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Changes in Death: Chapter 7
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Changes in Death
23 June 2012
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Signing off, Peabody dragged a hand through her hair in frustration. Thanks to one case being made priority over another, they were temporally pressed against a wall, with no escape. Looking up from Eve’s borrowed desk, Peabody smiled tiredly at McNab.
“Any luck on those electronics?”
“They’ve been wiped, nothing to show anyone went in or out of Charles’s place the last six days,” McNab sighed, “I also looked into the possibility of a droid, wouldn’t be the first time a killer has used a droid to meet their ends, but there’s nothing there either, not that I can find, but I’ll keep looking, just in case…We might get lucky.”
With a groan, Peabody dropped her head and by gift of God almost her eyes fell on a line of Charles’s interview that did not add up with the Quigg’s family info. Barely listening to McNab, who was nattering off a speech of sorts, promising they would solve it, it would just take time, Peabody hastily brought up Ellie Quigg’s file and there it was, the mistake.
“Tommy Quigg,” she breathed.
“What?” McNab asked a frown knitting his brow.
“Charles mentioned him, said he was friends with Ellie’s brother Tommy, but according to their data, there is no Tommy.”
McNab’s jaw dropped, “but, how can that be, unless Monroe was lying?”
“I don’t think he was lying,” said the Detective gathering up her link and preparing to hit the streets, “It would’ve been too easy for us to confirm it. No, Ellie’s parents have some explaining to do.”
***
Cop central was worse then a small town, it didn’t take long for the news of Saoirse’s birth to reach curious ears and by late morning, Eve’s home was a flood of cops and gifts, congratulating her and Roarke. She had never seen so many flowers in her life, from Roses to Lilies, to peonies, there was dozens of them—through three or maybe ten, the Lieutenant learnt McNab was responsible for the blab, but actually enjoying showing off her wonderful kid, she didn’t care enough to ring the Detective’s neck next time she saw him.
Feeney’s reaction was hilarious, furious at first about being left out of the loop; he was quickly won over by one great coo from Saoirse. She was as charming as her father, if not more, Eve thought with amusement.
Just as she kicked out her last Officer a new wave arrived, but this time it was Sinead and the clan and Eve watched with a rare joy as Roarke animatedly showed Saoirse off to everyone.
“Never seen the boy-o so excited,” Sinead said stopping next to the Lieutenant, a time after.
After the mad rush of visitors, they all retired to the living-room, to enjoy a spread of finger food, tea and coffee.
Eve smiled with pride, “I don’t think he even gets this giddy with a new gadget.”
Sinead studied Dallas with her vibrant green eyes and smiled pleasantly and knowingly at the same time, “She’s changed your whole perspective, hasn’t she?” The Irish woman asked with a curious grin.
Dallas signed contently, “I never thought ahead to the possibility of kids, the idea always scared the ever-loving crap out of me and then Saoirse came in the most frightening of circumstances and I reacted badly in the beginning, but now I feel she completes me. She has taught me I may not have been given love as a child, but I’ve plenty of love in me to give to my child, she has shown me I am not as broken as I thought.”
It was a real jump in the right direction and if Mira could’ve heard her, she’d be proud.
Sipping her jumbo mug of tea, Sinead patted Dallas’ thigh in a motherly manner, “No one ever knows they’re ready for parenthood, until they hold that child in their arms and see the beauty they have created. Saoirse will know a good life, and more so then most, because unlike a lot of us Eve, you and Roarke both have seen what lurks in the dark when the light is no longer about.”
That was true, a sad unfair thought, but it had shaped them both into good people.
“Funny how things turn out,” Dallas said with a shake of her head, “I often wonder what would’ve been different had we both come from loving, respectful homes.”
“Not what you are now,” Sinead told her calmly, “not a Cop or a rich man, or as thankful as you both are of what you have now. They’re no coincidences in the world Eve; those events were meant to happen, to shape you both and to let you come together, so you could save each other and God knows I am so glad he found you.”
Eve smiled at the compliment, and looked over when a very annoyed squall escaped Saoirse. Little arms and legs pin-wheeling, the child roared as loud as she possibly could. Eve rose with a soft smile and lifted her.
“Sorry, but I best get munchkin fed and off to bed for a nap,” she said cheerfully and bidding them good-day, Eve headed upstairs with the screeching infant.
Roarke practically glowed with pride, his blue eyes lit up like small fires as he watched them both his wee family.
***
Martin Quigg answered the door, a far cry from the big bubbly man he had been before his stable reality had been ripped out from under him. Slouched, gaunt and pale from a week of not eating, Martin looked over Peabody and Baxter with hopeless eyes.
“Please,” he croaked, “please God tell me you found him.”
Peabody shook her head calmly, “I’m afraid not Mr Quigg, myself and Detective Baxter are here to ask you a few more questions, may we come in?”
