Taboo (23 page)

As Gorman ranted, heads popped out from all over – Lucy from the front of the van, Gary from the building behind, Kennedy from inside the van. Reilly cursed inwardly; this was the last thing she needed right now.

‘Let’s talk about that later, but first I need to—’

‘Let me assure you that I’ve not let myself be dragged halfway round the world for nothing. I want to be brought up to speed with where we’re at
right now
,’ he ordered, his Caribbean tan masking the blood rushing to his head. It was difficult to tell what was upsetting him most, the fact that they were facing potentially the biggest serial murder case the country had ever seen, or that his trip of a lifetime had been cut short. ‘Lucy, I don’t even know what you’re doing here – get back to the lab.’

Lucy stayed rooted to the spot, seemingly unsure what to do, and Reilly faced Gorman, refusing to be intimidated by him. ‘She’s here at my request,’ she explained, patiently.

‘Lucy, are you deaf? I told you to—’

‘Excuse me – you have no right to speak to a member of—’

‘It’s OK, Reilly.’ Lucy interjected. She eyed Gorman. ‘I’m going, Dad.’

Shocked, Reilly whirled around and stared at her protégée.
Dad? What the hell …?

For the life of her she couldn’t remember hearing or being told anything on arrival at the GFU about Lucy being related to Gorman. No wonder he was always so dismissive toward her and
she in turn so understandably eager for Reilly’s approval. Christ, as if she didn’t have enough to get her head around just now.

‘Good. Let the rest of them finish things off. In the meantime, Steel, I want you back at headquarters and in my office – we need to get to the bottom of this investigation.’ Clearly he was determined to show everyone who was boss.

Reilly stared at his angry face for a moment, then pushed past him. ‘I’m sorry but I really don’t have time for this just now,’ she replied. Gorman would have to wait; making sure her own father was safe was her biggest priority.

‘Excuse me?’ He seemed shocked that she didn’t immediately bow to his demands.

‘I’m sorry but there’s something I need to do—’

‘May I remind you that I am head of this unit,’ he continued, puffing out his chest. ‘
Which makes me your superior.’

Reilly gave a resigned nod,
then hurried toward Kennedy, who was watching the exchange with interest. ‘I need a favor,’ she said, breathlessly.

He put his hands up. ‘Hey, don’t get me involved in this.’

‘No, it’s not about Gorman … it’s something else entirely. I think … I think my dad could be in danger,’ she said, quickly explaining about the message Gary had found.

‘Fucking hell …’ Kennedy’s gaze moved to Gorman who was approaching fast.

‘How dare you ignore me, Steel!’ the older man shouted. ‘I refuse to be treated like this.’

‘Please,’ Reilly implored. ‘I need to check on him, make sure he’s OK.’

‘Do you think there’s a real chance that—’

‘Yes.’

‘Steel. Are you listening to me?’ Gorman continued.

‘Gorman, maybe this isn’t the time—’ Kennedy began.

‘All right then. The two of you, back in my office – right now!’

Kennedy seemed to make a snap decision. He pulled out his mobile phone. ‘I’ll send a unit over there straightaway. Where did you say he lived?’

‘In the Liberties,’ Reilly said quickly. Then she thought of something. ‘Wait a second, Chris knows the house; do you think he would—’

‘Of course he would,’ Kennedy said, making the call.

‘I don’t understand,’ Chris said. He was facing Daniel Forrest who sat at the opposite side of his desk. ‘You don’t buy Reilly’s accomplice theory?’

‘No.’ Daniel’s expression was neutral.

‘But what about the coercion, or the blond hair?’

‘Just bear with me for a moment,’ the profiler sat forward, about to explain. But their conversation was interrupted by Chris’s mobile.

‘Just one second,’ he said, holding up a finger. ‘Kennedy, what’s up?’ He listened for a moment then frowned. ‘Is she sure? Yeah, I know exactly where it is – of course, I’ll go straight away.’ Hanging up, he looked at Forrest. ‘Reilly found something at the latest scene that makes her think her father’s a target. She can’t contact him on the phone and can’t get away to check on him, so asked if I would.’

