Thank you for all your lovely and very kind messages about my sister. I was really touched by your words of support and care. There does seem to be something very special about this fandom.
I'm sorry for the delay in updating. I think I experienced a bit of writer's block. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. As always I so appreciate your feedback and love to hear what you think of the chapter.
Thanks to all of you who have stuck with this story and continue to read, review, fav and follow.
And of course I do not own Rookie Blue or any of the characters and the mistakes are unfortunately all my own doing.
…...
The address Elaine gave Gail was for a disused warehouse down near the docks. As they drew up to the building, Gail and Holly could see two squad cars with lights flashing, a vehicle with a roof light with 'SECURITY' written in bold blue letters and two unmarked cars, one of which Gail knew belonged to Elaine.
On the drive over, Holly had asked if this meant Gail was being pulled off the investigation into Caitlin's disappearance.
'You can't work two cases, can you?' Holly said hopefully, 'I mean, it would make sense to hand it over to Missing Persons. Especially now O'Leary's threatened you.'
'Who knows,' Gail laughed mirthlessly, 'nothing my mother does makes much sense, except perhaps to her. Maybe she thinks Fielding's death is connected to Caitlin's disappearance.'
'I thought you said it was unlikely he snatched her.'
'Yeah,' Gail said, then hesitated before speaking again. 'Holly, we need to be careful.'
'Can't something be done about O'Leary if he's made threats against you?' Holly broke in.
'It's not him I'm worried about,' Gail said heavily, 'it's Elaine. She seems determined to use this case to get O'Leary. To the point of irrationality.'
'To the point of endangering you,' Holly said.
'Yeah, well,' Gail shrugged, as she parked behind one of the unmarked cars. 'I think we both need to be cautious around her. She's already asked you to do something unethical.'
It hurt that Gail had to be so guarded around her mother, couldn't trust her in fact. It was very different to Holly's relationship with her mother Becca. She didn't interfere and was anything but suffocating, but Becca was always there for Holly and her brother. Growing up the world she created for them was warm and nurturing and full of love.
If Holly had to fault her mother it was her tendency to be fiercely protective if anyone hurt her children, even as adults. Actually Holly regretted confiding in her mother the first time she and Gail split. Becca had not been well disposed to someone who had so clearly broken Holly's heart and her reaction when Holly told her she and Gail were back together was circumspect at best. It was typical though. Becca's first instinct was to shield the people she loved. It occurred to Holly that in her own twisted way this might be what Elaine was doing. Taking care of Gail, as well as Steve. It was messed up yes, because of course she had put Gail this situation.
'Maybe Elaine thinks she's protecting you,' Holly said.
Gail twisted her mouth in doubt. That hurt even more. How was it that Elaine kept making Gail feel so worthless? Was Elaine even aware of the effect her actions had on Gail or had it just become habitual to treat Gail as second best.
'We should go in. I'll get your lunchbox out of the trunk,' Gail said, unbuckling her seat belt.
'Forensic kit,' Holly said in what was becoming a well-worn routine. So much so the repetition had become the joke, rather than the gag itself.
Gail forced a small smile.
'Wait,' Holly placed a hand on Gail's forearm making Gail stop and turn to face her. Inclining her head to one side, Holly gave that lop-sided smile Gail maintained would make her do anything for Holly.
'You are loved and cherished and not just by me,' Holly said, 'but by me most of all.'
'You know until this I believed my mother was maybe trying to make amends,' Gail said, 'it's like we've come a long way but not very far at all. And I thought I'd gotten over this. That I'd moved beyond caring what my mother thinks of me or if she even bothers to think of me.'
Gail's voice was flat and Holly could tell she was trying hard not to sound despondent. It was true. The efforts Elaine had made to reconnect had just given Gail hope, Holly realized. Would it have been better if Elaine had kept her distance or if Gail had kept those walls up and hadn't allowed herself any expectations? The ironic thing was Gail had been trying hard to be open and it was working and Holly felt this less defensive, this more trusting Gail was happier and more settled in herself.
'Oh honey,' Holly said, taking Gail's hand, 'maybe your mother is doing the best she can, given who she is. Maybe it will take time.'
Gail nodded wearily.
'It's okay to expect more of your mother and it's okay to be hurt when she lets you down.'
Gail didn't say anything. Instead she leant across the center console and kissed Holly. Just a quick kiss but enough to show how much Holly's support meant.
'You know we should have stayed in Antigua,' Gail said when the kiss ended.
'Yep' Holly agreed, popping the 'p' like Gail normally did.
The warehouse was an old brick building, covered in graffiti, its windows bordered with plywood. Two uniforms where standing by the entrance.
'Detective Peck, Doctor Stewart,' one of them, an officer called Glassnor, said as Gail and Holly approached. 'You should be prepared. It's not a pretty sight,' he added with a grimace.
'Yeah,' Gail nodded.
'The security guard who found him puked,' Glassnor said, standing aside to let them enter the building, 'and I'll tell you I had trouble keeping down my dinner and I'm not known for my weak stomach.'
Once inside, Holly could see a rudimentary office had been partitioned off on one side of the room, probably long after the warehouse was built which she guessed was sometime in the early 1800s. At some point a fire had been lit in the center of the room, leaving the floor charred in a freakishly concentric circle. A bundle of discarded bedding in one corner suggested the homeless used the warehouse as a place to crash.
Elaine and Traci were standing in front of the office door, and Frankie was over to one side speaking quietly to the security guard.
'Good, you've arrived,' Elaine said by way of greeting, 'the body is through here.'
The Superintendent indicated Gail and Holly should follow her into the office, but then abruptly stopped at the door so the two women almost ran into her.
'I need to warn you,' Elaine said, turning to face them, 'it's gruesome.'
