A Clattering of Jackdaws (The Birdwatcher Series Book 2) Read online

  As he waited he looked around at the few people who were here and he’d never seen such miserable people in his life. Not one of them looked like they wanted to be awake right now and there was no talking the place at all. The noise from the kitchen was minimal too and Tyler realized at once this wasn’t the best place to make this kind of call from.

  He was going to simply have to give Sarah the broad strokes and hope she could fill in the rest herself without him having to say it out right. She was clever enough for that; it shouldn’t be a problem. He just hoped if she decided to shout, that wouldn’t be audible to these people here at this end.

  Chapter 33

  SARAH WAS NOT ASLEEP when her phone started ringing. As ever after being at murder scene after her shift, she was in her living room looking through her box file labelled ‘The Monster’. Every murder reminded her of her mother and her vow to find her killer and of late every killing she investigated seemed to be somehow linked to Dwight Spalding. These ‘Agrarian’ murders hadn’t been linked in any way as of yet, but she had a feeling, an intuition, that they would be. She just had to wait until the connection became clear.

  The phone was silenced but it vibrated noisily on the coffee table. Sarah looked to the screen and saw a number she did not know. She answered,

  “Hello?” Was it him? Was she going to hear the killer's voice?

  “Sarah, it’s me Tyler,” came the reply.

  “Tyler, what is it has you calling at this hour?”

  “Okay, before I say this just prepare yourself, you’re not going to like this,” he said. Sarah stood up, already growing angry at whatever he was going to say.

  “Just tell me, Tyler!” she said harshly.

  “Carson Lemond is gone. He’s been kidnapped.” Were it not for the graveness in his voice, Sarah would have thought he was playing some joke on her and was about to burst out laughing. This was no joke.

  “What do you mean kidnapped?”

  “He was at my house,” Tyler said after a brief pause, “I left him there while I went to the crime scene to see you. When I got back he was gone and there's a note.” Sarah didn’t know where to start with this. She paced around and felt like falling down dead on the spot. Tyler had brought a murder suspect she was pursuing to his home to shelter him there? And now that suspect was gone, apparently kidnapped! How many things could go wrong in this?

  “What did the note say?” she asked, thinking this was the best place to start.

  “That Carson is safe and I will see him again soon,” Tyler said.

  “And you don’t know who it’s from”? She asked.

  “No,” he answered quickly- but it was it too quickly. Was this some stupid plot he and Carson had come up with to help the ‘innocent’ man escape? She really didn’t know what to think.

  “Where are you calling from?”

  “A diner about thirty miles from my place.”

  “Was there anything else left at your house?”

  “I don’t think so,” he answered. That wasn’t good enough for her. What could she do though? She couldn't get the forensics team to swing by; that would expose what she’d been up to and get her fired. She would have to go and look for herself, it was the only way.

  “I’m coming over. Head back home and I’ll meet you there. Get a pot of coffee on,” she said and hung up before he could say anything else.”

  The night cooled significantly since Sarah had gotten home and she had the heat on high in the car to stop from shivering. She was tired though, and had to open the windows from time to time to let in some cold gusts to keep her awake. She was not sorry to see the entrance to his access road.

  Tyler was at the door when she came up to the house and she walked briskly the short distance outside eager to get inside.

  “I’m going to say sorry now, before we go any further,” he said, his face bearing the look of someone resigned to a serious chewing out. Sarah wasn’t happy, but the bulk of her anger had been burnt out after the phone call and then on the first part of her drive here. It was no short distance from her house to his.

  “Let’s leave all that for now,” she said stepping inside and pulling on her gloves, “Show me the letter and where you found it.” Tyler guided her to his desk and nodded down,

  “It was there, amongst my other stuff.” Sarah looked at the desk and thought all of a sudden this was the most ridiculous search she could do. There was no way this scene had not been tampered with. Anything Tyler didn’t want her to see would have been removed before she got here and who knew what else he might have compromised as he searched the house earlier too.

  “You haven't found anything else since we spoke?” she asked, leafing through the papers on the desk. Tyler shook his head,

  “You know this is a waste of time,” he said to her.

  “Why so?” she asked. She felt the same but wanted to know his reason for thinking this.

  “Whoever did this is good at what they do. There was no one else in the world who knew Carson was here. My house is kinda off the grid here. They knew he was here though and they took him.”

  “Who did?” Tyler looked at her at this question. She knew he was thinking it was Spalding.

  “Who do you think it was?” he replied. They looked at one another without speaking. Tyler broke eye contact and walked towards the kitchen, "You want some of that coffee?” Sarah did and she followed.

  “Where is the note?” she asked. Tyler poured a coffee for her and then passing her the cup took the note out of his pocket and put it on the island counter. Sarah looked at it a moment, noting he’d placed it in a Ziploc bag, before taking it up and looking at it through the plastic. “Are your fingerprints on this?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he answered before raising the coffee to his lips. She saw those lips moist and soft looking and then looked back to the letter. She slid the note out and looked at it. It was as she’d expected and she too felt this was the work of Spalding. Who else could it be?

