The Death of Jessica Ripley by Andrew Barrett

Author:Andrew Barrett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CSI Eddie Collins - Book 5
Publisher: The Ink Foundry
Published: 2020-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifty-Two

There was water.

Each man leaned against the worktop, staring at the other, coffee in hand. Eddie lit another cigarette and this time Troy accepted one.

“So what is this place?”

“My folks’ house. Well – my dad’s. Mum’s dead.”

“So where is he, your dad?”

“He’s living with me.”

“Just till he has this redecorated?”

“Something like that. He was burgled. They took his boiler and flooded the place. Ruined it. So he’s staying with me. He’s forgotten about this place now, I think. He never mentions it any more.”

Troy winked. “Securing your inheritance, eh?”

Eddie dragged on the cigarette and glared across at him.

“Have I hit a nerve?”

“It’s here for him when, or if, he wants to move back in. I’m doing it up a bit at a time when I can afford to pay the builder. He’s welcome to stay with me for as long as he likes. I’ll keep this place for him, so he has an option. But I couldn’t give a shit about any inheritance. You should know I’m not bothered about stuff like that. Possessions.” He shrugged. “Can’t take ‘em with you.”

Troy looked away, and Eddie wondered if just the tiniest bit of him was embarrassed by what he’d said.

“I come here every now and then. Check up on progress. And I like to come here and think sometimes.”

“So he doesn’t know about the building work, your dad?”

Eddie shook his head. “Never mentions the place. I think he’d be scared to come back.”

“So you’re doing all this work for someone who’ll never come back here?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my old family home. Fond memories, you know? And he’s my dad.”

“Proper Samaritan, aren’t you? A do-gooder.” Troy was grinning, hackles raised, hostile all over again. “You ever thought life would be easier if you just kept your fucking nose out of other people’s business?”

“If you’re referring to you—”

“Fucking perceptive of you!”

“No. You couldn’t do this job when your head’s all mashed up. Don’t you get it? You were a menace at the pickaxe scene, but at Doc’s scene you were almost brilliant.”

Troy licked his lips, and his eyes flicked away from Eddie, knocked off guard by a simple compliment.

“You really are good at this. When you’re not using.”

“So how did you know the drugs man? I mean, you can’t look up ‘Fake Drugs Tester’ in the Yellow Pages, can you?”

“Gibbon? He’s become a friend of mine. Someone I trust with delicate issues.” He sipped his coffee, grimacing at how awful it was. “He was my…” Eddie searched the ceiling for the word, or for a replacement. “He was my drugs tester. A real drugs tester.”

There, he’d said it. Another dirty secret added into the air of this place. “I was an alcoholic.”

Troy stood still and stared at him, perhaps enjoying watching him squirm. “So… you were where I am?”

Eddie nodded.

“And you managed to do the job with your head all mashed up?”

“Look, I know what you’re thinking, that a fellow sufferer should have handled it differently.”

“Yep, that’s pretty much what I’m thinking.

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