Dying Inside (DI Nick Dixon Crime) by Damien Boyd

Author:Damien Boyd [Boyd, Damien]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2021-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

‘Look after that for me, will you?’

Cole knew better than to ask, sliding Dixon’s wallet into his jacket pocket. Dixon had noticed the frown, too, when he had emptied all his change into the driver’s door pocket of the Land Rover.

Cole didn’t know, didn’t understand, but then how could he when nobody did?

Fruit machines.

He’d taken refuge in the flashing lights, the bells, the whistles; saved only by his friend Jake and their rock climbing partnership that long hot summer all those years ago. Getting the next nudge hardly matters when you’re clinging on by your fingertips several hundred feet off the ground.

Dixon stopped in the doorway of the amusement arcade at Brean Leisure Centre, a cold sweat gathering in the small of his back. He felt the same sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach all over again. It was a mild form of self-harm; he’d been told that by at least two beer-swilling amateur psychiatrists in the pub, trying to analyse his apparently irresistible urge to push all his money into those bloody machines.

But the simple answer was that it was an escape: from the pain of loss. Or was he just replacing the pain of losing Fran with the pain of losing all his money? Either way, he’d stand there until he had.

Dixon had never thought of himself as stupid. He knew the seventy per cent rule, and he knew full well he’d lose in the end, no matter how many times the jackpot came cascading down the hopper into the metal tray; in tokens usually, so you had no choice but to push them straight back in again.

And that noise!

Even when the arcades were empty you could hear it from time to time, played on a loop by one or more of the machines. It reminded Dixon of a duck caller, attracting birds to the slaughter.

He walked along the line of machines, mesmerised already by the lights, some of the wheels spinning even though there was no one standing there feeding coins in; the sound of a jackpot behind him – there was no one there, either.

Cole appeared behind him. ‘They’ve paged the manager, Sir. Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine.’ Dixon had his hands in his pockets, rummaging amongst his keys for any loose change.

‘You left it in the car,’ said Cole. ‘I think I might have a go, though.’ He was looking down at three one-pound coins in the palm of his hand.

‘You might as well save yourself the trouble and just give it to the manager when he gets here.’

‘I might find a machine someone’s filled up and it’s ready to drop the jackpot.’

‘It doesn’t work like that.’ Dixon sighed. ‘If only it did.’

‘Someone told me—’

‘He’s right. Sorry.’ Jeans and a blue Brean Leisure Centre polo shirt. ‘It’s all random. There’s no such thing as a full machine bursting to pay out; not any more.’

‘Mr Jackson?’ asked Dixon, his warrant card in hand.

‘Yes.’

‘Tell him about the seventy per cent rule.’

‘The machines are set to pay out seventy per cent of the money paid in to them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.