Souls At Zero (A Dark Psychological Thriller) (3 page)

Edger finished his cigarette and stubbed it out in the glass ashtray that sat on the table, then he proceeded to roll himself another one to go with the rest of his drink. As he sat smoking and gazing out over the balcony, something caught his attention on the far side of the river. An intermittent orange glow, as if someone was standing on the bank of the river smoking a cigarette. Edger squinted into the darkness, but there wasn't enough light to make out the shape of anyone standing there, even though he knew there was definitely
someone
there.

A cold feeling came over him, a feeling he knew well, and one which he had learned to pay attention to over the years. It was a feeling he got when something wasn't right. When there was danger nearby.

The orange glow on the far side of the river appeared and disappeared for another minute or so before stopping altogether.

It could have been anybody standing over there. It was Friday night after all, and there was always plenty of drunks about at that time, especially with so many students living nearby in Stranmillis. Still, Edger felt uneasy as he finished the rest of his drink. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him, a feeling he had experienced more than a few times over the last couple of months, the most recent being back in the Poleglass estate outside the old man's house. And now, less than an hour later, there appeared to be someone watching him from across the river. It may have been paranoia on his part, a symptom of living in war zones for most of his life, but he didn't think so. Besides, he had been an operator for long enough now to know that there was no such thing as paranoia when it came to personal security.

What worried him more as he stood up and walked back into the apartment, was the possibility that he was right, and that there
was
someone following him around and watching him from a distance. If that was the case, then who was it and what did they want?

Experience told him he would find out soon enough.

CHAPTER THREE

Dressed in dark jeans, black T-shirt and short black leather jacket, Edger left his apartment at 8 a.m. after showering and drinking two cups of coffee. He didn't bother with breakfast, as he was taking Kaitlin to their favourite cafe on Botanic Avenue before the two of them hit the road for Dublin. Outside, the sky was grey and overcast. At least it wasn't raining, in Belfast at least. Who knows what the weather would be like in Dublin today? Not that Kaitlin would mind the rain, as long as she got to see the zoo animals she adored so much.

As he walked across the private car park to his car, Edger paused for a second as he opened the car door and looked briefly around, still slightly spooked after seeing the mysterious figure across the river the night before.

Relax, will you? Enjoy the day with your daughter.

He shook his head and got in the car.

Before he went to pick up Kaitlin, Edger drove to Donegal Square, parking the car outside the building opposite Belfast City Hall. He entered the brownstone office building and took the elevator to the top floor, whereupon he walked to the office at the end of the corridor, the one which had RANKIN INVESTIGATIVE SERVICES AND SECURITY stencilled on the glass of the door. He walked in to find his boss, John Rankin, sitting behind a desk, the roof of the city hall building looming through the window behind him.

Rankin was a man in his early fifties, an ex-military cop who served most of his career in the Specialist Operations Regiment, before moving into the private sector five years ago. His dark, slicked back hair was streaked with grey, and his brown eyes were heavily lidded, giving him a brooding presence that many often found intimidating. Edger, being an ex-military man himself, didn't find Rankin intimidating at all. In fact, the two men had a close mutual respect for each other since they first met a year ago, which is one of the reasons Rankin decided to hire Edger. The older man—dressed not in his normal dark suit, but in jeans and blue open necked shirt—looked surprised to see Edger. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I thought you were seeing Kaitlin today."

"I am," Edger said as he walked to the desk and sat in the chair opposite. "I only came to give you this." He took a flash drive out of his pocket and handed it to Rankin.

Rankin took the flash drive and inserted it into his laptop.

Edger waited.

Rankin slowly shook his head as he stared at the screen. "Jesus Christ."

"I don't think Jesus would approve."

"She's fucking a priest?"

"She is."

Rankin shook his head again as he went through the pictures Edger had taken only yesterday. "I see he likes it kinky as well."

Edger looked at the half smile on Rankin's face, and the two men couldn't help laughing. "What do you think the client will say?"

Rankin snorted. "His wife is fucking a priest of all people behind his back. What do you think he'll say?"

"Praise the Lord?"

"Fuck off, Harry. It's me that has to show the poor man these pictures."

"Check out the last couple."

Rankin pursed his lips. "On the altar like a fucking sacrificial lamb." His mouth dropped open as he viewed the last picture. "Is he feeding her the
Eucharist
?"

Edger nodded. "He is."

"How'd you even get these?"

"I hid in one of the confessional booths at the back of the church."

"Well," Rankin said, pulling the flash drive out and putting it in a drawer in his desk. "The client wanted proof of an affair, he got it. Though I have a feeling he'll wish he didn't when he sees these photographs."

"Not our problem."

"No, it isn't." Rankin leaned back in his chair, rubbed the ever present growth of beard on his face. "You go round to that aul boy's house last night?"

Edger nodded.

"And?"

"Let's just say Mr. McCrory won't be getting any more trouble."

"Good. Glad to hear it. Man like that deserves a bit of peace. I'm telling you, kids these days should be made to enlist for a year. That'll sort them out."

"They wouldn't stick it," Edger said, thinking back to the training he went through in the Legion when he was eighteen. "They don't deserve it either."

"Probably not, Harry. So what's the plans for today then?"

Edger stood up. "Dublin Zoo."

Rankin smiled. "Haven't been there since I was kid. How about you stay here and
I
take Kaitlin down instead?"

"No thanks. You've a boy band to look after tonight anyway."

"Don't remind me. My daughter wants autographs as well."

"Who's doing it with you?"

"Young Jason. He hasn't much CP experience, but no one else is available."

"You know I'd be there if I wasn't seeing my daughter."

