American Crow Read online

  JACK LACEY

  presents

  AMERICAN CROW

  ‘For the missing…’

  The moral right of Jack Lacey to be

  indentified as the author of this

  work has been asserted in accordance

  with the Copyright, Designs and

  Patents Act, 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication

  may be reproduced or transmitted in any form

  or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

  including photocopy, recording, or any

  information storage and retrieval system, without prior

  permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,

  businesses, organizations, places and events are either

  the product of the author’s imagination or are used

  fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,

  living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The American vernacular has been employed in this book with specific words.

  Cover art by WinchesterWeb/A.J

  (www.winchesterweb.co.uk)

  For more information on Blake and the next Missing Series Novel:

  www.jacklacey.co.uk

  http://jacklacey.blogspot.com

  PRAISE FOR

  ‘AMERICAN CROW’

  ‘A humdinger of a story from beginning to end!’

  ‘Blake is a remarkable character...makes you want to get a tattoo and become a private investigator!’

  ‘A road-trip thriller where the good guy is almost as bad as the bad guy and the bad guy looks good!’

  ‘Jack Lacey has birthed a great new hard-boiled character onto the scene!’

  ‘American Crow is a gritty, fast-paced thriller that scorches though the pages…’

  ‘The new Jack Lacey novel...just two words...READ IT!!’

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  ‘precious’

  Chapter Two

  ‘the call’

  Chapter Three

  ‘the meeting’

  Chapter Four

  ‘henry and izzy’

  Chapter Five

  ‘the photo’

  Chapter Six

  ‘the crossing’

  Chapter Seven

  ‘the fight’

  Chapter Eight

  ‘watched’

  Chapter Nine

  ‘uneasy alliances’

  Chapter Ten

  ‘the activists’

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘the body’

  Chapter Twelve

  ‘bad ride’

  Chapter Thirteen

  ‘old friends’

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘turned over’

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘the forest’

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘the sanctuary’

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘lights’

  Chapter Eighteen

  ‘ghost town’

  Chapter Nineteen

  ‘black mountain’

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘the dance’

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ‘bad news’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ‘the compound’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  ‘re-united’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  ‘goodbyes’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  ‘the benefactor’

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ‘unexpected’

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  ‘the basement’

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  ‘an old friend called death’

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ‘jackson’s hollow’

  Chapter Thirty

  ‘olivia’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ‘the film’

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ‘homecoming’

  Chapter One

  ‘precious’

  Narbonne Plage. South of France. Late September.

  I lay there motionless on the hot French sand, thinking about the insanity of the last few cases, the enigma of those that remained unsolved…

  Over the years, I’d come across every damned sort working as a tracer. A decent percentage I’d brought back alive. Now strangely, it was those missing parts of myself that I was trying to find, and for once I realized, I couldn’t do the job alone.

  Laura waved from the lilo she was floating on and I waved back with a tortured smile. It seemed surreal that we were finally hanging out, that she’d decided to pick up the phone on her seventeenth birthday and ring her father.

  Hell, Jackie and I were just a couple of young punks when she came along unexpectedly. It was destined to fail the very moment the test came up positive. It was like a run-away train without rails...

  And that was where the dark irony lay I thought. There I was travelling around the globe searching for people, particularly kids, and I hadn’t been able to see my own flesh and blood.

  I stretched out on the towel, closed my eyes, then took a long deep breath and exhaled heavily, hoping to expel the last decade of pain into the ether. It was good to have a break from investigation and have a good enough reason to do it for once.

  Work had been relentless recently, and the last job, an extraction case in Australia, had been particularly draining. When they did cults there, they did them in style that was for sure. It had been touch and go freeing the last guy, physically then mentally.

  The therapist Lenny used for de-programming ‘dead-heads’ had sure earned her dough on that one. The guy was like a lobotomized chicken when I finally got him to the safe-house in Sydney.

  I chewed over my life again, like I’d done countless times in some dingy hotel, in some dark backwater on a case, wondering if I’d made the right decisions at the crucial times, whether I’d fought hard enough for access in between assignments. Perhaps. But what else was I supposed to do to bring in the money? Do something I hated for the rest of my natural? Tracing and extraction work was in my blood, just like it had been in my father’s before he’d disappeared. Being away for long periods was all part of the game.

  The heat eased for a moment as the sun was engulfed by some lone cloud inching its way across the aquamarine sky. I pushed up my shades and eyed the melee of splashing kids and paddling lovers stretched out along the beach before me. Maybe life was going to finally improve for once. They said life changed at forty, what about thirty-seven?

  My gaze returned to the inflatable Laura was straddling. She waved again, but this time wildly as if she was in trouble. I waved back with both arms, laughing at her antics, thinking how she had that same free-spirited gene as her father, then felt my stomach turn suddenly. Was she joking?

