Blood Loss

20

Bob was in the command center showing Cliff and Gary a map of the town when Ren came back from the break room.

‘These are the six registered sex offenders in Breck,’ said Bob, pointing to the red pins on the map that represented their location. ‘We’ve got four solid alibis here, and these other two were home alone.’

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ said Ren, ‘but did red-Ferrari-lady fail a polygraph?’

Bob nodded. ‘She sure did.’

‘And I’m guessing that while I was on my walk to your office earlier the news report mentioned that,’ said Ren.

Bob paused. ‘Did our guy change his mind?’

‘He sure did,’ said Ren.

‘If he crosses his fingers for a black BMW, we’re in trouble,’ said Bob.

‘Ren?’ said Gary. ‘A word, please.’ He took her to one side. ‘Go get some rest,’ he said, his voice low.

‘What?’ said Ren. ‘Did I do something wrong?’

Gary looked at his watch. ‘By my calculations, you’ve had three hours’ sleep in the last forty-eight hours.’

‘Not quite,’ said Ren. ‘But … who else has had any sleep? Are you singling me out, here? That’s not-’

‘Ren, if I choose to single you out, you run with it,’ said Gary.

Do not react.

‘As it happens,’ said Gary, ‘Colin and Robbie went back to their hotels after the search. Robbie will be back to spend tonight at the hotel with the Whaleys in case a ransom demand comes in. Colin will be with the Royces. And look — Cliff is packing up too.’

‘But-’ said Ren.

‘You won’t be any use to the investigation unless you rest,’ said Gary.

‘I’m wide awake,’ said Ren.

‘Well, try not to be.’ He moved past her. ‘Goodbye, Ren.’

Ren put a call in to Karen Nyland, the owner of The Firelight Inn, a cozy Victorian Inn close to Main Street.

‘Hi Ren,’ said Karen, ‘it’s good to hear from you.’

‘You too,’ said Ren.

‘I’m guessing you’re here for all the wrong reasons,’ said Karen.

‘Sadly, yes,’ said Ren. ‘And I was wondering if there is room at the Inn. I’d need it right away. I’m on enforced rest.’

‘Someone beat you to the suite by minutes,’ said Karen. ‘But I have a room on the second floor. It’s yours for as long as you need it.’

‘That’s great, thank you,’ said Ren.

‘Those poor girls,’ said Karen.

‘Did you know Shelby Royce?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Karen, ‘but we know her parents to talk to in a small-talk kind of way. And we send people to The Miner and Cal Royce sends people here. We exchange bottles of wine at Christmas, that sort of thing.’

‘Can I ask, off-the-record, about Tom Olson at The Merlin?’

‘Sure,’ said Karen. ‘Well, Tony and I wouldn’t share the same opinion of him, that’s the first thing. Tony thinks Tom is the does-a-lot-for-the-community good guy,’ said Karen. ‘He organizes community events, that kind of thing. I think Tom’s the Breck native who’s spent his life getting by on his looks, and is ultimately out for his own gain … ish. If that can be an “ish”. I don’t think he’s a bad guy — I just think that he wouldn’t be beyond screwing someone over if he had to. Not in any terrible way, but …’ She paused. ‘Oh … I don’t think that he would have anything to do with taking those two girls. Not at all. I can’t imagine that.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘So … what did he do before he opened the hotel?’

‘He owned an inn, not unlike ours,’ said Karen. ‘He was doing great.’

‘Until …’ said Ren.

‘He overstretched himself with the hotel venture. It looked like he was going to run out of money by the end. He’s broke, by all accounts,’ said Karen. ‘That’s why he opened before he was ready. The Dew tour brings in a lot of visitors. Accommodation can be hard to find. Tom wanted to have a few weeks’ practice before the real crowds showed up. Take this with a grain of salt — and I don’t even know if it has any significance — but I heard that Tom’s anywhere up to three million dollars in debt. But we’re a small town, there are always rumors out there, and no-one really has a clue what goes on in people’s houses or bank balances.’

