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Cara watches as Noah leaves and the group disperses. It was inevitable that the thin line of tolerance between Noah and Griffin would be crossed, and no sleep and no progress on the case meant it couldn’t hold any longer. She remembers the conversation in the car. Griffin’s temper frayed, and all it took was some baiting from Noah.
She glances toward the side door that she knows leads to Griffin’s basement. When Cara had originally got the call she’d first thought that this was her, Jessica Ambrose, the murder suspect being concealed in Griffin’s apartment. But it’s clear this victim is separate, and she briefly wonders where the other woman is. Barely ten feet away, hiding, quiet? She knows Griffin is still looking into the arson, but she’s done her own reading too, skimming the file, reviewing the evidence. And she agrees with him: it does fit. Another murder in the long line of serial killings, so arresting Jessica Ambrose has become less of a concern.
And she has more pressing problems to deal with now.
She looks at the dead woman lying on the concrete as she waits for SOCO to arrive. Her eyes are open and glassy, staring accusingly upward. Cara knows the body being placed here wasn’t coincidence. He’s closer. He knows who they are. Where they live.
The killer is taunting them.
CHAPTER
57
Day 8
Monday
THE DAY IS cold and bright. Sun shines through gaps in the trees, lighting up the corner of the graveyard. The area is secluded from the road, with one walkway in and out. Flowers are arranged at the front, around a large photograph of Libby. It’s a nice one, provided by her parents. They understood and agreed to the plan, once Cara had explained it to them. They want this guy caught. Cara is good at the people stuff, the bits Griffin has never managed.
He watches his sister now, standing at the front of the group. Her voice is steady and clear in the still air. She’s talking about Libby, a eulogy worked on until the early hours, calling on input from her family and friends. Griffin knows that Cara would have wanted to get it right. As much as this is a ploy, it is still honoring Libby. Griffin had liked her. Cara said that she would have approved of this plan.
His eyes feel scratchy. He didn’t get any sleep last night, as he knows nobody did. He’d tracked down the CCTV, scrolling through the footage from outside the garage, but the body had been placed in a blind spot. They couldn’t see who had dumped it.
He only knew that when he left Jess, it hadn’t been there. And when he got back, it had. And Jess had looked at him, questions in her eyes.
He wants to see her. He needs to explain where he went, but the shame burns too strongly. She thinks he’s someone he’s not. She thinks he’s strong, good. Someone worthy of loving. It’s a nice feeling. He doesn’t want to destroy that just yet.
SOCO ran the scene all night. And as the sun came up, the remains were taken away. And he came straight here.
He’s standing at the back of the group, and his gaze shifts around the crowd. One of the other DCs is taking photographs, ensuring they capture all attendees on film. Next to him, Shenton seems anxious.
“Stop fidgeting,” he hisses, and Shenton stops moving, grasping one of his hands tightly in the other.
There’s a lot riding on this plan, Griffin thinks—he’s right to be nervous. A new corpse. Nothing back from the cryptographer about the message. No fingerprints on the note, no DNA on the envelope. And they got the lab reports back from the Dahmer apartment that morning—the only evidence belonged to Michael Sharp.
As time passes, the more Griffin’s afraid. For Jess. For his sister.
Could the Echo Man be here? Could Shenton be right?
There’s Libby’s parents and her brother. The detectives from the investigation are scattered throughout the group. There are people Griffin doesn’t recognize, their faces downcast, some of them crying. Griffin knows they must be Libby’s friends, her colleagues. Something inside him assumes he’d recognize a killer, that he’d see someone and a switch would be flipped. A sudden flicker of eye contact, and he’d know it was the man from that terrible night. But he feels nothing when he looks at these people.
He feels the familiar flash of failure in himself. The self-loathing that even he, a detective, can’t find the man that murdered his own wife. What point are all these years of experience if he can’t recognize the one man that matters the most?
His eyes continue to take in the crowd. Deakin is on the far side with Roo. He remembers Roo knew Libby too. He wonders how much Cara has told her husband and whether he believes this memorial is real. He wonders if Cara has spoken to him about the affair.
Deakin mutters a comment to Roo, and he nods in reply. Noah’s face is slightly swollen on the left side where Griffin hit him, black and green bruises starting to show in the red butterfly stitches across his eyebrow. Deakin looks miserable. But then, Griffin thinks, he doesn’t think he’s ever seen his sister’s partner crack a smile when she’s not around. He fucking hates that guy. He sees Deakin watching Cara, as she introduces someone else to speak at the front.
Not for the first time does he wonder whether Noah Deakin holds a candle for his sister, hoping one day their professional partnership will turn personal. Cara has better taste than that though, he thinks. And up until this week he would have believed that Roo, dressed today in a smart suit and tie, was a much better match for her. But even the good guys can let you down, he notes cynically.
The memorial is coming to an end, Cara thanking Libby’s father for his speech. Griffin looks across to the detective with the camera and tilts his head to one side. Did you get it all? he’s asking. The DC gives a small nod.
A new arrival on the edge of the group catches Griffin’s eye. He’s wearing a smart black coat, the collar pulled up, and he’s staring at Griffin. The man raises a hand slightly and Griffin recognizes him. It’s Nav.
He walks over. Nav pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and holds it out.
“What’s this?” Griffin asks.
“Jess called me, she said you’d be here. She said you needed this.”
