‘How’s she doing? Ellie, I mean.’
‘Pretty good. We haven’t been to the counsellor for a while and she’s not quite as raw now when we go to Penny’s grave.’
‘She’s awful grown-up now.’
Logan nodded.
‘You’re doing a good job. I mean, of bringing her up.’
‘I hope so. But how can you tell, really?’
‘Ask me that again in twenty years’ time.’
It was Logan’s turn to smile.
Cahill came into the room holding the phone to his ear and motioned for Logan to follow him. They walked briskly to the study where Cahill activated the speaker on the phone base station.
Logan heard a woman’s voice before Cahill cut across her.
‘Melanie, I’ve got you on the speaker now with Logan. He’s the lawyer who’s coming over with me.’
They exchanged brief greetings before Cahill spoke again.
‘What did you find?’
‘I don’t know if it’s anything. But you said it didn’t matter how small it was.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘It’s just this one thing. I went through Tim’s stuff and couldn’t find anything. Then I remembered that I hadn’t checked our e-mail account since, you know…’
No one said anything.
‘Anyway, I logged on and found this e-mail which Tim sent from his phone. It’s timed just before the flight. He must have sent it here in a hurry.’
‘What does it say?’
‘It says “D. Hunter, Denver”. That’s all.’
Cahill looked at Logan and shook his head.
‘Does it mean anything to you?’ Melanie asked.
‘No. What about you?’
‘Nothing. I never heard the name before. You think it might be connected?’
‘I don’t know,’ Cahill said. ‘The timing is certainly interesting. Like he was sending himself something that he thought was important. And also maybe that he wanted someone else to see if anything happened to him. Can you forward that e-mail to me?’
‘Okay. What’s your e-mail address?’
Cahill told her and said he would check it out and call her back if he found anything.
‘What do you think?’ Cahill asked Logan after ending the call.
Logan shrugged.
‘Sounds like it might be something. The timing, you know.’
Cahill nodded and dialled another number on the phone. A man with a strong Glasgow accent answered.
‘Bruce, it’s Alex. Can you look at something for me?’
‘Sure. What is it?’
‘I need you to check any connection between Tim Stark and a D. Hunter from Denver.’
‘Not much to go on.’
‘It’s all we have.’
‘That’s it? No documents or anything?’
‘That’s it.’
‘When do you need it?’
‘Tomorrow is fine. Or the day after. I’ll be in the States so call my mobile.’
Cahill ended the call, opened his laptop and waited for it to boot, drumming his fingers on his desk. He accessed his e-mail and waited for the message from Melanie Stark to download. He clicked on it and printed off a copy.
Logan got up and went to the printer, lifting the page from the tray and handing it to Cahill.
‘Doesn’t look like much of a lead,’ Logan said.
Cahill looked over the printed copy of the e-mail and when he was done he forwarded the e-mail to Bruce and shut down his laptop.
‘What’s the plan tomorrow?’ Logan asked.
‘I’ll come pick you up. We can leave my car at the airport.’
‘And after we get there?’
‘We play it by ear.’
‘You realise that it’s likely our names will raise a flag now with Homeland Security when we get over there and hit the US customs’ desk?’
‘I’m kind of counting on it. I mean, where else do we start?’
‘That’s your idea? You make enough of a nuisance of yourself that they lock us in a small room at the airport for several hours and threaten to send us straight back here.’
‘Something like that, yeah. I find it works most of the time.’
Logan stared at him.
‘Look, they’re not going to send us to Guantanamo Bay or anything.’
Logan’s eyes widened.
‘And we need to get in touch with whichever law enforcement agency is really in charge of this thing. They will come to speak to us.’
‘If they don’t?’
‘We make our presence felt over there. Go see the Feds and the cops and anyone else that we can think of.’
‘What if they ignore us? I mean, have you thought about that? Then you go to the press, is that it?’
Cahill smiled. ‘Not bad. I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘I was kind of kidding.’
‘No,’ he was excited now, ‘it’s a good idea. There’s nothing they hate more when they’re trying to keep something under the radar.’
‘Let’s see if we can get into the country without getting arrested first,’ Logan said, regretting even mentioning it now. ‘Take it from there.’
Sam Cahill came into the room and held up Logan’s mobile.
‘This was ringing. I think it was Becky.’
Logan stood and took the phone from her, walking past her to go out of the study. Sam looked at her husband.
‘You look after him over there,’ she told him.
7
‘Is everything okay?’ Logan asked Irvine. ‘I mean, it’s getting late now.’
‘I’m fine. It’s nothing.’
‘What’s nothing?’
Irvine sighed.
‘I had a bit of a confrontation tonight. This case I’m working on.’
Logan wanted to ask more but let it go for now.
‘Are you at home?’
‘Yes. But you don’t need to come over tonight if you don’t want to. I know you’ve got a long trip tomorrow.’
‘I’m coming over.’
‘Good.’
Logan parked a little way along the street from Irvine’s house and walked back. When she opened the door he stared at the discoloration on her face, her eye half closed from the swelling.
‘Jesus, what happened?’
She lifted a hand self-consciously, trying to cover it.
‘I thought you said it was nothing.’
She stepped back and told him to come inside. He followed her down the hall, through the dining room and into the kitchen where she sat at the table.
She poured herself a cup of tea while Logan went to the fridge and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He sat next to Irvine and pushed her hair back to look closely at the damaged side of her face. He saw now that she had three stitches in a cut beside her eye, which was heavily bloodshot.
‘Some confrontation,’ he said. ‘Did you get in a fight?’
‘Sort of. Somebody I wanted to talk to on my case wasn’t quite so keen to speak to me.’
‘Don’t you work these things with a partner?’
She looked sideways at him. ‘Yeah, usually. This time I went on my own. Turned out not to be such a good idea after all.’
Irvine put her mug down and turned in her seat to face him. Her lip trembled.
‘Logan…’
She moved forward and wrapped her arms around him, crying quietly. Then not so quietly.
‘I was so scared. He was much bigger and stronger. If I didn’t have the pepper spray-’
She didn’t finish the thought.
He held her and stroked her hair. After a moment she pulled away and took a tissue from her pocket, dabbing at her eyes.
Her phone rang, shrill in the quiet of the room. Irvine grabbed it and answered.
‘DC Irvine?’ a male voice asked.
‘Yes.’
‘It’s DS Jim Murphy. Listen, sorry to disturb you at night, but I thought you might like to know what we found.’
‘You got something new, Jim?’
‘Well, we think it’s the clothes from your victim. Lewski.’
‘What do you mean, think?’
‘There’s not much left of them. They were found in a skip outside a building site about a half-mile from the locus. Someone set fire to them.’
‘Is there enough left to do us any good?’
‘Don’t know till the forensics people go over it. It’ll be tomorrow now before they make a start.’
‘Thanks, Jim.’
She finished the call and held Logan’s hand.
‘How do I look?’ She straightened her back and sniffed, lifting her chin.