Chapter 10
J amie opened the door and he and Pauley stared in fascination at Mica Peterson standing on the doorstep. No one spoke until finally Mica’s eyebrows went due north.
“Since I haven’t said anything, it can’t be something I said. So, are ye having trouble remembering me? It’s Mica, just in case ye aren’t sure,” he drawled in amusement. “Ye two look like ye seen a ghost. I assure ye, rumors of my demise, should there be any, are greatly exaggerated.”
Jamie cleared his throat and glanced at Pauley. “Um...is this what ye call dialing in?” He was having a hard time believing Pauley’s wish had suddenly produced Mica, but there were many strange and unexplainable things in the land of Scotland.
It was a country of deep sorrows and injustices that could produce many a mournful or vengeful wandering soul if a man believed in such things. He couldn’t claim to be a full-on believer, but he did accept that strange and mysterious things happened that defied explanation.
Just to be on the safe side, he usually avoided places that were said to be haunted, like the Kelly Woods near Heaven’s Gate. And even Culloden. It was rumored the sounds of battle and men’s dying cries could be heard in the wisps of breezes that floated over the battlefield on a gloomy day. Goosebumps raised on his arms at his own thoughts and he shivered involuntarily.
Pauley’s eyes narrowed and she grinned at him. “Ye are a believer, I can tell,” she teased.
“Harrumph,” he sputtered stepping back and motioning Mica inside. “Come on in before the lass calls in the Ghillie Dhu himself.”
Mica stepped in looking interested. “As much as I’d like to explore this line of conversation, we need to talk, Pauley.”
“Come into the kitchen, Mica, and I’ll fix some tea,” Jamie said briskly, heading toward the back of the house.
“Has there been a development in the case?” Pauley asked as they followed behind him.
“Aye, but I’d like that tea and a biscuit if Jamie has one. It’s lunchtime and I haven’t eaten yet, but I knew ye would want to hear this straight away.”
“I still have left-over sausage rolls I can pop in the microwave,” Jamie offered.
Mica licked his lips. “I’ll take it!”
“I’ll help ye, Jamie,” Pauley offered. “Ye get the sausage rolls and I’ll make the tea.”
“There’s paper plates in the cabinet, Mica,” Jamie instructed. “This will only take a minute and then ye can catch us up.”
“So, what’s going on, Mica?” Pauley asked impatiently as she finally set some cups and the teapot on the table with the sausage rolls.
“Before ye panic, Luca is fine,” Mica replied, helping himself to one of the steaming sausage rolls.
Pauley’s teacup poised midair. “What happened?” she hissed.
“Let me get it all out before bombarding me with questions,” he insisted.
“Go on, Mica,” Jamie replied, covering one of Pauley’s hands with his own. He could feel her fingers tremble.
Mica paused then said, “There was an intruder on Heaven’s Gate. Darro’s men surrounded him. He got away, but not before the lads were able to get a license plate number. Darro called it in immediately to Quinn and the plate came back to a Leonard Searcy. Lives in the Dunlaven Market area. They searched the apartment and surrounding area. No one was there and no Ducati parked near there either, but get this. The plate was registered to a Ducati Streetfighter V4 motorcycle. The lads said it was black.” He spit it all out at once and waited for their reaction and dug into the sausage roll.
“Macalister!” Jamie and Pauley both spoke at the same time.
“But why would Macalister be going for Luca in an undercover role?” Pauley asked, confused. “If he wanted to speak with him, why not just go to Neamh as the officer in charge of the case?”
Mica pointed his fork at her with a satisfied smirk. “And that is the question, isn’t it?”
Jamie looked thoughtful. “How sure are ye that this motorcycle belongs to Macalister’s alias? If Searcy is his alias?”
Mica looked flustered. “Oh, I forgot to mention that part, didn’t I? It’s the same plate ye took a pic of in the parking lot of Hope Barks. I ran it when I got back, so we know it’s Macalister. We just don’t know why he went to Heaven’s Gate undercover.” He ate the second half of the sausage roll in one bite and groaned with pleasure.
Pauley rolled her eyes. “Mica, ye are a jobbie. Ye could have led with that.”
