Free Nightshade: The Fourth Jack Nightingale Supernatural Thriller by Stephen Leather Page A

eye now.’
    ‘Yeah, how’s that working out for you?’
    Nightingale wrinkled his nose. ‘I didn’t realise I’d be doing so much divorce work, but it’s okay. At least I’m my own boss.’
    ‘Money’s good, is it?’
    ‘I have good days and bad days,’ said Nightingale. ‘But there’s no pension at the end of it.’
    ‘They’re screwing us on pensions,’ said the policeman. ‘It’s not the job it was.’ He inhaled and blew a decent smoke ring up at the sky. ‘So what brings you to Berwick?”
    Nightingale nodded at the school. ‘That,’ he said.
    The policeman frowned. ‘The shootings? Now why would that interest a private eye?’
    ‘It’s a funny one,’ said Nightingale. ‘You know the shooter has a brother?’
    The policeman nodded. ‘Yeah. Daniel. He works in insurance or something.’
    ‘He’s hired me.’
    The policeman snorted. ‘What the hell for? There’s no doubt that he did what he did. None at all.’
    Nightingale shrugged. ‘He wants closure. He wants to know why.’
    ‘Why? Because he was a nutter, that’s why.’ He grinned. ‘Does that mean we split the fee?’
    ‘You heard about the black magic stuff they found in his barn and on his computer?’
    The policeman nodded. ‘Yeah, the guys were talking about it.’
    ‘Well, the brother reckons he wasn’t into that sort of thing. He went to church.’
    ‘Doesn’t mean anything, does it, going to church?’
    Nightingale nodded at the main school building. ‘Have you been inside?’
    ‘I was in there on Wednesday. We did a sweep through to make sure no one was hiding.’
    ‘Must have been rough.’
    ‘They were still examining the bodies.’ The policeman shuddered. ‘I don’t get killing kids, I really don’t.’ He took a long pull on his cigarette and blew smoke. ‘You got kids?’
    Nightingale shook his head.
    ‘If you have kids, you know that they’re the most important thing in your life. Nothing means more than your kids. You’d die for them, without even thinking about it. And once you’re a father you’d never hurt another man’s kids. You just wouldn’t.’
    ‘McBride didn’t have kids.’
    ‘That’s right. So maybe that’s why.’
    ‘That’s hardly a motive,’ said Nightingale. ‘Anything known about him?’
    ‘Seems not,’ said the policeman. ‘Couple of speeding tickets, but other than that he was a model citizen. Never married, which is a bit off, but then farmers tend not to date much. Too busy and not too many opportunities for dating.’
    ‘And no problems with kids? Vandalism on the farm, anything like that?’
    ‘Nothing I heard of.’ He dropped his cigarette butt on the floor and stamped on it. ‘He was just a regular guy by all accounts.’
    ‘Someone said that maybe he was possessed.’
    ‘Possessed?’ The policeman shook his head. ‘You were in the job,’ he said. ‘You know the score. Evil has nothing to do with the Devil or God or crap like that. It’s people that are evil, pure and simple. People are nasty to each other. End of.’
    ‘But there’s usually a tipping point,’ said Nightingale. ‘Something that makes them kick off.’
    ‘But not McBride, is that what you’re saying?’
    Nightingale finished his cigarette and flicked it into the gutter. ‘Doesn’t seem to have been anything that set him off.’
    ‘But why kids?’ asked the policeman. ‘That’s what I don’t get.’
    ‘Maybe he chose it at random?’
    The policeman shook his head emphatically. ‘He walked from his farm to the school. Partly across the fields, but when he reached the village he walked past a garage where there are half a dozen people working, a haulage company, and the council offices. If it was some sort of grudge against authority he could have gone into the council and started shooting.’
    ‘I didn’t realise that.’
    ‘Well, it’s true. Walked right by the council to the school. But if it was about the school, why not shoot the teachers? He went into three