Hidden ( CSI Reilly Steel #3) (36 page)

He
nodded at Reilly.  ‘
She
can show me.’

Jacobs
handed the radio to Reilly. She stepped forward slowly, and held it out towards the abductor. ‘You turn it on there, and press this green button to talk.’

McAllister
peered at it, glanced around one more time, then darted forward. Grabbing it out of her hand through the gap in the gate, he then scuttled back up the driveway to the old smelting house.

Reilly and
Jacobs walked slowly back towards the trailer to debrief O’Brien and the rest of the team.

‘Taking the radio was a big step,’
Jacobs said. ‘It will make him feel in control of the agenda.’ He looked at Reilly. ‘He seems to trust you more – that’s why he took it from you. Either it’s a female thing or you struck a chord with him with what you said before about caring for beautiful things.’  He smiled. ‘Either way, I suspect you may be key to getting us in there – I’m afraid you might have to stick around until this thing ends.’

She smiled lopsidedly.
‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

H
er confidence faded somewhat as they approached the trailer – O’Brien was pacing around outside, looking like a caged animal. He hurried up to them as soon as he saw them.  ‘Well, what did he say? Is he coming out?’

Jacobs
gave him the type of smile you would give to a child when you were explaining something difficult to them. ‘Sir, we’ve just made initial contact.’

‘
But you gave him a deadline though?  How long does he have?’ O’Brien’s eyes were full of impatience. 

‘
No,’ explained Jacobs. ‘I did not give him a deadline – I gave him a radio.’

They had reached the
trailer. Jacobs paused by the door. ‘He can call us when he wants to talk. And I didn’t give him a deadline because people like him get antsy and make rash decisions when they feel pressured. He’s in there with multiple kids and a shotgun – do you want him to make a rash decision?’

O’Brien scowled. 
‘No, of course not, it’s just that—’

Jacobs
opened the door of the trailer. ‘ We need to be in here, ready in case he calls us.’

O’Brien looked crestfallen. 
‘So how long will this take?’

‘
As long as it needs to, to get those kids out safely…’

‘
This looks cozy,’ Chris said, poking his head round the door of the trailer. Reilly was sitting at a small desk working on her laptop, and Jacobs was on one of the benches going through the case report.

It looked like they were settling in for a long night.

‘So I hear you got to talk to McAllister,’ he said to Reilly. He looked at Jacobs. ‘I thought that was your job.’

‘Regardless, we spoke to him,’ Reilly replied. ‘Steve reckons he won’t call until later, when the kids are in bed or asleep. It’s more likely we can talk sense to him when he’s out of character and doesn’t have to maintain the fantasy.’

‘So what happens now?’ Kennedy asked, entering behind Chris.

‘
We sit tight,’ Jacobs informed him. ‘McAllister has the radio.  He’ll use it.’

‘
You sound pretty sure,’ Chris challenged.

‘I’ve done this a couple of times before,’ he said, eyeing him levelly. ‘The crucial step was getting him to take the radio. Now he’s got it, he’ll use it, sooner or later.’

‘
So he calls,’ says Kennedy.  ‘Then what do you do?’

‘This guy
understands the game. He knows we are camped outside. There’s nowhere to run this time, and he hasn’t planned on staying here long, that’s for sure. Unlike Tir Na Nog, those outbuildings aren’t homely, so clearly this place was intended only as a temporary stopover for him – somewhere for him and the kids to lie low for a while.’ Jacobs looked determined. ‘There’s nowhere to run this time though. We are moving towards an end point. Now it’s about negotiating the terms of his surrender, letting him feel as though he can control the way his fantasy ends.’

‘S
eems like you've got it all sewn up,’ Chris said, his scepticism obvious.

Jacobs
shook his head. ‘Not at all. There’s always a real danger with something like this – when a guy’s cornered like a rat – that he decides to end it on his own terms.’

‘Sounds ominous
,’ said Kennedy. ‘What does it mean in plain English?’

‘
Think about it, McAllister’s under pressure. He and the kids are all crammed into this tiny space and the net is closing in on him. The pressure gets too much and he decides to kill the kids, or turns the shotgun on himself,’ Jacobs said, his voice grim. ‘And they all live together happily ever after in whatever after-life he believes in.’ 

Chapter 36

Was
I wrong?  Did
I love you too much?  For so many years I have kept the world at bay, brought my lost ones in to protect them from the vicissitudes of a cruel world, but now the world has come
knocking at my door, and I can keep it out no longer.

What will become of you, my little swans?  They will break you, shape you to be just like them, with their wickedness and their ways, and you will change and grow, and eventually forget that once there was a place where you were safe, happy, eternally young.

When
I look in the mirror I
see that time has caught up with me.  There are lines on my face I don’t remember; my hair is changing, receding, the bright color of youth replaced by the dull gray of age.

My body
, too, rebels; what was once easy, taken for granted, now requires thought, effort.  I must rest when tending the horses, the cows, can no longer keep up with you when we play our games of chase in the woods.

But you, you my loves, are unchanged.  You are still fresh, young, unsullied by the world outside.  Would that I could preserve you like this for
ever, but there is only one way to do that.