His eyes twinkled as he chewed around a mouthful and then swallowed. “And miss all the buildup? Where’s the fun in that?” He speared another sausage roll.
Pauley pushed her plate away and Jamie noticed she’d eaten little. “Ye need to eat, lass. Keep yer strength up.”
Her eyes darkened. “What I need to do is get to Neamh and question Luca again. If Luca knows something, I’d rather get it out of him before Macalister has a chance to. I don’t trust that man, not any further than I can throw him.”
“One more thing, Pauley,” Mica interjected. “I talked to my CI this morning. He said there is a rumor going around the homeless community that a motorcycle rider dressed in black was seen coming out of the alley where Blackburn was killed about midnight last night.”
Pauley frowned. “Has the M.E. given the time of death yet?”
Mica nodded. “Between 11:30 last night and 12:30 this morning.” He speared a third sausage roll.
Pauley sucked in a breath. “How credible is this information? Is there any way to link him to the crime scene or the body?”
“So, yer saying this Macalister could be dirty after all?” Jamie asked, his sense of outrage increasing by the minute, as well as his fear for Pauley’s son. What was Luca mixed up in?
“Quinn and I are wondering the same things ye two are,” Mica confided. “If Luca weren’t already ensconced at Neamh, he’d have him in a safehouse.”
“How safe is a safe house when the protectors are dirty?” Jamie barked. “It’s like leaving the fox to guard the chicken coop.”
Mica nodded. “Aye, ye are correct, Jamie. However, we have to give Brodie the benefit of the doubt, especially since he’s one of us. There may be a good explanation for all this subterfuge.”
Pauley shoved the chair backward to crash on the floor as she stood up. “Whatever Brodie is up to, ye can bet he’ll do whatever he can to hurt me,” she cried, a shiver running through her slender body. “He said he’d show me what I passed up someday, and that he’d get even for forcing him out before he was ready to leave. I just didn’t know his spite would rebound on Luca.”
Mica’s jaw and his fork both dropped. “That bastert threatened ye, Pauley? Why didn’t ye bring charges against him?”
Jamie stood up and pulled Pauley into his protective embrace. “Easy, lass, we’ll figure out what he’s up to. And Luca is in good hands. As ye have seen, Macalister couldn’t get into Neamh today, and now that he’s tried, the protection will be even tighter. Nothing will happen to Luca there.” He wanted to know the answer to Mica’s question too, but he sensed that she wouldn’t talk about it until she was ready. Only stress had forced it to the surface of her emotions.
“Pauley?” Mica asked again with gritted teeth.
“Just drop it, Mica. Forget I even said that,” Pauley replied, her face pale. “Besides, ye can’t bring charges against someone for their speech or intentions,” she added. “So, it’s a moot point.” She pulled out of Jamie’s arms. “I need to get to Neamh.”
Jamie didn’t bother to ask Pauley to eat again, he knew she was too stressed. “Let Mica finish his lunch first, then we’ll head that way. Can ye at least drink yer tea?” he asked softly.
Pauley hesitated, then with a sigh, she nodded and sat back down. “Aye, I can do that.”
“What are yer plans for this afternoon, Mica?” Jamie asked when they seated themselves. He was happy to see that Pauley was attempting to pick a little at her sausage roll.
“Quinn is now on board with me investigating on the sly because he’s suspicious of Macalister’s motives for taking the case away from us. Granted, Macalister is under no obligation to let any of us know he has an alias, but professional courtesy would have been nice.”
Pauley scoffed. “He won’t do that; he wants all the credit for solving it himself. The man is a ladder climber of the worst kind. He doesn’t care who he steps on to get higher.”
“Aye, makes me feel better that I kept the burner phone back from the evidence we turned over to his men,” Mica confessed.
“Ye kept back evidence?” Pauley exclaimed.
“I’ve got Angel on it trying to break into it. We might get lucky.” He winked at Pauley.
“There’s going to be hell to pay when Macalister finds out its missing,” Pauley replied with a chuckle.
Mica was fairly purring. “Well, he’ll no find out because he swept in all high and mighty before I even got all the evidence listed fer the locker. No one but me even knows there was a burner phone. Well...and Angel...and ye two.”
