Fall of night, p.16
Fall of Night, page 16
“I need some time. Print me the documents first.”
“You’ll have to pay for the paper. There’s more than two hundred pages of—”
“Fine.”
“Good. Then I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“You’ll see me sooner than that,” Audrika said. And without a word of goodbye, she hung up the phone. Mr. Farrel might be a charmer, but Audrika knew someone with a secret when she met them. Tom Farrel had many. She’d bet her life on that.
***
The rental cabin was three lots down from the Miles’s house, so they walked. Brian had arrived and was already stringing yellow ‘crime scene: do not cross’ tape through the trees.
Murray pulled out a large ring with a mess of keys.
“Sorry,” he said as he flicked back and forth. “I’m not sure which is the spare.”
Jordan chuckled. “No worries, sir. As long as we get in.”
Sadie pursed her lips as the key flicking continued. We could always break down the door.
“Ah! There it is,” Murray said with a laugh. He removed an aging iron skeleton key. “Here you go, Constable Black Plume.”
“Thanks.” She slid the key into the lock. “You sure this is the one?”
“Pretty sure.”
Sadie’s fingers tensed as she turned the key. The lock was stiff and her hands slipped and slid beneath the latex gloves. “Come on…” The lock began to move, tumblers clicking, before it froze again. “Come on… almost there.” She twisted harder. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the key shifted with an audible click. The heavy wooden door of the cabin swung inward. “Looks like that was the right—”
Her throat caught on the sickening stench of rot.
“What the hell is that?” Murray said. “Smells like something died in there.”
A knowing look passed between Jordan and Sadie.
“Just stay outside, sir,” she said. “We’ll let you know what we’ve found once we’ve gone through the house.”
“You sure? I want to help if—”
“Stay where you are, Mr. Miles,” Jordan said, holding up his hand. “We’ve got this under control.”
Sadie cupped her hand to her mouth, shouting: “Brian! We’re going inside now. Murray’s waiting here. Can you come ’round?”
His answer echoed from the side of the house.
“Got it! I’ll be right there. Just finishing this up.”
Sadie turned back to Murray. “Stay here,” she said sharply. “This is a crime scene. We can’t contaminate evidence.”
“But it smells like—”
“We’ll be right back, Murray,” Jordan said. “Just relax.”
He swung the door closed, separating the two officers from the man waiting on the front step.
“Thanks,” Sadie said. “Murray’s getting on my last nerve today.”
“Don’t know what’s up with him.” Jordan said. “He seem weird to you?”
“A bit. But then, it’s Murray.” She smirked. “Weird is relative.”
“Fair enough.” Jordan laughed, then gagged. “Jesus. What is that?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Sadie walked forward with slow, steady steps, her ears and eyes attuned to the smallest of details. The entranceway—though benign enough—was cluttered with coats and several pairs of shoes. At least two of them didn’t seem to have a pair. Sadie carefully stepped around the scattered footwear, heading toward the inner rooms. She glanced up. The lights in the hallway were on.
“You didn’t turn on the lights when we came in, did you?” Sadie said.
“Nope. Just walked in. You?”
“Not me.”
She pulled out her notepad. “I’ll make a note: Lights in hallway on when we came in.”
“I’m going to document the entrance,” Jordan said, lifting the camera to his eye. “Tell me if you see something.”
“Got it,” Sadie said, walking forward. “Shout if there’s anything you need tagged.”
“Uh-huh. Thanks.”
The flash of the camera began like a lightning storm, filling the hallway as Sadie headed away from Jordan. Nearing the end of the corridor, the light grew dim. The faint sound of a television rose. Sadie paused. The scent of death was stronger here and it had the copper-penny undertone of blood. The memory of Jim lying dead on Susan’s kitchen floor flashed and disappeared into the darkness of her mind, making the skin on the back of her neck crawl.
She took a shaky breath. “Just a step at a time,” she whispered. “There’s nothing in here.”
