Living Death by Graham Masterton Read Free Book Online Page A

fair bit of poking around. But don’t you worry. We’ll soon have you dancing again. It’s going to be “eat your heart out, Jean Butler”.’
    Siobhán looked into the doctor’s eyes. They were fixed on her now, very intently, as if he were calculating exactly what he was going to do to her. Because of his mask, though, she still couldn’t work out what he was feeling. Pity? Anxiety? Or was it something else altogether? His mask was sucked in and out as he breathed, and she noticed that he was breathing much quicker now, which strangely reminded her of Tadgh when they were in bed together, and he was close to his vinegar stroke. Surely he wasn’t excited ?
    He disappeared from her view, but he returned a few moments later pushing a small metal trolley with bottles tinkling together and a metal kidney bowl. He lifted the sleeve of her nightgown and wiped her upper arm with a cold medicated tissue. Then he pierced one of the bottles with the needle of a hypodermic syringe, held it up to the light, and tapped it.
    ‘There,’ he said. ‘Only a little sting, nothing worse than a gnat-bite, and you’ll be in dreamland. When you wake up, Siobhán, I can promise you this, my dear, you won’t know yourself.’

5
    As she drove through the drizzle into the city, Katie’s iPhone pinged every few seconds with messages and emails, and when she reached her office she found a stack of messages and files waiting for her on her desk. The red light on her phone was flashing.
    She was still shaking out her wet raincoat when Detective Dooley knocked at her door. He was looking exceptionally smart this afternoon, in a tight navy-blue suit. He had trimmed his beard and his hair was brushed flat, too, instead of vertical, as it usually was. Most of the time he wore skinny jeans and sloppy Aran sweaters and could easily be taken for a college student. That was why Katie frequently sent him to Cork’s dance clubs and discos to check up on the peddlers of MDMA and other recreational drugs.
    ‘I’m in court this afternoon,’ he told her, before she could even ask him. ‘That Shalom Park rape.’
    ‘Serious?’ said Katie. ‘I didn’t think they were hearing that until the middle of next month.’
    ‘It’s only a preliminary hearing. One of the defendants changed his plea to guilty last night and he’s prepared to shop the other three. I did text you about it.’
    ‘I’m sorry. I’ve had a rake of messages this morning and I haven’t had a chance to check them all yet. Well, that’s good news. I thought it was going to be touch-and-go, getting a conviction for that one. Which defendant was it?’
    ‘Bryan Neeley, the youngest. The GAA player.’
    ‘What changed his mind, do you know?’
    ‘It’s only hearsay, like, but I think the girl’s father might have got a message through to him. Something along the lines of, “If the court doesn’t punish you, then me and my friends will, some dark night when you least expect it, and I don’t suppose you want to be spending the rest of your life singing like a Bee Gee.”’
    ‘I’ve gone deaf all of a sudden and I didn’t hear that,’ said Katie. ‘But fingers crossed for a good result, anyhow. Was there something else you wanted to see me about?’
    ‘Oh, yes. This shooting at Ballinroe East. Detective Sergeant Begley went down there again this morning, like, to see how the Bandon cops are getting on with it.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘They let the kennel owner go home about lunchtime, but he’s given them an inventory of all his dogs that were taken. I’ve already circulated all of the pet shops and all of the breeders I know of. I’ve also passed a copy to Inspector O’Rourke, so that he can contact all of the Travellers he’s pally with, in case any of the dogs get offered for racing. I’ve been in touch with C and E at Ringaskiddy, too, warning them to keep an eye out for any dogs being exported. I know it’s too early to expect any kind of response, but you know