The Infirmary (DCI Ryan Mysteries prequel)(83)

“The front door’s locked, the windows are secure,” she said. “Mum was on the phone, earlier. She’s worried about you.”

“She’s always worried about me. It’s part of the job.”

“This seems different,” she said, refusing to be fobbed off. “Look after yourself out there. I don’t know what any of us would do without you.”

Ryan was taken aback by the strength of her emotion.

“I love you, kid.”

“I love you, too.”

*

They searched every nook and every cranny while Ryan contacted everybody at the hospital who had worked with Edwards and sent officers around to their houses to double-check they were not harbouring him. Keir Edwards had been universally liked and respected, to such a degree that some of his colleagues refused to believe it could be true that he had murdered four women, maybe more.

It was startling, the extent to which he had cultivated his ‘nice guy’ persona. Nobody could believe that lovely Doctor Edwards could be a cold-blooded killer. They would not accept that they had been duped, conned into believing that he’d been anything other than what he was.

A raider. A killer. A man without any compassion for his fellow human beings.

Ryan had already observed that people were predisposed to apply positive attributes to people they found attractive, and Edwards fell squarely into that category. It was all too easy to see how he could have charmed the women he later murdered, using his eyes and his smile against their better nature. He chose carefully, too. Aside from Sharon Cooper, his victims had all been young brunettes in their twenties; not children, but not yet sufficiently seasoned by life experience to see the danger until it was too late.

The search continued.





CHAPTER 40


It was nearly two o’clock in the morning by the time Faulkner’s team called it a night at Edwards’ home and MacKenzie told the surplus patrol staff to stand down for the night. They maintained an army presence, but the city was like a ghost town, its streets empty and glistening from the rain that had fallen on-and-off throughout the day.

“It’s time you got some rest, lad. I’m surprised you’re still upright,” Phillips said.

Ryan admitted he was only barely standing, and his eyes were so blurred he could barely see his computer screen.

“Come on, I’m driving you home.”

Ryan had already sent half of the team home for the evening to catch up on some rest, but a skeleton staff remained.

“I’ll watch over things here and let you know if there’s any word,” Phillips promised. “You know it makes sense.’

“I can drive myself,” Ryan protested, nearly falling over as he stood up.

“I bet you haven’t eaten, either,” Phillips said sternly. “Howay, the Pie Van’s still open.”

“At this hour?”

“Why, aye,” Phillips said. “He’s canny, the bloke who runs it. He knows we’ve all been stuck in here and none of us can face the pasta bake in the staff canteen. He’s been doing a roaring trade all day.”

After they’d made an obligatory stop for a steak and ale pie and washed it down with something equally nutritious, they made their way across town.

Within minutes, Ryan’s eyelids drooped, and he fell asleep against the passenger window. Phillips glanced across at him and allowed his face to soften as he looked at the man who was his closest friend. Neither of them had said as much because they didn’t need to, but he would never forget how Ryan had been there for him when Laura had passed away. Ryan had put up with his anger and grief all those months with quiet sympathy. He’d bought him a pint when he’d needed it and given him work when he’d needed the distraction. They could not have come from two more different worlds and, yet, they had forged a friendship.

Hell, it was more than that.

They were like family.

*

Ryan could feel the shirt clinging to his back as he slammed out of Phillips’ car. The day had dragged on, hour after painful hour, and there was still no end in sight. Edwards was still out there, somewhere in the night.

The river shimmered to his right like a black snake, rippling its way towards the sea. His eyes were like pinpricks after endless hours without rest and the burden of stress he’d carried for days. His heart was weary with failure, knowing there could be another one tonight.

“Try to get some sleep, son,” Phillips said, from the driver’s seat.

Ryan mumbled something unintelligible and headed towards the entrance of his apartment building. The streets were empty and only a handful of lights flickered in the other apartments. He looked up at the top floor and realised that one of them was his.

Natalie must have waited up for him.

He thought of his sister: bright and beautiful with a mane of long dark hair and eyes the same shade of grey as his own, inherited from their mother. He didn’t expect her to come and look after him and, in some ways, he would rather she wasn’t there to witness the aftermath of the day he’d put in.

All he wanted was bed and oblivion.

He waved Phillips off, making sure the door was shut behind him, then dragged himself over to the lift. Normally, he took the stairs, but he couldn’t find the energy to manage them tonight.

As the doors swished open and he stepped onto the top floor landing, the first thing he noticed was that his front door was ajar.