Free November Lake: Teenage Detective (The November Lake Mysteries) Book 1 by Jamie Drew

and sweater. Munching on the corner of a slice of toast, I
had been standing in the middle of my small living room, staring
down at the mountain of newspapers that had reported on my father’s
murder.
    DEAD COP! COP KILLER! HERO COP IS SLAINE ON DUTY! I was morbidly fascinated by each of them, because
I hoped that a clue to the identity of my father’s killer might be
hidden amongst the newspaper reports. Chewing on the last corner of
the toast, my doorbell rang. I glanced at my watch and could see
that it was yet 9 a.m. Who could be calling so early on a Saturday
morning? I went to the window and glanced down at the street below.
The sky was overcast and it was raining. Kale was standing at my
door, the collar of his coat pulled up against the wind and rain.
What could he want? Police training school had broken yesterday for
Halloween. Kale had said that he was going to his parents’. I had
still yet to meet them. My previous attempt to do so had resulted
in us being caught up in what Kale liked to now call The Mystery of The
Blackwater Farm kidnapper . Instead of
staying at his parents’ in their remote holiday cottage in the Peak
District and cramming for our upcoming police exam, Kale had spent
the weekend having sleeping pills pumped from his stomach and smoke
from his lungs. The following Monday morning we had both sat
through our first police exam, which we had needed to pass if we
weren’t to be back-coursed five weeks. It was with some nervousness
that we awaited our results. Together we had been summoned to our
trainer’s office. Sergeant Black sat behind his desk, our test
results on the table before him. With a grim look on his face, he
handed them to us. I looked down at my score, and then sideways at
Kale and the piece of paper he was holding in his hands. Both of us
had passed, but only just.
    “ I had been expecting more from two of my brightest students,”
Sergeant Black said, sounding disappointed.
    “ We passed, didn’t we?” Kale said, glancing up.
    Black,
in his crisp white shirt and striped epilates gleaming brightly on
each shoulder, looked at Kale, his blue eyes pale and
watery-looking. “This time, but those scores aren’t anything to be
proud of. Do you want to be back-coursed five weeks and start all
over again?”
    “ No,” Kale said, dropping his head, some of the cockiness
leaving him.
    Feeling
I should explain somehow, I looked across the desk at Sergeant
Black and said, “We had planned on studying, but…”
    “ Don’t remind me about what you two got up to at that
farmhouse,” Sergeant Black, said referring to what had taken place
at Blackwater Farm and Morris Cook. “You could’ve both got
killed.”
    “ We were just trying to solve a crime,” Kale said. “I thought
that’s what coppers did?”
    “ Wind your neck in, Creed,” Black shot back. “You’re a
probationer. And that means you’re on probation. I can kick you out
of here anytime I like.”
    Kale
lowered his gaze again.
    “ We were just trying to help, that’s all,” I said softly,
trying to diffuse the growing tension in the sergeant’s
office.
    “ It would have been a lot more help if you had called into the
control room and got yourselves some backup before you both went
charging in.”
    “ We did try, but we couldn’t get a phone signal…” I
started.
    “ I’ve heard all of this before during the debrief, and I’m not
going over it again with you,” Black said. “Just stop sticking your
nose in where it doesn’t belong until you pass out of this place.
Despite what you two think, you don’t know every goddamn thing in
the rule book. You’re both still learning. So listen up, and keep
your heads down in the books. Stop trying to run before you can
walk. Sure, you are both really switched on, but you both still
have a lot to learn. Don’t ruin what could be promising careers
before you even start.”
    Both of
us stood, heads down and feeling totally admonished by
him.
    “ Have a long