The Worm in the Bud by Chris Collett

Author:Chris Collett [Collett, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General
ISBN: 9780748112715
Google: a_7q2jvmrfAC
Amazon: B002TXZRZ4
Barnesnoble: B002TXZRZ4
Goodreads: 6565576
Publisher: Piatkus
Published: 2003-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

It had been another long evening. After time spent pursuing mobile phone companies only to establish that Kerry-Ann’s number was untraceable, Mariner had whiled away a couple of hours attending to overdue paperwork, before reluctantly deciding that it was time to go home. On his way out, he almost fell over a box of assorted hardware in the corridor. ‘What’s all this?’ he asked the duty sergeant.

‘The surveillance techs have been spring cleaning,’ said the sergeant. ‘That’s all the obsolete stuff waiting for disposal.’

Something lying on the top of the pile caught Mariner’s eye. He knew who could use one of those and, what’s more, it would give him the perfect excuse to take a detour on his way home.

‘So it’s all being thrown away?’ he checked again.

‘Waiting for the bin men, so to speak,’ the sergeant confirmed. ‘Help yourself.’

Mariner did, and sorting through the rest of the box he came up with the unit’s other component part, batteries even included. He ran a quick check to make sure that it still functioned. It did. That would do nicely.

Turning into the residents’ parking bay outside Anna Barham’s flat however, he was disappointed to note that her car wasn’t there. He had the choice of waiting it out or going home. A brief flashback of Jenny’s orgasmic cries came back to haunt him, and he settled for the former, flicking on the radio to keep him occupied.

‘Impotence can strike any man at any age, for a variety of reasons,’ a health expert was saying. ‘And in tonight’s programme we’ll be exploring how this and other common problems can affect thousands of men.’ God but life was full of cruel coincidences. Mariner reached out again to switch it off. His love life might not be at its best right now, but impotent? No way, Jose. His finger hovered over the on/off button. On the other hand, he had precious little else to do. Leaving it on, he slid down in the seat, closed his eyes and pretended not to listen.

Dazzling headlights sweeping over him roused Mariner from a graphic description of the premature ejaculation avoidance technique. Anna and Jamie Barham were home.

He jumped up, and in his haste to silence the radio, banged his knee hard on the dashboard. Shit! He turned it off, refusing to allow his mind to speculate on where Anna and Jamie might have been until this hour, but was reassured that at least that they were alone. Mariner waited while Anna parked up, then, picking up the tracking device from the seat beside him, climbed out of his car.

He hadn’t expected to be welcomed with open arms, but, as he limped over, carrying in his hand the small black box sprouting wires, he saw how tired she looked and noted, with some disappointment, her apparent indifference towards him. He pressed on regardless, holding up the equipment for her to view. ‘Hi. I saw this, and thought of you,’ he said.

‘Thanks,’ she said, forcing some kind of enthusiasm towards the so-far unidentified object.

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