The first thing that struck Holly as she entered the room was the naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was flickering intermittently, so the space was filled with uncertain shadows. Without warning Holly was assailed by an image from her nightmare where Gail was tied to a chair beneath a swinging light bulb. It was just a flash, but enough to seem momentarily real.
Next Holly was struck by the smell of blood, metallic and with that cloying sweetness. When Elaine stepped to one side, she understood why the smell was so overpowering.
Holly had seen her fair share of bodies, and in various stages of decomposition and some of them bearing the marks of the most monstrous brutality. In fact one of her professors had worried Holly was too compassionate to become a forensic pathologist. But she had schooled herself not to react, to concentrate on the science and not the horror. It wasn't that she had inured herself or that she didn't care. The body bore witness to a crime and Holly knew how to read the telltale signs and she believed it was up to her to be a voice for the victim, to see justice was done.
Now though, looking at Graham Fielding's body, Holly felt the bile rise in her throat. She glanced sideways to see how Gail was reacting. At Elaine's insistence, Gail had attended her first autopsies as a teenager and so now when confronted with a body she never flinched, or displayed much emotion at all Holly realized. Here in this room Holly saw Gail blanch, and her mouth set in a grim line.
Graham Fielding was tied to a chair. Most of his fingers were severed, his throat was slashed, but even from a glance Holly could tell the cut wasn't deep and his death would have been agonizingly slow. His shirtsleeves were sliced to ribbons and stained red from the blood, which had seeped from a series of gashes up and down his arms. He'd been stabbed in the stomach over and over, and blood covered his shirtfront. His face was beaten nearly to a pulp, so much so he was unrecognizable.
'How did you know it's Fielding?' Holly asked.
'His wallet. The uniforms found it in his coat, which was discarded by the door,' Elaine said.
'So the killer or killers didn't care we'd id the victim straight away.'
'It would seem not,' Elaine agreed.
'O'Leary did this,' Gail said, indicating Fielding's severed fingers, 'how did he know?'
Gail's voice was quiet but Holly detected a flintiness in her tone.
'Know what?' Elaine asked as if puzzled by the question, although Holly saw her eyes dart to the left.
'Know we'd pulled Fielding in over Caitlin's disappearance.'
'That's speculation, Detective Peck,' Elaine started.
'Who interviewed the dealer,' Gail interrupted, 'was anything said about Fielding being a suspect?'
'Detective Anderson and I spoke to Marty Finnegan and we said nothing about why Fielding needed an alibi, even though Marty asked,' Elaine said, 'he must have figured it out. He knew Fielding had served time for abusing children.'
'Did he directly ask you if Fielding was being held in connection with Caitlin's disappearance?'
'Well, as it happens, yes,' Elaine said.
'And what did you say?'
'I said,' Elaine began.
'You said,' Frankie said from the doorway, and Holly wondered how long she'd been there listening, 'you said we weren't at liberty to discuss an ongoing investigation.'
For a moment Gail looked relieved. Holly speculated whether it was because her mother couldn't be implicated in Fielding's death.
'But then,' Frankie continued, 'the Superintendent asked if Marty had any reason to believe Fielding would take Caitlin, and if he had ever seen Fielding and Caitlin together or if Fielding had ever spoken about Caitlin.'
It was clear from the tone in her voice Frankie wasn't happy about this.
'Fuck,' Gail exhaled, 'you may as well as handed Fielding over to O'Leary.'
'It was a reasonable line of questioning,' Elaine said, standing taller, pushing her shoulders back and seeming to puff herself up in a way that was somehow both defensive and truculent.
'Not when we're dealing with someone as volatile as O'Leary,' Gail said adamantly, 'if Fielding's alibi checked out there was no need to pursue it.'
'I do not appreciate you questioning my judgment Detective. I was simply being thorough.'
Holly felt certain if it were possible for Elaine to literally bristle, the Superintendent would be covered in spikes.
'Now,' Elaine continued briskly, 'I think we should allow Dr Stewart to examine the body.'
'I'm waiting on Dr Karlowski and a lab tech. I won't start until they get here,' Holly said.
'Initial impressions?' Elaine barked rather than asked.
'Clearly a frenzied attack. You can tell from the repeated blows to the head and the number of stab wounds to the victim's torso. The knife was plunged in over and over again. Whoever did that was in a rage.'
'Yet the cuts to the arms, the severing of the fingers look more like torture, like something done methodically,' Gail said.
'It's possible we're looking at more than one perpetrator.'
'So O'Leary's men could have brought Fielding here – roughed him up, tortured him, then O'Leary had a go and his is the frenzied attack.'
'It's possible,' Holly said slowly, 'but we'll-'
'Know more once you do the autopsy,' Gail finished for Holly, with a wry smile.
Holly nodded.
'Well, Detectives Peck and Nash, there is no time to waste. I want you to interview O'Leary. Take him to the station. I want him out of his comfort zone,' Elaine said.
Was Elaine insane, Holly wondered? If this was an example of what O'Leary was capable of, how could Elaine even for a moment contemplate sending Gail to interview him.
'No,' Gail replied.
'No,' Elaine arched an eyebrow in disbelief, 'what do you mean no?'
'Detective Nash and I were assigned to liaise with the O'Leary's over the disappearance of Caitlin. Until she's found that's our job. We owe it to the O'Leary's, to Caitlin especially, to give that investigation our full attention, regardless of whether O'Leary did this.'
Elaine started to demur but Gail spoke over the top of her.
'Detectives Anderson and Price should conduct the interview. Detective Nash and I need to speak to Macy again.'
'Detective,' Elaine said, the air of weary forbearance she affected doing little to disguise her annoyance. In fact if anything magnifying it, something Holly was sure the Superintendent knew.