‘That’s true,’ said Ren. ‘Is there anything else you can think of that might help?’

‘No,’ said Karen. ‘Nothing that hasn’t been in the news.’

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘Well, let me know if anything comes up. Anyway, I’ll be seeing you in about ten minutes. I’m just packing up here.’

As Ren was about to close her laptop, an email popped up from Glenn Buddy in Denver. Subject: Kennington Witness Statement. It had two attachments — audio from the interview with the Kennington rape victim and a color scan of the drawing the rapist had left behind. Ren clicked on the drawing.

It was a simplistic black-and-white line drawing, but the artist was not without talent. A line down the center of the page bisected a primitive rendering of a monkey suspended by chains that were attached to his wrists. On the left-hand side of the page, the chain hooked on to a bed post with a bird perched on it. On the right, the chain — threaded with a life preserver — disappeared inside a megaphone.

Freaky.

There were bloody fingerprints at the edges of the pages, smears of blood, tiny droplets.

Blood that had been very real, but was now represented by red ink on a page.

Ren took her headphones from her desk drawer and put them in to listen to the audio file.

‘This is Detective Glenn Buddy, with Denver PD. What follows is the witness statement of Ally Lynch, aged fourteen, from Skyland, Denver.’

Ally Lynch’s voice was trembling. ‘I was at a Hallowe’en party in Kennington Asylum with my friends. But I lost them. I met this guy I liked from school … I was talking to him … it was maybe midnight. Then … I saw this kid come in. He was around the same age as me, maybe a little older. It was like … he kind of appeared out of nowhere. He wasn’t in the party all night. But … then, I’d been drinking …

‘I was talking to a guy-friend of mine, and this guy who walks in is totally staring at me. It was so creepy. My guy-friend was about to leave the party, but I told him to wait, that I needed to go to the ladies room. But as soon as I walked past the creepy guy, he started to follow me. There were people around, I thought I was safe, but suddenly there seemed to be no-one. I started to run, and I ended up in this room that was like some kind of office, and he backed me all the way to the wall, and I was trying to climb up on a table, but I only got as far as sitting on it, when he just dived for me, and started kissing me. I was so shocked, I froze. I … I … do karate. I always thought if something like this ever happened to me, I’d be one of those people who fights back, but I didn’t. I was so terrified, and he was so strong. Like, angry strong. But he was kind of smiling at me too. He was biting on my lips, but then he would kiss them really gently. It was so messed up … ’ She breathed in. ‘Do you need all these details?’

Ren could hear Glenn say ‘yes’, managing to put so much kindness into one short word.

‘I don’t know what happened with my hair,’ said Ally, ‘but he just pulled a bunch of it out …’

She started to hyperventilate.

The tape clicked off, then back on again, with the same introduction from Glenn.

‘He was … crazy,’ said Ally, her voice composed again. She paused. ‘I was terrified. But … I don’t think I screamed.’ Ren could hear her voice crack. ‘I … don’t think I made a sound. It was like my throat closed up. Like in your nightmares you scream and nothing comes out. I thought that was just for nightmares. I didn’t think it would happen in real life. I didn’t think any of this would happen in real life. He smelled bad, like he hadn’t showered and his clothes weren’t fresh. His breath was disgusting. It didn’t smell of alcohol. But maybe that was because I’d been drinking too. I don’t know. His face was pale, kind of puffy. His eyes were … it was so strange … his eyes were almost, like, sleepy. I thought, like, with something like this, his eyes would look wild. But they weren’t. They were sleepy.

‘I wish I had been even more drunk than I was, then I’d have forgotten all this, I could have blocked it all out.’

She paused. ‘He didn’t speak. He seemed so angry, and so happy, but I don’t know which it was. Because he didn’t speak. He didn’t say one word. At the very end, he muttered something, but I was so out of it. I think he thanked me. I think he actually thanked me.’