The Helper

FOUR

Doyle in the squadroom. Not relaxed. Not relaxed at all. A part of him still wanting a bigger piece of this investigation. Needing to be out there, talking to people. Trying to find out what possible connection there could be between a butchered girl in a bookstore and his telephone number.

And yet he also has the feeling that he wants nothing to do with it. He wants to sit here at his desk, shuffling papers and staying the hell away from whatever dark things might be swimming in the depths of this case.

He tells himself to relax. If there was a link to him, they’d have found it by now. Wouldn’t they? Yes, of course they would. They’re good detectives. They’d have found it.

So it must be a coincidence. And anyway it’s not really his number. Not exactly. Only the last seven digits are his. The area code is way off, and just happens to be the country code for Ireland. Surely you can take any string of numerals and read meaning into it that isn’t really there? People do it all the time. They do things like adding up the positions of the letters in the name ‘Adolf Hitler’ and coming up with 666. They find codes hidden in passages of the Bible that tell them when the world will end. It’s all hooey.

Yeah, but. . seven digits? Seven?

A couple of times he’s picked up the phone. Actually started to dial the number. Then he’s put it down again. He’s not sure he wants to know.

Be careful what you wish for.

The squadroom door opens, and the two lead detectives on the case walk in. The youngest is a blond-haired cop named Tommy LeBlanc. His gold shield is still fresh in his pocket, and Doyle hasn’t yet made his mind up whether or not he likes the guy. For one thing, thinks Doyle, he’s too fashion-conscious. Cops should look like slobs. Even when they’re wearing smart suits they should look like slobs. At the very least, they should dress traditionally and soberly. Lieutenant Cesario just about gets away with that. But junior here — well, look at him. Shoes so pointy you could pick a lock with them, and garish designer spectacles that seem to change with the weather. Probably doesn’t even have a problem with his eyesight.

The other detective is called Jay Holden. A truck-sized black man with a shaven head that reveals a puckered circular scar above his left ear. Rumor has it that the scar is the result of a gunshot wound inflicted when he ran with gangs in his teenage years. What Doyle likes about Holden is that he is his own man, with his own thoughts and opinions, most of which he keeps to himself. When he occasionally does come down on one side of a debate, you can be sure that he has given it considerable deliberation beforehand.

Doyle waits for the detectives to settle themselves in, then wanders over to Holden’s desk.

‘Hey, Jay.’

Holden looks up. His expression remains fixed.

‘Cal.’

‘You anywhere with the girl?’

Holden shrugs his linebacker shoulders. ‘We talked to the mother. She didn’t really know nothing. No enemies, no fights, no jealous boyfriends, no stalkers. Nothing useful.’

‘No boyfriends at all?’

‘Last one finished with her a year ago. The mother says she was devastated. Wouldn’t talk about it, wouldn’t eat — all the usual teenage angst stuff.’

‘You talk to the guy?’

‘Yeah. He’s just a kid too. Shacked up with another girl now. He seemed shocked enough when I told him about Cindy. Says he dumped her when she got too possessive, but there was no way he wanted anything bad to happen to her. My opinion, he’s telling the truth.’

‘You think this is just a nut-job?’

Holden leans back in his chair while he ponders. The chair groans in complaint.

‘Too early to say. It looks like it, the way he cut her up like that. On the other hand, he’s been real careful. Crime Scene haven’t come up with anything yet, and I’m not convinced they will.’

‘What about that number on her arm? Who does that belong to?’

Doyle tries to make it sound like a natural follow-on question, and hopes his anxiety doesn’t show.

Holden shakes his head. ‘Garbage. That area code ain’t in use. Looks like the ME was right. Killer offers to give his number, writes down some crap, then does his thing while he’s holding her arm.’

So they’re dismissing the number, thinks Doyle. Which means that nobody has looked at what you get if you ignore the area code and treat the remainder as a local number. If they had, they’d be all over him now.

He decides he’s not going to be the one to suggest it.

‘So what’s next?’ he asks.

‘I was hoping you could tell me. Maybe find something in that customer list you got. A name like Jack T Ripper, something like that.’

‘I’ll keep looking.’

He moves back to his own desk, relieved that the issue of the telephone number has been pushed into the background, at least as far as the squad is concerned. Maybe he should do the same. Maybe it’s okay for him to forget about it now.

