Missing (The Cass Lehman Series Book 3) (10 page)

His brain had refused to shut down. A whirl of thoughts had whipped around into the small hours of the morning: Grace, Phil, the job at Fairfield, the case, Cass, her lunch with Crackers. He wished he’d told Cass about Sorenson’s job offer and Grace’s cancer, but he hadn’t had a chance.

He ground his fingers into his eyes, trying to banish the feeling that someone had chucked a handful of sand in them, and opened the door to the meeting room.

Bruno stood to full alert and grumbled low in his throat as Ed walked in.

‘Bruno, drop.’ Maria barked the order and the dog immediately hit the floor, giving her a look of total subservience.

‘Good morning, Maria. Thanks for coming over. Morning, Bruno.’ He thought about patting the dog but changed his mind when he saw the look the Shepherd was giving him.

‘Glad you could make it,’ Maria said, firing a glance at the clock on the wall. She hadn’t changed at all. Short and stocky with dark hair cropped close to her skull, she was dressed in navy cargo pants and a plain khaki sweatshirt. Her only jewellery was an impressive array of piercings that ran the full length of each ear.

‘Sorry I’m late. I had a few issues at home this morning,’ Ed said.

‘You look like something the cat dragged in.’

Ed gave her a crooked smile. He’d forgotten how blunt she could be. ‘That’s a pretty accurate description. Dave’ll be joining us in about half an hour, then we’ll head down to the crime scene. It’s about forty-five clicks from the city.’ He spent the next twenty minutes outlining the case. Janice interrupted them when she brought in his coffee. They were back at Ed’s desk reviewing satellite pictures of the dump on Google Earth when Dave strolled over.

‘Morning.’ He smiled at Maria, but the greeting lacked its usual wattage. Dave had failed miserably to charm her the last time they’d worked together. His knowledge of dogs was rudimentary at best and that was the only topic of conversation Maria liked to engage in.

She nodded in Dave’s general direction. ‘We’re ready to go. Bruno’ll need to pee before we drive off.’

‘Right, er, there’s a park just across the road,’ Dave said.

‘That’ll do. I’ll be back in five. Bruno, come.’ She barrelled off towards the lift with the dog trotting at her side.

‘Do you reckon she likes the men in her life to be just as subservient?’

‘I don’t think there are men in her life, Dave, at least not in the way you’re thinking.’

Dave snorted. He slid behind his desk and began checking his messages. Ed stood up. He needed to follow Bruno’s example before the long drive. He was halfway across the floor when Crackers stuck his head out of the fishbowl and called him over.

‘Dyson, my office.’

Ed groaned and changed course. A few rounds with Crackers was just what he needed to make his morning complete.

‘Sit.’ Crackers gestured to the chair opposite his desk and squeezed his bulk into his own groaning leather chair.

‘Did Miss Lehman tell you?’ Crackers asked.

A range of sarcastic answers flitted through Ed’s mind but he decided it wasn’t worth the grief. ‘She did.’

Crackers tucked his hands behind his head. ‘Before yesterday I thought all psychics were full of shit.’

Ed sat back in his chair and tried to make his shoulders relax. The topic of Cass made him want to rip Crackers’ head off. Crackers was exploiting her and he didn’t like it, but he needed to let Cass make her own decisions, as much as it killed him.

Crackers studied Ed, his eyes partly buried by a heavy brow and fleshy cheeks, giving him a porcine appearance. Ed forced himself to wait, refusing to fill the silence.

Crackers eventually leant back in his chair. ‘I just got a call from DCI Sorenson.’

Ed worked to keep his face neutral while his gut clenched. Had Natalia agreed to release him to MCIB just when he wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted?

‘She got a call from the Chief Warden at James Nash House. Your boy in there’s done a runner. Injured a couple of guards and stole a car. It’s going to hit the media in the next hour. You might want to let Miss Lehman know.’

Ed’s tongue refused to work. Fuck. Jenson loose on the streets again was worse than bad news. Cass wasn’t going to take it well. How on earth was he going to tell her? Hell, the thought made him feel sick to his stomach.

‘I doubt he’ll get very far. They rarely do.’

Ed was tempted to argue. There’d been some pretty famous cases of escaped felons who’d managed to stay under the radar in Australia. The infamous postcard bandit Brenden Abbott for one. Hopefully Brian Jenson wasn’t in that league.

