Free DEAD GONE by Luca Veste Page B

Murphy. ‘You don’t think I had anything to do with this, do you?’
    ‘Not saying anything yet,’ Murphy replied, keeping eye contact with him. ‘I’m just covering all bases. Nothing to worry about I’d imagine.’
    Will seemed to accept this with a nod. He gave Rossi a few names and took out his phone to provide her with numbers.
    Murphy turned his attention to Rebecca. ‘What was Donna studying?’
    Rebecca had watched the exchange between Murphy and her boyfriend open-mouthed, and took a few seconds to respond. Murphy tapped his foot, waiting. ‘History,’ she said eventually.
    ‘We’ll need a list of anyone else she was friends with, anyone she had arguments with, or fallen out with lately. Don’t leave anyone out. Understand?’
    Rebecca nodded, before breaking down and crying once more.
    Murphy rolled his eyes
    ‘Don’t you think that was a little harsh?’
    Murphy grunted at Rossi in reply. Bloody students, he thought, which was about as far as his sympathy went for the couple they’d just left. He was driving back to the station, his foot not really lifting much off the accelerator. He wanted to get back and start making some headway. Time was passing them by.
    ‘I mean, they seemed pretty upset,’ Rossi continued. ‘They’re only students you know. Just felt a little over the top.’
    ‘Laura, if I want advice, I’ll ask for it. Now instead of wondering about those two dipshit students and their feelings, let’s work out what’s next.’
    Rossi sighed. ‘Okay. I’m guessing we start at the university? Start interviewing?’
    ‘Yes. We check in first and get the team working. There’s a lot of work to do. I want that boyfriend checking out. Something’s off with him. I think you should talk to the girl on her own.’
    ‘Really, you think so? Seemed okay to me.’
    Murphy snorted. ‘Always look for the easiest explanation. This letter has us all thinking too broadly. It’ll probably end up being someone she’s turned down or something. I want him checking.’
    ‘Okay. I went to that uni, you know. Maybe I should get in contact with some of my old tutors. Might get us somewhere a bit quicker.’
    Murphy went back to grunting.

Experiment Two
    She’d been asleep.
    Lying on the mattress, or at least what she hoped was a mattress, sleep had taken her without her welcoming it. She’d been crying, she remembered that. And then she was floating into nothingness. As random thoughts and words faded away, she couldn’t recall at what point the room disappeared around her.
    She’d been dreaming. Lost on a whisper of consciousness, gone forever.
    She rubbed at her eyes with greasy palms. At least she wasn’t crying anymore, that was a bonus. One-nil to the petrified girl in the pitch black room.
    She took her palms away. Her eyes fighting to become accustomed to the dark once more. She could make out some shapes, but nothing concrete.
    She laughed, the sound of it echoing back from the walls. It made her recoil, it didn’t sound like her.
    Everything surrounding her was concrete. The walls, the floor. But from touch alone, she guessed the door was something a little different.
    She stood, found the wall next to the mattress. Placed her left palm against it, and walked slowly, tracing her way around the room. She stopped as she got to the corner, turned to her right and carried on. She passed her fingers over the ridges of the door, into the next corner. Turned right and walked forward.
    Her foot struck porcelain. She felt around the top of the cistern and then downwards, finding the seat. She placed it down and turned around.
    After she relieved herself, she instinctively reached for toilet roll. She was surprised to find some there, thinking it would be another home comfort she would have to do without. She flushed, and started the process again. Placing her fingers against the wall above the toilet and moving back towards the mattress in the corner of the same wall. Her feet bumped