It only felt like there was.
Sadie scanned the hallway. Barring a few scuffs along the edges—the results of an overzealous vacuum cleaner—there was nothing noteworthy in the main section of the hall. Her gaze lifted. A darkened doorway waited for her on the left, an open stairwell leading to the second floor directly in front of her, a third entrance visible further down the hall. Her feet slowed as she neared the shadowy entrance and she swallowed hard.
Behind her, the flashes stopped. “You find something?” Jordan called.
“Not yet, but it smells worse here.”
“On my way.”
Sadie took a single step toward the darkness. The fug of decay rose, filling the air, pressing down on her. Nausea rose and she coughed. Through the doorway, she could see the dim outlines of furniture, but little else.
There’s something inside.
She jerked at the unexpected memory of Jim’s voice. A second later, a hand brushed her elbow and she squeaked in surprise.
“Jesus!” she snapped. “Don’t do that, Jordan!”
“Sorry. You looked worried.” He squinted into the shadows. “What do you see in there?”
“Nothing yet.” She touched the flashlight on her belt. “I’m going to turn on the lights, but I… I want to check the light-plates first.”
“Check ’em for what?”
She caught Jordan’s eyes.
“For blood. There’s something in that room. Can’t you smell it?”
“I figured it was rotten food or something.”
Her jaw tightened until her teeth hurt. “That’s not rotten food. That’s something dead.”
“You think there’s—?” Behind them—at the far end of the hallway—the door swung open. Jordan spun. “Murray!” he bellowed. “You can’t just walk IN here! This is a crime scene, for Chrissake!” Murray said something inaudible and Jordan stormed down the hall. “I’m not kidding! Get out or I’ll have to arrest you! Brian! Get over here!”
Sadie waited. At the end of the hall she could hear an argument unfolding, voices rising. For thirty seconds she waited… a minute…
She stepped into the darkness.
The room was solid black, shadows full of unknowable terror. Her fingers fumbled for her flashlight’s release and she swore under her breath. That feeling was back. The one that hinted at something else. She could imagine what Jim would tell her if he was here: Take it easy now. Just look at each item like a puzzle piece. Nothing else. Figure it out later. Sadie knew this, but right now her calm had fled.
The flashlight would not come free!
“Come on, you bitch!” She fought until the edge of her nail finally caught the snap. It flicked open on the holster and she pulled the torch free. With a shaky breath, she clicked it on and lifted it to shine into the room.
A crimson image flashed across her eyes.
With a cry, Sadie stumbled backward, her legs moving on their own volition. Her heart was in her throat, ears ringing. She caught her foot on the carpet edge leading to the hallway, almost going to her knees. Somewhere—impossibly far away—she could hear two men arguing. She couldn’t understand their words, not with the horror filling her mind.
“Jordan! JORDAN! Get down here! We’ve got another body!”
Chapter ten
Jordan stared, slack-jawed, into the living room. Blood flecked the walls. A red-black stain marred the carpet, spreading outward. In the center of this stain near the fireplace, a glistening black shape huddled low, a butcher’s choice of blades and a bone saw beside it. The television hummed, but there was another sound too. Buzzing. Sadie swung her flashlight over the body and the skin shivered and crawled. The sound made sense.
The body was covered in a pulsing layer of flies.
“What the hell?” He swallowed bile. “What is that?”
“A body. Not sure what kind of body though.” Sadie took two halting steps into the room. “Photograph the light switch, then turn it on,” she said. “I need some light. Gotta figure out what we’re dealing with here.”
“Is… is it a person?”
“I don’t KNOW, Jordan. I need some goddamned light!”
Her tone jerked Jordan out of his panic.
“Got it,” he said. “Hold on.”