Maybe.

It’s always the same. Delight and resentment, intermingled. Every time he enters this building.

It’s a beautiful brownstone on West 87th Street. It has history and character and solidity. It has stone lions above the entrance. It has real wood floors. It has a tree-lined sidewalk that takes you to Central Park at one end, and Riverside Drive and the Hudson at the other. But best of all, it has his apartment. The place where he lives. His home.

Except — and this is where the resentment creeps in — it’s not his home, is it? Not really. He didn’t buy it with his own money. Because he is only a New York City detective, and second grade at that. He can’t afford this. He should be living in a crappy tenement, or a place in the outer boroughs.

But we know who can afford this, don’t we? That’s right: Rachel’s parents. They have the money to buy this many times over with whatever’s currently in their wallets. And they’ll never let you forget it, either. And they’ll especially never let you forget that they only bought this for their daughter’s sake rather than yours. And they’ll also never let you forget that they don’t like cops, and they don’t like the fact that their daughter married a cop, and they don’t like you in particular.

As always, Doyle’s unease dissolves once he enters the apartment and shuts himself off from the world outside. The family photographs on the walls welcome him in. And in the living room, the real thing. His wife, Rachel, twisting away from the computer, sending him a smile that explains to him why life is worth living. There is music playing in the background that makes this feel like he’s in a scene from a movie.

He goes over to Rachel, puts his arms around her neck, kisses her, breathes in her perfume and shampoo. Squeezes her until she squeaks.

‘What’s the music?’ he asks.

‘Coldplay.’

‘I should have known. You ever play anything that’s not Britpop?’

‘I thought you’d like it, you being a Brit and all.’

He shows her a fist that’s backed up by a smile. It’s a running joke between them: Rachel referring to him as a Brit just to get a rise out of him. His father, wherever he is now, would have become apoplectic at the very mention of the word.

‘How’s Amy?’ he asks.

Rachel shuts off the music. ‘Exhausted. I took her over to Ellie’s house this afternoon. You know what those two are like together — thick as thieves. God knows what they find to talk about, considering they see each other at school every day. And you know what? Soon as I got her home she was on Skype, talking to Ellie again.’

‘She in bed now?’

‘Yeah. She wanted to stay up to see you, but she couldn’t make it. Fell asleep on the couch in the end.’

‘I’ll make it up to her tomorrow.’ He nods toward the computer screen. It’s displaying an image of a wrinkled old black guy sitting on a stoop. ‘What you working on?’

‘Just some touching up. I’ve got some gallery space at that exhibition in the Rennie Building next month.’

‘Yeah? That’s fantastic. You need a model to pose for you?’ He puts the tips of his fingers to his chin, adopts a wistful expression and flutters his eyelashes at her.

Rachel grimaces. ‘Uhm, no, that’s okay. I don’t think the world is ready for that just yet.’

He chin-points at the screen. ‘You got much more to do?’

‘Plenty, but that’s not what you’re asking, is it? What you really want to know is when your dinner’s ready.’

Doyle smiles. ‘How come you can always see through me?’

‘You’re a man, and men are transparent to us women. You like to think you’re impenetrable and enigmatic. What you don’t know is you’re all glass vases. Big, round, see-through and empty.’

‘The only thing empty about me is my stomach. Now get in that kitchen, wench, and rustle me up some food.’

She gets off her chair and slides past him. ‘About this vase. Did I mention that it was antiquated yet worthless?’

He sends her toward the kitchen with a smack on the ass, then watches the wiggle in her walk.

Without turning round, she calls back to him, ‘And I should also add that only women know how to make them and break them. So watch your step, mister.’

When she’s out of sight, he looks again at the image of the old man on the stoop. He’s tempted to use the software to draw a mustache on the man, or maybe something pornographic. Only he knows next to nothing about computers, and is afraid he might do something irreversible. Now that would cause a real fight.

He met Rachel when she was working for her father as a realtor. She was showing him an apartment in Washington Heights. He knew as soon as he walked into it that he hated it, but he pretended to like it just so he could spend longer in her company.

She could read him way back then too. When she asked him what he thought of the apartment and he said it was okay, she said ‘Bullshit.’ In the next few minutes she managed to discover a multitude of facts about him, from where he was born to his current status as a single man, all apparently without asking him about those things directly. And later, when she told him he could do a lot better than his current situation, it wasn’t just a place to live she was talking about.

