Free Veil of Civility: A Black Shuck Thriller (Declan McIver Series) by Ian Graham

over, he knelt beside a heavy set man with brown curly hair, wearing the same type of navy blue uniform as the security at the Barton Center. He reached down and felt for a pulse with his index and middle fingers, although it was obvious from the man's glassy stare and the entry wounds on his chest that he was deceased. The man's skin was warm to the touch, a sign that he had only recently met his end.
    Declan ran back to the driver's side of his car and opened the door. "Do you have a cell signal yet?" he said to his wife, who looked at him wide-eyed from the passenger seat.
    "No," she said thumbing the device's screen, “nothing."
    "I need you to drive down the road until you get a signal and call the police."
    "Declan, what's happened?"
    "Tell them to come to the Briton-Adams mansion immediately," he said, ignoring her question. "Tell them the guard's been killed."
    Her response seemed to catch in her throat as she watched him reach under the driver's seat. With the sound of tearing Velcro he removed a leather pouch and opened it to reveal the black grip of a Glock pistol. Withdrawing the gun, he released the magazine and checked it before reinserting it into the grip and chambering a round.
    "What are you doing?" Constance asked, as her eyes darted between her husband and the gun in his hand.
    "I'm going to find Abe. Get going and don't come back until I call you and tell you it's safe."
    He slid the pistol into his pocket and pulled off the neck tie he'd been wearing, before jogging towards the gate. He jumped and gripped the top of the gate. Pulling himself up and swinging his legs over, he heard his wife shift her sports car into reverse and exit the driveway. Landing on the wet pavement beyond the gate, he pulled the pistol from his pocket and ran towards the well-lit house on the hill two hundred yards ahead of him.

 
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Reaching the top of the knoll, Declan entered a cluster of dogwood trees that occupied a teardrop shaped yard formed as the driveway forked left and right, meeting at the front door of the mansion fifty yards ahead of him. Nickel sized drops of rain fell from the trees above, soaking his light blue dress shirt as he dodged through the yard using the trees for sporadic cover. Arriving at the edge of the yard, he concealed himself behind the broad trunk of a tree and leaned around in search of anyone outside of the house.
    The Briton-Adams mansion was well lit with small spotlights spaced evenly at three feet intervals down the brick walkway that led to the front door, and further apart across the front of the entire house. The brightness of the area surrounding the house made the darkness beyond it seem all the darker. This, Declan thought, seemed to be a contradiction in terms of security. The red and brown brick surface of the house rose to three stories before the steep, architecturally tiled roof disappeared above the reach of the spotlights. The flat front of the house featured six high windows on each level and an expensive looking set of double doors, which served as the entrance to an interior that was surely just as attractive as the exterior.
    Declan surveyed each of the windows, looking for any signs that the house was occupied, but only the faintest hint of a dim light near the front door gave any sign that anyone lived there. Taking a last look at each of the windows, he crossed the driveway to the front door, pressing his back against it when he got there. Leaning to the left, he craned his neck so that he could see through the floor to ceiling windows on either side of the entrance. Inside the home was dark with the exception of a small light ablaze in the luxurious foyer. An LED on an alarm keypad across from the door flashed red every few seconds, indicating the security system was armed. Each of the four rooms off the foyer was dark and all the signs pointed to the conclusion that no one had entered the home recently.
    Even with the house dark, Declan knew