Alex Barclay - The Drowning Child

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘That took a little longer than I expected.’

‘No problem,’ said Ren, turning to him.

His face fell when he saw her expression.

‘I might be jumping to conclusions,’ said Ren. ‘But... I’d like Beckman to take a look at his lung tissue. She didn’t take a sphenoid sinus sample, understandably – drowning was not part of the picture.’

‘No,’ said Ruddock.

After a short silence, he added, ‘Please God, no.’

Jimmy Lyle had missed seven calls from the same number. His phone was on the passenger seat beside him, ringing now for the eighth time.

‘No!’ he shouted, gripping the steering wheel. ‘No, thank you!’

It stopped, then rang again.

‘Fuck you all! Fuck you all, people!’

He reached out, and picked up. ‘Yes?’

‘Is this Mr Jimmy Lyle?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘This is Nadine Jacobs from the retirement home. Have you got someone there with you, Mr Lyle?’

‘It’s Jimmy. And yes. I’ve got my friend here beside me.’ He rolled his eyes.

‘I’m afraid I’m calling you with bad news...’

Jimmy’s heart started to pound.

‘It’s your father,’ said Nadine. ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you that your father passed away, Jimmy. He took his own life early today.’

‘Well, thank you for letting me know.’

Silence.

‘Are you all right, Jimmy?’ said Nadine.

‘I’m all right.’ He paused. ‘How did he do it?’

‘Well, I’m not sure you—’

‘You can tell me.’

‘He... well, he hanged himself. We’re so terribly sorry. I know he wasn’t with us long, but he seemed like he was settling in, he showed no signs of depression, he wasn’t taking any meds.’

‘He “passed away” by hanging himself,’ said Jimmy. He laughed. ‘Sounds so gentle “ passing away ”. None of that writhing about, eyes bulging, face bright red, being starved of oxygen, scratching at your neck, trying to pull the noose off at the last minute...’ He paused. ‘Though I doubt Daddy was having second thoughts.’

A silence stretched between them. ‘You’ve had a shock,’ said Nadine.

‘I’m not so sure that I have,’ said Jimmy.

‘Oh,’ said Nadine. ‘Well, you could have let us know if you thought—’

‘I’m not holding you or anyone else there responsible for this,’ said Jimmy. ‘I didn’t really know. I’m just saying...’ He paused. ‘I’ve had a shock.’ He rolled his eyes again.

‘Could anything have triggered this?’ said Nadine. ‘Did anything happen that might have upset him?’

‘Not that I’m aware of.’

‘We have very strict rules in place here,’ said Nadine. ‘I don’t know how your father could have—’

‘Nadine, Daddy had a way of getting to do whatever it was he wanted to do.’

‘He didn’t leave a note,’ said Nadine.

‘That wouldn’t have been his style,’ said Jimmy.

‘I didn’t think he was lonely here,’ said Nadine. ‘I mean, like I said, he seemed to be getting along with people.’

‘He had a way of seeming like that,’ said Jimmy. He paused. ‘But I don’t think loneliness is the number one cause of suicide, Nadine.’

A silence stretched between them.

‘Well, his personal effects are here for you to collect,’ said Nadine. ‘And again, we’re terribly sorry for your loss. His body is currently at the Medical Examiner’s office, and will be removed to Longacres Funeral Home, as per your father’s wishes – he left quite detailed instructions with us when he moved in. They’re in his file. You might want to call Longacres to confirm the arrangements...’

‘Thank you for the call, Nadine. I’m on vacation right now, but I guess I’ll be turning this ship around.’

He ended the call, and roared into the windshield. ‘Fuck you, Daddy! Fuck you! Fuck you!’ He hammered his hands on the steering wheel. ‘I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. I hate you, I hate you.’

Ren and Ruddock stopped off at the Veirs’ house on their way back to Tate PD. Only John was home.

‘We just wanted to talk to you about the last day you dropped Caleb off at Rose Dennehy’s house – February eleventh?’ said Ren.

‘Sure,’ said John.

‘Did anything happen to Caleb that day?’ said Ren. ‘Anything that made him afraid to go back? We believe you told Rose that Caleb needed to concentrate more on his schoolwork, but Sylvie Ross spoke with Caleb’s teacher again, and she said nothing had changed in his grades during that period, and no extra assignments had been given.’

‘It was a white lie,’ said John. ‘Caleb just didn’t want to do the job any more.’

‘But wasn’t the whole point of him having a job to teach him work ethic?’ said Ren. ‘Responsibility? Wouldn’t letting him quit, and covering for him by lying about it, kind of defeat the purpose?’

‘Maybe,’ said John. He shrugged.

‘ Talk to us about that Saturday,’ said Ruddock.

‘There’s not a lot to say,’ said John. ‘I dropped Caleb off at Rose’s. I came back three hours later and picked him up. During that time, I was home with Teddy. I can get her to call you when she comes back. I don’t know what else to say to you.’

That night, Ren arrived back alone at the hotel, and was walking past the bar when she saw Paul Louderback sitting on a high stool with a vodka tonic.

I need a drink.

She went over to him.

‘Well, hello, there,’ said Paul.

‘Hello, yourself.’

‘I heard we may have another victim,’ said Paul.

‘Hopefully not,’ said Ren. ‘I mean, it’s not like I’ve got hardcore anything. Apart from the twisting in my gut.’

‘How was the ME about it?’

‘Not a happy bunny,’ said Ren. ‘But, I’m not exactly hoping I’m right, here. We’ll know by tomorrow night. Lung slides take a while. Poor Ruddock. He knows the family, told me all about them, they’re in his church, he says they’re the nicest people you could meet. Cut to: nice, earnest, blond Christian dad’s a child killer.’

‘I don’t know whether to be more depressed at that being a possibility or at the fact that inside that beautiful head is the beautiful brain that can come up with that shit so quickly.’

Ren laughed. Jesus. ‘What a suckfest of a fucking day.’

‘Would a glass of wine make it better?’ said Paul.

‘No,’ said Ren, ‘but a bottle might.’ She paused. ‘You look a little sorrowful. Is everything OK?’

‘It is now.’

Hmm.

‘OK – let me go take a shower,’ said Ren. ‘I’ll be back. Five minutes.’

He raised an eyebrow.

‘OK – ten.’

She left, hurried to the elevator.

What are you doing, exactly? Wine. Just wine.

Mmm-hmm...

As Ren was going into her room, a text came in from Gary. She opened it.

You need to be back in Denver: Tues a.m. Inspectors re Safe Streets shooting.

Her stomach plunged. She had been interviewed twice already about the Duke Rawlins shooting.

This is why Joe Lucchesi was asking about Denver.

Inspectors... Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuck.

Let’s relive the worst moments of my entire life over and over forever and ever! Amen!

So, I guess I will be going to Denver after all.

Ren came back down to the bar fifteen minutes later, dressed in black trousers, a black turtleneck, her lightning strike cuff, her black patent high heels. Her hair was wet, combed back off her face. She had minimal makeup on. She slapped her phone on to the bar, and slid up on to a stool beside Paul.