Missing: The Body of Evidence Read online

  ‘You’re not hurt, are you?’

  ‘Nah, I’ll be okay, just help me onto the rug. I’m starving.’

  Thoughts of the picture of the family and the note consumed her mind. Kyle set her down on the rug and joined her. He filled a plate of shrimp salad.

  ‘Do you want bread with your salad?’ Kyle asked. He passed her the plate. Nancy picked at the food on the plate and chose a shrimp to nibble. Kyle opened the wine and poured some into a glass, and then he held it out to her. ‘Wine?’

  ‘Yeah... em. Sure.’

  ‘What, bread, or wine, or both?’

  ‘Sorry... what was that?’

  ‘Never mind.’

  She took the wine glass from him. He sliced some bread and put it on a plate in the middle of the rug.

  ‘Bread’s there if you want some.’

  A nod of the head was all she could muster as an answer. Kyle was saying something, but the words passed her by. She raised her wine glass to Kyle in salute and gulped the Merlot down in one shot. The aftertaste on her palette was like velvet nectar.

  ‘Steady on there.’ Kyle refilled her glass. ‘Good thing I brought more than one bottle.’

  Nancy took another drink, this time downing half the glass.

  ‘That’s better.’

  ‘Did you hear a word I said?’ Kyle asked.

  Nancy made a feeble attempt to lighten her obliviousness and laughed.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t. It must be the shock. What was it you said?’

  ‘It’s not important.’

  His expression was at odds with his words. The evening looked as though it was not going to work out as planned. Nancy knew it was important they talk about their relationship. The wine dulled her racing mind sufficiently to get back to the task at hand.

  Worries about the photograph playing tricks on her mind would have to wait. Her curiosity about what happened to the janitor started burning a hole in her thought process. But even more, to her surprise, she was anxious to know where they went from here after Logan’s lecture. Nancy glanced at Kyle. He hadn’t touched his food and he was twirling his watch around his wrist.

  ‘Come on, out with it. It must have been important. Please, go ahead. Tell me what you said.’

  He awkwardly shuffled his backside on a cushion as if comfort eluded him. His face started to redden. Whatever he had said, the words were not coming easily a second time around. He coughed, before picking up his glass of Merlot and took a long swig. He put the glass on the rug and gave a final throat clearing.

  ‘I was sayin’ we need to do some serious talking. We need to be straight with each other about where we’re headin’.’

  The incident with the note and the photograph had broken the magic. Nevertheless, there was no getting away from it, she knew it needed discussing, but she was at a loss as to what to say to him. Nancy took a contrived sip of her wine to think before speaking. Fortunately, Kyle bought her a little more time.

  ‘Incidentally, if you hear knocking in the morning, the guy from the booking office said their handyman, Dave, will be calling to mend the picket fence around back.’

  ‘Dave... David?’ Nancy almost choked on her wine. She felt stupid at the realization that was to whom the note probably referred, the handyman. She cursed her fertile imagination at placing more significance on the note and photograph than they had deserved.

  ‘Yeah, Dave, that’s what he said.’

  The shadows at the back of her eyes lifted. She picked up her glass and held it out to Kyle.

  ‘Here’s to serious, straight talking. You go first.’

  Kyle chinked her glass with his in a toast.

  ‘Let’s toss a coin for who goes first,’ Kyle said.

  ‘I’ll tell you what, open another bottle. Trust me it works like sodium pentothal on me.’

  ‘Good Idea.’

  He leapt to his feet and scurried off to fetch another bottle of wine. The temperature in the room dropped. Nancy shivered and wondered if she would be better wearing a heavy dressing gown. Where they were heading in their relationship eluded her. She hoped that Kyle would open up his heart first. Her thoughts on the subject were that they should carry on seeing each other in secret and leave things as they were.

  The flames on the candles flickered and dimmed, and then rose again. A noise behind her startled her and she turned her head. There was no one there, but she had a distinct feeling she was being watched. Her heart began to thump in her chest. Another noise and she snapped her head toward the stove. A log rolled off the stack of wood at the side of the stove. The door to the kitchen slammed, and she spun around, expecting to see Kyle.