'Yes,' Gail said, looking her mother straight in the eye, unflinching, her back suddenly straighter, her expression resolute.
'Very well,' Elaine said stiffly, 'you may have a point.'
The Superintendent gave the impression she was grudgingly conceding to Gail, and yet Holly saw something else in her expression she couldn't quite place. Was it relief, but also pride? Even if Gail couldn't see it, below the brittleness Elaine cared about her daughter. It was buried there beneath layers and layers of dissonance and friction, the constant push and pull that characterized her relationship with Gail.
The Superintendent's shrewdness was legendary. It was certainly one of the reasons she'd had such a meteoric rise through police ranks, and yet she couldn't read her own daughter. Judgmental, hypercritical, Elaine was frequently disparaging and not just with Gail. At the same time she was smart, logical and meticulous - qualities Gail had inherited in spades. There was no denying it. Elaine was a complex woman and even Holly, who was aware of the damage done to Gail by the paradox that was Elaine, had to admit it made her hard to dislike, at least completely.
There was a slight commotion at the door as Rodney and the tech arrived. Holly noticed them both do a double take when they saw Fielding and then quickly compose their features. She knew from experience that no matter how many bodies she and her colleagues were exposed to, no matter how many times they witnessed the worst, every victim who bore the signs of suffering registered, made them pause, left an indelible mark.
Holly motioned the two men in, and then turned to Elaine.
'You should check O'Leary's hands. From the injuries to Fielding's face, it looks like he was pummeled over and over by someone using their fists. Whoever did this will have bruised and swollen hands. If we're lucky he grazed his hands and left behind DNA. People tend to get careless when they are full of rage.'
…..
Gail left her car for Holly to take back to the morgue, so Traci drove to Macy's house. As soon as they were in the car, Traci turned to Gail.
'Aside from Chloe, you're the most junior detective on this case, so what just happened back there?' Traci asked.
'My mother overreached.'
'Sorry Gail but that's not much of an explanation.'
Gail sighed.
'Can you promise not to repeat anything I'm about to tell you,' she said, wincing at how dramatic that sounded.
'Ah, I can't make that promise,' Traci wrinkled her brow, 'not when I don't know what you're about to say. How do I know,' she abruptly stopped speaking.
'If I'm about to implicate you in something illegal or in some sort of cover-up,' Gail sighed again, 'especially when a Peck asks you to keep a secret.'
'Oh, Gail,' Traci began, her voice full of sympathy.
'No, it's okay. I understand. Trust and Pecks are exactly synonymous. And you've been burned by my brother,' Gail made a rueful face. 'I don't think my mother's done anything illegal but if she has then I'll report her myself.'
'Okay,' Traci said quietly. She marveled at how calm Gail could be about this. If Traci suspected her mother of breaking the law and felt she had to turn her in, well, it would break her heart. She certainly wouldn't be sitting here talking so dispassionately about it. But then Gail's relationship with her mother had always been tumultuous. Elaine had harangued and browbeaten Gail into, well not submission Traci knew that, but a kind of mute rebellion more suited to a sullen teenager than a respected police officer.
Until now Traci always felt Gail was too passive around Elaine, although there was no denying the woman was formidable. How did anyone deal with a mother like that? Elaine had been soft on Steve though and Traci couldn't help think it was one of the reasons he'd ended up corrupt. Turned out Steve Peck had no backbone, which wasn't something you could say about Gail.
'I think, no I know she saw this case as an opportunity to get O'Leary off Steve's back,' Gail said after a moment, 'she asked Holly to see if Caitlin's DNA matched DNA taken from two cold cases where O'Leary was the prime suspect.'
'What's wrong with asking Holly to do that?' Traci looked puzzled.
'Elaine wanted Holly to do it discreetly. No record of the tests in the system.'
'But why,' Traci began but then her eyes widened in understanding, 'you think she wanted to use the information to blackmail O'Leary to back off.'
Gail nodded. 'Elaine denied it when I asked. She claimed O'Leary had threatened me as well and she told Holly that's why she thought it best to carry out the tests quietly. Only go after O'Leary if there was a match. Holly wouldn't do it, of course.'
'I guess Elaine's explanation is plausible,' Traci said.
'Yeah, but she assigned me to liaise with the O'Leary's to stir things up. It's the very opposite of discrete.'
'How do you mean?'
'Elaine doesn't like it if you mess with the Pecks and she certainly wasn't happy O'Leary had Steve bashed in prison. It was one of her classic power plays - sending me in when O'Leary's distraught about his missing daughter. She hoped it would disconcert him, make him do something rash or careless we could use against him. At the very least she wanted to show him we Pecks won't be intimidated.'
'No wonder she took control of this investigation.'
'Yep,' Gail grimaced.
'Neither you nor Elaine should have been anywhere near this case. I'm surprised the Staff Superintendent agreed.'
'Yeah, well it seems she's clawed her way back to power and influence in the force.'
'Hmm. Still Elaine hasn't done anything illegal. Questionable yes, but not illegal.'
Gail nodded. 'Anything for Steve,' she said resignedly.
'You don't think she's also trying to protect you?'
'That's what Holly suggested.'
'Smart woman, your girlfriend,' Traci said, and Gail couldn't help smiling at that. 'Holly said Elaine was trying to make things better with you.'
'In her weird Elaine way,' Gail said, 'but maybe she's just trying to make me a good little Peck. I mean with Steve off the force, she's got no choice but to focus all her ambitions on me.'
'You think that's what she's doing?'
'Hard to know,' Gail blew out a breath, 'even when Elaine does something nice I always feel like I'll pay for it later.'
…..
Elaine Peck clapped her hands together.
'We've got him,' she said.
