The Piper

FIFTY-THREE




Olivia had to sit at the gas station for a few minutes before she could drive. And while she was sitting it occurred to her. That Bennington and his wife, his two little boys. They might be in that house. She’d had a sense, hadn’t she, that someone else was there in the house. Maybe she could help. She needed to go.

She drove steadily, hands gripped so tightly on the wheel her fingers were white. Once, her head went suddenly light and she veered out of her lane and into another, but there was almost no traffic. No cars around. Lucky. She took deep breaths and tried not to think.

It was strange, turning back to Windermere Estates. Everything looked the same until she inched slowly down the street where Bennington lived, and saw two cars marked Sheriff parked in front of the house. She pulled to the curb, a couple of houses down across the street, and got out of her car. Put her cell phone in her pocket and walked to the edge of Bennington’s ragged lawn. The front door slammed open and a man in a local sheriff’s uniform ran out onto the porch, turned sideways, and vomited in the flower bed on the right hand side of the porch. Olivia went back to her car.

It wasn’t long before the beehive was alerted. The fire truck came first, even though there wasn’t a fire. Then the paramedics. Another sheriff’s car, and afterward, an entire fleet of state police, the yellow tan paint of their sedans glistening in the sun. Olivia waited to be noticed. It didn’t take long.

Olivia sat sideways, driver’s door open on the Jeep. She was too nauseated to finish her coffee, but she handed it to McTavish, who guzzled it down cold in one long gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He was white around the mouth, but steady, like always. Calm and steady.

‘Hawkins said you did great. With your statement. They found the tea cups just like you said, he didn’t wash up or anything, so they’re hoping for prints. Guy like that. He’ll be in the system. This won’t be his first time.’

Olivia looked over her shoulder at the sound of tires on gravel. Coroner’s van. Not in any hurry.

Olivia picked at a thread on her sweater. ‘I was completely fooled. He knew everything about the family, and he looked so sweet. Kind of shy.’

‘You’re lucky Mr Sweet and Shy didn’t kill you.’

‘When will they bring the bodies out?’

‘It’ll be a while. You might as well go home, Olivia. Hawkins may want some follow up interviews, but you’re done for now. You’re a broker, your prints are in the system already, they’ll be able to sort it out.’

‘And they’re dead? All of them?’

‘The whole family. Bennington, his wife. The two boys. Even the family dog.’

‘You went in there. You saw it. Where were they?’

‘Basement.’

‘They were down there, the whole time I was in the house?’

McTavish nodded. Gripped her shoulder. Hard. ‘Jamison warned me. God knows how he knew.’

‘Really? You think God knows?’

McTavish kissed her gently on the top of the head.

‘You saw them, right?’ Olivia said. Of course he had. She knew it. She could see it in the way he held himself, the distracted way he talked to her, the echo in his eyes.

‘I saw them.’

‘Can I look?’

‘No. And you don’t want to, I promise you. And we don’t want your DNA contaminating the scene where the bodies are.’

‘Surely they don’t think I—’

‘Of course not.’

‘Okay. But you have to tell me. I need to know what happened to them. I need to know how they died.’

McTavish propped his arm on the top of the car. Shoved his sunglasses on the top of his head. His hair was getting shaggy, it needed a cut. There was sweat along the edges of his hairline.

‘The dog died in the kitchen. We found him at the back door, so we think that’s where this guy got in. The door had a window, the glass was broken. There was glass in the dog’s fur. We think he was defending the house. Dog was shot in the head.’

‘In the kitchen?’ Olivia said, thinking of how the Mister Man had offered her tea. How he had shut the door to the little sanctuary, as he called it. What if she had wandered out into the kitchen? Asked to use the bathroom? What would have happened then?

‘Then he takes the family down to the basement. You can see signs around the house where he rounded them up. The kids were in the living room, playing video games. Bennington upstairs, looks like he’d just come out of the shower. Wife in the laundry room, putting in a load of clothes. He herded them all down to the basement. No sign of struggle, we think he had them at gunpoint. Maybe had one of the kids, with a gun to the head. Probably said he wouldn’t hurt anybody, if they just cooperated. That’s what they always say.’ McTavish grimaced. Looked away.

‘He had them sitting in chairs. In a sort of half circle, like they were watching a show. The wife and the two boys.’

‘Did they suffer a lot? The little boys?’

McTavish shook his head. ‘I’m sure they were scared, but they died quick. So did the wife. Shots to the head, close range, one two three. Things didn’t go so well for the dad. Killer used one of those heavy duty orange extension cords, strung him up over an open beam, and hung him right there in front of the family. Like they were all gathered there to watch him die.’

‘I hope the kids died first,’ Olivia said. ‘So they didn’t have to watch.’

‘What the hell did the two of you talk about for two hours?’ McTavish said. Something almost like suspicion in his eyes.

She was tempted. To tell him everything. To talk it out, to tell him she had to make a decision. That she was trying to find a way out but was thinking she’d have to make a deal herself. Ackerman had told her to wait, but Ackerman was dragging her feet. Ackerman was afraid.

Olivia knew that she loved McTavish when she decided to shut him out. When you came right down to it, Olivia thought, you were always and ever alone.

‘See you, McTavish,’ Olivia said, giving him a gentle kiss on the mouth. It felt a lot like goodbye.