placing it back on the desk. With sweaty, shaking hands, he poured another drink. "What the fuck is happening?" he said to himself.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

After Edger was arrested at the McGinty's house, he was brought to Lisburn Road police station, whereupon he was processed, stripped of all his possessions and placed into a cold prison cell. It wasn't the first time he had been locked up. Back in the Legion, he had done two separate stints in a military prison, the longest being for two months. The cell itself didn't bother him. What bothered him was the fact that his daughter was still out there, being held by some madman who would hurt her when Edger inevitably failed to phone in at the arranged time.

Not that phoning in would do any good, as he had failed to kill McGinty. The plan was never to kill the politician anyway, at least not at first. Edger went to that house with the intention of holding McGinty hostage and making him look dead so he could send a photo to the kidnapper, which hopefully would have appeased the kidnapper into giving back Kaitlin. But then Edger had seen the vile contents of McGinty's laptop. After that, if the cop hadn't called to the house, Edger probably would have shot McGinty. Any qualms he had about committing murder—however noble the reasons—were quashed when he saw the images and videos of those poor kids. Men like McGinty didn't deserve to live.

It seemed like hours before a uniformed cop finally came to Edger's cell and escorted him through the building to an interview room where Detective Paul Black awaited him. The woman detective who was at Edger's apartment that day was also there. The uniformed cop walked Edger around the other side of a table and sat him down in a plastic chair before leaving the room.

When the two detectives identified themselves for the recording being made of the interview, Black also made note of the time. 12:35 a.m.

Edger's gut twisted up. In three and a half hours, Kaitlin's kidnapper would follow through on his threat to hurt Kaitlin, and there wasn't a damn thing Edger could do about it. He wanted to bang the table with his fists, but he forced himself to keep calm, preferring to present a blank front to the two detectives.