“Is not,” Conor rebutted like a child. “I’ll rearrange the travelling plans.”
“Cool.”
“Once you get to London, your new partner will meet you there.”
Gabriel said, “Sounds good.”
“Alright. Let me call you with a revised schedule.” Conor hung up.
Gabriel gripped the phone with both hands and rested it on his forehead. Conor was not rude or condescending, but why would he want to bring Gabriel’s condition up if he wasn’t going to do anything about it? Probably to let Gabriel know that his secret was in the open. A power play. But it didn’t matter. Gabriel always remembered what Joshua had said once when he’d come home crying because the bullies at school wouldn’t stop calling him ‘weirdo’. If people had a problem with his condition, it was just that.
Their problem.
Thanking his dad, Gabriel sat up and tossed the phone into the hospital bag. When the phone landed, something vivid and shiny was exposed from within. On closer inspection, he found that the item jutted out of his clothes, the ones he’d worn when arresting Ryatt.
Gabriel pulled his jeans out and what was in the pocket?
A Zesty.
Ryatt must have slipped it in when Gabriel was out cold.
He grabbed the candy and examined it. The déjà vu returned, and that melancholic sensation of familiarity crept into his mind, stunning his thoughts. The buried memory was somehow related to Ryatt. Gabriel was sure that he had seen him before.
But no matter how much he tried or squeezed his temples, he just couldn’t remember.
Frustrated, he walked over to the window to get some much-needed fresh air.
Calabria, Roman’s criminal hangout, was now a burned-out charcoal skeleton, cordoned by yellow crime scene tape.
Smiling, Gabriel closed his eyes and filled his lungs to their capacity a few times. But the oxygen did not ease the heckling memory. In fact, for some reason, staring out of an open window at darkness while holding Zesty intensified the uneasiness.
A strange urge to eat the lollipop overwhelmed Gabriel.
He pinched the corner of the Zesty’s wrapper and pulled it loose. The yellow sphere was sprinkled with tiny red thingamajigs.
“Screw it,” he muttered and stuck it in his mouth.
As the ginger candy melted between his cheek and teeth, the aroma it released boosted his ability to recall.
Wasn’t the sense of smell a powerful tool to remember the associated incidents from the past, as it was linked more strongly to memory than other senses? It should be, because the déjà vu finally found its origin: a really old event from his childhood.
Gabriel’s eyes widened in recognition and the world around froze in time. At last, he remembered where he’d seen Ryatt before.
Also by Nathan Senthil
Check out the first and second Detective Gabriel Chase thrillers:
Self-styled Mr. Bunny wants to be the most notorious killer in US history. With four high profile figures slowly hanging to their deaths, he’s off to a good start. NYPD homicide detective Gabriel Chase much catch him, no matter at what cost. But who will have the last laugh?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B085Y9XR2B/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B085Y9XR2B/
When Detective Chase determines to pursue Mr. Bunny’s tip-off that another serial killer is at large, he is met with disinterest from the authorities. Suddenly falling seriously out of favor with the FBI and suspended from his position, he endeavors to hunt him down alone. He is looking for a homicidal maniac who is cannibalizing his victims. But one who has learnt from the best how to evade the police. Chase will have to find a crack in his armor.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08663TYTG/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B08663TYTG/
Other titles of interest
LATENT DAMAGE by Ian Robinson
When a respected member of the community is murdered, it is not the kind of knife crime London detectives DI Nash and DS Moretti are used to dealing with. Someone has an agenda and it is rotten to the core. But catching this killer will take all of their police skills and more.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08TX1QLDC
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TX1QLDC
NO AGE TO DIE by John Dean
When a dangerous convicted felon is released from prison, DCI Blizzard makes it clear he is unwelcome on his patch. But when a local church takes the man in, Blizzard has to deal with the community uproar. When a local youth is killed it will take all of the detective’s skills to right a wrong.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08W5BPDV8
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W5BPDV8
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The Innocents Page 29