The Fall: Tales From the Gulp 2 by Alan Baxter

Author:Alan Baxter [Baxter, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780645001945
Google: 103qzgEACAAJ
Amazon: B09QPS8VN3
Publisher: Alan Baxter
Published: 2022-04-11T18:30:00+00:00

“I told him to bloody well talk to someone,” Doc Blaney told Leading Senior Constable Anderson. His face was twisted in despair.

“Call me Barbara,” the police officer said. “You found him?”

“He said he was going to come to the Bowlo, and then he never showed. I got worried. His wife left him, you know?”

Barbara nodded, kept her expression as neutral as possible. “I did know that, yes.”

“Blew his bloody brains out, stupid cunt!” Blaney snapped. “What a fucken waste, I told him he could talk to us.” He looked up sharply. “Sorry, ’scuse language. He bloody loved that woman, you know. Always so bloody proud of her. ‘Imagine me,’ he’d say, ‘punching so far above my weight!’ And then she up and leaves him. None of us are perfect, are we? I mean, especially the blokes, right? We’re fucken useless a lot of the time, but he bloody loved her.”

“Do you need to talk to anyone?” Barbara asked.

“What? Nah, I’m good. I’m a doctor, I’ve seen plenty of horrible stuff. And I’ve got me mates. Thanks, though.”

“Okay, good. I’ve got your details. I might need to ask a few more details. There’s an...” Barbara paused, knowing what small-town gossip was like. Especially Gulp gossip. Regardless of what they were learning, suicide was clear. No one else was anywhere near the place. The locals didn’t need to know they suspected guilt rather than grief. “There’s an ongoing investigation,” she said. “These things have a lot of due process.”

“Course, yeah, no worries. Happy to help wherever I can.”

Scrapper sat in the corner, ears flat, eyebrows tight together. He had been trembling the whole time.

“We need to secure the house for the coroner,” Barbara said. “Do you know anyone who can take care of the dog?”

“My old bluey died last year,” Doc Blaney said. “Been putting off getting a new dog.” He crouched down. “You want to come with me, boy?” Scrapper came forward, head low, tail tucked, and pressed into the Doc’s hand.

“Is that okay?” Barbara asked.

“Sure. We’ve known each other a long while, eh? Come on, Scraps. We can remember Clem together.”

Barbara watched out of the kitchen window as Doc Blaney got Scrapper to jump up into the back of a battered Mitsubishi station wagon, then climbed into the front seat and drove away. She sighed. “What a bloody mess.”

She pulled out her phone to make some calls.

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