  I stared out across the water trying to ascertain if I should actually be worried, then saw her body jolt forwards, back, and fall face down on the lilo where she started convulsing violently. She looked as if she was having a sodding fit, just like she used to as a kid...but she took epilepsy tablets for that, hadn’t had an ‘episode’ in a couple of years, Jackie had said before we left.

  I stood up, staggered forwards then sprinted across the burning sand towards the water, hoping it was just a wind up, thinking of the stern words I was going to have with her when I realized that she was just putting it on for my own benefit.

  Twenty meters…fifteen…ten. I dived into the sea and powered towards her as fast as I could. After a few seconds I stopped and looked up to check my bearings. Now I could see an abandoned inflatable directly ahead. It appeared as if she’d fallen in. If this was indeed a joke I was going to tear strips off
her when I reached her, the stupid bloody girl.

  I willed myself forward with everything I had, then heard the muffled screams of some kids nearby as I grabbed the empty lilo and pulled it into my chest. A quick scan of the water revealed nothing from above. Panicking, I gulped some air into my lungs then ducked beneath the surface. Nothing again, not even a vague shape or dash of colour.

  I blinked several times and stared harder, then circled around in a wider arc, looking for a bright magenta bikini that matched the wild streaks in her long blonde hair. I should be able to see her, see something...

  I turned and twisted in the murky water then kicked downwards hard, instinctively veering to my right until a flash of colour morphed into a faint outline, then Laura, suspended before me like a ragdoll on strings, a few solitary bubbles escaping from her motionless lips.

  Feeling sick with terror, I pushed upwards again and took in some more air. Then I kicked down desperately, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up to the surface, where I tilted her head back and forced open her mouth.

  ‘Breathe, god damn it, breathe!’

  Nothing. Her eyes were closed. Her face like stone.

  I slapped her face hard hoping to rouse her, expecting her young face to burst into life suddenly and mock my over-protectiveness. Nothing...

  ‘Laura!’

  No response.

  I glanced at the anxious faces of the swimmers circling around me then frantically made for the beach, halfway back being aided by some beefy French guy, who helped haul her heavy body out of the water and onto the sand.

  I knelt down beside her and checked for life signs then finding none, opened her airway and blew several desperate breaths onto her purple lips before pumping her chest hard and steady. One-two-three-four…

  Nothing. Another couple of breaths. One-two-three-four-five…

  ‘Come on Laura, breathe! For me, honey, breathe...’

  I was about to blow into her mouth again when I felt a firm hand on my shoulder. I looked up. A stern-faced medic beckoned me step aside. Someone had called for help, thank god...

  ‘Je suis son pere,’ I said, trying to absorb the insanity of what was happening.

  He nodded sharply then started to administer some manual CPR while his colleague primed the defibrillator.

  ‘Please save her…’ I said desperately, as his female colleague placed the pads against her chest and powered up the machine.

  Thump. Her limp body jolted into the air.

  ‘Live, damn you, live!’

  Thump.

  Nothing.

  Thump.

  No response.

  One final thump.

  The medic looked up and shook his head.

  I’d lost her.

  Chapter Two

  ‘the call’

  St Osyth, Essex.

  Around 6 months later.

  I sprang up from the sweat-soaked covers gasping, as if I’d just risen to the surface of the water again all those months ago in France. The rain was hammering down hard now. So much so, I thought it was going to drill its way through the trailer roof and sweep me away.

  I cursed and looked at the clock, then what was left of the candle I’d lit for Laura’s eighteenth. I wondered if it had died at exactly the same time as she’d been born. It wouldn’t have surprised me after everything that had happened...

  I shuddered and played back the last few desperate minutes again, my face pressed hard into my splayed fingers. Laura hadn’t been taking her epilepsy tablets the whole time she’d been with me I soon discovered afterwards, and like a fool I hadn’t thought about checking at the time.

  She was old enough to know that she had to take them every day, but I hadn’t asked because I didn’t want to get all heavy when we were just renewing our connection. I just wanted us to have some fun...

  To make matters worse, we’d shared more than a few bonding drinks to celebrate our first real holiday together. Mistake. The worst I’d made in my life. She wasn’t supposed to go near alcohol either. I shook my head slowly. I thought her fits were something of the past, that a couple of drinks wouldn’t hurt...

  At the funeral, Jackie had looked straight through me as if I didn’t exist, as the one and only beautiful thing between us was lowered slowly into the ground. And that was how I still felt six months on...Transparent. Just like some of the people I’d rescued over the years that had their personalities erased.

  Fists thumping against the door yanked me away from my sombre reflections, riling me in an instant. Today of all days, I just didn’t want to be bothered. I wanted to hide until darkness fell again.

  ‘Blake, there’s a call for you, in the site office.’

  It was Clarissa. She worked on the holiday park for Jerry, an old friend who allowed me to stay in one of the statics on the cheap when I needed to get away.