'Looks like it,' Dov agreed, pressing rewind on the surveillance footage.
The security guard had told them the warehouse was slated for redevelopment into boutique apartments. It had stood empty for over a year and there had been trouble with squatters, which was why his firm was contracted to patrol the building. After a group the guard described as 'meth heads' were evicted the previous week, a security camera was installed outside the front and back entrances to the building.
'O'Leary obviously didn't know about the cameras,' Elaine said as she watched two men drag Fielding through the back entrance. Dov forwarded the video and there was O'Leary striding up the loading dock. He even looked directly at the camera. 'You would have thought he'd check.'
'What does Gail say? Criminals are idiots and losers.'
Elaine laughed in a way Dov could only describe as fond. It took him by surprise.
'Not O'Leary though,' she said, 'he has rat cunning. He wouldn't normally miss something like this.'
'Maybe they've used the building before. Scoped it out before the cameras were installed and assumed it was safe.'
'If that's the case, he is an idiot. O'Leary slipped up. You know Dr Stewart said rage makes people careless. I think in this case it was grief,' Elaine said coolly.
…
It was 6.45am when Gail and Traci knocked on the Harris' door. If Paula Harris was surprised to see the detectives she didn't show it.
'I was about to call you,' Paula said. She was wearing sweats and looked as if she was not long up.
'You were?' Gail asked, surprised.
'Macy had a rough night. This morning, well this morning she told me something I think you need to hear. I mean it may not have anything to do with the investigation but,' Paula left the rest of the sentence hanging. 'She's in the kitchen with her father. Do you want to come through?'
Traci and Gail nodded.
Macy looked up warily as they came into the kitchen. She was still in her pajamas and had dark circles under her eyes. Gail recognized the unsettled look in her eyes. How many times after a fractured night's sleep had Gail looked in the mirror and seen that very same uncertainty reflected back at her. Jordan Harris stood up from the table and gravely shook Traci and Gail's hands.
'I told Macy you wouldn't be angry with her for not telling you,' he said.
'Of course not,' Gail said gently, giving the little girl a reassuring smile, 'we just want to find Caitlin.'
Macy nodded somberly and reached for her father's hand, and Jordan sat back down, placing a protective arm around her shoulders.
'It's okay honey,' he soothed, 'just tell the detectives what you told Mom and me.'
'There's a place. An abandoned house near the school. On Caldicott Street. It's all over grown and the yard is full of junk and we went there exploring. Caitlin made me swear not to tell. She said we'd be in big trouble and her dad would never let us see each other ever again if I told.'
'I think Caitlin and her dad would want you to tell us now,' Gail said softly, 'do you remember what day it was?'
'On Monday.'
Gail nodded. The same day Fielding said he spoke to the girls on Caldicott Street.
'Did you talk to anyone on your way there?'
'A man. My bike chain fell off. He helped me fix it. He was weird at first. He wouldn't talk to us. Then he was nice.'
'Did he ask you anything? Like your names or where you lived?'
'No. He just fixed the bike and said he had to go.'
Gail nodded. 'So did you go inside the house?'
Macy shook her head. 'No, but there was a trapdoor in the ground. In the yard out back. We tried to open it. Caitlin said she'd get a crowbar from home and we could come back and open it.'
'And did you go back?'
'No, but at recess on Wednesday Caitlin told me she had a crowbar and said we could go there after school. But I had to go to the dentist so we decided to go the next day.'
'Macy, if it's alright with your parents can you show us where this house is?'
Macy nodded.
When Macy went upstairs with her mother to change out of her pajamas, Jordon Harris turned to Gail and Traci.
'O'Leary threatened Macy too,' he said heavily, 'I didn't know until she told us this morning. It was when she and Caitlin began riding to school together. O'Leary told Macy if she let Caitlin do anything stupid she'd never be allowed to play with her again. She said he gripped her chin hard and made her afraid, and then he said if she told anyone what he'd said, he wouldn't let her see Caitlin again.'
'He intimidated a ten year old,' Traci said in disbelief.
Jordon nodded.
Jesus, Gail thought, it sounded like O'Leary had treated Macy like he would a gang rival or someone he wanted to strong-arm. Did he know no other way to behave except like a thug? She just hoped his thuggery hadn't cost him his daughter.
…..
'Can you explain why your hands are bruised and swollen?' Frankie asked.
O'Leary regarded her with hostility and then shrugged indifferently. He was cuffed to the table in the interview room but still he jutted out his jaw belligerently as if he should be running the show not Frankie. His lawyer, a man named Ray Castle, was seated beside him. From the expensive cut of his suit and his freshly manicured nails and fashionable haircut, Castle was doing well out of working for O'Leary, Frankie surmised. In spite of his well-groomed appearance, there was still something of the used car salesman about him.
'Looks like you've gone a few rounds with someone,' Frankie said.
'Boxing practice,' O'Leary grunted.
'Boxing practice,' Frankie raised an eyebrow, 'you don't use gloves?'
'Gloves are for pussies.'
'Yeah?' Frankie paused, 'are punching bags for pussies too?'
'What d'ya mean?'
'Did you use Graham Fielding as a punching bag?'
'Don't know what you're talking about.'
'Mr O'Leary surveillance footage puts you in the warehouse where Graham Fielding's body was found and at the time he was estimated to have died.'
'I had nothing to do with his death. I don't even know who this guy is.'
There was a tap on the door and Elaine Peck entered the room and without a word handed Frankie a piece of paper and then left. Frankie read the message and passed it to Chloe.
'Mr O'Leary, your DNA was found on the victim, Graham Fielding,' Chloe said firmly but quietly, her manner a marked contrast to Frankie's.
'What? No way. You're bluffing. I haven't given you a DNA sample.'