  ‘Kyle.’

  Floorboards creaked behind the closed door to the bedroom hallway. Her vision turned to the hallway door handle. Nancy could see the knob twitching.

  ‘Kyle, is that you?’

  A pain gripped her guts, as if someone where wringing out her stomach with their bare hands. The taste of bile rose in her throat and burned the back of her throat, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. She reached out, picked up a poker from the hearth, and leapt to her feet. Nancy appeared glued to the floorboards where she stood. Her eyes widened at a kicking sound at the bottom of the hallway door.

  Nancy broke free of her statue like stance, stepped forward and gripped the door handle with her clammy hands. Her eyes rose to the heavens for a moment and she took a deep breath. One... two, three. With the poker aloft, she turned the doorknob and pushed open the door with all her force. There was a muffled groan and then a thud as a figure hit the floorboards to the sound of clinking glass. She was blocking what little light there was from the candles behind her and clawed at the wall for the light switch in the hallway. Light flooded the hall. Kyle lay on the floor, his eyes wide open. He spat the stem of a single red rose from his mouth and pushed a cardboard box off his chest to the sound of more glass clinking.

  ‘For God’s sake, Nancy. Who did you think it was?’

  ‘Why didn’t you answer?’

  ‘I could hardly speak with a rose in my teeth, could I?’ Kyle hauled himself to his feet, stooped to pick up the rose and handed it to her. ‘It’s a bit droopy, I forgot I’d put it in the wine box.’

  Nancy took the rose and half smiled at the gesture, but held back from gushing, out of embarrassment. She looked at him, her head slightly bowed and with her eyes forming a little girls glancing coy look.

  ‘Sorry.’

  Kyle picked up the wine box. Nancy turned on her heels and he followed. She put the poker back in its holder.

  ‘Is it me or has it gone cold in her?’ Nancy asked.

  ‘You’ve gotta be kidding. I’m breaking a sweat here.’ His nose twitched as he put the box down. ‘Don’t say you’ve lit the wood in the stove?’

  ‘As if.’

  Kyle took the poker and used it to pry open the stove hatch. The heat from the burning logs hit her cheeks.

  ‘Well, I didn’t light it. Maybe some embers still had some life in them when the other people moved out and it’s just taken hold.’

  ‘What, when it’s been hot all day outside, give me a break?’ Nancy said.

  ‘They could have used it to toast marshmallows. There isn’t much in the way of logs stacked in there. I’ll throw the windows open until it dies down.’

  Nancy felt safe in Kyle’s presence. She watched as he opened the windows, and she smiled inwardly. Dressed for work, with her badge and packing her 9 mil, she knew that she exuded a presence to take on anyone. At times, she was conscious that she was like an actor on stage who had honed the persona of a strong familiar friend and their character traits. But out of uniform, she felt like any other Jane Doe... vulnerable. Kyle, she thought, was the catalyst to close that chink in her armour when she was off duty. He walked over to her, sat beside her and opened another bottle of wine. She gawked at him in admiration.

  Her thoughts drifted as he poured out the wine. Most of the guys she dated would have dumped her for the w
ay she had treated him these past few days. Many a suitor had been put to the test by her in the past and come up short. Sometimes it had gutted her, when either of them had terminated the friendship, but mostly she was glad to see the back of them.

  They sprawled out on the rug, rested their arms on the cushions facing each other, and gazed into each other’s eyes. Nancy could see Kyle compose himself; he dug deep within and the words flowed. The conversation took an unexpected turn. His life history, from his childhood to his parent’s bitter divorce, cast some light as to why he had never married.

  The conversation flowed two ways, as each insight seemed to prompt an equally frank response. The wine flowed and the conversation strayed from shared secrets and feelings, to anecdotes that had them laughing aloud. The sense of liberation at sharing her inner demons and triumphs was beyond description. At last, she thought, that elusive soul mate was within her grasp, and Logan or no Logan, she didn’t feel like she wanted to let go of him.

  ‘So, what do we do now, about Logan and where we go from here?’ Nancy asked.