Jordan lifted the camera to his eye. What advice had Sadie given him the day of Jim’s murder? Document. Detail. Think later. He focused on the light switch, forcing his panicked thoughts away. Having a camera in his hands calmed him. He didn’t need to think beyond it. At least not as long as the shutter was clicking. Things were easier when he saw them through the viewfinder. He pressed the button again and the camera flashed. He did it a second time. A third, fourth, fifth…
Jordan looked up. “Done.”
“Good. Turn the lights on.”
He flicked on the light with a gloved finger. Colour, deep and pungent, saturated the room. The scene had looked bad in the flare of a flashlight. It was worse.
“Fuck,” Jordan said. The room was destroyed. A disassembled car-jack lay next to the fireplace. He frowned seeing it. Hadn’t Lou said something about having trouble with the jacks at her garage? Next to it were a pile of knives, dissection tools, and a single bone saw—the stuff of nightmares. His stomach rolled.
“Not a person,” Sadie said. “Well, that’s a relief.”
“It’s not?”
“Nope.”
Jordan stepped up next to her. “What kind of body is it?”
“Hold on.” She crept forward, eyeing the carcass on which a miasma of fat-bellied flies buzzed and circled. “An animal of some kind. Elk maybe.”
Jordan followed Sadie’s footsteps. An armchair was flipped sideways, food wrappers and empty soda cans littered the floor; bathroom towels were pressed to the carpet next to the body in a failed attempt to mop up the blood.
“What a fucking mess,” he muttered.
The den was in ruins. Once the cozy centre of a home, the room had become a slaughterhouse. Jordan’s stomach roiled and he paused, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth.
“Disgusting.”
“It’s a deer,” Sadie said in a flat voice. “It’s been chopped up. Legs severed. Head removed.”
Jordan lifted the camera and hit the button with numb fingers. Light flashed.
“Whoever butchered it made a hell of a mess.”
“Yeah, but they tried not to.” Sadie nodded toward the corpse. A large yellow tarp had been spread underneath the carcass, but it could not contain the sheer volume of blood. “The tarp was a precaution, but the blood spread.”
“You can’t slaughter a deer in a house.” Jordan said. “Jesus, you can’t do it in a barn without hanging an animal up to drain first.”
Sadie turned. “You wouldn’t know that if you’d grown up in the big city.”
“You think Gabrielle Rice did this?”
“Don’t know. But this is her rental after all.”
Jordan’s jaw tightened. “She told Mrs. Lu she wanted a bone saw.”
“Looks like she got one.”
Sadie and Jordan moved through the room, documenting the bizarre dismemberment of the deer. The air hummed, flies swirling near their faces and hands. When they fluttered away from the animal’s haunches, Jordan gagged. The flesh was white with maggots.
He turned, caught himself against the chair’s armrest, and dry-heaved.
“You head out,” Sadie said. “I’ll tag a few more things.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, but you find anything else fucked up, you call me. I’ll come.”
Jordan nodded. “Same with you. I’ll come back.”
She forced a smile. “I know you will.”
Jordan headed back into the hallway. The main corridor broke the cabin in two. Stairs headed up from the centre to the second floor, while a few steps down, a doorway awaited. It led to the kitchen. Stepping into the semi-darkness, the stench of rot caught him off guard. Heart pounding, Jordan swung his flashlight through the room, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, he photographed the switch from all angles before he turned on the lights. His stomach tightened, then eased. There was nothing dead in here, though the smell was nearly as rank as in the living room.
A pile of unwashed dishes filled the sink; garbage tumbled out of the can and across the floor. On the counters, several bags of groceries sat, some items—like a swollen container of whole milk—sitting out as if someone had wandered away a moment ago. The ripe smell came from the rotting food. He forced himself to focus on the task at hand.
Document, he thought. Figure it out later. Right now, there were too many missing pieces.
He focused on the counter near the fridge, then moved to the kitchen table. It heaved under a layer of crusted plates, soda cans, and garbage. The viewfinder moved across the wooden surface, capturing images as he went: a half-empty bag of chips, milk-scudded coffee mugs, moldy pears, an open bag of bread—green on one end—and a piece of paper, covered in tiny handwriting. Jordan lowered the camera. He leaned closer and frowned. The paper was dove grey parchment with a thin line of gold along one side. It had been folded at some point, but lay creased open, a pen on the counter next to it.