She gave up the realty business after they got married. She wanted to follow her real passion: photography. Her parents blame Doyle for that too.

Sometimes Doyle wonders what he would have to do to get in the good books of his in-laws. He believes that even becoming President wouldn’t cut it.

Sighing, he shucks off his coat, slings it onto the back of the sofa, then collapses into the cushions. Rachel walks back in a minute later.

‘Lasagna okay? It just needs reheating.’

‘Sure.’

She curls up next to him on the sofa and studies his face. ‘So are you going to tell me what the big case is?’

The question doesn’t surprise him. For months now he’s been coming home directly after his shift. Tonight he was hours late.

‘A homicide.’

She smiles, then punches him on the bicep. ‘Hoo hoo. Way to go, Detective! They letting you play with the big boys again?’

‘Don’t you start. I get enough of that at work.’

‘But still — a real honest-to-goodness homicide. Somebody must think you deserve another chance. Is it a juicy case?’

Doyle narrows his eyes at her. Juicy isn’t a word he would normally use for something like this.

‘A girl working in a used bookstore on Tenth. Someone came in and cut her up.’

‘My God. You got any leads?’

‘Nothing much. No motive we can find. Nothing in the girl’s personal life. Who knows? Could be some psycho who wanted a book they didn’t have in stock.’

Doyle doesn’t mention the phone number. Why should he? It’s not important. It’s totally irrelevant.

‘What else?’

Rachel reading him yet again.

‘Huh? Nothing. It’s just been a weird day.’

‘Weird how?’

She’s not letting this drop. But let’s not bring the number into this. Let’s not freak her out. Not that it should freak her out, of course, it being one of those funny coincidences that happens to all of us from time to time.

‘A different case,’ he lies, and hopes it sneaks past his wife’s bullshit detector. ‘A sweet little old lady called Mrs Sachs. She lost her daughter in 9/11. She got a phone call from her in the South Tower, just before it came down. Mrs Sachs said something to me. She said that she would have given anything at that moment to swap places with her daughter. She would have walked straight into the wall of flames in front of her if it meant her girl could live.’

He can see the tears already building in Rachel’s eyes. He knows she’s a sucker for human interest stories like this, and now he feels guilty as hell for using such diversionary tactics.

‘Tell me about it,’ she says. So he does. And once he gets into it, he’s glad of the distraction himself.

When the phone rings and Rachel gets up to answer it, still sniffing and talking about how unfair life can be, Doyle offers silent thanks to Mrs Sachs.

‘It’s for you,’ Rachel says, handing him the phone. ‘I’ll go fix you a side-salad.’

He takes the phone and she walks away.

‘Hello.’

‘Hello, Doyle. No, let me start that again. Hello, Cal. It’s okay to call you Cal, isn’t it? A little more friendly that way.’

Doyle doesn’t recognize the male voice. It’s deep, quiet and well-spoken. Loud music is playing in the background, almost drowning him out.

‘Who is this?’

‘Forgive me. We haven’t met, although I hope we will one day. I know a lot about you, though. About you and Rachel and Amy. About your apartment on West 87th Street. About your work as a detective in the Eighth Precinct. You’re a fascinating man, Cal. That’s why I picked you.’

‘Picked me for what? Who the hell is this?’

‘Picked you to receive my help. Didn’t you get the message I left for you?’

‘Message? No. What message?’

‘Your phone number, of course. On the girl’s arm.’

The world vanishes. There is no Rachel, no living room, no apartment. There is only this man’s voice, this man’s words.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Did you like the little twist I gave it? The Irish touch? Your birthplace, I believe. To be more exact, County Kerry, wasn’t it?’

For a moment Doyle cannot speak. The music blares in his ear. U2. An Irish band. Ha, ha, very funny.

But there is no humor in Doyle’s thoughts. Only anger. And, yes, fear. If this man knows so much about him, about his family. .

‘You want any dressing on this salad?’

It’s Rachel, calling from the kitchen. Doyle gets off the sofa and moves to the kitchen doorway. He makes some hand signals to indicate that he doesn’t want dressing, and that he needs to continue this call. When she nods that she understands, he walks into the bedroom and closes the door.