  Chapter 28

  Kyle frowned at the mention of Logan’s name. Nancy awaited the answer and his thoughts about their future working together. He picked up his wine glass, swirled the contents around and then drained his glass. He opened his mouth as if the wine had given him the courage to answer her question about how to handle Logan if they announced they were an item. A loud crashing sound outside stopped him from answering.

  ‘What the crap was that?’ Kyle said.

  He moved swiftly out of the room and returned with his backpack already unzipped and tipped the contents out on the rug. He grabbed his revolver and a searchlight.

  ‘Wait here! Grab the poker.’ His tone left under no illusion she wasn’t to move. He blew out the candles and headed for the door. The five minutes he was gone seemed like five hours, when to her relief he called out at the door.

  ‘It’s me, it was only a stag. The picket fence is down.’

  His flashlight danced around the room as he opened the door and entered. Nancy turned on the light. Kyle re-lit the candles and turned out the light.

  ‘Come on, let’s not have a stag ruin our night,’ Kyle said.

  Nancy placed the poker back in the stand, while Kyle dropped to his knees, gathered up the contents of his backpack, stuffed them back in his bag and tossed it on the sofa. Nancy settled back on the cushions. Kyle seemed to have a look of confidence about him, and this time there was no hesitating.

  ‘Where were we before we were rudely interrupted? Oh, yeah, stuff Logan I say, move in with me, or, I can move in with you. If things work out we can sell our apartments and buy a house in a good neighbourhood.’

  Her thoughts swirled around in her mind and she found it hard to contain her excitement. A cloud descended to rain on her glee. She cursed, as logic started to scramble the good notions in her head and panic took hold.

  ‘What about our careers? Logan may just carry out his threat.’ He looked disappointed at her reply as she gazed into his soul through his eyes. ‘I’m not saying no, but how do we handle it at work?’

  ‘Be upfront. I’ll ask for a transfer to another division.’

  Nancy took a hold of his cheeks with her hands and planted her lips on his. His arms embraced her and they kissed passionately. They broke apart. She couldn’t believe his unselfishness. Thoughts of her dad and the blame he dumped on her, for him having to leave the army reared its ugly head. Words gushed out of her mouth and banished the thought.

  ‘No... No, I’ll ask for a transfer, but you have to promise me one thing?’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Well two, actually. No leaving the toilet seat up and no squeezing the tooth paste from the middle.’

  They both roared with laughter.

  ‘You’re on. Incidentally how did your appointment go at the doctor’s?’

  ‘Fine, I have to go for a scan on Monday as a precaution, but I’ll be okay. How’d it go with the janitor?’

  His mood changed as he swung into work mode.

  ‘Oh, shit, Kelly. Well, I’ve been dreading saying this, but it’s not suicide in my mind. He was slumped in the passenger seat. There were four full cans of beer on his lap and two empty cans on the ground outside the car. We found his hip flask in his pocket, but it was full. He had the gun in his hand and the hole in his head made it look like suicide, but...’

  ‘But what?’

  ‘The car wasn’t registered to him. We checked with the previous owner and he says he sold it for cash two weeks ago, but the description of the guy he sold it to didn’t fit that of Kelly. The two-discarded beer cans on the ground left a wet patch. The depth the liquid had seeped into the soil indicated they had been full when they were emptied. I’m guessing whoever did it, wasn’t reckoning on someone reporting it so quickly, when they poured the cans out on the ground. I don’t buy it, that an alcoholic wouldn’t drink everything in sight before ending it. Then there’s the note.’

  ‘Note?’

  ‘Yeah, found it lodged under the seat. It had your name at the top and a list of times but with journalist’s shorthand notes at the side of the times. When I had it deciphered, it shows whoever had been taking the notes had been following you.’

  ‘What, it was Kelly who was following me?’

  ‘You saw him?’

  ‘No, but I think a black Toyota had been following me for a few days. I thought maybe I was paranoid.’

  ‘I don’t think Kelly was following you. Some of his handwriting taken from when we did the search at his apartment didn’t match the note. I reckon whoever was following you killed him and lost the note. I checked with his neighbours, but they didn’t think he had ever owned a car. One of them said you’d been around the same night asking questions.’

