Read Online Send in the Clowns, a Detective Mike Bridger novel by Mark Bredenbeck - Free Book Online Page A

recognised all too well… fear.
    “ Okay
Sergeant, we can use my caravan.” Anthony turned and retreated
towards his caravan without bothering to wait for a
reply.
     
    Jo Williamson shuffled in
her chair while the phone rang in her ear; she hated being stuck in
the office, with its daily reminders of what she was missing. The
job was her life; she had enjoyed every bit of it…, until it had
happened. She just sat there now, day after day, watching her
colleagues go about their lives, oblivious of her thoughts and
fears, while she was stuck at a desk clearing someone else’s files.
Bloody light duties. Of course, she could not blame them, she had
not told anyone of how she felt. She was scared, scared of contact
with anyone out in the real world, of herself, but most of all, she
was scared of her dreams. Her dreams showed her the truth that her
mind would not let her remember. That ugly tattooed face, framed
with dreadlocked hair, came too her every night and smiled at her.
The smile told her everything she needed to know, and now she was
an emotional cripple. The face had started to make her despise men,
how was she too trust a man if what this face showed her was true.
Not knowing just made it all the more difficult.
    She had not slept
properly since that day and she was only just managing too hold
herself together, but she could not let go of the job. She would
disappear over the edge of sanity and never return if she could not
come into work every day, it was her lifeline. She forced herself
to concentrate on the task. A brisk sounding Scottish female
answered the phone just as Jo was getting impatient.
    Five minutes of forced
banter with the nurse, while pretending to be efficient and
together, and Jo had all the information she was going to get. She
even managed to get the Nurse to email her an electronic copy of
the CCTV footage she needed, thank god for modern technology. She
clicked open on the file folder and a surprisingly clear image
appeared on the screen in front of her. The front door of the
Hospital and out into the car park were in plain view, every few
seconds someone would enter or leave through the automatic doors.
The nurse had told her that Maria Staverly had left the hospital at
around ten o’clock on Thursday night; twenty two hundred hours in
Police speak. She found the curser and scrolled forward to that
time. Maria Staverly walked through the doors on the screen, still
wearing her costume, slightly unsteady on her feet, and sporting a
large cast on her left arm. Jo watched her recorded image as it
stopped just outside the doors and then look up towards the camera
as if she knew it was watching her. Maria Staverly smiled directly
into the camera, a strange haunted smile that put a slight chill in
Jo’s spine. Something behind the smile touched her, like a kindred
spirit who could share her burden. She watched as Maria pulled what
looked like rolls of bandages out of her pockets and dump them in
the rubbish bin beside her, before walking away out of view. Less
than thirty seconds of footage.
    She moved the curser
again and replayed the scene repeatedly, each time trying to read
the smile on her face as Maria paraded herself for the camera.
There was something there; she knew she needed to talk too Maria.
She needed to know what it was that she saw in her
smile.
     
     
     

Chapter
Eight
     
    Bridger and Grant stood
awkwardly in the cramped interior of Anthony’s caravan; it smelt of
stale whisky and sweat, with an undertone of recently smoked
Cannabis. Anthony looked only slightly less uncomfortable in his
own surroundings, his eyes darting around the small living space.
Bridger noticed them linger a bit longer on the small table sitting
beside a small leather sofa. He followed his gaze and saw the
remnants of a Cannabis cigarette stubbed out in a dirty ashtray.
Not something, he could be bothered with, but he looked back at
Anthony, catching his eye, raising his eyebrows in question.
Anthony