From the sound of Kennedy’s voice, he guessed that Reilly was frantic. If so, his eleven-thirty doctor’s appointment would have to wait.

The other man picked up his coat. ‘I’ll come with you.’

‘I don’t know if that’s a—’

‘Detective, if Reilly thinks her father might actually be in danger because of this, then I think it’s important we both check it out, don’t you?’

Chris didn’t have time to waste arguing. If the guy wanted to tag along, let him.

‘You don’t really think the killer would target her father, do you?’ he asked Daniel as he negotiated his way skilfully through the busy morning traffic. It was really more for something to say, as the American had been uncomfortably silent since they’d left the station. He’d tried Reilly’s mobile to see what the problem was but it went straight to voicemail.

‘Did your partner tell you why she thinks that?’ he asked in his usual calm, measured way. His manner actually creeped Chris out.

‘No, he just told me to get over there fast. Reilly wanted to go herself but she’s too far away and apparently time is of the essence. And besides the crime scene, she’s caught up with another work issue.’

Kennedy had mentioned something about Gorman’s appearance and given the circumstances of his return, Chris could only imagine the stink the man had raised. He felt for Reilly and could imagine how panicked she was feeling. While he himself wasn’t sure if there was anything to worry about, he was happy to help set her mind at ease. Would the killer really go after Mike? Or was it just an empty threat, another psychological power play designed to throw Reilly off her game?

Daniel nodded thoughtfully. ‘She must have found something … something relevant,’ he said, as if talking to himself.

Chris said nothing. Truthfully, all he expected to find was Mike Steel passed out on his living room sofa.

The flat was silent when they arrived. After knocking and calling out a couple of times, Chris sought out the spare key that (upon Reilly’s instructions) Kennedy had told him about. Slowing entering the hallway, the two men moved from room to room continuing to call out.

‘Mr Steel? Mr Steel, are you there?’

The lights in the living room were on and the curtains were drawn.

Daniel stood quietly in the living room doorway, as Chris allowed himself time to form an impression. For some reason, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The flat was tidy, the cushions arranged neatly on the couch, the carpet vacuumed, the shoes in the hallway lined up in a straight row.

He turned to Daniel and frowned. ‘A little bit different to the last time I visited.’

‘How so?’

‘Place was like a bomb had hit it – even after Reilly did a clean-up job on it. This … it’s too tidy.’

Daniel nodded. ‘I figured that as soon as I walked in – it smells clean.’ He sniffed the air. ‘Pine cleaner, something like that.’

‘Whereas it should
be smelling of booze, leftover food and stale cigarettes.’ Chris paced the room and ran his finger lightly across the mantelpiece – no dust.

‘Before we jump to any conclusions, maybe we should take a better look around,’ Daniel suggested, calmly. ‘Why don’t I take the bedroom and you try the kitchen.’

Chris nodded. He watched Daniel as he stepped into the bedroom – his flashlight was in his hands, he was alert, on his toes, all senses attuned. While Chris would have preferred working with someone he knew better, someone he trusted, he understood that there wasn’t much of a choice. Let Forrest look around and see if he could make head or tail of this. It couldn’t hurt, could it?

Chris entered the kitchen, thinking about how he often complained about the boxy kitchen in his own apartment, but compared to this one, it was positively spacious. More like the galley on a boat, it was a narrow passageway with high cupboards and a tiny electric cooker on one side, a counter top on the other – but then you didn’t need much space in the kitchen when your diet mostly consisted of booze.

Like the rest of the flat, the kitchen had been transformed. He thought about the last time he’d set foot in it a couple of days ago with Reilly he had almost been afraid to touch anything. But now it positively sparkled, all the surfaces cleaned, the cupboards wiped down, even the chrome on the taps polished.

It did seem odd, but then again there could be a perfectly reasonable explanation for it. He took out his phone and was about to call Reilly when a noise from behind startled him.

‘Who the hell are you?’ A female voice called out and he turned to see a middle-aged lady standing there. A neighbor, he figured, judging by the set of keys she held in her hand.