'No but your daughter has. There's a familial match,' Frankie said, finding it hard to keep the note of triumph out of her voice.
Even as she began to speak, Frankie saw the realization dawning on O'Leary. He'd slipped up. After all these years of evading the law, of carefully covering his tracks so it was impossible to trace anything back to him, O'Leary had slipped up. Frankie could tell he wasn't used to being caught out or ceding control to anyone. For the briefest of moments his expression betrayed him, shifting from a mix of panic and astonishment to outrage before he bought it under control.
'You tell Superintendent Peck she's making a big mistake. One she's going to regret,' O'Leary said coolly, looking at Frankie defiantly, 'she and blondie.'
'Are you threatening two police officers?' Frankie's eyes narrowed.
'Detective Anderson,' Castle spoke up, 'I'd like a word with my client. I want this interview terminated until I can confer with him.'
Frankie nodded, her face hard. 'Ten minutes. That's all you've got Castle.'
…..
When they arrived at the abandoned house, Chris, Andy, Robinson and Moore were waiting. Traci had phoned Oliver and asked for two patrol cars. Chris was holding a crowbar and a sledgehammer. Traci grabbed two flashlights from her car.
Macy led them round to the back yard. It hadn't been mown for many months and the long grass nearly dwarfed the little girl. The trapdoor, as Macy called it, was beneath a rambling overgrown bush. One of the metal doors was open. It was thick and heavy and very rusty and Gail imagined Caitlin would have had trouble lifting it. When Gail peered down all she could see was blackness. Was it some kind of cellar or could it be a bomb shelter, she wondered.
'The trapdoor wasn't open when you and Caitlin where here on Monday?' Gail asked Macy gently.
Macy shook her head.
'Okay,' Gail said, 'Robinson and Moore can you take Macy and her parents home.'
'I want to stay,' Macy said, her voice small but determined, 'I want to see if you find Caitlin.'
Gail knelt down so she was at Macy's level. There was no way they could let Macy stay. If Caitlin was down there, the chances were she wouldn't be alive.
'Macy, I promise if we find Caitlin we'll tell you straight away. We don't even know if Caitlin went in there,' Gail pointed to the hatchway, 'but I'm going to go down and take a look, but while I do that it would really help if you waited with your mom and dad at home. Can you do that for me?'
Macy nodded, the slightest tremble in her lips.
'Hey,' Gail said softly, 'you've been really brave Macy and really helpful. I just need you to be brave for a bit longer.'
Macy nodded again and threw her arms around Gail, whispering 'Please find Caitlin, please find Caitlin.'
Gail hugged her back, saying, 'I promise I'll do my best.'
…
Frankie and Chloe were on their way back into the interview room when Elaine stopped them.
'Detective Peck has found Caitlin,' she said.
'Should we tell O'Leary,' Frankie asked.
'No. Detective Peck can do that. Let him stew until she gets here,' Elaine said, 'then you can charge him with Fielding's murder. This is one O'Leary's not going to wriggle out of.'
…..
O'Leary was alone when Gail came into interrogation room. A good hour had passed since Frankie and Chloe had suspended the interview and Castle had become impatient and gone in search of them.
'What are you doing here,' O'Leary said as Gail sat down opposite him.
'We've found Caitlin,' Gail replied quietly, 'she's alive and she's going to be okay. Maree's at the hospital with her now.'
'I need to be with her,' O'Leary started to rise out of his chair but was prevented from standing by the cuffs. 'What happened? When can I see Caitlin?' he said, slumping back into the chair.
'Caitlin discovered a disused fallout shelter in the back yard of an abandoned house. It was probably built in the 1960s. It was about ten feet underground and when Caitlin was climbing down the ladder she slipped and fell. She was semi-conscious when we found her and she'd broken her ankle, but the hospital checked her out and she's going to be okay. No neurological damage and the ankle will heal.'
'You need to get me out of here,' O'Leary said urgently.
'I can't,' Gail said, 'you're about to be charged with Fielding's murder.'
'Argh,' O'Leary cried out in frustration, yanking his wrists against the cuffs, 'god that was a mistake.'
'What do you mean?
'Marty Finnegan told me the police knew Fielding had taken Caitlin but couldn't prove anything. I just wanted information, I just wanted my little girl back or at least know what had happened to her but he wouldn't tell me anything. He kept denying he'd hurt Caitlin and then,' O'Leary stopped, as if suddenly aware of what he was about to admit.
'And then you got carried away,' Gail said softly.
'O'Leary nodded. 'Yes, but if that bitch detective who was in here before asks, I'll deny it. I'm not confessing to this.'
'I don't think that will matter. The evidence against you is too damming.'
'You and your mother need to make this charge go away.'
'And why would we do that?' Gail screwed up her face.
'I know where Steve lives. I know he's in Calgary. If you don't make this disappear, he's a dead man.'
'Mr O'Leary, Steve left Calgary an hour ago. Superintendent Peck thought you might threaten him next. Unfortunately for you, my mother and I aren't the kind of Pecks who can be blackmailed or who take bribes. Once Detective Anderson has formally charged you, your lawyer can make inquiries about seeing Caitlin.'
With that Gail stood. As she reached the door, O'Leary spoke again.
'Why do you care about Fielding? He was a pervert. I've done society a favor.'
Gail turned and regarded O'Leary for a moment before she replied.
'It's not my job and it's certainly not up to you to play judge and jury. Fielding served his time. He was trying to rehabilitate. No matter how repugnant his crimes, it's not up to you or me to decide what his life was worth.'
Without waiting for a response, she left the room.
….