Expression a tortured misery, Martin nodded moving his bulk and letting them passed.
The apartment was closed off to the world, privacy shutters shut, with the house lit up with lamps and the odd candle. Martin lead them to the living-room, where he and his wife were not alone, identical twins sat on the left of Colleen. Tall and slim, they were the image of their father, with ebony hair and brilliant green eyes. On Colleen’s left was a gangly male, with short blonde hair and green eyes, a mix of both parents.
Colleen gave a start at the sight of them and surged to her feet, swaying a little, eyes wide and empty.
“Did you get him, did you—“
“No Colleen,” Martin said sadly urging his wife to sit back down, “they’re here to ask us a few more questions.”
Nodding in defeat, Colleen waved a hand, gesturing for them to ask away, though the kids said nothing, it was clear they weren’t impressed to see them, setting up her recorder the Detective removed a file and sat on the futon just across from Colleen, Baxter standing solitary beside her, Peabody smiled gentle.
“Something has come to our attention leaving us confused, your records mention your four children, Molly, Karen, Zach and Ellen, but we received recent information on your firstborn Thomas Quigg.”
Colleen’s head snapped up and Martin went positively rigid, “We don’t have a son Thomas,” Martin hissed, eyes bright as flames.
Peabody’s eyes snapped to his face and the look of them would drive a raging bull to back up.
“Now is not the time to lie to me Mr Quigg, it would only take a bit of digging to find out. On record, do you or do you not have a son named Thomas?”
The parents remained rigidly stoic, unwilling to drag up an old family hurt, until finally.
“Oh for heaven sake,” Molly barked, eyes like fire, “Do you really want to keep up that pretence and cut Tommy out? After what happened to Ellie, are you both really that bitter?!”
Colleen flushed, her husband looking away shamefully, Molly, taking that as permission turned toward Peabody and Baxter, the fire reduce to an angry smoulder behind her jade green irises. Dragging a hand through her cropped hair in frustration, Molly dropped back down beside her mother and folding her arms across her chest, launched into an explanation.
“Tommy was always a problem kid, the black sheep of the family. He acted out a lot, used to put bricks through car windows for kicks, stole things for no particular reason and even went as far as dying our neighbour’s dog green.” Molly sighed, taking her twin’s hand gratefully when it was offered, “As he grew the stuff he did became much worse, he began taking drugs and finally the last straw was when he got a girl pregnant.”
“Probably wouldn’t have been such a shit storm had he not been twenty-five and she barely fifteen,” Zach added with a snort, “The Dad is still threatening to break his legs last I heard, mind you he adores his granddaughter.”
Peabody frowned, “You’re in contact with them?”
“Are you serious? I’m marrying her sister!” Zach snarled indignantly, “never mind the fact the kid is blood, Tommy may have turned his back on her, but we weren’t going to.”
Baxter swallowed an oath, coughing a little. It was turning into a regular old soap opera, a seven year old kid, a young abandoned mother, estranged son and a murdered sister, with a possibly framed man thrown in the mix.
“Why isn’t Tommy on your family information,” Peabody eventually asked, feeling the beginnings of a dull ache at her temples.
“We had him disowned,” Colleen answered in clipped tones, “It allows us to remove him completely, and it’s what he deserved. We tried everything Detective, understanding, councillors, rehabilitation, but none of it worked. Fact was Tommy did not want to be helped, so we cut him off, before he had a chance to destroy this family.”
Peabody was amazed at the cold indifference of the parents, acting as if Tommy had never existed, or as if they wished it were that way. The boy had royally screwed up, but she wasn’t sure if she could ever do that to a child of her own.
“Have you any way of contacting him Mrs Quigg?”
“No, I’ve no idea where he is,” Colleen answered with a disdainful sniff.
“Tahlly might,” Zach put in getting up to root for paper, “Tahlly Jordan is the girl Tommy left, she lives here in New York with her folks. You might get lucky with her.”
Scribbling an address on an old envelope, Zach handed it to Peabody, glad to be of some use. The Detective took it gratefully and terminating the interview, promised to be in touch and headed out with Baxter, into a dismal afternoon.
“So, what has this told us?” Baxter asked, climbing into the driver’s seat of his car, taking off as soon as Peabody was belted in.
“That we need to find Tommy, Charles mentioned he didn’t get along with the sister Ellie.”
“Yeah, and in our line of work idiots have killed for less,” Baxter said with a shake of the head.
Wasn’t that the truth, murder was nothing more then rage and a whole lot of stupidity, with no common sense in sight.
When her link went off, Peabody nearly danced. Dick Berenski’s unpleasant face filled the screen, owlish eyes raw with exhaustion.
“You got something for me?” Peabody asked with held breath.