  ‘It’s six-fifteen in the bloody morning, girl,’ I shouted, my mind in a fog.

  ‘The guy says it’s important, that it’s a business call.’

  I shook my head in annoyance. I’d thrown my phone in the Thames after the funeral so that I wouldn’t be bothered by anyone. And I knew what this call was about. Lenny had finally tracked me down, wanted me to look over some new case that no one else would take on.

  When I moved out of Elephant, I told everyone who was worth telling that I’d quit for good. End of. Fifteen years of tracing work was enough for anyone. And I’d lost my fucking kid over it now. Didn’t people understand that? I just wanted to be left alone...

  I staggered up, threw on a t-shirt and a pair of combats, then stomped across the muddy ground in the downpour over to the site reception, where I picked up the handset from the counter.

  ‘Yep?’ I said sharply.

  ‘Alright, son?’

  ‘Didn’t take you long,’ I replied sternly, recognizing the low, gravelly tones.

  ‘Ow you keeping? You looking after yourself?’

  I drew a sharp intake of breath.

  ‘How can I help, Lenny?’

  ‘A job’s come up that I think you should consider, son. I know you said...’

  ‘I quit, remember?’

  ‘And how long is that going to last exactly?’ he said bluntly.

  ‘As long as it does…’

  ‘But it wasn’t permanent, right? Everyone says they’re going to quit from time to time, even when things get tough, but I know you’re bigger than that, Blakey.’

  Silence. It was too early for this sort of conversation.

  ‘Look, I really need your help on this one...’

  I ran a hand slowly over my face trying to wake myself up.

  ‘What about Adam?’

  ‘He’s on a new case in Thailand. Jo’s still tied up with the fraud job over at Canary Wharf, and Zac’s in East Africa trying to find that millionaire’s wife who’s gone walkabouts.’

  ‘I thought you would have taken someone else on by now, Lenny? There’s loads of guys out there just busting a gut to come and work for you.’

  ‘Look, I want someone I can trust on this one, Blake. Someone I know who can handle a difficult job and bloody well finish it. That’s the way I work, you know that. And it’s why Baxter’s has got such a good reputation, which you helped create, remember...’

  I sighed and nearly put the phone down then thought better of it. I’d heard his platitudes before when he wanted to work on me for some job no one else fancied.

  ‘You still there?’

  ‘Yes...’ I said eventually.

  A phlegm-infused cough echoed down the line. I waited patiently until it had abated.

  ‘I’ve just got a feeling about this one. You know how it is...’

  ‘Like all the other crap jobs you give me?’ I said.

  ‘Like all the jobs I give you because no one else can pull them off, Blakey.’

  I absorbed the compliment and waited for him to continue.

  ‘All I’m asking is that you come into the office this morning
and have a little chat. I’ll cover the expenses to get here. All you have to do is listen to my proposal, and that’s that. If you’re not interested then you’re not interested, okay? No pressure.’

  I thought about it for a second while I listened to his heavy breathing on the end of the line then changed my mind suddenly.

  ‘It better be good...’

  ‘It will be.’

  I hung up and wandered over to the site cafe where Sheila, Jerry’s wife, was opening up early, much to my relief. I needed to eat. I needed distracting.

  ‘Hey...bit early for you, aint it?’ she said, stubbing her cigarette out on the steps.

  ‘I’m hungry.’

  She welcomed me in and wiped over the Formica table then came back and cleaned my muddy footprints off the floor.

  ‘What’s up? Couldn’t sleep, babe?’ she said softly, mop in hand.

  ‘Something’s in the works. Lenny Baxter rang about a new job.’

  She pulled a face.

  ‘I thought you’d quit?’

  ‘So did I. But you know him...he never takes no for an answer.’

  She gave me one of her warmer smiles, which was different to the ones she gave the other punters, then turned and headed back into the kitchen. I walked over to the newspaper rack, grabbed a tabloid, then turned to the sports pages to see what was happening to my beloved Lions. No news, as ever...

  I sat down in my usual spot and stared mindlessly at the football headlines for a while, then looked up and stared at my reflection in the glass, at the terrible bags under my eyes. My hair needed clipping too. It was nearly an inch long. I sighed. The last few months had taken its toll visibly. I didn’t recognize myself some mornings in the mirror when I washed. When I did that was...

  I shook my head and turned over the paper. On the front was a picture of some convict who the police said shouldn’t be approached. The guy looked crazy, his violent résumé reinforcing the Neanderthal appearance above.

  I stared at myself in the glass again, disconcerted. I didn’t look that much different from the suspect in the photo when it came down to it. We both had high cheek bones and square jaws, a significant amount of piercings, and although his eyes were a reddish brown and mine brown in one and blue in the other, they both had that lost look in them. We both looked lost...