‘I’m a friend of Mr Steel’s,’ he replied, thinking quickly. ‘Well, of his daughter’s actually and I was just—’

‘His daughter?’ The woman’s face softened somewhat. ‘Oh. I thought you might be a burglar,’ she added. Chris wondered if she made a habit of sneaking up on burglars and putting her life in danger instead of just calling the police. In this case, he was glad she hadn’t as he would have quite a bit of explaining to do.

Chris put on his most reassuring smile. ‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘Tell me, do you have any idea when Mike will be back? I’m assuming he asked you to keep an eye on the place.’

Again, the woman’s face shuttered. ‘If you’re his daughter’s friend then you should know that, shouldn’t you?’

‘Actually—’ But before he could say anything more, Daniel appeared in the doorway.

‘Hello there, I’m Daniel Forrest, an old friend of Mike’s from California. Nice to meet you, Mrs …?’

‘Kelly,’ the woman replied, reluctantly taking his hand. Chris immediately understood that Forrest was trying to put her suspicions at ease by mentioning a shared history.

‘Mrs Kelly, I take it Mike has you to thank for his lovely clean home,’ he continued, laying on the charm.

The woman
blushed a little. ‘I thought I’d take the opportunity to give it a bit of a brush-up – have it nice for him when he comes home.’

‘Very nice of you – and a great job too.
I must get you to look over my place sometime,’ Daniel joked. Mrs Kelly blushed and Chris began to suspect that Mike Steel had a fan in his helpful neighbor. Judging by her coquettish reaction to the attractive profiler, she wasn’t immune to other men’s charms either.

‘Yes, well, I’m sure he won’t even notice,’ she trilled. ‘You know what men can be like. But it’ll be nice for him when he gets back, although he didn’t actually say when she’d be bringing him back.’

‘She?’ Chris repeated.

‘Well, yes.’ Her expression changed to one of downright disapproval. ‘Now I know she’s a friend of yours, but really, I think that daughter of his could be doing a lot more than just swanning in when it suits her and deciding to take him away for a few days. What about all the other days when he needs someone to keep an eye on him?’

Chris and Daniel exchanged glances.

‘How do you know this, Mrs Kelly?’ Chris asked. ‘That he’s gone away for a few days?’

‘Seems his daughter arranged some sort of break for the two of them, so I told him I’d keep an eye on the flat. I don’t think he realized that she’d arranged that too, with yourselves I mean.’

‘And did you happen to meet Mike’s daughter?’ Daniel asked, fishing for a possible description.

‘Well, I didn’t
meet
her as such,’ the woman replied. Reading between the lines, Chris knew that luckily for them, Mrs Kelly had been keeping a very close eye on Mike Steel. ‘I just caught of glimpse of her in the car before they left. It was the first time I’d seen sight or sound of this one actually, and was surprised because I didn’t think she looked a bit like him, very little resemblance really. Not like the other one.’

Chris looked up quickly.
‘The other one?’

‘Yes, the older daughter – the one who works for the cops. Now she’s the spit of him whereas the younger one—’

‘Mrs Kelly, did Mike Steel tell you specifically that he was going away with his daughter?’

Picking up on Chris’s urgency, she looked hesitant. ‘Well, no but … I thought you said …’

‘Thank you, you’ve been a great help,’ Daniel interjected, smoothly before guiding her toward the doorway. ‘I’m sure Mike will want to thank you too when he gets back.’

As she left, Chris ran a hand through his hair, not knowing what to think.

According to the neighbor, Steel had simply gone away for a few days with a relative, or at least someone he knew, which meant that there was nothing for Reilly to worry about. Yet, what was all this about a daughter?

‘What do you make of that?’ he asked Daniel, who’d come back into the room. ‘Sounds like he’s just taken off for a few days and Reilly’s got nothing to worry about.’

The profiler looked thoughtful. ‘On the contrary, actually,’ he said, his tone grave.

‘What do you mean? You heard what she said: Steel took off with someone he knew, and not some deranged killer.’

Forrest looked at him. ‘Someone he knew, yes. But if this person is who I suspect it is, then Reilly’s got a lot more to worry about than you or I can even imagine.’