“Yeah, blood and fibres is still on hold, but I got Charles’s Tox back,” Berenski responded, “Charles’s was pumped full of a sedative strong enough to floor an Elephant for a week, there’s no way he killed Ellie Quigg.”
“Any luck on those electronics?”
“They’ve been wiped, nothing to show anyone went in or out of Charles’s place the last six days,” McNab sighed, “I also looked into the possibility of a droid, wouldn’t be the first time a killer has used a droid to meet their ends, but there’s nothing there either, not that I can find, but I’ll keep looking, just in case…We might get lucky.”
With a groan, Peabody dropped her head and by gift of God almost her eyes fell on a line of Charles’s interview that did not add up with the Quigg’s family info. Barely listening to McNab, who was nattering off a speech of sorts, promising they would solve it, it would just take time, Peabody hastily brought up Ellie Quigg’s file and there it was, the mistake.
“Tommy Quigg,” she breathed.
“What?” McNab asked a frown knitting his brow.
“Charles mentioned him, said he was friends with Ellie’s brother Tommy, but according to their data, there is no Tommy.”
McNab’s jaw dropped, “but, how can that be, unless Monroe was lying?”
“I don’t think he was lying,” said the Detective gathering up her link and preparing to hit the streets, “It would’ve been too easy for us to confirm it. No, Ellie’s parents have some explaining to do.”
***
Cop central was worse then a small town, it didn’t take long for the news of Saoirse’s birth to reach curious ears and by late morning, Eve’s home was a flood of cops and gifts, congratulating her and Roarke. She had never seen so many flowers in her life, from Roses to Lilies, to peonies, there was dozens of them—through three or maybe ten, the Lieutenant learnt McNab was responsible for the blab, but actually enjoying showing off her wonderful kid, she didn’t care enough to ring the Detective’s neck next time she saw him.
Feeney’s reaction was hilarious, furious at first about being left out of the loop; he was quickly won over by one great coo from Saoirse. She was as charming as her father, if not more, Eve thought with amusement.
Just as she kicked out her last Officer a new wave arrived, but this time it was Sinead and the clan and Eve watched with a rare joy as Roarke animatedly showed Saoirse off to everyone.
“Never seen the boy-o so excited,” Sinead said stopping next to the Lieutenant, a time after.
After the mad rush of visitors, they all retired to the living-room, to enjoy a spread of finger food, tea and coffee.
Eve smiled with pride, “I don’t think he even gets this giddy with a new gadget.”
Sinead studied Dallas with her vibrant green eyes and smiled pleasantly and knowingly at the same time, “She’s changed your whole perspective, hasn’t she?” The Irish woman asked with a curious grin.
Dallas signed contently, “I never thought ahead to the possibility of kids, the idea always scared the ever-loving crap out of me and then Saoirse came in the most frightening of circumstances and I reacted badly in the beginning, but now I feel she completes me. She has taught me I may not have been given love as a child, but I’ve plenty of love in me to give to my child, she has shown me I am not as broken as I thought.”
It was a real jump in the right direction and if Mira could’ve heard her, she’d be proud.
Sipping her jumbo mug of tea, Sinead patted Dallas’ thigh in a motherly manner, “No one ever knows they’re ready for parenthood, until they hold that child in their arms and see the beauty they have created. Saoirse will know a good life, and more so then most, because unlike a lot of us Eve, you and Roarke both have seen what lurks in the dark when the light is no longer about.”
That was true, a sad unfair thought, but it had shaped them both into good people.
“Funny how things turn out,” Dallas said with a shake of her head, “I often wonder what would’ve been different had we both come from loving, respectful homes.”
“Not what you are now,” Sinead told her calmly, “not a Cop or a rich man, or as thankful as you both are of what you have now. They’re no coincidences in the world Eve; those events were meant to happen, to shape you both and to let you come together, so you could save each other and God knows I am so glad he found you.”
Eve smiled at the compliment, and looked over when a very annoyed squall escaped Saoirse. Little arms and legs pin-wheeling, the child roared as loud as she possibly could. Eve rose with a soft smile and lifted her.
“Sorry, but I best get munchkin fed and off to bed for a nap,” she said cheerfully and bidding them good-day, Eve headed upstairs with the screeching infant.
Roarke practically glowed with pride, his blue eyes lit up like small fires as he watched them both his wee family.
***
Martin Quigg answered the door, a far cry from the big bubbly man he had been before his stable reality had been ripped out from under him. Slouched, gaunt and pale from a week of not eating, Martin looked over Peabody and Baxter with hopeless eyes.
“Please,” he croaked, “please God tell me you found him.”
Peabody shook her head calmly, “I’m afraid not Mr Quigg, myself and Detective Baxter are here to ask you a few more questions, may we come in?”
Expression a tortured misery, Martin nodded moving his bulk and letting them passed.
