Fever Of The Bone by Val McDermid

Author:Val McDermid
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Fiction
ISBN: 9781443404389
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2010-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

Tony stared down at his shoes, shoulders in a defensive hunch. ‘Thanks, Alvin,’ he mumbled, feeling like a barely tolerated idiot. ‘I appreciate you coming down to vouch for me.’

Ambrose had a look of angry disgust on his face. ‘I stuck my neck out to get the DI to bring you on board. And now this? This is the stuff of legend. And not in a good way. Now I look like a complete twat for even suggesting you. That’ll be my rep all over this force now. “Alvin Ambrose, the twat who hired the profiler that got arrested for being an intruder in his own house.” Thanks, Doc.’

‘I mean it, I’m really sorry.’

‘Why didn’t you just tell me about your dad?’

Tony sighed. ‘He wasn’t my dad. That’s the problem, really.’ Explaining himself to Ambrose, that was the worst of it. He’d spent his life building walls against the world, keeping to himself the things he wanted no one else to know. And all it took to bring the walls crashing down was one act of madness. This must be how his patients felt.

It had been the stuff of comedy, though there had actually been nothing funny about it. The screams of the estate agent had galvanised Tony, sending him diving out of bed in his boxers to grab his clothes. Unfortunately, it had also galvanised the house viewers, who had had the presence of mind to call the police and report an intruder.

The police had arrived in an amazingly short time. Tony was barely dressed, the estate agent still freaked out, the viewers with her on the other side of the door, refusing to let him out. In vain he had tried to explain that he had every right to be in the house. The fact that he had keys cut no ice with the cops. What made sense to them was the estate agent’s story that he’d viewed the house as a prospective buyer the previous day and now he was claiming he lived there. He had to admit, he’d have believed her. He’d have thought the madman in the bedroom definitely needed to be taken down to the police station till either he could be sectioned or his story could be verified. Or not, as they were pretty sure would be the case.

Once they were at the nick, it had all been sorted out very quickly. A call to his solicitor and another to DS Ambrose had straightened things out. He’d been released, with a none too gentle warning that next time he wanted to sleep in a house for sale, he should tell the estate agent beforehand. When he’d emerged, chastened and embarrassed, Ambrose had been waiting for him, his expression a lot less friendly than it had been to date.

‘What do you mean, he wasn’t your dad?’ Ambrose demanded as they drove off.

‘I never knew him. I didn’t even know his name till he died and left me the house.’

Ambrose gave a long whistle. ‘That’d fuck with your head.

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