Flock of Eden (DI Olivia Austin Book 14): A fast-paced crime thriller by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-11T16:00:00+00:00

13

Olivia walked to her car, got in, and once she was sure there was nobody around to watch her come apart, she gripped the steering wheel as she let out all her frustration and sadness.

She’d wanted to believe that Rhys was a good man. A flawed man, certainly. And based on what she’d just heard, he had still been a crusader for justice. But she couldn’t bear knowing that he’d been disgusted with her, that he’d seen her as the kind of scum that should be locked up.

She could barely breathe, as though someone was clawing at her chest and tearing out her heart. She screamed in the silence, letting it all out. Everything she had bottled up, all the emotions she’d been keeping in check since the night Alex went missing, her entire life changed forever that night. Unable to move back from it.

She desperately wanted to relive her life, do things differently, go back to being the same idealistic teenager she once was. But that was no longer possible. That person was gone. And only a jaded detective, marked by the world, remained.

Her entire adult identity had been defined by forces beyond her control, and it was as though she was constantly trying to outrun an angry tide.

Add that to the fact that she was tired of running.

Olivia took out her phone and called her boss’ number.

“Guv, I’d like to withdraw from the case,” she said, trying to sound as normal as she could muster.

Collins paused before he answered, surprised by what he’d heard.

“Liv, I know I said it, but—”

“You were right,” she interrupted. “You need someone with their head on straight to deliver justice for those victims, and I don’t think that’s going to be me.” She’d made her decision and didn’t want to be swayed from it. “Give it to Dean. He’ll be able to approach it with a better headspace.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and finally, Collins spoke.

“Look, take some time to think about your decis—”

She hung up the phone and drove away. When the phone wouldn’t stop ringing, she turned it off, resisting the urge to throw it out the window.

She spent the next hour driving all around Newquay, the town that she’d felt most at home, where she’d come back to in the hopes of rebuilding her career after tragedy. She’s believed that with every single criminal she put away, she was fighting the good fight. And winning.

She was seeing the truth now for the first time. Despite the successful career and those years she’d dedicated to becoming a detective, she’d lost.

She’d lost before she even started.

And everything that she’d done since then had been for nothing.

She didn’t even know who she was anymore. Or who she wanted to be.

And that was the worst part. Despite having her support system around her, she couldn’t bring herself to think of what tomorrow might look like, because it would be even more time riddled by poor decisions than today.

It wasn’t just her career that felt torched.

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