‘Tell me about the case,’ Crackers said. ‘Any progress?’

Ed shook his head. ‘Not really. We have a list of possible missing persons to follow up, but that’s about it. The licence plate check didn’t turn up anything.’

‘Maybe the pooch will find something. We got a lucky break last time. You’d better hope the same thing happens, because it sounds like you’ve got fuck all otherwise.’

‘We’re heading down to the site with the dog now.’

‘Dave can take them. I’ve got other plans for you.’

‘Something’s come up?’

‘No. I want you to take Miss Lehman to the pathology suite.’

‘The pathology suite?’ Ed stared at the man opposite him, his brain refusing to process the implied meaning.

‘She told me she gets visions when she touches a corpse,’ Crackers said.

‘No.’

‘She doesn’t?’

‘No, I won’t ask her to do it. It’s not even an intact body, it’s partial remains … they’re mostly decomposed. How can I ask her to touch that?’

‘You’re not asking her, I am. You’re just following orders, and the way I see it, you don’t have a fucking choice if you want to stay on this team.’

They glared at each other. More than anything, Ed wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. Sorenson’s job offer was floating in his mind like a big juicy carrot.

‘I’ll call her and see if she’s prepared to do it,’ Ed said through gritted teeth.

‘You don’t need to. I spoke to her this morning. She agreed to help.’

Ed dropped his gaze and studied the pens and paper scattered on Crackers’ desk, not trusting himself to speak. He counted to ten and waited for his heartbeat to stop hammering in his ears.

‘Well? What the hell are you waiting for? Go tell Dave to get going without you, then swing by and pick her up. I’ve already cleared it with the pathologist. He’s expecting you.’

Ed stood and walked out of the room without saying another word. He was seeing everything through a red haze and he could feel a vein pulsing in his left temple. He walked back towards Dave and Maria.

‘Jesus! What happened to you? I thought you were just going for a leak? You look like someone stole your candy,’ said Dave.

‘Crackers.’

‘Ah …’

‘What?’ Maria looked from Ed to Dave.

Dave grinned at Maria. ‘That’s what we call DCI Arnott.’ He turned back to Ed. ‘What did he want?’

‘He wants me to take Cass to the pathology suite. To see the remains.’

Dave’s mouth dropped open. ‘No way! That’s disgusting!’

‘Would one of you tell me what the hell is going on?’

The two men exchanged a look. Neither of them said anything. Ed finally shrugged and gave Maria the nutshell version.

‘Huh. Go figure,’ she said when he’d finished explaining about Cass.

‘That’s it?’ Dave said.

‘What? You think I’ve never heard of the police using a psychic before? Why not, if it gets results? Though personally I think Bruno here will be more useful — and he comes with the added bonus of not having to touch the body.’

CHAPTER
10

I heaved a sigh. To say the silence in the car was frosty would have been a gross understatement. Ed had barely said three words to me since he’d picked me up. I didn’t have the energy to get into it with him again, so I sank back against the seat and replayed the call from DCI Arnott.

The insistent ringing of the phone had dragged me from sleep. I’d been dreaming of the night sky, reliving the feeling of hope and elation the suicide victim had experienced just before he jumped. I hoped I never found myself so disconnected from the world that I’d be longing to leave it. Thankfully, the phone had woken me before I got to the pain and fear part, but my exhaustion told me that I’d been dreaming about the vision on a continuous loop throughout the night. It was something that
had happened before; my brain’s way of processing, I suppose. Gran and Mum had regularly heard me talking, moaning or crying in my sleep after a vision. Sometimes the flashbacks went on for days.

I was still in a half-confused state when Arnott began talking about the dump case and whether I could get a read on the victim’s last moments. It wasn’t until after I’d hung up that the words ‘partial remains’ popped back into my head.

Partial remains meant the body wasn’t whole. I’d only ever touched a body twice before. Once by accident and once just after the person had died, because I was desperate for information. I wasn’t sure I could deal with partial remains. The problem was, I’d agreed before I’d really heard or understood what he was asking. Note to self: don’t make any serious decisions for twenty-four hours after a vision. It was like I’d come out of surgery, incapable of operating heavy machinery or making life-changing decisions.

‘Ed?’

‘Hmmm.’