The apartment was closed off to the world, privacy shutters shut, with the house lit up with lamps and the odd candle. Martin lead them to the living-room, where he and his wife were not alone, identical twins sat on the left of Colleen. Tall and slim, they were the image of their father, with ebony hair and brilliant green eyes. On Colleen’s left was a gangly male, with short blonde hair and green eyes, a mix of both parents.
Colleen gave a start at the sight of them and surged to her feet, swaying a little, eyes wide and empty.
“Did you get him, did you—“
“No Colleen,” Martin said sadly urging his wife to sit back down, “they’re here to ask us a few more questions.”
Nodding in defeat, Colleen waved a hand, gesturing for them to ask away, though the kids said nothing, it was clear they weren’t impressed to see them, setting up her recorder the Detective removed a file and sat on the futon just across from Colleen, Baxter standing solitary beside her, Peabody smiled gentle.
“Something has come to our attention leaving us confused, your records mention your four children, Molly, Karen, Zach and Ellen, but we received recent information on your firstborn Thomas Quigg.”
Colleen’s head snapped up and Martin went positively rigid, “We don’t have a son Thomas,” Martin hissed, eyes bright as flames.
Peabody’s eyes snapped to his face and the look of them would drive a raging bull to back up.
“Now is not the time to lie to me Mr Quigg, it would only take a bit of digging to find out. On record, do you or do you not have a son named Thomas?”
The parents remained rigidly stoic, unwilling to drag up an old family hurt, until finally.
“Oh for heaven sake,” Molly barked, eyes like fire, “Do you really want to keep up that pretence and cut Tommy out? After what happened to Ellie, are you both really that bitter?!”
Colleen flushed, her husband looking away shamefully, Molly, taking that as permission turned toward Peabody and Baxter, the fire reduce to an angry smoulder behind her jade green irises. Dragging a hand through her cropped hair in frustration, Molly dropped back down beside her mother and folding her arms across her chest, launched into an explanation.
“Tommy was always a problem kid, the black sheep of the family. He acted out a lot, used to put bricks through car windows for kicks, stole things for no particular reason and even went as far as dying our neighbour’s dog green.” Molly sighed, taking her twin’s hand gratefully when it was offered, “As he grew the stuff he did became much worse, he began taking drugs and finally the last straw was when he got a girl pregnant.”
“Probably wouldn’t have been such a shit storm had he not been twenty-five and she barely fifteen,” Zach added with a snort, “The Dad is still threatening to break his legs last I heard, mind you he adores his granddaughter.”
Peabody frowned, “You’re in contact with them?”
“Are you serious? I’m marrying her sister!” Zach snarled indignantly, “never mind the fact the kid is blood, Tommy may have turned his back on her, but we weren’t going to.”
Baxter swallowed an oath, coughing a little. It was turning into a regular old soap opera, a seven year old kid, a young abandoned mother, estranged son and a murdered sister, with a possibly framed man thrown in the mix.
“Why isn’t Tommy on your family information,” Peabody eventually asked, feeling the beginnings of a dull ache at her temples.
“We had him disowned,” Colleen answered in clipped tones, “It allows us to remove him completely, and it’s what he deserved. We tried everything Detective, understanding, councillors, rehabilitation, but none of it worked. Fact was Tommy did not want to be helped, so we cut him off, before he had a chance to destroy this family.”
Peabody was amazed at the cold indifference of the parents, acting as if Tommy had never existed, or as if they wished it were that way. The boy had royally screwed up, but she wasn’t sure if she could ever do that to a child of her own.
“Have you any way of contacting him Mrs Quigg?”
“No, I’ve no idea where he is,” Colleen answered with a disdainful sniff.
“Tahlly might,” Zach put in getting up to root for paper, “Tahlly Jordan is the girl Tommy left, she lives here in New York with her folks. You might get lucky with her.”
Scribbling an address on an old envelope, Zach handed it to Peabody, glad to be of some use. The Detective took it gratefully and terminating the interview, promised to be in touch and headed out with Baxter, into a dismal afternoon.
“So, what has this told us?” Baxter asked, climbing into the driver’s seat of his car, taking off as soon as Peabody was belted in.
“That we need to find Tommy, Charles mentioned he didn’t get along with the sister Ellie.”
“Yeah, and in our line of work idiots have killed for less,” Baxter said with a shake of the head.
Wasn’t that the truth, murder was nothing more then rage and a whole lot of stupidity, with no common sense in sight.
When her link went off, Peabody nearly danced. Dick Berenski’s unpleasant face filled the screen, owlish eyes raw with exhaustion.
“You got something for me?” Peabody asked with held breath.
“Yeah, blood and fibres is still on hold, but I got Charles’s Tox back,” Berenski responded, “Charles’s was pumped full of a sedative strong enough to floor an Elephant for a week, there’s no way he killed Ellie Quigg.”
