Open Wounds (Harbour Bay #2)(50)
In one night, Darryl had pushed past her defences and looked into her soul. She was frightened of what she felt for him, but feeling too much—enough to shatter her—was better than feeling nothing at all. She trusted Darryl. It hadn’t been anything he’d done. It was instinctual and since that night twelve years ago she’d learned to trust herself.
Kellie turned her mind away from thoughts of him. There would be plenty of time for reliving those sweet memories when there wasn’t a dead body demanding her attention. She knelt down beside Michael Lambert.
She allowed a moment of grief before pushing it aside.
If only he’d been smart enough and turned himself in. He could’ve been sitting in jail right now, not on his way to the morgue.
Kellie studied the still form and suppressed a shiver. It was the first dead body she’d seen in person. All the others had been photographs inside a case file. It felt different in real life, not as she had suspected. He was pale and lifeless, but he looked normal—other than the hole in his forehead.
Even her non-medical training had provided her with the cause of death. A gunshot wound to the head, blowing his brains onto the plastic he’d been wrapped in.
Had the murderer understood the rudimentary basics of how tide flow worked, he would’ve known dumping a body into the water at the end of high tide was not the best time to relieve yourself of evidence without weighing it down first. But his mistake was in their favour. When tide had gone out, the body had remained, easily spotted by an early morning fisherman who’d caught sight of something other than a fish.
Kellie watched as Doctor Stone did a preliminary examination of the body, checking his pockets for possible evidence. The plastic wrap was removed and placed into an evidence bag.
“Tell me, Doctor Stone, is there any evidence of torture or bruises of any kind that would suggest he suffered prior to death?”
Stone shook his head. “No, the boy was lucky. I doubt he even saw it coming.”
Kellie let out a deep breath. He may have been a double murderer, but the thought of anyone being tortured sickened her.
“His killer was a good shot. Quick, efficient,” she said, remembering how inadequate her would-be killer had been.
In comparison, Michael Lambert had truly been lucky. He had been saved from the fears and psychological issues she’d dealt with. To be so close to death, to relive the fear, the helplessness, whenever she let down her guard.
Doctor Stone raised an eyebrow at her somewhat callous statement.
“I just mean it could’ve been worse,” she explained. “More painful if he hadn’t died. Efficient is more humane.”
She caught Amelia’s gaze, knowing her friend understood where her mind had been. She turned away from her perceptive stare, still stinging from their previous conversation, and watched as Doctor Stone zipped the black body bag shut and prepared to have it lifted onto the stretcher nearby.
***
Twenty minutes later, they were back at the LAC. Kellie was fuming. Once again Coleani would get away with murder. She had a horrible taste in her mouth she couldn’t get rid of. She was sick of being unable to get him off the streets. He was a parasite feeding off the unfortunates, roaming the city free. Anger made her stomach clench painfully.
She paced in front of Darryl and Amelia’s desks, agitated. The ten desks were divided into two rows that faced each other with a small aisle between them. At the desks on either side of them, Nick and Dean had their heads down, engrossed in their individual tasks.
“I can’t take this any longer,” she said, turning to Amelia. “I want you to crawl so far up Coleani’s arse it makes the Taxation Office look good.” Amelia raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Darryl as Kellie continued. “One of his lieutenants would have made the kill shot, and we need to find that man and put pressure on him.”
“What makes you think we can get him to open up when we couldn’t with Lambert? And he was nothing compared to Coleani’s inner circle,” Amelia stated.
Kellie wrapped her arms about her stomach in an effort to ease the pain. “I’m not thinking about getting them to roll over but about connecting his crimes to Coleani. We may not be able to get him on murder, but an accessory is just as good. At least for the first part.”
Amelia smiled. “You mean we get Coleani here on any charge we can find and we’ll be able to obtain warrants to go through his properties. It could work if we find something. He isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. Only manipulative. It’s a sound plan.”
She nodded. “You almost sound surprised. Let’s access the records from the youth centre and cross reference the names with those working for a Coleani establishment, and see who also checks out with the Department of Corrective Services.”
Her blood sang inside her body. For the first time since she’d been handed the case, elation filled her, the possibility of finally nailing Coleani’s arse to the wall giving her a high. “He always found the ones with a shitty home life, which makes what he’s offering look like nirvana. The Department of Community Services will no doubt have a record of these kids. Domestic disputes and neglect are high on the list. At some point an officer would’ve been appointed and the child placed in a foster home.”
Darryl spoke up. “Well, Coleani’s enterprises are spread right around his territory and that’s quite the large area to cover. Anything south of Broad and north of Colander is his. That’s about…what? A twenty, twenty-five block radius? How many business deeds are in his name?”