“I didn’t hear any of this,” Jamie inserted, shaking his head. “Does Quinn know?”
“Nay. That’s why Angel is working at home on her lunch break.”
Jamie rolled his eyes. “Then I really didn’t hear any of this.”
“That’s what ye get for hanging around with us, Jamie,” Mica chortled. He pushed his chair back and picked up his paper plate to throw away. “Thanks, fer lunch, it was delicious. Did ye make those sausage rolls?”
Jamie started clearing the table as well. “Nay, it was Lucerne. She’s the real cook in the family.”
“I might have to get her recipe. Miley and I both love sausage rolls but she says hers never turn out. They aren’t as good as these, I’ll admit, but maybe a new recipe might help perk hers up,” he enthused, glancing at his watch. “I’m headed out.” He turned toward the hallway to the front door and Pauley followed him.
“Call us if ye find out anything more, Mica.”
“Ye know I will. I’ll let myself out.” He gave her the thumbs up sign over his head with both hands.
Pauley watched him go and then turned back to Jaime. “Do we need to bring anything tonight for dinner at Neamh?” She drained her teacup and went to the sink to rinse it.
“I usually grab a bottle of Lucerne’s favorite white wine from Dookie’s, but she can’t drink it right now,” he replied, wiping his hands on a towel. “No point in bringing market packaged pastries either, not when she prefers to make them herself. So, I guess we are going empty-handed.”
“I like white wine, but I love a good sweet red as well. And ye are right about the market pastries,” Pauley agreed.
“Then we can grab some red wine at Dookie’s on the way out.”
Ten minutes later, Jamie turned to set the security code and make sure his phone alarm was working before they left for Neamh.
***
P AULEY AND LUCA WERE sitting in Darro’s study with Jamie, Darro, and Angus. Lucerne was in the kitchen with Corey and Delilah working on Halloween decorations. The children were still a bit spooked after having to go to the safe room earlier.
Pauley could see that Luca was still shaken up as well. Knowing that someone had actually followed him to Neamh had scared him more than he was willing to admit. Her anger with Brodie seethed inside. He would answer for this.
“When did ye become Brodie’s confidential informant Luca?” she asked.
Luca stared uncertainly at his mother. “How did ye find that out?”
“It didn’t take a genius to put it together,” she replied. “Brodie Macalister admitted to having a CI, but wouldn’t reveal who it was. With the evidence Mica and I have turned up, we figured it had to be ye or Belton.”
Luca ran his fingers through his blond hair. “Since I left school,” he confessed. “He’s the one who got me the job at Hope Barks. He said he wanted to help because ye had been his old partner, and he thought I might like to try my hand at something to do with law enforcement. I said I’d like that, but I didn’t think ye would.”
Pauley’s lips tightened. Cripes, the man was slick. “And ye would have been correct.”
A sullen look flashed across his face. “Ye don’t think I have what it takes, Mum? Is that it? I’m glad now he said it had to be strictly confidential, and I couldn’t talk to anyone but him,” he snapped.
Pauley was surprised. “It’s not that, son. I never knew ye were interested in law enforcement or I could have helped ye.”
“And have everyone talking about how ye got me the job like they do Natalie?” he retorted. “No thanks.”
Jamie cleared his throat. “I believe what yer mother is trying to say, lad, is that being a CI is a very dangerous proposition, and it’s not law enforcement. It might sound like a shortcut to a glamorous detective position, but it’s also a shortcut to an early grave for a lot of them,” he stated bluntly. “There are things ye don’t know about her old partner, and why he’s no longer her partner. And there are plenty of reasons not to trust him.”
“It sounds like it’s time to come clean with yer mother, lad,” Darro interjected. “Ye are in danger, and I’d also like to know why he chose to come to Neamh under his alias.”
Luca frowned. “Wait...are ye saying the man on the black motorcycle was Brodie Macalister? What was his alias name?”
Pauley nodded. “His alias name is Leonard Searcy.”
“And the motorcycle he rides is a Ducati Streetfighter V4?”
“Aye, it is.”
