19. TwoThree #2
Liam produced another sheet of paper and slid it over.
"That's the full record of your father's business interests.
Reginald Rook. Amongst them you'll notice Reactor Maintenance Logistics, a company that began operating 33 years ago.
" He paused, eyes locked on Rook. "That's the same time period as the first victim turned up on the same beach. "
Rook frowned. "What's my Dad got to do with any of this?"
"Indeed, where are you going with this, officers?"
"Gabriel knows where we're going," Liam said.
"We've checked all the records. Way back then, they never figured out how the body got onto the beach.
Boat? Land? The one thing they never counted on was someone within the reactor blinding the CCTV cameras while the body was brought in by sea and dumped at the fence, like some delivery. "
The lawyer's nose wrinkled.
" what?" Rook asked.
"This company, Reactor Logistics, gave your father access to all the reactor's electrical systems, didn't it?
" Sally raised her notes. "It was contracted to maintain parking lots, exterior facilities, drainage, electrical connections, pipework and shifting the encroaching shingle with a digger.
A contract that was maintained until three years ago, at the time of your father's death, and continued ever since.
" She looked up. "Reg Rook died with access, which you still have. "
Rook stared. The lawyer shook his head. "This is a line of inquiry built on shifting sands. You're trying to steamroll my client, but his family's access to electrical systems is not evidence of tampering. You need to end this line of questioning or get on solid ground."
"Very well. Let's be clear. We agree that your family had the capability to shut off the CCTV systems that overviewed the beach, where you were conducting human trafficking. But there's something more, isn't there, Gabriel? You also have one of your family working on the decommission scaffold."
Rook flinched.
"What?" the lawyer blurted. "Where did you get that from?"
"Master list of the workers." Liam pushed one more paper across the desk.
"A warrant provided the full duty rota. Your brother got out this morning before we started taking details at shift change, but his name's on the duty list." He paused for effect.
"Jerome Rook. He was there on the scaffold last night. "
Rook paled slightly.
Sally leaned closer. "Means. Opportunity.
All we're missing is motive, and we'll find that.
The way I see it, this goes two ways, Gabriel.
Option one, you're complicit in a conspiracy to murder that young man.
Possibly as a message to rival gangs trying to muscle in on the trafficking trade?
We found ketamine at your farm; the same drug found in the victim's bloodstream, which could be damning once full forensics are back.
Jerome blinded the CCTV from within; Roarke or your other brother, Silas, dumped the body by boat; you kept watch from the Crab Shack, running double duty on the small boat pickup. "
"What?" Rook muttered. "That's not, I mean–"
"Option two, Jerome was on the scaffold purely as lookout for the girls at the Crab Shack. Nothing to do with the murder. He calls it in when the delivery comes, and the rest of you swoop to pick them up." She leaned back. "That's your lot. Two options."
The lawyer put a hand on Rook's arm. "There are many more possibilities than that. We need to take time and confer about–"
"It's the second," Gabriel blurted. "God's honest truth, we didn't have shit to do with that body. I swear!"
The lawyer's expression chilled. "Stop talking now, Gabriel."
"So you were at the Crab Shack with your dogs at 3 a.m. last night, picking up girls?" Sally asked.
"Right, yeah, but that's not even illegal! We're just an online company, we get new blood, and–"
"New blood you collect in the middle of the night," Liam interrupted, "from a shack on the beach?"
Rook twisted to Liam, like a boxer taking an unexpected blow.
"Let's say we believe you, Gabriel," Sally said. "Then you're in a position to help us."
"Help you?"
"You, or your brother Jerome, were the only ones looking out over the beach last night. If you saw anything down on the shingle, at the tide line, anything suspicious, we need to know about it right now."
"Me? I didn't see squat."
Sally stared. A single bead of sweat ran down Rook's temple. His lawyer placed a hand on his arm.
"And we'll leave it there, I belie–"
"Except there were lights, maybe, on the water?" Rook blurted. "Thought it was our delivery guys, but Jerome had a better angle, and he said no way."
A switch flicked in Sally's head and she snapped upright. "What did Jerome say?"
"That they'd already come! That's the whole reason I was down there, couple hours after they'd made delivery. I–"
"Stop talking!" the lawyer snapped, but Rook was on a roll.
"I saw them my goddamn self, and I watched them as we brought the girls in, and I didn't have a damn clue what they were doing."
"They?" Sally repeated. Her mouth went dry. "How many people did you see, Gabriel?"
"I couldn't see people, just boats," he rushed on. "Two, maybe three of them? You'd have to ask Jerome. I think he even recognized some of them, but he wouldn't say who they belonged to."
Liam muttered a curse.
Two or three boats? Sally struggled to comprehend that. With at least one person to a boat, that meant two or three people. Maybe more. The reality didn't land. It couldn't.
But then, she'd seen terrible things before. Whole groups of people driven to the darkest acts. She pictured a group gathered around the boy's body, watching as he was lowered to the shingle, as he struggled and twitched, as the shells were brought closer to his eyes.
She jerked and her chair screeched on the tile floor, causing Rook to flinch backward so hard his chair tipped.
He fell, struggled to catch himself and tumbled to the floor.
Sally stood, the pulse of blood now roaring in her ears like a storm. "Where is Jerome, Gabriel? If you want to protect yourself and your brothers, I need to know right now."
The lawyer pushed his chair back and helped Rook back to his feet. "We're done here, officers," he spat. "Get out. My client needs immediate medical attention."
Sally's body quivered. It felt like she was hovering in the air, inches above the floor. She turned to Liam and nodded.
"Interview terminated," he said, and pushed the button on the camera as Sally strode from the room.