Channeling the Dead: A DCI Argyle Investigations Scottish Detective Thriller by Duncan Wallace

Author:Duncan Wallace [Wallace, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“You can lock up the room, Bob,” I called out as I raced out of the front door of the hotel.

I think he replied, but I was in too much of a hurry to make out what he said. I practically flew towards the car, opened the door, and threw myself inside. Edel did the same, and then we sped towards the beach without bothering with the seatbelts. I could hear the sirens from the other police cars all the way across the town, and I followed the sound towards the beach where Jenny’s backpack had been found.

Edel was slightly hunched over in the passenger seat, and she chewed anxiously on one of her fingernails as I drove. She had her eyes glued on the road ahead, and I was pretty sure she hadn't blinked in a good couple of minutes.

“Are you okay?” I asked her as I turned sharply around a corner. “Edel?”

We both swayed slightly in our seats due to the force of the turn, but we righted ourselves, and I risked another quick glance at her.

“I’ll be fine,” she replied stoically. “It’s just… if it’s one of the kids…”

“I know,” I replied.

“I’ll lose my head,” she continued.

“Just don’t let those images into your head until we have a look at it, alright?” I told her, even though it was easier said than done.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt pretty shaken up as well. This was probably the worst part of the job, other than having to inform the families that the person had passed away in such circumstances. There was nothing officers like us could do to stop our imaginations from running wild as soon as we discovered that there was a body. I had been at the job for a long time, so I had seen my fair share of the gruesome, the deranged, and the disgusting, which meant that the images that flashed across my mind were even more disturbing than I would like to admit.

It was just as well that I had never been too squeamish, or I’d never have been able to do the job.

I tried to focus on my breathing in order to drown out the thoughts that plagued my brain. I breathed in for four seconds, out for another four, and I hardened the edges of my fraying mind. I had done this a thousand times, and I was sure I would do it a thousand more. I had to disconnect myself, as awful as it sounded, so that I could act as efficiently and as objectively as possible. The case needed to be solved, and there was no way it would be if I was a nervous wreck.

I could tell that Edel was giving herself the same pep talk, as she suddenly sat up in her seat and let her hand drop to her lap. She clasped her hands together and then started to tap her thumbs. I knew that meant that she was steeling herself for what we were about to see.

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