Ellie looked at the space alongside Maria, but chose to sit in one of the high-backed red armchairs. She looked at her watch; it was 4:46 a.m.
‘Why don’t you stretch out,’ Ellie said to Maria. ‘Rest while you can. I’ll wake you up if…’
Maria nodded and looked at Ellie properly for the first time. ‘Are you Ellie Grange?’ she asked.
Ellie hesitated. ‘Yes,’ she answered tentatively.
‘Andy likes working with you,’ Maria said. ‘He says you are a lovely girl.’ Her mouth almost broke into a smile. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Thank you for looking after Andy.’
Ellie peered at Maria, her lips trembling as she fought back her conflicting emotion.
‘I’m sure he will fight through this,’ Ellie said quietly. ‘If anyone can bounce back, it will be Andy.’
Maria nodded and slowly lifted her feet off the floor and curled up on the sofa.
07:42 hours
A gentle rattle on the door woke Ellie from an uncomfortable sleeping position in the chair. She blinked focus back into her eyes and glanced over at Maria – she was still in a foetal position on the sofa. The door swung inwards and Ellie quickly lowered her legs and straightened herself in the seat. It was Inspector Castle and Detective Sergeant Savage from the CID department.
‘Hello, Ellie,’ Inspector Castle said softly. ‘Everything alright?’ She gave a lingering look over at Maria.
‘Yes, thanks, Ma’am,’ Ellie said, looking down at her watch. Her team would already have gone off duty at seven.
‘I popped in on you both earlier,’ the inspector said.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry for—’
‘Ellie,’ the inspector said holding her hand up to stop Ellie speaking further. ‘It’s okay. You’ve both had a bad shock. Has she been sleeping long?’
‘Yes… I think so.’
‘Sergeant Savage is going to take over from us,’ the inspector said. ‘Time to go home, Ellie.’
Ellie looked over at Maria who was now stirring on the seat. ‘I don’t want to,’ Ellie said. ‘I want to stay here with Maria.’
The inspector smiled thinly and shook her head. ‘I’m not asking you, Ellie.’
Sergeant Savage stepped forwards. ‘It’s okay, I’ll make sure Maria and Andrew are looked after.’ Savage was a rotund man with a broad smile. Ellie had always found him to be one of the more welcoming and easy-to-deal-with skippers in the CID office.
Maria moved and opened her eyes.
‘Hello, Maria. I’m Inspector Castle, and this is Detective Sergeant Mick Savage from the Criminal Investigation Department. His team will be looking after Andrew’s case.’
‘Hello, Maria,’ Savage said stepping forwards and shaking her by the hand. ‘I’ve spoken to the medical team before seeing you. They are hopeful that Andrew will make a full recovery in time.’
‘Can I see him?’ Maria asked standing swiftly to her feet.
‘Soon,’ Savage said. ‘They say we can see him soon.’
‘I want to stay. I want to see Deano,’ Ellie said towards the inspector.
‘An officer from the day shift is on their way over to relieve you,’ the inspector said. ‘I appreciate you are worried about Andrew, but you also need to factor in that you will be fatigued from the shift and I don’t want you driving home too late and putting yourself at risk.’
Ellie nodded. ‘I know, but I’d rather stay. I can catch up on my sleep later.’
The door opened, everyone turned and a doctor and nurse came into the room.
‘Mr Deans is now comfortable and awake. He says he is happy to see everyone, but I’d kindly request not all at once, we don’t want to overwhelm him.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Inspector Castle said. ‘Well, first and foremost I think Maria should go through, don’t you?’
Everyone agreed and the doctor held out an arm and escorted Maria away from the room.
The inspector stared at Ellie and smiled. ‘That’s encouraging news. Do you want to go next? Mick and I can wait to see Andrew.’
Ellie nodded. ‘That would be good. Thank you, Ma’am.’
The inspector was still smiling. ‘You’ve done well tonight, Ellie. I’ve heard from the doctors that your quick thinking saved Andrew from losing too much blood.’
Ellie shrugged. ‘It’s my job.’
‘Spend a couple of minutes with Andrew and then you must go home,’ the inspector said. ‘Tonight is Friday, and you know what that means.’
Ellie couldn’t think about the next shift, but she nodded agreement.
‘I know this has been particularly hard for you,’ the inspector said. ‘I think we all know how fond you are of Andrew.’
Ellie’s eyes widened and she turned away as blood rushed into her cheeks. The inspector touched the back of Ellie’s hand and gave her a motherly smile.
After ten more long minutes, Maria returned to the room with a nurse close beside her. Maria was crying and looked barely able to walk. Ellie’s heart skipped as she watched Maria being assisted back onto the sofa.
The inspector looked at Ellie. ‘Two minutes, Ellie, that’s all we’re being given now.’
Ellie nodded, followed the nurse into an enclosed ward where she saw Deans lying in bed with intravenous lines connected to his arms and a large white padding wrapped around the top of his head. He was awake and as she edged closer, she saw the recognition in his eyes. He slowly lifted a hand and she grasped hold of it.
‘Hey, Ells,’ Deans said weakly beneath the oxygen mask. ‘That was some night shift.’
Ellie nodded and tears formed in the corner of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away with her free hand.
‘Did we get ‘em?’ Deans asked.
Ellie smiled and a blub escaped from her mouth. ‘Yes,’ she breathed.
Deans closed his eyes and Ellie could tell he was smiling beneath the mask.
‘Thanks for staying, Ellie,’ Deans said after a silent moment.