  “This is going to be a lot of trouble for us if this ever got out,” Tyler said.

  “Well, I’m glad you are willing to take on ‘some’ of the blame,” she said.

  “I know it’s my fault, but that doesn’t stop it being a problem for both of us,” he replied coolly. She was kind of hoping he would lose his temper so she could let loose with her own. At the moment, she had the most to lose. There was no doubt Tyler could be in serious trouble for harbouring a fugitive at his place, but there was no proof of that and her revealing it would only reveal the relationship she shared with the journalist.

  “Look,” Tyler said as he placed his cup down. “The only people who know Carson was here are you, me and whoever has him, right?” Sarah could tell where he was going with this. It made her feel sick but at the same time she was struggling to come up with anything more palatable. Maybe she wasn’t the person she thought she was after all?

  “Right,” she said without enthusiasm.

  “So, he says in the note I’ll see him again soon. I say we wait until we hear from him.”

  “And then what?”

  “Do whatever we have to, to get Carson back.” Sarah shook her head in dismay.

  “This is such bullshit,” she said. “You pull this same crap over and over!” she shouted at him and it surprised both of them. To even greater surprise to Sarah, Tyler shouted back at her!

  “What the hell do you want me to do! What would you have done if I told you he was here?”

  “I don’t know...”

  “I do know! You would have had a SWAT team or something raid the place and take him in!”

  “Not necessarily!” she was really shouting now, “You didn’t give me a chance to do anything. You don’t trust me and I’m the one who has the most to lose!” This seemed to get through to him and though he was about to shout something back at her he visibly paused and held his mouth shut firmly. He shook his head slowly and Sarah, realising that at some point during the shouting had stoo
d up, retook her seat quietly.

  “I’m sorry,” he said and she looked at him. “I guess we both come from secretive professions and it's been a bit too firmly entrenched in us.”

  “I guess you could say that,” Sarah agreed. They were silent a few moments before Sarah went on, “What do we do?” Tyler looked at her and she knew he could tell she didn’t want to hear the same old crap as before about telling the truth and being open and honest.

  “I suppose we just have to play it the way we see it,” he said. She was glad of this answer in a way, it made her feel better about him somehow, like he was actually more trustworthy than she thought.

  “What does that mean to you?” she asked.

  “The same thing it means to you,” he said. He had a point, her job was different to his but they had passed a boundary that made it all the same now. She didn’t have any more right to withhold from him than he did her in this unique case. Again she wondered how the hell she’d gotten herself into such a fraught position and knew at once why.

  “We both have the same endgame in getting Spading,” she said, “The only way we can do this is as a team.”

  “We’re going to get him,” Tyler said defiantly, in her own current mood she believed him.

  Chapter 34

  MEGAN DIDN’T LIKE WHAT she saw in Carson Lemond. He’d been here a full two days now and she hadn’t warmed to him. The other side had their claws in him but he didn’t seem close to becoming like one of them yet. Two days was a very short time in the normal world, but in this basement dungeon it was a lifetime. Especially when you were with the same people practically twenty-four hours a day.

  What she liked least about him was that Megan didn't think he was being fully honest about his story. Sure, Spalding could have set him up for a murder in the restaurant, but the story Carson had told about why he might have been chosen was nonsense. There was more to it and he wasn’t saying. That made her think it was something bad. Why else wouldn't he share the truth?

  “Do you think the journalist was working with, or for Spalding?” Megan asked when they passed again in the hallway. Carson looked at her like this idea had not occurred to him at all up to now.

  “Do you think he could have been?” he asked.

  “Anyone could have been,” Megan snapped back. “That’s his whale thing, getting other people to do all this dirty work for him.” He looked at her aghast and shook his head,

  “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “He left me there and I could have left if I wanted before this guy came and took me.”

  “Could you?” Megan asked, “He could have been outside waiting for you all the time in case you tried that.” Carson seemed lost for words, like each thing said to him was more confusing than the last.

  “I guess so,” he stammered, “But...” He stared blankly at her and didn’t say anything more, didn’t have anything he could say. Megan curled her lip up in disgust but the look on his face, his crestfallen eyes made her feel bad about this. She felt like one of the girls who used to bully her in high school and it wasn’t a nice feeling.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, “This place is hard on everyone. It’s just death all around us, only most of the fools here think by now it’s like a summer camp.” She was so angry with those who believed this was a safe place for them.

  “Has anyone ever escaped from here?” he asked her and alarm bells rang out shrilly in Megan’s mind. She looked harshly at him, glowering as hard as she could. He looked taken aback and stumbled over his words,

  “I’m sorry,” he said finally. She assumed he got the idea that you didn’t talk about those kinds of things as she walked away from him. His asking was the final nail in the coffin for his chances of being part of their escape bid. If he wasn’t involved with Spalding, he was definitely too stupid to be a valuable member of the team.

  At the evening meal, Megan avoided eye contact with Carson and let the others talk to him about the outside world and the murders he was accused of. Ellie noticed this and it came up that night in the bedroom as the rest snored and slept soundly.

