The Devil In The Sky: Australian Crime Mystery by Summers Jason

Author:Summers, Jason
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

The man running from the shop was fast, but for what Darcy lacked in speed, he made up for in sheer size. Every step he took was like two for the man he was chasing and he managed to grab the back of his white hoodie three shops down and drag him to the ground.

‘Hold still!’ he yelled at the man who scrabbled and kicked and scratched. ‘I’m police. Mate, if you don’t stop, I’ll arrest you!’

That seemed to slow the man and the fight in his limbs dissipated. Darcy had a knee in his back, and although he wasn’t putting a lot of weight on it, he could hear the man struggling to breathe. ‘I’m going to lift my knee off. If you go to run again, I’ll arrest you, alright?’

The man nodded and Darcy removed his knee. He held out his hand and pulled the man up to his feet. Darcy leaned back down and picked the crumpled piece of banana bread off the ground and handed it to the man. ‘If you wanted the bread, you should have just asked me. I would have bought it for you.’ The man looked at the bread, like he was unsure that what he had done was wrong. Darcy shook the man by the shoulder. ‘Oi. Are you okay?’

The man looked at Darcy with a vacant stare and Darcy wondered whether he might have hit his head. The war memorial was just down the road and he led him slowly down the footpath towards a picnic bench. He had a bottle of water in his hand and he slid it over the table to the man who picked it up quickly and drank from it thirstily. He closed the bottle, placed it back on the table and wiped his mouth. ‘Thank you.’

‘What’s your name?’

‘Tim,’ the man replied.

Darcy looked at the man now up close. He looked only a few years older than him, maybe early thirties, but looked like he lived rough. He was unshaven and his eyes were bloodshot. His nails were cracked and broken, and he had a deep scratch on one of his hands. ‘Tim, I’m Senior Constable Darcy Comer. I’m a cop here in town. Are you in trouble?’

Tears began to well in Tim’s eyes as he nodded. ‘I was.’

‘What happened?’ Darcy asked gently.

‘I joined The Shattered Veil. That’s what.’

Darcy stiffened in his seat. A member of the Veil? Here right now in front of him. This would be interesting. ‘What did they do to you?’

Tim picked nervously at his squashed banana bread laid out on the table. ‘I joined two weeks ago. I’ve been following them online for two years.’

Darcy stopped him there. ‘What honestly would drive you to follow someone like him?’

Tim caught his next words and then stopped again. Darcy cursed himself. He needed to just listen, not say a word, and let him get his story out.

‘Family, officer. I have no-one. My dad died when I was younger. My mother died a year ago.

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