Page 59 of Dream a Little Dream

“Why can’t I just want your company?”

Harry arched an eyebrow. “You might be the mind doctor, but I can smell bullshit a mile off. I’ve been retired for three years. This unexpected visit hasn’t got anything to do with that young man found in the river today, has it?”

“How do you know about that?” It couldn’t have been on the local news yet, surely?

“You think I don’t know what happens in my town?” Harry sipped from his coffee with a tut. “I have my ear to the ground. Always will do. Even when it’sinthe ground.”

Of course he would. “Jack pulled me in.”

“As he would. Glad he’s back. Would like to ring the neck of the man who had him running away from here.”

Kenny dropped his gaze to the carpet, a sharp pang hitting him in the chest.Hewas that man. And no matter if he and Harry got along, Harry would absolutely pummel Kenny to the ground if he knew Kenny was the reason his most promising constable left before he promoted him in-house. “He’ll make a great DI.”

“That he will. Especially if he calledyouback in. I’m guessing he did because this isn’t a cut and dry case?”

“No. It doesn’t appear that way.”

Harry reached for the whisky bottle and poured more into his coffee. “What are you thinking here?”

“It has remarkable similarities to the Howell victims.”

Harry paused. Looked straight at him.Throughhim. To the past. Kenny hated he’d sent him there. No one ever wanted to relivethatcase. But Kenny had an ulterior motive, and it wasn’tjust to find out who was bringing all that to the surface, but also because of a hunch he had about a certain student of his.

One conjuring upmorethan the past.

“Copycat?” Harry leaned back in his chair, returning to the stoic copper he had to be to get the job done.

“It could be.”

“But…”

“But I don’t think it is.”

“Why not?”

“Because it makes little sense. Copycats don’t come out of the woodwork ten years later. It’s also not the right victim. Or scenario. To anyone else, this looks like a suicide. Or accidental death. There’s only a select few who’ll know from the outset that it isn’t.”

“And that’s you.”

“Yes. Or anyone else involved in the case. If Jack hadn’t found him, maybe it wouldn’t have been pieced together so quickly. I certainly wouldn’t have been called. And I wouldn’t be here now asking you to remember the case that haunts us all.”

Harry didn’t respond immediately, but when he did, his voice filled with unease. “The Howells… nowthere’sa headfuck.” He swirled the coffee in his cup, lost in thought. “Not seen anything like them before. Nor since. Not even inmylong years on the force. And I’d seen enough. What we saw in public was nothing compared to what they hid.” Harry shuddered. “Almost can’t believe they’re human.”

“They’re human.”

“Soyoutold us.”

“And clever enough not to arouse suspicion for so long.” Kenny leaned forward. “We both know their spree lasted longer than in the files. What we uncovered was just the surface. There’s more. We both know it. They had a deeper history of violence than we could ever prove.”

“We bulldozed that house to the ground. If there was more to find, we’d have found it.”

“There’s more. Trust me. There’ll be more.”

Harry sipped from his coffee.

“It has made me wonder, though.” Kenny swirled his coffee, then peered up to meet the old chief’s gaze. “The child?”

Harry’s jaw tightened, a subtle reaction but one that told Kenny he’d hit a nerve.

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