One Shot: A DI Sutherland Scottish Crime Thriller by Oliver Davies

Author:Oliver Davies [Davies, Oliver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-23T22:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Dominic

“You’re late.”

I’d barely stepped foot into the office where expectant eyes were watching me from all around. I was a deer in the headlights.

“It’s almost lunchtime,” DCI Aikman continued. “I was beginning to think you had a dickie stomach from certain endeavours of yours.” I didn't have to look at him to catch onto his reference. Namely, his bathroom and a bottle of beer.

“Didn’t realise this was a dictatorship you were running here, Chief.”

“Then think again, Inspector Sutherland. Under my command, you can’t pee unless it’s on my schedule. Got that?”

Inspector Sutherland? He rarely called me that, not even under extreme circumstances and certainly never in the comfort of our own department. It was enough to set my spider senses tingling. Closing the door behind me and taking a careful scan around the office, I saw the reason for his blatant professionalism.

Superintendent Hales.

He’d positioned himself at the rear of the room, watching the event unfurl with an avid interest in us particularly. Both epaulettes were placed firmly on display in an unconscious effort to prove his rank above us.

“So,” DCI Aikman folded his stout arms, “have you got an explanation for yourself?”

“Er, aye. Sir,” I gave the widest of smiles towards DCI Aikman when my back was facing the superintendent. He hated being called sir rather than Chief, and I was going to get a kick out of it whilst he couldn’t afford to put up a fight. “I was getting a statement from our victim for the sake of our investigation. Important stuff. I think it was you who asked me to pay DC Hunter a visit, wasn’t it?”

He became flustered, well aware that he’d done nothing of the sort.

“Right. Must’ve slipped my mind,” he drawled robotically, as though he was reading from a script or a bunch of cue cards. “If you’d like to take a seat, we can discuss the details you’ve found out in accordance with what I’m about to say. After I’ve said my piece, mind you.”

I bowed my head and weaved my way through the clutter. Christopher attempted to pull out the chair for me in a bid to impress Superintendent Hales, but I wouldn’t let him get that go to such extremes. We were acting like headless chickens upon the realisation that they were being taken to a slaughterhouse, doing our best to convince the farmer we weren’t worthy of getting tossed aside and onto the supermarket shelves.

Christopher retreated amiably and decided to perch against the steadily whirring printer instead. At his touch, the machinery jumped into life and earned him a disapproving glare from DCI Aikman. Apologising profusely, he struggled to find the off switch and resulted in pulling the plug out from the wall socket. He held it up in victory.

DCI Aikman decided to brush past the incident and fast. “Moving on. To recap, purely for the sake of DI Sutherland, DC Clyde has been updating us on the conversation you two had with the jewellery store owners whilst we waited for you to make an appearance.

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