The words on its surface jumped to life:
—and you think you can just pretend it never happened, but you can’t just walk away from me. I WON’T LET YOU! We had something! You felt the same until you moved. I know if you’ll just let me show you what you mean to me, I know you’ll understand. This isn’t a GAME to me, Rich! I—
“Jesus,” he gasped. “This is a letter to Rich Evans.”
“What’s that?”
Jordan turned to discover Sadie in the doorway. Her tan face was unnaturally pale, cheeks pinched. She carried the evidence kit half-open, a pile of bagged items poking out from the top.
“I found a letter,” he said, “on the table. I think Gabrielle wrote it.”
“Letter, hmmm.” Sadie set down the kit and came forward.
“You find anything else in the den?”
“There was a purse next to the couch. Gabby’s I.D. was in it, and a few other things. No keys though.”
Jordan narrowed his eyes. “No keys for the cabin?”
“Nope. None for the car either.” Sadie pulled out a fresh plastic evidence bag, scribbling a note on it in black marker. “There was a contract for a rental car in the purse. She rented it in Calgary a couple weeks ago.”
“You think that’s when she flew to Canada?”
“Uh-huh, but the car’s nowhere to be found. Keys neither.” Sadie rubbed her fingers to release the bag’s seal and shook it open with a pop. “Now, what’s that letter say?”
“I only read the first part.” Jordan picked up the camera and took two more photographs, documenting the exact angle of it on the table, the haphazard way it had been dropped, the pen uncapped, the green fur that crawled across the skin of a nearby pear. “There. Got it now. You can bag it.”
Sadie picked up the handwritten note and placed it into an evidence bag. In moving it, a second paper—twinned behind the first—fell to the floor.
Sadie crouched to pick it up. “There’s more.”
“The second half?”
“Looks to be. Hold on a sec.” Jordan waited as she read through it, her expression growing concerned. She looked back up. “This is fucked up.”
“What does it say?” Jordan asked.
Sadie pointed at a single, unsteady line of text. “She threatened to go after Rich if he didn’t take her back. She said…” Sadie squinted. “If he didn’t give her another chance, she was going to destroy his life the same way that Rich destroyed hers.”
Jordan frowned. “Did Rich Evans destroy her life somehow?”
Sadie tucked the second piece of paper into the evidence bag and looked up. “I don’t know if he did. I honestly don’t know anything about this woman, but I think we’ve got to get Evans in and talk to him again.”
“Agreed.” Jordan nodded to the doorway. “You find anything else?”
“Not really. The bedroom’s a mess. Clothes everywhere. Garbage.” Her eyes flicked to the doorway and she shuddered. “Nothing like the living room though.”
“Why’d she threaten Rich in the letter. He told us they were talking. She could have said it then.”
“Maybe she did. He said they’d argued and he’d hung up on her. This would fit.”
“True, but if she wrote a letter, why didn’t she send it?”
“That’s only if it is her letter. We’re going to have to check her handwriting first.”
“Agreed, but if it is her writing, then we’ve got another issue to deal with.”
Sadie stared at him. “What do you mean?”
Jordan waved at the room, taking in the jumbled array of moldy food and garbage.
“The girl was obviously messed up. This was her place; she rented it. She killed a deer—and I’d bet my badge she didn’t have a deer tag—brought the thing inside, then butchered it. That’s weird. No question. But it still doesn’t explain why she was doing it. Why kill the deer? Why butcher it here—in the house? That’s not the behaviour of a game hunter, so why?”
Sadie stared out at the cluttered kitchen, as if considering the question. “Why indeed…” A few seconds passed and then she spun back, her dark eyes dancing with excitement. “I’ve got it!”