Holly was finalizing the report on Fielding's autopsy when Elaine walked into her office unannounced. It was late and Holly had sent her assistant Sally home. As Holly looked up she noticed there was something tentative about the way Elaine hovered by the door, which was quite of character for the Superintendent who normally strode through life with a kind of brisk certitude.
'I owe you an apology,' Elaine said, the words coming out in a rush.
Of course, Holly thought, Peck's weren't supposed to admit they were ever wrong. Saying sorry always took considerable effort. Gail, at least, was getting better at it, no longer saw it as a sign of weakness or of failure.
'I should never have asked you to do those tests on the quiet,' Elaine continued, 'but you have to believe my intentions were good.'
'Good?' Holly said doubtfully.
'O'Leary was going to go after Gail. I didn't make that up. I needed some leverage to keep her safe.'
'Keep her safe,' Holly knew her voice was rising, 'keep her safe. How was putting her on this case keeping her safe?'
'I know. I miscalculated. I didn't have all the information.'
'Didn't have all the information,' Holly echoed incredulously, 'what do you mean?'
'When Steve went to prison he had enough on O'Leary to put him away but he didn't. He just gave evidence against some other gang members, most of them low in the pecking order and dispensable to O'Leary.'
'I don't understand.'
'O'Leary said if Steve gave him up, he'd send some of his men after Gail. Let them do what ever they liked with her before killing her.'
Holly sucked in a breath.
'That's why Steve didn't turn him in. He did it to protect Gail,' Elaine said, 'if Steve had handed over O'Leary chances are he would have avoided jail time.'
'So knowing that why did you put Gail on this investigation?' Holly asked
'I wasn't aware O'Leary had made that threat. I would never have put Gail on the investigation otherwise. Steve only told me after I'd sent Gail and Traci to O'Leary's house. If it helps, Steve was livid with me.'
Holly scrunched up her face. She wasn't sure what to make of Elaine's explanation, but Steve's anger was no consolation.
'I admit I was arrogant,' Elaine continued, 'I wanted to show O'Leary the Pecks wouldn't be cowered by him. I was hopeful too that in the course of the investigation we might find something on him, something to put him away so Steve would be safe.'
Holly sighed loudly and gripped the desk in front of her. She could feel the rage not so much building but like a flash of white heat. It was as if someone had flicked a switch. She knew she needed to count to ten and take a breath before responding, otherwise she couldn't trust what she might say or do.
So Holly concentrated on identifying the physiology of her anger, knowing she could remain cool-headed and rational if she focused on the science. It wouldn't take long to calm down, she knew that. According to some studies, the neurological response to anger could last less than two seconds, even if it felt considerably longer than that. As with the flight or fight response, time seemed to elongate while you decided how to act.
Adrenaline and noradrenaline would be coursing thorough her body, and no doubt her amygdala was going crazy, wanting to lash out, to erupt in a vicious wave of retribution. Fortunately the blood flow to her frontal lobe, the part of the brain controlling reason, would be increasing, balancing out the amygdala meltdown, and stopping her from hurling something at Elaine or worse.
'It's always Steve. You have never put Gail first,' Holly finally said, feeling bitter now rather than angry, 'You have this brilliant, caring daughter who is decent and good and would never do anything corrupt, wouldn't even contemplate it, not even for a moment, and you never make her feel anything but a failure. Never praise her. Never make her feel loved or valued. I just don't understand you Elaine.'
'I,' Elaine faltered, 'I'm trying to do better. We thought being tough on Gail was for the best. Gail is smart, so smart in fact she worked out she could get away with being lazy, with not trying very hard and still get by. I didn't want her to just get by, to be mediocre when she could be so much more.'
'Gail is not that person anymore, Elaine,' Holly said, 'have you ever thought tough love is what made her stop trying. Maybe Gail felt like she could never live up to your expectations.'
'Still look at the person Gail has become' Elaine began but Holly cut across her.
'You don't think she might have become that person sooner had you nurtured her instead.'
'Hindsight always makes us wiser,' Elaine sighed, 'in some ways I feel like I'm just beginning to figure Gail out and that,' Elaine held up her hands as Holly started to interrupt, 'is entirely my fault. I misjudged her. But Holly, I love my daughter. I never meant to hurt her and when I asked you to do those tests it was to protect Gail not Steve. If O'Leary had somehow found out I was going after him, I knew he'd go after Gail. I needed to be sure of the evidence before proceeding.'
'Well, it doesn't matter now. You've got him. By the way, O'Leary's DNA does match that taken from those two cold cases. So it looks like you'll put him away for a long time.'
'Thank you, Holly,' Elaine said, a contrite note in her voice, 'it would seem I have a lot of work to do to repair my relationship with Gail.'
Holly wasn't certain what Elaine was thanking her for. She had logged the request for the two cold cases in the system herself but under Elaine's name, and then she had done no more than her job. Although in this instance her work held a greater weight, at least for her and Elaine, because linking O'Leary to Fielding's death and the two cold cases meant safeguarding Gail.
Would Elaine have used the information to blackmail O'Leary if she had had no other choice and if it had been the only way to save Gail? Holly didn't believe Elaine was deceitful, but in this instance she had a feeling Elaine might have risked everything for Gail.
'I haven't been a completely awful mother, Holly,' Elaine said in a voice that made Holly wonder whether she was trying to convince herself or Holly. 'You have to believe, I want what's best for my daughter. The scandal with Steve and Bill damaged the Peck name. Probably half the force believes Gail and I are on the take too. I do all this - I've pushed myself back up the ladder - for her. I want to make sure she has a place on the force and won't be held back by rumours and gossip. I know she has the potential to be a brilliant detective.'
'You know what Elaine, you did damage Gail but luckily she was strong enough to overcome that.'
If Elaine was surprised by Holly's bluntness, she disguised it well, and instead of disagreeing, as Holly expected she might, the Superintendent nodded.
