Gatecrasher by Robert Young Read Free Book Online Page A

ghoulish smile that suddenly made Tyler feel uneasy, not just because of the coldness that it displayed but because he noticed that he was doing the same.
    ‘So no loose end then.’ Drennan said. ‘All done. He vanishes and nobody knows how or why. No trail.’
    Tyler hesitated and Drennan’s smile sagged on his face. ‘She said something that didn’t sound great.’
    ‘Well go on then for fuck’s sake, tell me.’ Drennan snapped when Tyler left a pause.
    ‘She said “and the man that brought him in said he didn’t know him either.”’ Tyler said and let the words hang there for a moment. ‘So a new loose end I’d say. Some Good Samaritan helped take him in. Not that it did Tony any good.’
    ‘Or our Samaritan.’ said Drennan, his eyes looking hard as he turned back to his co mputer. ‘Who’d cover that then… ah,yes.’ he said and dialled another number.

 
12
 
 
    Monday . 4pm .
     
     
    Campbell looked at his watch and noted with dismay that there was still at least an hour before he could get out of the office.
    Not that he’d really done anything of note so far. He had been there for just two hours. Having set about tidying up his flat for a second time in as many days it had taken the best part of two hours and another hour to get in to work.
    Since arriving his time had been spent talking with colleagues about the weekend and the subsequent burglary, staring blankly at his screen, reading through various articles and reports without taking in a single thing and emailing his friends about his awful last few days.
    The hangover that had dogged him throughout Sunday had still not cleared entirely and he had been unable to sleep properly worrying about the implications of the death of his gatecrasher.
    He had trawled through various news sites on the internet but had found nothing about the incident; not that he’d expected to but it killed half an hour so the effort was not a total waste. He had emailed some of his friends about the party but none of them had seen anything more than he had and most just wanted to know what had happened and Campbell found their curiosity morbid and unsettling and gave only brief responses to their breathless enquiries. It kept his mood low and ensured that his mind kept returning to the sketchy memories of that night.
    Volunteering to make drinks for his colleagues Campbell returned to his desk and resolved to get some work done for the remainder of the day before somebody said something to him about his lack of productivity. He would knuckle down and the time would pass quicker and then he could get out of here.
    But in an hour Campbell was back into the same rut that he’d been stuck in only now the tiredness was much worse and his eyes felt as sore as his head. His mind was wandering again, turning back to the slideshow of memories of the party, his stomach turning as he remembered the drinking.
    Hanging his head and closing his eyes Campbell tried to clear his thoughts and turn back to work but suddenly he was seeing the man lying on his kitchen floor again. He could hear people shuffling out of his home on the other side of the closed kitchen door, the shallow breathing of the man next to him, the ambulance announcing its approach.
    He was looking down at the man, at his blood. He was trying to focus but his eyes seemed unable to stay trained on the same point for any length of time. Then the head raised unsteadily from the floor and Campbell ’s heart beat pounded yet faster as the panic and alcohol did their work. The man’s head was turning slightly toward Campbell .
    ‘Stiff and cold.’ he said.
    Stiff and cold.

 
13
 
 
    Monday . 4pm .
     
     
    ‘Its me, ’ said Drennan.
    When the reply came the policeman’s voice was lower than the bright clear tone he’d used to answer the phone. ‘Mr Drennan. What’s up?’
    ‘Now why would there have to be something up? Maybe I just like the sound of your voice.’ The tone was mocking, confident.