will become evil, some are born and tossed into dumpsters. I was part of the world that tried to correct all of that, the world that tried to keep some of it in check. But somewhere along the way I lost track of it all. I fell into the abyss.

‘Nobody seems to have forgotten that as much as you, Tate,’

Schroder says. ‘You’re nothing like the man you used to be. You used to be a real stand-up guy. And now you’ve got a DUI hanging over your head; we’ve got you for theft, for stalking, and you’re looking real good for murder.’

‘ Without any evidence you can’t hold me here without charging me. That means I’m here on my own merits. That means I’m free

to get up and leave.’

“No, you’re not free until I say you’re free,’ Schroder says.

‘We’ve got a techie going through your computer files. You’ve

been following Father Julian since the day Sidney Alderman went missing. And these newspaper articles. How is it some of them

are originals? To me, that suggests they were cut out as the girls went missing. How’d you get them?’

Bruce Alderman gave them to me. He left them in my car

when we drove to my office.’

Schroder slides another plastic bag over. It has a small envelope inside with my name written across it. There are bloody smudges across it. For a brief moment I’m back in my office, the smell of burning metal and blood in the air, a pink mist creating a cloud over the caretaker’s head that has just been distended by a bullet.

‘What was in here?’ Schroder asks. ‘The articles? See, the

articles aren’t folded up, and they’d need to have been folded to fit in this envelope.’

“I can’t remember.’

‘We found writing samples at the church. This is Bruce

Alderman’s handwriting.’

‘So?’

‘So what else have you stolen?’ Landry asks.

“I haven’t stolen anything. That envelope has my name on it,

so whatever was in there was mine.’

“He wrote you a letter? A confession? A suicide note?’ Schroder asks.

‘No.’

‘Thought you couldn’t remember what was in there?’

“I can’t.’

‘But you can remember what wasn’t in there.’

‘Memory is a funny thing.’

‘Cut the crap, Tate,’ Landry says.

‘It was the watch, okay?’ I say, and it sounds believable enough.

‘Alderman had the watch. I don’t know how he got it, and when

he gave it to me I didn’t know who it belonged to.’

‘Bullshit,’ Landry says.

‘Then you ought to shut up until you can prove otherwise.’

‘Out of all the people in this city, why’d he come and see

you?’

I shrug. “I don’t know. I think it was because I was the face he connected to what was going on. I was the one who found the

bodies. I was the one who came along with the exhumation order and started all of this.’

‘You kept things from us,’ Schroder says. ‘You stole evidence

that would have helped us piece things together quicker. That

ring you took from Rachel Tyler — Jesus, Tate, let’s not forget you took the ring from Rachel Tyler. The timeline would have

changed. We’d probably have caught the person who started all

of this.’

It’s true. But the moment that coffin opened and I saw a dead

girl, I had no choice. There were other dead girls because of me, because of a decision I failed to make correctly two years earlier.

How could I not take the ring? It led to suicide. It led me to murder. It led me to drunk driving and to being taken into the middle of nowhere where I should have been left.

‘All these innocent girls,’ Schroder says, spreading out the

articles, one bag for each girl. ‘Do you even care?’

‘Of course I do.’

‘He doesn’t,’ Landry says, ‘otherwise he’d be helping us.’

‘You’ve turned one of your rooms into an office,’ Schroder

says. ‘Into a command post.’

‘You’re charging me with that too?’

‘Just tell us, damn it,’ he says, getting angry now. ‘You were following Father Julian for a reason. What do you think he did?

You think he killed Sidney Alderman?’

He leans back in his chair.

“No, I don’t think that’s it,’ Schroder continues. ‘You wouldn’t be following him for that. You wouldn’t care about one angry old retired caretaker getting taken out. So there’s more to it. You were following him because you think he had something to do with

the dead girls. Your office is dedicated to that case, and to Father Julian. You have pictures and articles pinned up all over the walls.

You think the two go hand in hand. We were looking at Sidney

Alderman as a possibility. And more so after he disappeared. We thought he ran. But not you. You kept looking at Father Julian.

He was on our radar simply because everybody connected to the

graveyard was on it. Only Alderman made a bigger blip, and

when he disappeared his blip overshadowed everybody else’s. So we kept looking for him. It’s as though you knew somethingIt’s as though you gave up looking for Sidney Alderman because

you didn’t think there was a point. Either you thought he was

innocent or you thought he would never show up again. It’s just like two years ago with Quentin James. Which is it?’

‘You tell me.’

‘You think Julian killed those girls. We’ll know soon whether

your thoughts have any foundation. In the meantime, tell us what happened to Sidney Alderman.’

“I don’t know’

‘But you knew to stop looking for him. Why did you focus on

Father Julian?’

“I wasn’t focusing on him.’

‘Why did you kill him?’

“I didn’t.’

‘This is going nowhere,’ Landry says. ‘Show him the

weapon.’

‘The weapon?’ I ask, immediately confused.

A smirk appears on Landry’s face. ‘The weapon, Sherlock.

Like I said earlier, you really learned fuck all from your years on the force. We searched your house, remember? What, did you

think we wouldn’t find it?’

Schroder lifts the last plastic bag from the box and puts it on the table. Inside is my hammer from home. It’s covered in blood.

And I already know it’s going to belong to Father Julian.

Chapter thirty-six

‘You’ve been following him for a month. You think he’s guilty of murder. You’ve been parked outside his church every day before the protection order, and some days since. And you want us to

believe you had nothing to do with his death,’ Schroder says,

putting the murder weapon down slowly, as if carefully balancing a cup of water filled to the brim. He puts it in the centre of the table so we’re all within reaching distance. Maybe he’s hoping I’m going to make a break for it. I’m sure Landry is. He’s hoping this can all end right now.

‘Where did you find it?’

‘Where you left it,’ Landry answers.

“I want my lawyer now.’

‘Yeah, guilty people always do,’ Landry says to Schroder

before turning back to me. ‘Come on, Tate, you know how it

goes. You’ve seen it before and you used to hate it too.’

“Hate what?’

‘When the perp keeps on denying it even after we’ve got so

much evidence against him.’

‘You’ve got nothing.’

“Nothing? Are you fucking kidding me?’

‘Tell us again why you were following him,’ Schroder asks.

‘Come on, Tate, if he was guilty, then let us help you. I mean, hell, if it turns out he killed those girls, we’ll probably end up giving you a medal. Just tell us what happened. We’re all on the same team here.’

“I didn’t kill him,’ I say, but my team mates don’t believe me.

I want a drink.

‘Give us a few minutes alone,’ Schroder says, and Landry

looks angry, but I know it’s an act. I know they’ve cued up their conversation before coming in here and this is the point where Schroder becomes my friend.

Landry walks out without saying anything else. It’s part of