CLEANSING FIRES: DCI Garrick Crime Book 5 (DCI Garrick Crime Thrillers) by M.G. Cole

Author:M.G. Cole [Cole, M.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tanglebox Books
Published: 2022-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Garrick’s Land Rover had coughed and chugged into the Asda car park, and he dreaded having to ask Wendy for a lift to the hospital. He was relieved when the engine turned over the second time. The gear stubbornly shifted into first, and he crawled from his parking space.

DC Fanta Liu was waiting for him at the hospital reception. He’d called her on the way but got her voicemail, so left a message.

“I thought this was your day off, Liu?” Garrick said, striding across the car park.

“The DS called us all this morning and told us what happened, so Sean and I came in to nudge the investigation along.”

“And Harry?”

“His phone’s off. I remember him saying something about golf.”

Garrick nodded. It was a new hobby Harry had taken up since his injury. Less strain than his beloved five-a-side, but he claimed it was just as much exercise. He’d even tried to coerce Garrick into joining him.

The hospital reception doors automatically swished open as they walked in. Garrick kept a pace behind Fanta, assuming she knew where they were going. Even following her short stride sent a jolt of pain through his injured leg, which in turn sent an involuntary puff of air out of his lips.

“How’re you feeling, sir?”

“I’ve been better. But by all accounts, I could’ve been far worse.”

He’d expected an irreverent quip from her, but she looked pale and just nodded.

“The DS is still at the scene,” she said as they reached an elevator, and she impatiently stabbed the up button, “so when we heard Ms Chin was awake, she asked be to come down.”

Garrick couldn’t help but note that she had avoided mentioning Chib by name and wondered if Fanta was taking DS Okon’s undercover role for DCI Kane as a personal insult.

Fanta continued. “She’s been awake for just over an hour and is on a lot of drugs. She’s suffered fifty-five per cent third-degree burns. A doctor told me fifty per cent is not survivable,” she said in a quiet voice as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside.

“Is she able to speak?”

He watched as Fanta seemed to fold into herself. “I’m not sure,” she eventually said in a whisper.

Without further conversation, they exited the elevator at the burn centre. Fanta introduced Garrick to Doctor Werner, who was a specialist. Her bobbed hair was tied back in a tiny ponytail so tightly that her face was pinched back, giving her an austere appearance. An appearance further enhanced by the reluctance she projected on Garrick.

“I told your constable here,” she tilted her head in Fanta’s direction, “That the patient may be conscious, but she’s unable to talk.”

The patient, thought Garrick. The cool detachment the doctor employed was much the same as his own to help focus on the facts of the matter in hand, a defence against the emotional baggage than came with thinking of the patient – or victim – as a person. With that came complications, entanglements, and problems.

“I appreciate that, doctor,” Garrick said with very little authenticity, “but I need answers only she can give.

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