“That’s the guy Belton meets sometimes,” Luca exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. “I’ve never seen him myself without his helmet on, but Belton was complaining that he was always asking questions and being nosy, even though he did ah...purchase what he came for.”
“And what did he purchase?”
“Uh...well...I can’t really say without getting Belton in trouble,” he replied with a guarded look.
Pauley’s heart rate picked up. “Did ye happen to confide to Belton as to why ye were working at Hope Barks?”
Pink stole into Luca’s cheeks. “Well...I might have told him a little,” he confessed.
Pauley glanced at Jamie and he stared back, concern on their faces as puzzle pieces slipped into place. Could Belton have been influential in getting Luca targeted?
“Luca, do ye have information for Brodie that ye haven’t given him yet?”
“Aye, but I couldn’t tell him where I was because he told me to never call him on my regular phone.” He glanced over at Darro. “Which Mr. MacCandish has in his safe and turned off in case of a tracking bug in it. I have a burner phone, which I kept, but it doesn’t work out here,” he admitted. “He also told me to never send information over the burner phone, so I sent him a message that I had something for him after I got home yesterday morning, but then I got arrested and everything else happened so fast.”
“Most likely it’s the burner phone that’s bugged,” Angus interjected, “which is how he knew where to find ye. For whatever reason, he didn’t want to come here in his real identity.”
“What is the information?” Pauley asked, her pulse racing.
Luca hesitated, then he finally spoke. “Night before last, Belton and I were supposed to meet at The Waterfront for some chips and drinks, but he never showed. So, I texted him and he said he had to pull an all-nighter at the animal shelter, and that we’d meet up later at The Green Pooch and throw back a few if I was still around at 4:00 a.m. Maybe shoot some pool.”
“That’s only about six blocks from Happy Housekeepers,” Jamie observed.
“Aye,” Luca replied, his voice sounding more tense. “While I was waiting for Belton, I decided to park near Hope Barks and just take a nap or something until he was finished. The rumbling sound of a truck engine woke me up around 4:30 in the morning when it turned into the parking lot of the shelter and backed up to the back door. Then I saw Belton get out of the passenger’s side of the truck and he spotted my car. I ducked down, but I know he saw me. Ruskag came around the front of the truck to talk to Belton. As soon as they went inside, I left and went to The Green Pooch to wait for him, but not before I took a picture of the truck and the license plate of the truck on my burner,” he added. “That’s when I texted Detective Macalister.”
“That’s a strange time of night for a delivery,” Pauley said slowly, her mind racing. “Go on, Luca.”
Luca shifted uneasily in his chair. “It was a little before 6:00 a.m. when Ruskag came into The Green Pooch and stood there looking around. When he saw me, he came straight at me, and I knew I was in trouble,” he said, his voice starting to sound scared. “I ran down the hallway towards the bathrooms and out the backdoor of the pub and he came after me. I was faster than him, but he wouldn’t stop coming, so I finally slipped around a corner and saw the back parking lot of Happy Housekeepers and hoped I could get in the back door before he spotted me. I thought I had, until he came charging through the door, and then shut it behind him.”
Luca shuddered at this point and Pauley’s heart was racing as she felt his fear. “Ye don’t have to go on, Luca, we get the idea,” she croaked. “I think it goes without saying how lucky ye are.”
“I-I didn’t mean to kill him. When I grabbed the coffee pot and hit him with it, the glass broke. Then he fell on me while I still had it in my hand. I pushed him off with it...and...then there was blood everywhere,” he stammered, dropping his head in his hands.
There was silence for a moment, then Pauley spoke. “Why did ye go back to the animal shelter?” she asked, genuinely puzzled.
He looked up as if that was a crazy question. “To check on Belton, of course. Ruskag had grabbed his arm and practically dragged him in the back doorway. I was afraid he might have already hurt him or something.”
“That was a very brave thing to do, lad,” Jamie praised.
“But also very foolish,” Pauley scolded. “Didn’t it occur to ye that Belton might be in on whatever was going on?”
“I knew he was selling uh...merchandise, but I didn’t know what to think about the truck and Ruskag,” he confessed. “I just knew he was my friend, and that he was trying to make money on the side to help his mum take care of expenses after his dad left them. His little sister has cancer and although the treatments are paid for, they don’t cover his mum’s losses from not working. He would never tell me anything though, even though he knew I was snooping. But he looked scared that night.”