‘I couldn’t leave you,’ Ellie said.
‘You have to go,’ Deans said. ‘You’ll need your energy for tonight.’
Ellie squeezed his hand. He was right. She looked at her watch – it was already way past eight and she still had to return to the station with her equipment, change and collect her car.
‘Take care, Deano,’ she said. ‘I’ll try to pop in and see you later, work permitting.’
Deans smiled with his eyes and lowered his hand back onto the bed. Ellie watched him for another thirty seconds, then turned away and walked out of the ward.
She heaved a deep sigh and saw an officer from the day shift entering the private room containing Maria. That was how twenty-four-seven policing worked; one in, one out. Two other teams would be responding to the daytime incidents before Ellie and her team were on duty again.
DS Savage came out of the room and dangled a set of police car keys in front of Ellie’s face.
‘You’re going to need these to get back to the station,’ he said. ‘Get some sleep. If you like, you can call me later. I’ll let you know how he’s doing.’
Ellie took the keys and sloped off towards the exit. She was exhausted, and in just over twelve hours’ time, she’d be on duty and doing it all over again.
The end
Introducing the gripping Detective Deans Series debut:
STORM LOG-0505
Prologue
What made someone the ideal victim? he speculated.
Were they created that way, right from the start? Was it a case of nature or nurture? On the other hand, was it all down to luck, perhaps? Maybe they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He chuckled. There was no such thing as the wrong time. Everyone had a time, regardless of how it may play out.
He stared down intently at the washed-out family snap as if it was the first time he had seen it. The truth was, he had studied this photo many times before and with equal fascination.
He was alone. There was no noise from the TV or radio, only the s
ound of his own trancelike, metronomic breathing, eyes refusing to deviate from the photo as he gazed down at Mum, Dad and himself.
To anyone else it would be a classic family photograph: two children, a boy of about six and a girl of about eight, wearing woolly hats and scarves, frolicking in the snow with their parents. For him, though, it was more. It had always meant much more.
Back, then, to the question. He smiled, and closed the two halves of the black faux-leather photo album, carefully placed it into the box and slotted it in the correct position, the right way around, between number 3 and number 5.
He snorted joss stick-scented air through his flared nostrils and cast his mind back. The first was easy – he had been left with little alternative. The second fell somewhere between curiosity and education. And what of the next? He had been counting down her final days since they first met. She was… ideal, but she was not going to be alone. The one after her, he would leave to fate, and for the sporting hell of it.
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ALSO BY JAMES D MORTAIN
STORM LOG-0505
(Detective Deans Book One)
A missing college sweetheart. A detective on the brink. Four souls desperately linked by murder.
The wait is almost over for Detective Andrew Deans; years of agony and despair hanging on the results of his wife’s fertility treatment. But a student is missing. And he must find her.
Compelled to leave his wife in Bath, Deans heads to North Devon, where he encounters Denise Moon, a medium, who exposes him to a psychic dimension he could never have imagined existed, in what soon becomes a murder hunt.
Gripped by a mysterious happening attributed to his own paranormal awakening and alienated from all but his new mystical muse, Deans is closing in on a sophisticated killer, but all is not as it seems and Deans' future is about to change.
The utterly gripping series debut and UK Amazon bestseller
“A seat of the pants, adrenaline rush of a book. I was hooked from page 1 and was gutted that the book ended.” Goodreads reviewer
Click the link below to download your copy.
https://www.books2read.com/stormlog
COMING 22nd NOVEMBER 2017
DEAD BY DESIGN
(Detective Deans Book Two)
How far would you go to save the lives you value the most?
A young couple in their prime is found dead in the marital bed. As they lie naked, staring at each other with eyes wide open – filled with fear, his colleagues assume a double suicide, but Detective Andrew Deans senses that darker forces are at work.
Deans is facing an awakening – a spiritual birth, but he is stuck in a living a nightmare.
Those around him are watching… judging… expecting him to break.
As he waits to hear the news he dreads most, Deans receives an unmarked DVD and the true meaning of horror is revealed.
Playing by the rules is getting him nowhere.
Now, it’s time to do things his way.
But death and tragedy haven’t finished with him… yet.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Every writer should have a team in the background keeping them sane and heading in the right direction, and I am lucky enough to have a special bunch of people who do just that. So, Varun, Phil, Terry and Liz – as ever, I am indebted to you. Thanks again to Polgarus Studio for taking the stress out of formatting and not forgetting you, the reader – I hope you enjoyed this small snippet into my writing and I hope you will enjoy one of my other books in the future.
Until we meet again…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Former CID Detective with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary turned crime fiction writer, James D Mortain brings compelling action and gritty authenticity to his writing through years of police experience. He now lives in North Devon with his family and dreams of one day becoming a full-time writer.
You can connect with James via his website www.jamesdmortain.com, on Twitter @JamesDMortain and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jamesdmortain. Please send any emails to [email protected].
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2017 James D Mortain
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
This book is a work of fiction. References to real establishments, organizations and locations are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity. All other names, characters, events or incidents are a work of the author’s imagination and are fictitious.
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews.
First published by Manvers Publishing 2017.
Cover design by James D Mortain
Formatting by Polgarus Studio
ISBN: 978-0-9935687-6-3 (Mobi)
ISBN: 978-0-9935687-7-0 (ePub)
Manvers Publishing
Spindlewood
Northam
Bideford
Devon
EX39 3QH
[email protected]
The Night Shift (A Short Story): A gripping and realistic police action thriller Page 4