Every minute their cries gr
o
w louder, their voices more shrill
,
until finally
they enter our nest whether we like it or not.  They violate
our garden with their heavy feet, invade our quiet spaces with their loud, hectoring voices.

And so I will call you all to me one last time, hold you, love you, remember you this way for now and all eternity,
my beautiful, beautiful swans…

A
fter Chris and Kennedy left the trailer, Jacobs and Reilly discussed the case so far over cups of coffee while they waited.

‘
There was another attempted abduction I see?’ He nodded to the case file.

‘
Just last week.’

‘
You think it was McAllister?’

Reilly looked thoughtful.
‘I’m not sure. We did at first, but with him so busy planning his escape around that time, it doesn’t feel right that he’d be looking to increase family members. Also the circumstances didn’t seem anything like the others. It could just be a nasty coincidence.’

The sudden chirping of the radio sto
pped them. ‘Hello?’  McAllister’s voice cut through the static.

Jacobs
nodded to Reilly. ‘You should answer it.’

She
grabbed the handset and clicked a button to respond. ‘Mr McAllister, this is Reilly Steel.’

‘
Hello, Miss Steel.’ There was something in his voice, something different.  Reilly glanced at Jacobs – he’d heard it too.  McAllister sounded exhausted, drunk or both. He gestured at her to keep talking.

‘
I’m glad you called,’ she said.

For a moment
there was nothing but static. Reilly wondered if he had disconnected, but suddenly he was back. ‘They’re growing up so fast,’ he said suddenly. ‘My little swans…’

‘
I’m sure they’re a credit to you.’

Jacobs
hurried over to sit beside Reilly, a notepad in his hand and pen at the ready.

‘
They’re growing up so fast,’ McAllister repeated, sounding incoherent and uncertain. Reilly was almost certain he’d been drinking. ‘And then they’ll want to fly the safety of the nest I’ve provided. Like Sarah.’  He gave a little sob. ‘Lisa will be next. Her mind already wanders beyond our borders, I can tell.’

‘I went through something like that with my father. I wanted to fly the nest too. It’s natural.’

Jacobs
nodded furiously, mouthing, ‘Good.’

‘
You seem to have turned out OK,’ McAllister slurred.

‘
Thank you. But my father didn’t want to let me go, didn’t think I would survive.’ She paused, waiting, but McAllister said nothing, so she continued. ‘I’ve always thought that the true test of how well we are raised is not through hiding from the evils of this world, but in facing them and emerging victorious.’

‘
Miss Steel, I almost feel like I know you from another place or time. I felt it right from the start. You have wisdom for one that lives amongst today’s self-obsessed world. Your family must have been good people.’

If only you knew
, she thought.

‘
But my swans are too innocent for this world,’ he said, his words garbled. ‘I fear their pain in a future without my sanctuary.’

Jacobs
scribbled frantically on the pad. Reilly read his words.
He’s tired
.
Maybe on the verge of giving up?
She nodded. 

‘Let us work together then,’ Reilly suggested.
‘I will help you bring your swans to a place they can thrive and learn. Learn to become strong, to face the world and be triumphant.’

There was no reply and for a moment she worried that she’d pushed him too quickly.

‘I don’t know…’ he said eventually and Jacobs gave a nod of satisfaction.

‘Are the children asleep now?’ Reilly asked.

‘
They always slept like little angels back home, all the fresh air and hard work, but they’ve been restless here. Where else could they live a life like the one I gave them?  Where else will they be surrounded by fields and trees and animals and sky every day?’  His voice had a distinctive catch in it; he was close to sobbing.

‘
It’s been a wonderful experience for them, something that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.’

‘
But it’s time to move on – is that what you’re thinking?’

‘What do you think will happen?’

‘
One way or another it’s finished,’ McAllister said sadly, and Jacob’s eyes widened. He scribbled again on the pad and held it up to Reilly.

‘So how can we ensure that the children’s experience remains positive?’ she said.  ‘That their memories of their time with you are happy, without a shadow over the ending?’

Jacobs
wrote some more.

‘
You have created a beautiful life for them, a beautiful story – can we give it a happy ending?’ Reilly pressed.

McAllister
sniffed. ‘I can’t see their faces any more.’

‘
Their faces?’

‘
My wife and every one of our children. I thought I’d never forget any of them, that they were imprinted on my heart forever, but now, when I try and picture them, I can’t see their faces.’

Reilly
sat forward. ‘My mother died when I was young. For years, when I tried to picture her, the only image I could see was the last one I had of her, an image of her dead. I thought I was a terrible person, I couldn’t even remember my own mother's face when she was alive.’

Jacobs
was staring at her, a curious expression on his face.

‘You sound as though you've come to terms with it …’ McAllister said.

‘It took a very long time, then one day I realized that it didn’t matter.  Her face was just a tiny part of the memory. What mattered was the way I felt when I remembered her, and by focusing on not seeing her face I was robbing myself of everything else. My real memory of her was her laughter, the fun things we did, the way she made me feel.’

‘
And how did she make you feel?’

‘
Loved.  Happy.’

McAllister
seemed to ponder her words.  ‘Will you work with me?’ he asked eventually.  ‘Will you work with me to ensure that my swans are treated right?’

Jacobs
was on tenterhooks, perched on the edge of his seat. He nodded furiously.

‘
Of course.’