  So that’s how Logan knew I’d been to his apartment and why he asked if I thought that Kelly had been stalking me. ‘And you only tell me this now? Hang on there, is that why Logan asked me for my movements at the time of Kelly’s death? Did he think I killed him?’

  ‘Do you think you’d be here with me now if he thought you had?’

  Nancy wasn’t sure how to answer that question, when another thought struck her.

  ‘What made you go to Bittersweet Butterfly to buy the present?’

  He looked uncomfortable, crossed his arms across his chest, tugged at his short sleeves and bit his bottom lip. He let out a sigh before answering.

  ‘I followed you when you left the office to go for your doctor’s appointment, just in case you were being stalked by whoever killed Kelly.’

  ‘But you were at the office when I arrived.’

  ‘I got a lucky break in traffic, caught up and passed you. I only arrived minutes before you did. That’s why Logan kept you in the office, for your own safety. I told him I’d take care of it after you’d finished work.’

  ‘And you only tell me now! What if someone wanted to attack me and you’d been busy in the shop buying the present?’

  ‘Yeah, sorry, it was stupid of me when I think back, but no one was following you, only me.’

  ‘But I could be in danger now. You should have told me. I haven’t even brought my gun.’ Nancy held up her hand as if to surrender her dark mood that was fermenting and smiled outwardly.

  ‘Sorry, you’re right, I should have told you right away, but it was only a hunch at the time. No one followed us here, so you can relax.’

  ‘Forget it, let’s go to bed. My head’s swimming with the wine.’ Logan was right, work and relationships don’t mix. Damn, I wonder if Kyle thought I could have shot Kelly, until he had a chance to run the theory past Logan? The notion that they may not have trusted her cut her deeply, and she was finding it hard to escape the dark thought. She hoped that she was off the mark with the idea, but reasoned, that was why Logan questioned her movements at the time of Kelly’s death.

  They both staggered to the bedroom under the influence of too much wine. Nancy took o
ff her silk robe and discarded it on the floorboards. The bedside lamp almost tumbled from the surface of the bedside drawers as she hit the ON switch. She grabbed the lamp, managed to stop it crashing to the floor and then slipped between the sheets. She snickered at the sight of Kyle tripping on his boxers as he tried to undress. Kyle threw back the sheets and flopped onto the mattress. Kyle groaned.

  ‘Ohhh, my head,’

  Nancy closed her eyes for a second. She gripped the top sheet. The space around her spun, as if the bed was twisting and turning, like a white water raft out of control on rapids. Her eyes opened to end the nightmare. Acid rose from the pit of her stomach to her throat. Instinct told her she was going to throw up the night’s feast. She threw back the bedcovers and charged to the bathroom, just in time to say her prayers to the porcelain god. The ordeal over with, she turned on the tap at the basin and splashed water on her face. Her throat felt like she had a burr lodged in it.

  She headed for the kitchen on autopilot, until her eyes adjusted to the dark aided by the neon light on the refrigerator. Nancy took the carton of milk from the refrigerator, took a swig and put the carton back on the shelf. Her throat felt a little better, but she still felt dizzy. She put her hand to her scalp, relieved that the side effects of a night drinking wine had dulled the pain in her head. A hot shudder passed through her body. Nancy wiped sweat from her forehead. The light in the kitchen flickered. The hissing sound of energy and sparks behind the light switch cover made it glow. Dancing light flooded the kitchen from the living room, creating eerie shadows. The temperature seemed to rise fast, making it difficult to breathe. She rushed into the living room to see all the candles lit.

  ‘Kyle, you there?’

  A cold blast of air hit her face and the candle flames flickered and died. Nancy located Kyle’s backpack on the sofa, and took out his flashlight. An ice cold wave ran through her body at the sense there was a presence in the room. Nancy opened a closet door in the living room, located the main energy switch and turned it off. She wondered if Kyle had maybe gone looking for her, lit the candles and gone back to bed. She rushed to the bedroom and shone the light on the bed. Kyle was asleep in the foetal position. Nancy climbed into bed beside him, turned off the flashlight and put it on the surface of the bedside drawer. She drew her body into the contours of Kyle’s body, and placed her arm around him.