‘I’m sorry you think this is such a bad idea. I just want to help.’

‘I know.’

‘I don’t understand why you don’t want me to help your team solve cases?’

‘It’s not your helping that’s the issue. I don’t want you in danger. I don’t like what visions do to you emotionally or physically. And I was a bit surprised that you decided to help without talking to me, especially when you’d just finished bagging me for not consulting you about major decisions.’

The words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush and I could see his colour rising as he said them. Clearly he’d been bottling. It was the most he’d said to me for days. At least he was finally addressing the issues.

‘I don’t think I’ll be in much danger at the morgue,’ I said. It would have been wiser to shut my mouth, but I was annoyed by his paternal tone. He was treating me like a child. ‘I’ll be fine.’

‘If you say so.’

I studied him out of the corner of my eye. His jaw was set in a rigid line that told me he was clenching his teeth.

‘There’s something else I need to tell you,’ he said.

His tone drew my full attention.

‘It’s about Brian Jenson.’

‘Yeah I know, Crackers told me.’

‘He did?’

‘Yeah, he’s not catatonic anymore. Pity.’

‘No, that’s right, but there’s more than that. Cass, he got out.’

‘Out?’ I didn’t understand. ‘They let him out?’

‘No, he’s escaped. It’s going to be all over the news shortly. There’ll be a massive man-hunt.’

My mind buzzed and I felt sick. I stared out the window trying to process the news and we finished the short drive in silence. He pulled down Divett Place, a narrow side street off one of Adelaide’s main roads, then parked.

‘Are you OK?’

I shook my head. ‘Not really.’

‘You don’t have to do this if you’re not up for it.’

‘I’m up for it. I’m not going to let Brian Jenson stop me from doing anything.’

He grunted, then got out of the car. I took a moment to gather my wits then followed him.

We passed into an entrance foyer where Ed used a phone to call through to the pathologist’s suite. We were buzzed through the security door, then made our way down a corridor to another small reception area, where we were met by a man in a white coat.

Ed introduced us. ‘Hi Bill, this is Miss Lehman. Cass, this is Bill Trenear, the primary pathologist assigned to the case.’

We shook hands. ‘Just Cass is fine,’ I said.

‘Then call me Bill like everyone else. DCI Arnott told me you’d be coming.’

‘He told you about me?’

‘He did. He said you’re a psychic and you need to touch the remains. It’s a bit unorthodox, but if DCI Arnott authorised it then who am I to argue? This way. I’ve prepared the remains and laid them on a table for you. You’ll want to suit up. The smell’s pretty bad, even with the extractor fans on.’

I blanched. My stomach flip-flopped and I was suddenly very aware of the mass of porridge and tea swirling around in my midsection. I really didn’t want to reacquaint myself with my breakfast.

I followed him into an antechamber where I donned a gown, gloves, a hair net and a mask. Ed put on the mask but didn’t worry about the rest. I figured he wasn’t planning on getting too close. Lucky him.

‘Ready?’ Bill asked.

The ability to blink had completely deserted me. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights because Bill put a hand on my arm.

‘You don’t have to go in if you don’t want to.’

‘I want to help,’ I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

He shrugged and opened the door. We stepped into the autopsy suite. A stainless steel table sat in the middle of the room. I looked down at my feet as I began to cross the room. After about three steps I stopped. My eyes crawled up from the lino floor, inch by inch, until they finally rested on the table. Saliva filled my mouth and I had to swallow a few times, forcing myself to pretend I was looking at something in a butcher’s shop. Clumps of remains were clustered on the table. There wasn’t much.

‘That’s it?’ My voice was barely above a whisper.

‘That’s all we’ve found so far,’ Ed said.

I straightened my shoulders and walked up to the table. The smell came at me in waves, forcing me to breathe through my mouth under the mask.

My surroundings completely receded. I forgot Bill and Ed were there. I stared in open-mouthed horror at the mess in front of me. A severed hand, two feet and a head, partially covered with putrefied and oozing flesh. I covered my mouth and spun away as bile hit the back of my throat. I yanked my mask down.

‘Here!’ Bill thrust a bucket into my hand and I vomited until I thought my stomach was going to come up as well.

Ed came over and patted my back. When I finally raised my head, my eyes were streaming. I could imagine how I must have looked.