‘Hey, Cal, are you still there, buddy?’

‘I’m here.’

‘Was that Rachel I heard just then? Nice find, Cal. I saw her picking up Amy from her friend Ellie’s house today. Those tight black slacks really show off her curves, don’t you think?’

He’s been watching me and my family, thinks Doyle. Stalking us. Finding out everything he can about us.

He heads for the window, looks down onto the street below. The traffic is light. Plenty of cars parked up, but no sign of anyone monitoring the building. Nothing that he can see in the windows of the buildings across the street, either.

‘Listen to me, you son of a bitch. If you’re thinking about making some kind of threat to me or my family, then you better think again. I don’t respond lightly to threats.’

‘Whoa, steady there, Cal. I said I wanted to help you, didn’t I? I’m not threatening you. That’s the last thing on my mind.’

Doyle concentrates on the voice again. There’s a slight inflection to his accent that makes it sound mid-Atlantic. Doyle tries to match it with any of the faces he’s encountered before, but fails.

‘Help me how?’

‘With the investigation. The bookstore girl.’

‘That’s not my case.’

‘Don’t lie to me, Cal. I saw you there. At the bookstore.’

He was watching me? Where was he? Did I see him?

‘I mean I didn’t catch the case. I was just helping out.’

‘Well now I’m helping you out too. Let’s all help each other. Make the world a friendlier place, huh, Cal?’

‘You wanna be friends, you should give me your name.’

‘I’m just a good Samaritan, Cal. You know what the good Samaritan’s name was? No, neither do I. Doesn’t make him less good though, does it?’

‘You feeling so charitable, go give some money to a dogs’ home.’

‘Now, now, Cal. That’s hardly the spirit. I know how they’ve been treating you at the precinct. The way you’ve been sidelined. Wouldn’t you like the chance to prove to them what you can really do when given the chance?’

‘I don’t need you or anybody else to help me do that. Now say what you gotta say, then get the fuck off my phone.’

‘Oh but I think you do need me, Cal. So here’s what I’m offering. The chance to solve the case. The opportunity to catch the killer. Single-handed. Don’t you think the NYPD would be impressed with that?’

‘Why would you do that? Why would you want me to catch you? This is bullshit.’

‘No, Cal, it’s genuine. You’ll find that out for yourself. If you’re willing to hear me out, you’ll discover that everything I tell you is true. Of course, I’m not going to come right out and give you names. That would be too easy. But I’ll give you clues. All you have to do is use your brain and follow the leads I give you.’

‘What’s the catch? What do you get out of this?’

‘Satisfaction. Helping people is all I live for, Cal. Those other clowns in your squad don’t have a chance in hell of solving this. They got any leads yet? Okay, I know you can’t answer that, but you and I both know the answer.’

The chorus of the song breaks through, and Doyle realizes it’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Ha, ha, very funny again.

There is a knock on the door. It opens, and Rachel pops her head round.

‘Cal, this food’s going cold again.’

He waves her away too brusquely, and he doesn’t blame her when she closes the door much harder than she needs to.

‘So you’re willing to act as an anonymous informant. For nothing in return except your own spiritual improvement. No financial considerations. No trade-off on legal charges. Nothing.’

‘That’s correct. Although there are certain. . conditions I will have to impose.’

‘Uh-huh. Why did I think it wasn’t as simple as you laid it out?’

‘I have to protect myself, Cal. You can’t blame me for that. So here’s the deal. I will help you, but in return for my help you must tell no one. Not your boss, not your friends, not even your wife. No one. Do you understand? The minute you reveal to anybody what I’m doing for you, my assistance will cease. Permanently. You must also promise not to attempt to trace my calls to you. And believe me when I tell you that I will know about it if you try to cheat on me.’

‘Forget it. No way can I agree to that. I’m a cop. We have rules. If I keep information like that to myself, I’m breaking the law. I could get prison time for that. Is that what this is about? Are you trying to jam me up?’

‘My, my, Cal. What a suspicious mind you have. No, this is not about setting you up. With what I know about you, I could have done that a long time ago. By the way, Cal, how are the nightmares these days? About you and. . oh, what’s her name? Lorna? No, Laura.’

