(2011) The Gift of Death (24 page)

Kate shook her head and waited for him to continue.

‘
I wound my window down and gestured for him to pull over.’

‘
And can you describe him for me? What did he look like?’

‘
Dr Cramer, you know what he looks like.’

‘
I know, but –‘

‘
You were there in the courtroom, you saw him that day –‘

Kate reached into the black holdall at her feet and pulled out the clay model of Gleason’s head.

‘
Is this him?’

Hoban’s eyes widened and the blood seemed to drain away from his cheeks.

‘
Yeah, that’s him alright. Put that goddamned thing away.’

Instead, Kate placed the model on the table directly in front of Hoban.

‘
Jesus, it’s like he’s in the room with us,’ he said. ‘Like he’s come back from the dead. Like he said he would.’

‘
What?’

‘
Well, I suppose that’s what he meant when he said it. I didn’t give it much thought at the time, but now –‘

‘
Dale?’

Hoban swallowed and ran a thick hand over his tired eyes.

‘
I never mentioned it to anyone. I didn’t think it relevant.’

‘
Never mentioned what?’

‘
When I pulled Gleason over I was expecting trouble. I recognised him straight away from that image that had been sent out to every cop in the state of California. But he didn’t put up a struggle, just held his hands out. He had this blank look on his face, a look of resignation. Almost like it didn’t matter.’

‘
And?’

‘
As I was cuffing him, he turned his head and said, under his breath – Let’s see if I can get the words right. Yeah, that was it. “Watch out for another me.” Yeah, those were his words. That’s what he said. I didn’t think of reporting it at the time, but –‘

‘
Oh my God.’

‘
What do you think he meant?’

‘
I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s happening right now. And it’s happening to us. Me, Cassie, Weislander, you. I’ve no idea how, but in some form or other Gleason is back.’

28

‘
You don’t think Gleason could have been working with an accomplice?’ asked Josh.

‘
The father of Gleason’s first victim seemed to think so,’ said Kate, taking a sip of green tea. ‘But from what I remember, though, there was no evidence. Vaughan looked through the files that Collins gave him – documents compiled by a team of P.Is employed by Collins – and he didn’t find anything.’

‘
So Vaughan believed that Gleason was proud to be a sole operator?’

‘
Exactly.’

They had met in one of their old haunts, a Japanese restaurant downtown. From the outside it looked nothing special, in fact it was more than a little shabby around the edges, but the Japanese couple who ran it served some of the best sashimi in LA. Not that Kate was eating it.

Josh picked up a piece of tuna with his chopsticks and dipped the raw fish into a dollop of wasabi. But as he brought the glistening piece of fish towards his mouth an image of that tongue torn from the mouth of Jackson Weekes flashed into his brain. Fuck. Suddenly he didn’t feel hungry anymore.

‘
Are you alright?’ asked Kate.

‘
Yeah, just a bit tired, you know.’

‘
You should get some sleep. Staying up all night is counter-productive. And it’s not good for you.’

‘
Yeah, I know. It’s just that every time I try I think of that – that monster – out there and what he might do next.’ He paused and looked at Kate. ‘In fact, I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I’ve been thinking a lot about you. About the –‘

Kate’s felt the blood rush to her face. What was Josh about to say? Did he want to come back to her? Could he have ended it all with Jules? The thought made her a little dizzy and suddenly nauseous, as though a small bird was trapped inside her ribcage. She wanted to take another sip of tea, but was afraid her hand would shake too much. She chewed her lip instead, hoping that the couple of drops of saliva would be enough to lubricate her parched mouth.

‘
I w-wanted to talk to you about it too,’ she said, before her mouth dried up again. She pictured moving her things back into Josh’s loft. Her photographs were back on his walls. There was that black and white picture she had taken of his naked back, his broad shoulders and trim waist forming a kind of cross, his muscles clearly defined. She’d hang that back in the bedroom. She remembered she used to look at the photograph and then turn her eyes to the real thing next to her. She would run her fingers down his back, massaging his strained and tired muscles, until he would turn over and –

‘
It’s hard for me to say this, and I’ve been talking it over with Jules, and I want access to the child – our child,’ he said.

Kate couldn’t speak. In fact, she was certain that her mouth dropped open slightly. She couldn’t grasp the reality of what Josh was saying.

‘
I feel it’s only right, only proper,’ he said. ‘And Jules feels the same. It’s half my child and I have a right to see it. Of course, I want to contribute, financially, that’s not a problem. Jules’s restaurant is doing quite well at the moment – you know she had that great write up in the
Times
recently – and she’s more than willing to invest in the child’s future. In fact –‘

‘
Excuse me?’ Her voice was raw, rasping. ‘What are you trying to say?’

‘
Come on, Kate. Don’t take that tone. We’ve got to be able to talk about this without getting all –‘

‘
All what? Hysterical?’

‘
Well – yes. To be honest. Yes. And we need to get things sorted out. We need to talk about the future of – of our child. Like I said, Jules –‘

Kate slammed her cup down on the table, spilling her green tea, and stood up.

