Dark Circles by Derek Fee Read Free Book Online Page B

conversation when he entered. It hadn’t registered with him that he had been talking about Grant’s autopsy.
    ‘Yes, I read about the poor young man in the paper. It was some sort of sexual thing.’
    ‘Erotic asphyxiation,’ Wilson said.
    ‘Which is?’ she asked.
    Wilson made an attempt to explain Grant’s preferred method of sexual arousal to his partner’s mother. The sanitised version didn’t pass muster.
    ‘I see,’ she said when he’d finished. ‘So, he was some kind of sexual deviant.’
    ‘I suppose it depends on your definition of sexual deviancy. What was considered deviant yesterday is common practice today.’
    ‘So why the urgency for the autopsy?’ she asked.
    So why all the questions? Wilson thought. Then he remembered the flood of questions from the cadets. It appeared that both the young and the old have the time to think up a surfeit of questions. ‘There are some discrepancies in the autopsy.’
    ‘What kind of discrepancies?’ she asked.
    Wilson was tiring of this conversation. At that moment, there was a noise from the hallway and they both turned to see Kate enter the open plan living room. ‘Kate, darling,’ Wilson moved towards her but she evaded his embrace.
    ‘Into the whiskey already,’ she said dumping her expensive leather briefcase beside her desk.
    It was going to be one of those evenings, he thought.
    ‘Kate,’ Helen moved to her daughter and hugged her. ‘You’re looking so tired. Have you eaten today?’
    Wilson could see the tears welled up in Kate’s eyes as she withdrew herself from her mother’s arms.
    ‘It’s been a bit hectic,’ she said as she slipped away from her mother’s arms and flopped onto the settee.
    ‘I’ll get started on dinner,’ Wilson said. ‘I’ve no idea what’s in the fridge so it’ll have to be pot luck.’
    ‘Count me out,’ Kate said.
    He looked at her and saw that she was on the verge of tears, again. He was now walking on eggshells. The smallest remark would be enough to set her off. ‘What about you, Helen?’ he asked.
    ‘I had an absolutely huge lunch,’ she replied. ‘Anyway, I have to meet some friends for drinks. I’ll phone for a taxi from my room.’ She slipped quietly away.
    For once Wilson wished she had stayed.
    ‘What are you working on?’
    ‘Nothing much,’ Kate replied bundling and removing papers from her case before dumping them on her desk. ‘The Prosecution is trying to move up the date of McIver’s trial. I’m trying to delay it a bit so I can concentrate on the Cummerford defence. Oh Christ but I’m so tired.’
    This was the point of return. Whatever was said next would lead to either an argument or a reconciliation. ‘You need to see someone,’ Wilson said.
    She turned to face him, red streaks colouring her pale face. ‘I’m the one that needs to see someone.’ She spat the words out. ‘What about you? Maybe you should see someone who can teach you how to display a little bit of sensitivity. Don’t you feel grief? Has that stupid job you love so much stripped you of the basis of humanity? Don’t you feel?’
    ‘Of course I feel.’ He made to move towards her, but she recoiled.
    ‘I don’t see it,’ she said. ‘Show me how you feel. Show me your anger, your depression. Do you have nightmares about our dead child? Do you feel panic? I feel all those things. I’m angry with God, I’m even angry with the doctors at the hospital for not saving our child, but most of all I’m angry with you.’ She marched towards him and started to beat on his chest. ‘You great unfeeling brute. You don’t have a sympathetic bone in your body. And you think that I should see somebody.’ She slid down his body and ended up crying on the floor.
    Wilson was stunned. What amazed him most was that he had no answer to her accusations. He had already accepted the fact that their child was dead. He didn’t really grieve or feel anger. He had flipped through the process and had already reached