"I know, Harry. Go on. Go get your daughter. Enjoy the zoo. I'll see you Monday."

Edger left the office building and drove to his ex-wife's house to pick up his daughter. He married his ex-wife Gemma fourteen years ago, but the marriage had only lasted two. She had since remarried and divorced again. Now it was just her and their daughter, Kaitlin, which is as far as Edger could make out, is the way Gemma liked it. The house was situated in Wellington Park Avenue, just off the upmarket Malone Road area. Edger took the Lisburn Road direction. Traffic was already building up on the busy street as the Saturday morning crowds began to assemble in preparation for the shops opening. Edger turned the car left of the main road and drove into Wellington Park Avenue, stopping outside the three storey end of terrace house where his ex-wife lived.

Gemma greeted him at the front door after he knocked. She stood with a coffee mug in her hand, dressed in blue satin pyjama bottoms and a low cut white top, her long red hair spilling down over it. Her hazel eyes looked sleepy still, like she hadn't long gotten out of bed. Every time he saw her, he couldn't help but marvel at how good she looked. She had always been beautiful and she only seemed to get more so with age. Even at forty, she still looked better than most women half her age. "Morning, Harry," she said, giving him half a smile. "Missy is ready and waiting for you." She walked down the hallway into the living room as he entered the house and closed the door behind him.

Kaitlin was sitting on the large red fabric sofa watching TV as he walked into the living room. "Hi Harry," she said, smiling sweetly at him, a smile that never failed to melt his heart every time he saw it. It didn't bother him that she didn't call him Dad or Daddy. He didn't deserve that title yet anyway, if he ever would. You don't call someone Dad who has only been in your life for less than a year.

"Hey sweetheart," he said, sitting on the sofa beside her. "Ready for a day at the zoo?"

"I can't wait. I'm also starving. I hope we're going for breakfast first."

"Of course we are. What kind of man do you take me for?"

Kaitlin smiled and stood up. She was tall for her age, taking after him in that respect. While he doubted she would ever match his six feet three inches, he had no doubt she would certainly tower over most people if she kept growing the way she was. She also had her mothers long red hair, which was tied back in a ponytail, and she had on a red sweater and light blue jeans. "I'll get my shoes and coat on."

She left the room to go into the hallway, and Edger looked over at Gemma, who was snuggled into a huge rounded arm chair, her legs curled up underneath her as she cradled her over-sized coffee mug. "How's things?" he asked her.

"Fine," she said, giving him a smile that he felt was half forced. "Bit tired. Long week at the university with all the new starts."

Gemma was a lecturer in sociology at Queens University, a position she had held for the last ten years. She was also one of the smartest people he knew, which was one of the things that drew him to her in the first place all those years ago. Too smart to ever be with him, he always thought. "Any plans for today?"

"I have a load of work to get through." She sipped on her coffee and rested her head back on the seat. "After that, nothing."

"You're welcome to come along, you know."

Their eyes met for a second. There was a sharpness in hers. "No," she said, like it wasn't even a possibility. "Just be with your daughter, Harry."

Edger nodded and shifted in his seat as a familiar feeling of guilt washed over him. He had left her after two years of marriage. Left her while she was still pregnant with Kaitlin. He had accepted that she would probably never forgive him for that, but it it hurt nonetheless when he saw the bitterness still in her eyes. He was glad when Kaitlin came into the room again, wearing a dark coat and white sneakers, carrying a small backpack. "I'm ready," she beamed.

Harry smiled at her and stood up. Kaitlin went to her mother and they both hugged each other tight, Gemma smoothing Kaitlin's hair and smiling sadly like her daughter was heading away for a week. "You be good for Harry, you hear me?"

"I will," Kaitlin said, pulling herself out of her mother's grasp. "And I have my phone. I'll take lots of pictures at the zoo."

"Okay. You do that. And have fun."

"We always have fun, don't we Harry?"

Edger nodded, uncomfortable under his ex-wife's gaze.

"Alright then," Gemma said. "Off you go."

Edger looked back at Gemma before he left, like he always did on these occasions. "I'll look after her. Don't worry."

Gemma gave him a tight smile in return, but said nothing.

The blue Ford Mondeo sat just down the street from Gemma McGuire's house. The man known as Blutwolf sat inside the car and watched as Harry Edger walked out of the house with his daughter walking beside him.

Blutwolf watched as Edger looked up and down the street as he held the front passenger door open for his daughter while she climbed inside the car. Edger then walked around to the driver's side of the silver Skoda, pausing to look up and down the street again one more time before getting into the car himself.

He knows. He knows someone is following him.

It didn't matter. Everything was in place now.

Soon enough, Edger would get what was coming to him.

Blutwolf watched as Edger drove off towards the Lisburn Road.

A few seconds later, Blutwolf started the car and followed him.

CHAPTER FOUR

Kaitlin McGuire sat alone at a table in the little cafe on Botanic Avenue that her dad brought her to every weekend they were together. The cafe was actually run by a little Korean man and there was a restaurant upstairs that served Korean food. Despite this, the place still did the nicest Ulster fry in the city, which never failed to amuse Kaitlin every time she went there.

The cafe was empty, except for a man who sat at a table by the front door reading a newspaper, a black baseball cap pulled low over his head. Harry was upstairs using the restroom there, after having placed their orders with the little Korean man behind the counter. Kaitlin eyed her milkshake sitting on the counter, while the Korean man made the cappuccino that Harry ordered. She hated the taste of coffee. Her mum drank gallons of the stuff, even though caffeine was supposed to be bad for you. Adults were funny like that, doing things they knew were bad for them but doing them anyway. Like Harry smoking. She hadn't known him long enough to ask him to stop, but she would.