'And she has you, and for that I'm grateful,' Elaine said graciously.
'Just before my grandmother died she said to me live a good life and be happy,' Holly said slowly, 'it's as simple and I guess as complicated as that.'
'A wise woman by the sounds of it,' Elaine said, 'and I understand what you are saying. That should be the sum total of my ambition for Gail.'
Holly nodded.
'You know Holly, I think my daughter has already achieved that, in spite of me and Bill, and it fills me with pride.'
After Elaine left, Holly sat at her desk for sometime without moving. The autopsy report was open on the computer, and although Holly stared at the screen, she didn't register the words. How had it gone so wrong, Holly wondered. When your child was born, you had this chance to help them make their way in the world, to construct a life that was good and true. You had a responsibility to nurture and love that child and offer every support so they could become the person they wanted to be. Maybe it all came down to that. Bill and Elaine had never allowed Gail to be who she wanted to be. No, it was all on their terms. Always.
Would Gail have become a police officer if her parents hadn't given her any other choice? Holly couldn't answer that. Gail liked her job. To serve and protect was second nature, but was this because of her upbringing or in spite of it. Gail could have left the force, especially after Steve was disgraced and her parents had stopped talking to her. Holly had no doubt Gail could be a success in any number of jobs, but yet she stayed.
Gail hadn't always been weighed down by the exPectations. There was a time, she told Holly, when she was quite young and her parents had seemed quite carefree and easy.
Gail had memories of snow fights with Bill and Steve when they lived in their first house, a much more homely and modest place than the monolith they moved to when she was a teenager. She recalled lazy trips to their cabin and her dad patiently teaching her to swim; Elaine taking her trick or treating on Halloween with Gail dressed as a skeleton; Bill hoisting her on his shoulders so she could see the Christmas parade in downtown Toronto and buying her cocoa to warm her up afterwards and then taking her into the station to proudly show off his little cherub with her wide cheeky smile and blue blue eyes and angelic mop of curly blonde hair.
When Gail thought about those times it was like there was a rosy glow around the memories, as if they were conjured rather than real, something that happened in a storybook or to someone else.
Around the time Gail turned seven things changed. It coincided with Bill and Elaine's advancement within the force. As legacy cops - Bill by birth and Elaine by marriage – they had their own exPecktations to fulfill. The pressure to succeed was grueling and it never let up. Their performance in the force judged not just by the extended Peck family but every cop in every division who wasn't a Peck and keenly watched and waited for a Peck to put a foot out of line.
A nanny was hired for Gail and she rarely saw her parents. A hurried 'goodnight' on their way out to some gala or function, where they would schmooze and flatter, their ambition now taking center stage. It was around this time Bill and Elaine stopped showing Gail any physical affection. No kiss goodnight. No hugs. Gail told Holly she couldn't recall her parents laughing anymore, and her strongest memory of Elaine from this time was of her in a starched white shirt, her mouth set in a grim line and her expression one of disapproval.
It was a lonely period for Gail, saved only by Steve's attention but even that was inconsistent. He was almost an adult, preparing to enter the academy, already intent on carving out his own career. When Bill and Elaine did interact with her, it seemed to Gail like it was all carping and criticism. She had realized early her parents regarded her achievements as an extension of their own accomplishments, a reflection of their success, and saw too that failure was a way to wound them.
It was a miracle really, Holly thought, that Gail was able to rise above that. God, if she'd know even a little of this, Holly would have handled the Penny incident so differently. She wouldn't have given up on Gail quite so easily. When they first met, Holly had thought Gail's dismissal of her mother was histrionic over exaggeration, but back then she also believed Gail's refusal to take taxis was pure petulance.
They had come a long way, Holly realized, smiling as she thought about how Gail was with her now. Still the same person, still with that snark and attitude but self-assured, happier and lighter somehow, and more comfortable in showing her better self. It still filled Holly with wonder that this amazing, wonderful sometimes maddening, even mercurial but always caring woman loved her.
This was how Gail found Holly. Looking vacantly at her computer, a smile quirking her lips.
'What's making you smile,' Gail asked, 'have you uncovered some obscure nerd fact.'
Holly laughed. 'You,' she said simply, looking at Gail with adoration, 'I was thinking about you.'
…
In the car on the way home neither of them mentioned Fielding. Not at first. It was as if they had an unspoken agreement that the gruesomeness of the man's death, the pointlessness of it was too hard to discuss just then. Instead Holly let Gail entertain her with animated descriptions of the fallout shelter.
'You would have been in nerd heaven,' Gail enthused, 'it was like a time capsule from the 1960's. There were all these sealed crates with food inside. Candy and marshmallows and cocoa and baked beans.'
'Any cheese puffs,' Holly interjected.
'Sadly, no. I'm glad I didn't get stuck down there after a nuclear attack.'
'I think the lack of cheese puffs may have been the least of your worries in a post apocalyptic world,' Holly said playfully.
'True. Still it was well stocked. It had toilet paper and candles and a whole crate of medical supplies. Even books.'
'So how big is it?'
'About eight foot by ten foot. It was a long way down too -at least ten feet. You had to climb down a thin rung ladder that was rusted almost through in some parts. No wonder Caitlin fell.'
'She's lucky she only broke her ankle.'
'Yeah. She dropped her flashlight as she fell and couldn't see anything and then she thought no one would ever find her.'
'Oh, that's awful,' Holly sighed sympathetically, 'she must have been so frightened.'
'Yeah, she said she cried out for help at first but then she became too weak.'
'Why did no one think to check out the backyard? I would have thought an abandoned house would be an obvious place to start looking for a missing child.'