Doyle goes cold. Laura Marino. She was his partner in his previous precinct. She took a blast from a shotgun when Doyle sent her the wrong way in an apartment bust. It was an honest mistake, but some people suggested there was more to it. There were rumors of an affair that Doyle wanted to end and she didn’t. And there were rumors that Doyle did terminate it when the opportunity presented itself in that apartment.

It was a mistake, and he paid for it. With the subsequent investigation and scandal that almost wrecked his career and his marriage. And with the nightmares that still plague him.

The death of Laura became public knowledge. Anyone could read about that in the papers. But the nightmares? Who knows about them? Rachel, of course — she’s had to put up with her sweat-soaked husband jumping out of bed in the middle of the night — but even then he has given her only the scantest of details. How the hell does this guy know about the nightmares?

But maybe it’s just a bluff. Any cop who went through what Doyle experienced would have nightmares about it. Maybe it’s not such a hard jump to make. Maybe that’s this guy’s skill. Throw in some facts that are easy to discover, mix in a few educated guesses, and you end up with someone who appears to know you intimately. Is that what this guy is doing? If so, he’d make an excellent poker player.

Or is this someone I really have met before?

‘I sleep fine. And I’ll sleep even better when we catch you, you sick son of a bitch. Now take your assistance and shove it up your ass, because you don’t have long before I come over there and do it for you.’

There’s a pause, and then a faint sigh, and then a note of disappointment in the caller’s voice. ‘That’s a pity, Cal. A real shame. I thought you were made of sterner stuff. Someone I could really think of as one of New York’s finest. Just think of what you’re throwing away here. The chance to bring Cindy Mellish’s killer to justice. The chance to save all those lives.’

He leaves the final words hanging there. All those lives. They drip with the terror of promised carnage.

‘What do you mean? What lives?’

The disappointment turns to amusement. He’s proud of his little twist. ‘Oh, didn’t I say? Cindy is merely the first. The first of many. In fact, you may be interested to know that the second life will be taken tonight.’

Doyle feels his grip tighten on the phone. He had been on the point of hanging up, but now he knows that’s impossible. Refusing information on a past crime is one thing, but how can he reject the opportunity to save someone’s life?

The caller presses home his advantage. ‘Still there, Cal? Interested now, are we? Perhaps just a little bit? I can help you, Cal. I can help you solve the murder of Cindy Mellish, and I can help you to prevent another murder that is scheduled to take place tonight. What’s it to be? Do we have a deal?’

Doyle considers it, but not for long. He needs to hear what this man has to offer, but whether it turns out to be bogus or not, he has no intention of sticking to any agreement with this douche bag.

‘All right. Deal.’

‘So you won’t tell anyone about me, or try to trace my calls?’

‘I said deal, didn’t I?’

There is a slight pause, and when the man comes back on there is an excited energy in his voice. It’s as though he can’t quite believe his luck at getting this far, and is not quite sure what to say next.

‘Good. Excellent. Then listen carefully, Cal. On the Cindy Mellish case, you need to find her diary. There will be clues in there.’

‘Her diary. Are you sure?’

‘Certain. Find the girl’s diary, and you’ll know what to do next.’

‘Okay. And what about the other victim? The one who’s supposed to die tonight?’

‘That’s up to you, Cal. What actions you take will determine whether the second person dies or just ends up somewhere like Bellevue.’

‘What do you mean, the actions I take? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.’

‘That’s all I can tell you. Take it from here.’

‘That’s it? That’s all you’re giving me? The next one dies or ends up in hospital, and I’m supposed to affect that somehow? What kind of help is that?’

‘Follow my advice, Cal. Think about what you’ve heard. Forget about what your heart tells you to do. It’s the brain that’s important here. You don’t need anything more than that.’

Doyle is ready to unleash a torrent of abuse, but before the first expletive escapes his lips, there is a click and the phone goes dead.

He stares at the handset. What the fuck was that? Did I just dream that conversation?

He tosses the phone onto the bed as though he’s just noticed that it’s crawling with insects. He continues to stare at it.

Someone is going to get hurt tonight, maybe even killed. And I can make it go one way or the other. I don’t know who the intended victim is. I don’t know their name, where they live, what they look like, where they work, nothing.

And yet I have the power to save them.

So what do I do now?

What the fuck am I supposed to do now?