Free Dying Eyes by Ryan Casey

He must have done a good job of looking the drunken mess. Then again, Amanda always seemed to find something to laugh about, like a high schooler who never quite matured.
    Cassy scanned Brian from head to toe as he walked through the chatter of the main office. “You okay?”
    “Fine,” he said. “Just fine. Is the boy here?”
    Cassy nodded reluctantly and pointed towards the interview room doors. “Came out of hospital this morning. Asked him if he wanted to pop down for a little chat, and he seemed okay with that. His grandma‌–‌your new girlfriend‌–‌she’s been on the phone, but you know what she’s like with me. So I couldn’t say much to her, y’know?”
    Brian pulled off his coat and threw it onto his desk. DS Stephen Molfer jumped as the coat knocked over his pot of stationary, sending a bunch of freshly sharpened pencils to the floor. He glared at Brian with narrowed eyes.
    “At least it’ll get you off your arse,” Brian said, and some of the other officers laughed as Molfer got down on his hands and knees.
    Brian turned back to Cassy with a smile on his face. Cassy, however, was not smiling.
    “What aren’t you telling me?” Brian asked.
    Cassy sighed. “The press. They’re all over this.” She grabbed the copy of the Lancashire News from the desk and held it up. BOYFRIEND SUICIDE ATTEMPT AS MURDER TWISTS.
    Brian punched the paper out of his face and started walking towards the briefing room. “Murder ‘twists?’ What does that even mean ?”
    Cassy scrambled to pick up some notes and ran to catch up. “I dunno. But the press seems well-informed.”
    Brian looked around the room at the officers at their desks. “Not surprised. Just the way things go. I bet half of these young rats are earning an extra few quid a day from the press. The problem with rats is, someday they get caught.”
    “Do you think I’m a young rat?” Cassy asked, raising her eyebrows like an innocent puppy.
    “For that, darling, you’d have to be young.”
    She punched Brian in the arm before leading the way to the briefing room. Brian winced with pain. Nobody noticed, and he was completely content with that.
    DI Price already sat in the middle chair, arms folded and cheeks more inflamed than ever. White hairs sprouted out of his nostrils like weeds in a garden, unstoppable and never-ending. He looked at his watch as Brian and Cassy entered. “On time for once. Maybe you’ll actually make some progress today, right?”
    Brian bit his lip. “That’s certainly my intention.”
    “None of that cockiness with me,” Price said. “Take a seat.”
    Brian sat down at the corner of the table, Cassy beside him. DC Peters was clean-shaven and fresher looking than yesterday. He was perched in front of a laptop, keying in notes from a black notepad.
    “H.O.L.M.E.S. up and running again?”
    “For now. Got a few complaints through to the ACS. He says we’re using it wrong. I’d like to see him come down here and bloody use it right.”
    “Don’t you get lippy, Peters, or I’ll make you spew again,” Price said. A few of the officers around the table snorted and sniggered. “McDone, the lad’s in the interview rooms. The boyfriend. Looking a bit fidgety for my liking. Stares into space like a fucking junkie. Not sure I like him.”
    “DS Emerson and I will have a chat with him. He tried to kill himself last night. If that’s not a sign of guilt, then I’d like to know what it is. We have a clear motive for his attempted suicide. Now we just need to work out whether he might have a motive for something much darker.”
    Price offered a slight nod in agreement. “We’ll have to interview under caution. He’s free to leave at any time. You’d best hurry up. Thanks to the press, I’d expect the girl’s parents’ll be paying us a visit today.”
    “What are you trying to say?” Brian asked.
    Price stood up and began rubbing out some old notes on the whiteboard with his dusty sleeve. “What I’m