Free Dark Circles by Derek Fee

hunched over her laptop. She snuck up behind him.
    ‘I hope you’ve got some clothes on,’ Brendan said without looking up. ‘Otherwise you’re giving the guy across the way a peek.’
    ‘What the ...’ She leaned over Brendan’s shoulder and saw that he was examining the photos that Reid had taken of David Grant. She tried to hit the power off button of the computer, but Brendan blocked her. ‘You have no right.’ She started.
    ‘I’m expecting an email from Harvard.’ Brendan cradled her head in his arm over his shoulder. ‘And given the time difference I thought I’d check up now. You didn’t turn off the laptop and guess what popped up when I hit the button.’ He turned and saw that she was naked. ‘Want to discuss this or should we head back to bed?’ He smiled.
    ‘I’ll throw on a robe.’ She turned and headed back to the bedroom.
    ‘That’s what I call an ass,’ Brendan said admiring the view.
    She gave him the middle finger as she entered the bedroom.
    ‘Interesting,’ Brendan said as they sat and flicked through the photos. ‘A gasper.’
    ‘Maybe,’ Moira said. ‘The pathologist doesn’t like the look of it.’
    ‘The guy I read about in the paper?’
    ‘That’s him.’
    ‘What does the ME think is wrong?’ he asked.
    ‘We don’t call them MEs here. You’re supposed to be the bloody expert. What do you think is wrong?’
    He blew the photos up to the full magnitude and went through them one by one. ‘I’ve seen a few of these in the States. Hell of a way to die. Did you look at the scene yet?’
    ‘This only came up today. We haven’t had a chance yet. I’m going there tomorrow.’
    ‘Your ME might have something, but that’ll depend on what you find at the scene. If the guy is a real kink, there’ll be other stuff around.’
    ‘Stuff?’
    ‘Sex toys, magazines, more paraphernalia. The kind of things that you keep under your bed and you don’t want your mom to find out about.’
    She made a note to look under Brendan’s bed the next time she visited his flat. ‘But do you see anything out of place?’
    ‘The position of the chair isn’t quite right, but that kind of thing can happen. No,’ he flicked through the photos again, ‘it looks like the guy was trying to get off by asphyxiating himself.’
    ‘Fat lot of use you are.’ She slapped him on the head.
    He stood up and grabbed her around the waist. ‘Who the hell can concentrate on a crime scene when there’s a woman with an ass like yours around?’
    ‘What about your precious email?’
    ‘To hell with the email,’ he said picking her up and heading for the bedroom.

CHAPTER 13
     
     
    Wilson parked his car in his appointed slot at the station. Despite the end of the ‘Troubles’, the station still had the air of a fortress. The powers that be had made an effort to get rid of some of the fortifications in an attempt to soften the image of the PSNI, but the project foundered when their budget ran out. Or so they said. In a way, Wilson was glad, as there was no way his car could be interfered with behind a six-foot, thick wall of concrete. He had spent the previous evening finding out what was at the bottom of a bottle of Jameson. There hadn’t been any solution in the booze and his head was pounding. He’d found the bedroom door locked, and managed to stagger to the third bedroom where he fell into a comatose sleep. Kate was gone when he woke and there was no sign of Helen. He drank four cups of coffee before he felt human enough to pilot a motor vehicle. Had he been stopped, he was in no doubt that he would have been proven over the limit.
    The Desk Sergeant’s brow creased as he saw Wilson enter the reception area of the station. ‘Boss,’ he said. ‘Canteen is serving that muck they call coffee. I could have one sent up.’
    Wilson ignored the remark and headed straight to the squad room. He didn’t see the Desk Sergeant pick up the telephone to inform the boss of the station, Chief