  It was almost two hours after lights out that night before Megan felt it was safe to shuffle over to Ellie. Sometimes one of them might fall asleep while waiting for this quiet time and tonight was one of those times despite Ellie’s urgent need to talk to Megan.

  “Ellie?” Megan whispered, waving a hand at her to cause a draft to her face at the same time. Ellie stirred but did not wake. “Jesus Ellie,” Megan said under her breath. She leaned out a little farther, her hands cold on the floor and then waved her hand again whispering once more. This time Ellie’s eyes did open and she looked at Megan for about ten seconds before she realised she was back awake and this was real. She sat up and then recalled where she was laying back down before leaning over and coming on her hands to meet Megan between their beds.

  “Sorry, I must have dozed off. It took so long tonight,” Ellie said.

  “Never mind that,” Megan said, "I just wanted to let you know Carson won't be part of our plan.”

  “No?”

  “No, I spoke to him today. I don’t think he’d be up to it and he’d likely slow us down. We’d get caught before we got to the highway with him in tow.” Ellie nodded as Megan spoke.

  “What did he say?” Ellie asked.

  “Nothing to inspire confidence,” Megan answered. “I don’t trust him, I don’t believe his story and I think he’s hiding something.”

  “You think Spalding put him down here as a spy?” Ellie asked, and Megan was glad she’d come to this same conclusion as herself.

  “I don’t know, but he’s hiding something and we need total trust if we are going to get out of here alive.” Ellie nodded in agreement at this and glanced towards the bed where Carson Lemond was sleeping. He was on his side with his back to them. They were silent for a moment in thought.

  “That’s it decided then,” she said, “We go the next time he leaves?”

  “I guess so,” Megan agreed. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to think of their escape. The time had come and there was no more planning to be done. As soon as they knew Spalding was out of the house they were going. She reached her hand out and Ellie grasped it. “We can do this,” Megan said and was heartened to see Ellie's mischievous smile come back,

  “Of course we can!” Megan smiled and the two women slunk back to their own beds, each hoping and praying that this would be the last night they would ever spend in this horrible place.

  Chapter 35

  CARSON LEMOND WAS NEITHER asleep as this exchange took place, nor was he pleased with the content of the conversation. Something he hadn’t shared with anyone in the house was how good his hearing was. In a silent room in the middle of the night the two girls may as well have been using loudspeakers to his keen ears.

  “Bitches,” he seethed in his mind. Well, he could repay their kindness to him tenfold. As it turned out Megan was partly right to shut him out. He was hiding things. Chief among them being what Spalding had told him before he sent him down here.

  Carson had woken up, groggy and aching in a hard kitchen table seat. It was bright daylight and the sun poured in through the windows. Sitting across from him was a huge man and Carson knew at once they had met before.

  "If only you had taken my advice on the bathroom in ‘Vito’s’," he said. Carson tried to struggle and to his surprise found he was not too well tied down at all. "You can free yourself easy, but you're in no state to try taking me on," the man said.

  "Who are you?" Carson asked.

  "Dwight Spalding." The name didn't mean anything to Carson.

  "Who are you working for?" To this his captor only laughed.

  "I have never done another man's will or bidding in my life!"

  “Then who are you? What do you want with me?” Carson asked as he wriggled free of his straps. He stood up and stepped fast away from the table. Spalding didn’t move. He just looked on in what seemed to be amusement. Carson’s le
gs felt like jelly suddenly and his head spun with dizziness. “What did you give me?” he asked, worried now that he had been poisoned.

  “You need to take it easy,” Spalding said, “Settle down, you’re not in imminent danger here.” His tone was friendly and it made Carson understand this was also the man who had put him in contact with Tyler Ford. The benevolent giant who said he could help him? It had been a set up from the start. Was this guy trying to get at Tyler by doing this? An image of Tyler coming home this morning and finding him gone flashed through his mind. He felt weak now after his exertion and he shuffled back to the table and sat down.

  “What do you want?” he said, breathlessly. He felt like he’d just run a half marathon.

  “For now, I just need you here, but I will return you to Tyler Ford in a few days.” So it was Tyler he was really after.

  “What am I supposed to do here?” Carson asked, relieved that he was at least not going to be killed right now.

  “There are people here, down in an underground dwelling. It is nice and they are well looked after. You will be joining them,” Spalding said with a big smile still adorning his face.

  “Are you talking about a dungeon?” Carson said, alarmed again though still unable to rise to his feet.

  “You could be crass and call it that, but it is a luxury place, better than your old apartment by a long shot. Besides, for you it will only be a few days.”

  “How long have the others been down there?”

  “It varies,” Spalding answered and the smile was drifting from his face now. Carson felt it was time to lay off the questions for a bit. “I have a couple of rules for you down there,” he went on. “You can tell them anything you want about how you wound up down there—they all have their own stories and I’m sure you will hear them. But, don’t mention that we had this chat up here and definitely don't mention that you are only going to be down there for a few days.” Carson nodded and he spoke but at this last point he saw Spalding was waiting for an answer,