Rage (Benson Security 3)

“We know that Isobel has terrible taste in men,” Rachel said.

“No kidding,” Jack said.

Callum pointed at him. “You talk, you leave. Your choice.”

He made a zipping gesture over his mouth before jumping up to sit on the counter.

Callum looked back at Rachel. “Carry on.”

“We know she has a body in her freezer, one we’re really hoping she didn’t kill.”

Callum was aware of Jack bristling, desperate to defend his mother, but he didn’t say a word. “No, she found him on the beach and hauled him up to her house with the help of her sisters. He’s one of a crew of men who’ve been sneaking into the cove for months. And before you ask, I don’t know for sure what they’re up to. Isobel has been watching them.”

“Do they know she’s been watching them?” Ryan asked.

“They didn’t until she took the body,” Callum said. “Then they went looking for it. They found it last night.”

Isobel appeared in the doorway as Callum explained, and her cheeks flushed at the sight of the filled room. Sophie trailed beside her, her giraffe under her arm and paper and pens in her other hand. She walked straight over to Callum, plopped down at his feet and started to draw.

“Everybody”—Callum signalled to Isobel to come join the discussion—“this is Isobel Sinclair. Isobel, everybody. They can tell you their names later. Come on in. We’re going over the situation.”

She walked over to stand beside Jack, giving wary smiles to the team as she did so. “Jack, why don’t you take your sister back downstairs?”

“I think he needs to be here for this,” Callum said calmly.

“No, he really doesn’t,” Isobel said. “I’m his mother and I want to keep this side of life away from him for as long as possible.”

“You can’t.” Jack sounded far older than his years. “I’m in it up to my neck. It’s my mum who’s selling stuff she found on the beach to pay off a guy who’s threatening her. And my house that’s been blown up. I’m in this, Mum. There’s no sheltering me.”

Isobel looked like his words were a blow, and it took physical effort on Callum’s part not to reach out and pull her to his side. He reminded himself that Isobel didn’t belong to him, and he was more than happy with that, and then he sipped at his coffee. The taste was suddenly bitter and the drink too cold.

Elle’s head snapped up. “Your house blew up? That was your house? The police said it was a gas fault, that the family were away.”

Isobel looked to Callum instead of answering, clearly unsure as to what to tell the team.

“That’s what we want them to think,” Callum said. “They rigged the gas to blow. Isobel and the kids got out before that happened. I had a guy bagged and tagged in the kitchen and planned to go back and ask him some questions. I don’t know if he got out, but if he did, he knows Isobel had help. Professional help.”

“He saw your face,” Dimitri said.

It wasn’t a question, so Callum didn’t answer. “I managed to take one of them out before the place blew, but when I checked, he was gone too.” He looked at Dimitri and Ryan, knowing they would understand why that worried him. “They took him with them.”

“What the hell have you got yourself into?” Dimitri said.

“I don’t know.” Callum dug out his phone and tossed it on the table in front of Elle. “There are photos on there. The body. The beach where he was dumped. See what you can get from it. I also took his fingerprints and a hair sample. It’s downstairs. Do we know someone who can run those for us fast? I want to see if we can get a hit from the prints or his DNA.”

“I know a guy.” Elle reached for the phone. “I’ve been using him to run the DNA on that David guy we met in Peru. Still don’t have a hit on it, though. What I really need is a photo. I could run his photo through image-recognition software and find him that way. It might take years, but I’d get there.”

“Focus,” Callum snapped. “We’re talking about the dead body, not your weird obsession.”

Elle beamed at him. “I’ve missed you. Give me the samples and I’ll get them to my guy.”

“Clam!” Sophie shouted at him, reminding Callum that she was still drawing on the floor at his feet.

When he looked down, she stuck her arm in the air and thrust a scribbled drawing at him. A little bewildered, he took it from her. It was a green mess. He looked at Isobel, who smiled.

“It’s for you,” she said.

“Thanks?” Callum looked down at Sophie, but she was busy working on her next masterpiece, so he put the paper on the counter beside him.