Rituals (Cainsville 5)

She ignored my hand, her gaze fixed on Gabriel. She had a gleam in her eye, like she was watching an enemy run a gauntlet of spears, praying one of them sliced through him.

While I'd understood Gabriel's reasoning for not feeling any remorse over "inadvertently" costing Detective Fahy a promotion, I'd sympathized with her. It would be tough enough to rise through the ranks as a female detective. You sure as hell didn't need an arrogant defense attorney shredding your credibility. Seeing that look on her face, though, I decided I didn't feel bad for her after all. She'd brought Gabriel to a blood-drenched scene, telling him only that it involved his mother. That went beyond petty personal retaliation.

"May I ask what this is about, Detective Fahy?" Gabriel said. "You mentioned my mother, but I fail to see the connection."

"This is her hotel room."

His brow furrowed. "Are you quite certain? It seems beyond her budget."

She paused, as if unsure where to go with that. "I think the question of how she afforded it should be the least of your concerns, Walsh. Your mother is missing, and her hotel room is covered in blood."

"Missing?" More furrowing. "If this is your idea of a joke, Detective, it is in very poor taste. I thought you meant she'd once rented this room. My mother has been dead for fifteen years."

Another pause. "If someone told you that, they're mistaken. She's--"

"Dead. Very much so, according to the Chicago Police Department. She died of a drug overdose and was discovered in an abandoned building fifteen years ago. She'd been buried as a Jane Doe because the CPD failed to do the most basic investigation and discover she had both a name and a teenaged son. That's not surprising. A drug addict--particularly a woman--is never worth the department's notice, a fact which I am still considering bringing to the attention of the taxpayers by way of a lawsuit. However, that aside, it was my investigator here, Ms. Taylor-Jones, who discovered the autopsy photos. I confirmed six months ago that the deceased was indeed my mother. The case is closed."

Fahy stared at him. Then she lifted her phone and looked down at it.

"Yes," Gabriel said. "Please check on that. I'll wait."

She pocketed her phone. "I don't know what bullshit you two tried to pull, but your mother was alive a few hours ago. She had a drink with a guy in the lounge downstairs, where she mentioned that she was your mother. She seemed very proud of you, God only knows why. She gave the guest her room key. When he followed her up a half hour later, he found this."

"And?" Gabriel said.

"And what?"

"I'm sure you have more than a woman in a bar trying to impress a man by claiming kinship with a known local figure. I'm guessing she also registered as Seanna Walsh?"

"Another guy paid for her room. He managed to convince the clerk to let him pay cash for a two-night stay, despite that being very clearly against the hotel's policies. The guy was in his mid-twenties. Dark-haired. Handsome. Charming and manipulative." Fahy shot Gabriel a look. "Sound familiar?"

"Dark-haired, yes. Manipulative? I'll accept that. While I'm more often mistaken for being older than my age, I suppose someone could mistake me for younger. But I'm hardly attractive enough to persuade a woman to risk her job. Nor has anyone ever accused me of being charming. However, I'm quite happy to speak to this employee and see whether she recognizes me. I'm certain you'll agree that if any adjective might be aptly applied to me, it is memorable."

"Is that really all you've got, Detective?" I asked. "The word of some dude in a hotel bar? I doubt you'll even get a proper statement from him. By now he's deeply regretting taking that woman's keycard and has already formulated a bizarre and implausible story for his wife."

She scowled at me. Good guess, apparently.

"A blood test will clear this up," Fahy said. "And we have plenty to use. Walsh? You can provide a sample."

"Yes, I will. When I am court-ordered to do so."

"About the blood on the walls," I said. "I'm sure you've already asked your crime techs to do a wide sampling, to ensure it all comes from a single and fresh source."

One of the techs looked over, his expression saying he'd been told to do no such thing.

"Fresh?" Fahy said.

"The scene could be faked, right?" I said. "Multiple sources or stored blood used to provide enough to make you suspect a fatal incident. You've got a woman who was checked in with no ID, and told some random dude in the hotel bar that she was Gabriel Walsh's mother. Then she invites this guy up, presumably telling him to wait a half hour before following her. And he just happens to walk into an apparent crime scene? It screams setup."

"To what purpose?"

I waited a moment, to be sure she was serious. "What's the first thing you did? Called Gabriel. The next thing you'd have done, I'm sure, is blame him. Six months ago Gabriel Walsh was charged with the murder of my fiance. Now he's investigated in the suspicious disappearance of his long-lost drug addict mother? Once that hit the news, he'd undoubtedly get a phone call from his supposed mother, offering to rectify this terrible misunderstanding...for a price."

"I'll take multiple samples of the blood," the tech called over. "And I'll make a note to check for freshness."

"Thank you," I said.

"Olivia's theory is almost certainly the answer to your puzzle, Detective," Gabriel said. "She shouldn't have needed to reach it first. You're a seasoned investigator. She's only had her license for a few months."