'Yep, you would think so,' Gail said, 'Officer Moore door knocked that house. He didn't think it worth mentioning no one lived there or in fact search the yard himself. Don't worry my mother tore strips off him.'
'So if you'd known about the abandoned house earlier you may have found Caitlin sooner and then,' Holly broke off.
'And then Fielding may still be alive,' Gail said, 'and what if O'Leary had contacted us as soon as he realized Caitlin was missing, maybe we would have found her sooner too, and if he hadn't intimidated Macy she may have told us about the shelter when I first spoke to her yesterday but then we could go crazy dwelling on what ifs.'
'Yeah,' Holly agreed quietly, 'why did Marty Finnegan tell O'Leary Fielding had taken Caitlin.'
'He was trying to get in with O'Leary. He's a small time dealer and he wanted in the gang. He told Frankie and Chloe he was trying to impress O'Leary.'
'So your mother didn't put the idea in his head?'
'No, he was clear about that. Finnegan knew Fielding was a pedophile and he realized when Elaine questioned him that she was on a fishing expedition, but he decided Fielding was probably guilty and that's what he told O'Leary.'
'God, what a mess.'
'Yep,' Gail agreed, 'and now I'm also officially not talking to Elaine anymore.'
'Oh, that's probably something we need to discuss,' Holly made a rueful face, 'did you refuse to listen to your mother's explanation.'
'Ah, yeah,' Gail said in a tone that said 'obviously'. Really, Holly knew her too well, Gail thought.
'Elaine came to speak to me. Her intentions were better than you think.'
'Oh, and now I guess I'm going to have to hear what they were. Elaine is devious. I refused to listen to her so she spoke to you instead, knowing I would of course listen to you,' Gail said but without rancor. Instead her tone was bantering.
'Just hear me out, honey,' Holly smiled.
Even though she was driving, Gail could sense Holly had tilted her head to one side.
'See. She's clever. Now you're her mouthpiece,' Gail huffed, but she wasn't really annoyed. She supposed she should find out what Elaine had to say.
…
The following evening, Gail leant against the counter in her kitchen and popped the top off a beer. Frankie had suggested a celebratory drink at the Penny. Caitlin had been found. Fielding's murder solved. All in two days. Frankie said that deserved to be celebrated, but the investigation had left a sour taste in Gail's mouth. For once the closing of a case hadn't brought resolution, the sense of satisfaction at a job well done, of justice served.
If Gail went to the Penny she'd feel like she was reveling in other people's misfortunes. Then there was Elaine. Gail had listened to what Holly had to say and grudgingly admitted that maybe her mother was trying to do the right thing, but then everything to do with this case seemed tainted. Except Caitlin. At least finding her, saving her was one positive. Macy had called to thank Gail and say she'd visited Caitlin in the hospital, so maybe that was two positives Gail thought.
She took a swig of her beer and then looked up at the sound of the front door opening. It was Holly. She'd been at the gym, having recently decided to take up boxing. Which, Gail had to concede, was not a bad way to blow off steam after autopsying a victim as mutilated as Fielding. Holly greeted Gail with a wide, warm smile as she came through to the kitchen. When she shrugged off her jacket, Gail noticed Holly hadn't changed after her workout and was still wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a purple singlet.
'Drinking alone,' Holly kidded, coming over to give Gail a quick kiss. She took the beer bottle from Gail and took a sip. Gail smiled and, taking hold of Holly's waistband, pulled her back in.
'I'm all hot and sweaty,' Holly protested, 'I decided to shower at home.'
'Hmm, I don't mind,' Gail said, placing a hand on Holly's ass to bring her even closer so they were flush against each other, 'And the outfit's kind of sexy as well. Have I ever told you how much I like your biceps and triceps and your deltoid is very fine too.' With that Gail placed a kiss on the top of Holly's shoulder, just where she knew the deltoid muscle was.
'What about my exterior carpi radialis brevis muscle?' Holly teased.
'Oh that is exceptional,' Gail kissed Holly on the lips, a soft lingering kiss.
'And my flexor digitorum profundus muscle?'
'Oh now you're just showing off,' Gail grumbled, pulling Holly in for a much longer kiss, and slipping a hand up under Holly's tank top to the small of her back.
Gail's hand had just migrated down beneath the waistband of the yoga pants to cup Holly's ass when too late they became aware of some clattering in the house. In that instant, Frankie and Alannah, Chloe and Dov, Andy and Chris, Anna Robinson and Natasha appeared in the kitchen carrying beer and tequila and several packets of cheese puffs.
'We didn't want you drinking alone,' Chloe said breathlessly.
'But we can leave if we're interrupting something,' Frankie smirked.
'Ah no, we're just, ah you know, hanging,' Gail said casually, thinking maybe no one had noticed where her hand was and wondering if she could extract said hand from Holly's pants without drawing attention to it.
'Gail,' Holly laughed quietly into her neck, 'you need to take your hand off my ass.'
'Yep,' Gail said, 'on to it.'
With that Gail pulled her hand out with such force the elastic in Holly's waistband thwacked against her skin. The sound reverberated around the kitchen and at the same time Holly gave a small hiss of surprise.
'Smooth Peck,' Frankie said, 'very smooth.'
The rest of the group erupted into laughter.
'Just give me a shot of tequila Anderson,' Gail said, rolling her eyes, 'and why hasn't someone opened those cheese puffs. What are you waiting for.'
Holly chuckled and kissed Gail.
'You are adorable,' she said quietly.
'Uh ah, badass,' Gail said, shaking her head slightly.
'Really you want to talk about asses right now,' Holly smirked, and laughed again at Gail's pout, 'okay, an adorable badass.'
….
Next chapter – Gail meets Holly's parents and Lisa makes a re-appearance.
