Rutland Crime Series: Box Set: Books 1-3 by Adam Croft

Author:Adam Croft [Croft, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub

36

In the short time she’d been seeing Rachel for therapy sessions, Caroline already had a lot to thank her for. The thing that appealed most, though, was her flexibility. Whereas many of Rachel’s clients were able to commit to the same day and time each week, that was a luxury Caroline didn’t have.

She’d thought she’d have to cancel the early evening session she’d arranged, especially after bringing Alex Lawson and Megan Wilkes into custody. But since they’d been released much sooner than she’d hoped, she had been able to keep her appointment.

She’d felt conflicted about it. She was so completely fed up and aggravated by what’d happened that day, there was no way she’d get much out of a session tonight. It’d only infuriate her further. What she wanted was a glass of wine and a long sleep. But part of her wondered if Rachel might be able to help her through those thought processes. After all, that was what she was there for, wasn’t it?

Rachel started by asking her how her week had been, and Caroline had told her — with both barrels.

‘Has work always made you feel like this?’ Rachel asked.

Caroline thought for a moment, then shook her head. ‘No. Not really.’

Rachel slowly nodded. ‘And why do you think that might be?’

‘I don’t know. A greater feeling of responsibility, maybe.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, in London I was part of a much bigger team. Things were more anonymous. It was all office-based, we all had clearly defined roles. There wasn’t quite as much pressure. Plus murder was an everyday thing, for better or for worse.’

‘And because you’re part of a much smaller team up here, you feel a greater responsibility?’

Caroline murmured her agreement, feeling a sudden swell of emotion. After a moment or two, it had passed enough for her to speak again. ‘I know people might think I’m this hard-nosed machine that gets things done, but I think deep down that’s just a coping mechanism. It’s the only way I can deal with things. I have to make sure my emotions are totally separate.’

‘Is that a common thing for police officers?’

‘It is, but even more so here. It’s a different area. Closer. People aren’t so anonymous. You feel like you know everyone. When things happen here, they’re much bigger. Everything is under the magnifying glass.’

Rachel smiled. ‘That’s small communities for you.’

‘Yeah. Tell me about it.’

‘Is it all bad, then? The different way things operate here, I mean.’

Caroline thought for a moment. ‘No. No it’s not. I think secretly I actually quite like it. It just takes a lot of getting used to.’

‘What was it that brought you here? Work?’

‘Sort of. But I think it’s more of a case of me bringing work here. I’ve always lived in London, so never really knew anything else. I hadn’t really seen how bad things had got and how they were affecting us until I took a step back and looked at it.’

‘That’s why it’s so important sometimes to just stop, breathe and look at the here and now.

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.