‘
Kate – sit down. We need to talk.’

‘
There’s nothing left to talk about.’

Josh placed a hand on her shoulder, but she brushed him away, his wide, slightly hairy fingers suddenly as disgusting as the legs of a tarantula.

‘
Leave me alone.’ She grabbed her bag and pushed past him.

‘
Kate, don’t make a scene. This isn’t fair.’

‘
You don’t know the meaning of the word.’

And to think that she actually thought he was going to ask her to move back in with him. How foolish. How pathetic. He was still in love with Jules. But did he seriously think she would let her baby spend weekends with the woman who had stolen him away from her? As she moved away from the table she turned back to look at him.

‘
And as for access? Forget it. It’s not going to happen.’

‘
Kate, please.’

‘
And if you want to “talk”, as you so quaintly put it, you can do that through my lawyer. I’ll get him to draft a letter, which he will deliver to your office.’

In her car she placed a hand up to her face. Her mouth, as dry as the desert only a few moments ago, was wet now, full of her tears.

29

Cassie lifted her hands up to feel Kate’s face.

‘
You’ve been crying,’ she said.

‘
Is there nothing I can hide from you?’ Kate ran her fingers over the smooth – and, as she thought, dry - surface of her skin, tracing the line up from her high cheekbones to her temples. ‘Anyway, how do you know? That was hours ago.’

Cassie smiled.

‘
Witch,’ Kate joked, reaching out to give her a little mock slap, before pulling her down onto the sofa with her.

‘
What did you say?’ said Cassie, tickling Kate under her arm.

‘
Stop! Stop!’

‘
Take it back,’ said Cassie, her finger working like a worm now. ‘Do you take it back?’

‘
Yes,’ said Kate between her giggles. ‘Yes. Stop!’

The two women fell backwards on the sofa, consumed by laughter.

‘
I haven’t laughed like that for months,’ said Kate.

‘
Me neither.’

Cassie turned her head towards the woman who, during the last few weeks, had become her friend. Kate knew that Cassie could not see her, yet she felt somehow that she was assessing her, searching her face for traces of the thing that had made her cry. It reminded her of her mother.

‘
I know I may as well tell you,’ said Kate.

‘
What happened?’

‘
What do you think happened? Josh happened. Or rather didn’t.’

‘
I thought you two had split up.’

‘
Yes, we had.’

‘
So?’

‘
Call me crazy, but for some stupid reason I got it into my head that we were going to get back together. I know, I know, it’s dumb. I suppose it was the fact that the case had brought us closer, that I felt him somehow protecting me, but – ‘ She bit her lip, which was beginning to tremble. ‘I got carried away, I guess. In my head I could already see myself back in his place. I had already reorganised his kitchen, put my books back on the shelves, hung my photographs.’

‘
Kate,’ said Cassie, stroking her friend’s shoulder.

‘
But, of course, the reality was that he’s got no intention of leaving Jules. And – and he wants access to the child.’

Cassie didn’t say anything, a silence which Kate guessed was an indication of her point of view.

‘
Enough of that,’ she said, standing up. The last thing she wanted was an argument with Cassie. ‘There are some things you need to know about the case.’ She reached out her hands and pulled Cassie up from the sofa. ‘It’s time we got to work.’

‘
Do you mean my plan?’

‘
No,’ said Kate. ‘You can forget about that.’

‘
But –‘

‘
No discussion. It’s too dangerous.’

‘
Then what?’

Kate led Cassie over to a desk in the corner of the room. She pressed a button on her laptop, bringing it to life.

‘
Hoban told me what Gleason said to him when he was arrested.’

‘
What? What was it?’

‘”
Watch out for another me.” Those were his exact words, apparently.’

‘
Oh my God.’

‘
So it seems like he knew what was going to happen way back then. That he had it all in place.’

‘
What – like he trained someone? Like – like an apprentice in murder?’

‘
You should have been a mystery writer, Cassie.’

‘
Don’t joke, Kate. I don’t like this.’

‘
I know, I know. Sorry.’ She turned to the computer and brought up Google. ‘I reckon with what we know we should be able to find this fucker.’

‘
What do you mean?’

‘
Well, who else knows more than we do about the Gleason case? Vaughan, sure, but he’s long since gone. Weislander, maybe, but he’s worked a hundred or so cases since then and anyway, after finding that tongue in his icebox I doubt that he wants to put his wife at risk. Apparently she really freaked out, and who can blame her?’

‘
What about Josh?’

‘
Forget it. From now on I’m having nothing to do with him.’

‘
But what about the case?’

‘
What about it? From what I can tell, he hasn’t come up with any new leads. I don’t know about you, but I think we’re better off doing this on our own.’

‘
I thought you said it was too dangerous?’

‘
Your plan was suicide, Cassie. Trust me. We don’t want to go down that route. But I’ve got a better idea.’

‘
What?’

‘
Good old fashioned research.’

Kate tapped in the name Robert Gleason, sandwiched between quotation marks, into the search engine. There were 49,500 results. Cassie heard the disappointment in the silence.

‘
What’s wrong?’ she asked.