“What did ye find when ye went back?” Pauley asked.
“Belton was fine, but he told me not to come back to work until I heard from him. He said I needed to lay low because they might decide to clean house once the news that Ruskag was dead got out. So, I changed my clothes and put the others in my locker, then I went home to sleep. I wanted him to come with me, but he said that would just make Ruskag’s partner even more suspicious. And then Mica showed up to arrest me,” he finished.
Pauley held out her hand. “Can I have yer phone, Luca?”
Luca smiled sheepishly at Darro and Angus, and then took his burner phone out of his boot and handed it to her. Both men shot him an identical stern look with folded arms across their chests.
Pauley took the little black phone and flipped open the top. Finding his pictures, she pushed the gallery button and they opened up. She could see the white box truck, like an oversized panel van in one pic, and the license plate in the other. There were no markings on the truck, but there were many such trucks around Inverness. Nothing special about it at all, and nothing that would make a person question it’s right to be at the back of any given business.
“I’m going to send these pictures to Mica and Quinn,” she told Luca, after sending them to herself first.
He eyed her suspiciously. “Are ye really saying that Brodie is dirty?”
“Nay, I’m not saying that,” she replied with a frown. “But Brodie was sniffing around one of the county line gangs when he was still here in Inverness. He would disappear for hours at a time and never explain where he’d been. These rural areas with access to sea ports are a great way to export drugs to the bigger cities. On the surface, he appears clean.”
“If ye don’t think he’s dirty, then why don’t ye trust him?”
Why indeed? How did she count the ways? Aloud she said, “I have my reasons, Luca. Nothing I can put into words, exactly, but just a strong feeling that he’s up to no good.” She handed the phone to Darro with a meaningful look.
Darro nodded and took the phone, sending Luca a steely glance.
“Now ye sound like great Gramma Caulfield,” Luca snorted, flushing slightly but not asking for his phone back. “Remember how she was always talking about someone walking over her grave, and then something weird would happen?”
Pauley glanced over at Jamie and his eyebrows shot up. “Aye, of course I remember,” she replied with a chuckle. “That’s why she wanted to be buried in a crypt and not in the ground. Said she didn’t want her sleep disturbed every time someone stepped on her grave.”
“She could have just had herself cremated,” Luca added with a helpful grin. “It would have cost a lot less than the concrete crypt she had built.”
The others had to chuckle at that one.
“No disrespect intended, but yer Gramma sounds like an interesting woman,” Darro said. “Reminds me of some of my ancestors. Supposedly, my three greats Uncle Albert is buried somewhere in Kelly Woods. He swore his gardener to secrecy as to the location of his grave because he didn’t want any family or visitors moaning and crying over his bones. He just wanted to be left in peace. Or so the story goes. Kelly Woods is supposed to be haunted anyway from the ghosts of fairies that were hunted down and killed. Even the Ghillie Dhu himself is said to visit the woods and moan in sympathy for his lost comrades.”
“Sounds like yer Uncle Albert chose the wrong resting place,” Lucerne snickered. “Especially if he hated moaning and crying over corpses.”
“Cripes,” Jamie muttered, rolling his eyes.
Lucerne giggled at her father. “I forgot ye don’t like talking about spirits, do ye, Dad?”
Jamie frowned at her. “There are more pleasant subjects,” he replied.
Pauley arched an eyebrow. “Is there a particular reason why ye feel this way?” she finally asked. Jamie seemed like such a controlled, no-nonsense person that she couldn’t see him feeling squeamish about things that go bump in the night, but he’d already reacted once to the idea. She was truly curious now.
“I think that’s best left for another time and place,” he replied, shooting his daughter a warning glance. “Lucerne, I think it’s time for some tea if ye don’t mind me making some?”
“There’s already some hot if ye want to move to the kitchen,” she replied with a gentle smile at her dad.
The spooky atmosphere evaporated as they all stood up and headed out of the study. They were just gathering around the kitchen table when Pauley’s cell phone rang.