‘Look, it involves three innocent people.’
‘Really?’ The cynicism rang clear in my voice.
‘All were shot dead in the same place by the same person.’
I blinked slowly and clenched my jaw. ‘Wasn’t me.’
‘I appreciate it wasn’t you.’
Glad we’d cleared that up, I took another drink.
‘You must have read about it in the news.’
‘I make a point of not reading the news.’ Another part of the ‘weaning off’ process.
At this, she broke into a wide smile. ‘Even better. I was afraid you might have a preconceived view.’
‘Can I ask you a question?’ I realised then that I’d caved in.
‘Afterwards.’
She wanted to reel me in first.
‘I don’t need to tell you that the identities and lifestyles of the victims will reveal far more than the crime scene,’ I said.
‘But the crime scene paints an interesting picture to a man of your particular talents.’
My particular talents? If only McCallen knew the whole, unvarnished truth – that I’d learnt from the very best, that my mentor had been a man who worked for Mossad, that I’d loved him as a son loves a father and that the tang of his betrayal was still sharp and bitter in my mouth. I shook my head, but my eyes failed to conceal my interest. Like a rat in for the kill, McCallen could spot weakness at fifty paces. She stood up, whisked a large brown envelope out of her bag and placed it on the table in front of me. ‘I’m going to get some air. I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look and give me your honest opinion.’
‘About what?’
‘Anything that leaps out of the picture.’
What she meant was the sequence of events, location, and the type of individual responsible, amateur or professional.
‘You’re not expecting me to be able to identify the killer, are you?’
‘Be good if you could, but my expectations aren’t that high.’
‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’
At this, she pursed her lips and blew me a kiss.
I glanced around. I’d chosen a relatively private spot in amongst a horde of serious drinkers. Everyone seemed too intent on having a good time to bother with a guy like me. It didn’t stop me from checking or watching for the sidelong look followed by the suddenly averted gaze.
‘Pretend they’re holiday snaps,’ McCallen said, disappearing out into the night.
The envelope stared at me like the bad fairy at the wedding feast. I stared back, belligerent. Draining my glass, I thought about having another drink and changed my mind. I didn’t know for how long McCallen intended to take the night air, but I wasn’t taking risks. Scooping up the envelope, I slipped it inside my jacket and left the bar. My intention was to walk around the block and return, the envelope unopened. My subconscious had other ideas.
Letting myself back into the rental apartment only metres away, I switched on the light, poured myself a glass of water and sat down. The paper crinkled as I moved, the envelope a sharp-edged rock digging into my heart. Only photographs, the devil in my brain told me. Where’s the harm? Do you really want to put yourself in temptation’s way, the other part of me said, aren’t you supposed to be walking away from all that? I’m providing you with an opportunity to do good, McCallen said. What she really meant was that I was giving her a chance to solve part of a puzzle. For some unspoken reason, she couldn’t ask anyone else. I was flattered. And for reasons I hadn’t yet nailed, I was more than tempted.
The devil won out.
I opened the envelope, slid out three black and whites, three identical in colour, and three close-up shots, again in colour. I laid them out in front of me like a croupier placing cards on the table, and took out my phone to capture the images. Next, using the MagniLink facility, I studied each in detail.
The first photograph provided an aerial shot of a two-lane road running through a section of dense woodland. Studying the leaves on the trees, which were oak, ash, chestnut and beech, I guessed it was taken around May or June. From the angle of the sun and hint of dew on the ground, it must have been early morning. Clearings revealed signs of human activity, animals and horse tracks, and beyond these, a criss-cross of paths and narrow roads, undoubtedly a tourist trail. As killing places went, it was an ideal location. No CCTV. With quick road access, the killer could get in and out within seconds and had plenty of cover for a speedy getaway.
On the road, a sleek-looking vehicle, a Jaguar, was positioned almost at right-angles as if the driver had changed his mind about the direction in which he was driving and had decided to turn around. Metres down the road from the Jag, most likely travelling from the opposite direction, an overturned mountain bike, top spec and only used by a serious cyclist. One body lay on the road almost underneath the bicycle. Another body hung out of the open door on the passenger side of the Jaguar. Spent cartridges littered the scene. Untidy. I’d come back to these later.
I moved on to a close-up of the Jaguar. Rounds of gunfire had extensively damaged the front and offside of the vehicle. Standard procedure: windscreen smashed, metal perforated by so many rounds that it looked like the car had been sliced open by a king-size can opener. This meant the weapon’s magazine capacity was at least thirty rounds and probably fired at a rate of 700 rounds per minute, maybe more. I looked closely at the measurement of individual holes. The problem with this is that when a bullet leaves a weapon, impact changes both it and the surface with which it comes into contact. Without the actual bullet in my hand, it was difficult to estimate calibre. Clearly fired from an automatic, I reckoned it could be 9 x 19mm Parabellum, but I couldn’t be exact.
The passenger door was open, the driver’s door closed. Rubber marks on the road suggested that the car had moved at speed, tyres biting the asphalt in the driver’s desperate bid to get out of trouble and make a fast getaway. I closed my eyes and pictured the scene: driver responds to the threat by stopping, takes fire but not enough to kill, reverses and then is felled by another round of automatic fire.
A close-up revealed the driver: her face twisted to one side, most of the top of the head removed, body slumped over the wheel, blood and brain matter decorating the expensive leather interior. Left arm extended, her hand stretched out as if trying to make contact with her male passenger one final time. Meant the relationship was close. Death conceals age to a degree, but I guessed she could have been anything between thirty-five and forty-five years of age.
Close-up of the passenger revealed that he had made some effort to flee but, caught in the spray, his upper torso was a mess of gunshot wounds. I estimated his age around the same as mine. Either way, I reckon he’d hit his thirty-third birthday. To my professional eye, the driver was first on the killer’s playlist, the passenger of secondary importance.
Next up, the crime scene with the unfortunate male cyclist. The bike, keeled over on the road, trapped the cyclist’s right leg. This indicated that the cyclist was facing the motorist and stationary when shot. Close examination revealed that, unlike the occupants of the car, he had been shot, at most, three times. He’d taken a bullet to the chest and one at point-blank range to the head. I suspected that this was the third in the sequence. The actual choreography would go something like this: one in the head, one in the chest, and a follow-up shot for good measure. A pathologist might state otherwise but, either way, he had been dispatched in a clinical fashion. He wasn’t riddled with bullets. I imagined the cyclist’s attention