Read Online The Body in the Boot: The first 'Mac' Maguire mystery by Patrick C. Walsh - Free Book Online Page A

‘It depends’. How much pain you feel depends on the resources you can muster to fight against it. Some life events, such as bereavement, can remove most of those resources making the pain levels experienced feel much higher. How has the pain medication worked so far?’
    ‘I wouldn’t be able to do anything without it. Thanks again for suggesting the patches.’
    ‘I’m glad you’re back at work. I think that you might be one of those people for whom work is the best pain killer. Okay I’ll let you get on and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.’
    ‘Thank you doctor,’ Mac said.
    As he was making for the door the doctor said, ‘Oh, about your hibernation drug, you might also want to have a word with Sammy Newell. He leads a team of researchers here. If this is some sort of new novel drug Sammy will be the one who knows. He keeps himself abreast of all the latest research going on.’
    Sammy Newell, yes that was his name. Mac thanked the doctor again and joined Tommy outside.
    ‘Oh well, at least it’s got the ball rolling,’ Tommy said.
    ‘Yes. I’ll just text Bridget.’
    He told her he was finished with Dr. Wilkins and asked if Sammy Newell was around. Her reply instructed him to meet her in the hospital restaurant on the lower ground floor in half an hour.
    As they made their way there Mac said, ‘I was trying to think of the name of one of the medical researchers, someone Bridget used to go out with, and the doctor gave it to me without me asking. I believe he’s the person you go to here if you want to know what’s going on in the world of medical research. We definitely need to have a word with him.’
    Tommy bought them both coffees which they sipped in silence while they waited.
    ‘She used to go out with this researcher?’ Tommy eventually said, stressing the word ‘used’.
    ‘How old are you Tommy?’
    ‘Twenty six.’
    Mac sighed again. Tommy too looked much younger.
    ‘So let me guess you joined at eighteen, did your two years on probation, five years on the beat and then you made detective.’
    ‘Have you been reading my record?’ Tommy asked with some suspicion.
    ‘No, that was more or less the same route I took except in those days you only had to do three years on the beat so I was a little younger when I made detective. I was already married by then.’
    ‘So how did your daughter become a doctor?’
    ‘It’s what she always wanted to do. I bought her first toy doctor’s kit when she was five, the first of many. She used to love watching all of the hospital dramas and she was already reading medical textbooks from the library when she was only eleven. And she did it, six years at university and two years in training and then she chose paediatrics as her speciality.’
    ‘That would make her…’
    ‘Twenty six, the same age as you Tommy. Do you have designs on my daughter?’ Mac asked pointedly.
    Tommy’s face reddened.
    ‘Designs? No, I’ve only just met her and, to be honest, I’m not even sure what that means. She just looks…so different to anyone I’ve ever met before that’s all.’
    Mac remembered when he first saw Nora. He’d known straight away that she was the one.
    ‘Let’s not talk about this again,’ Mac said. ‘I’m certainly not going to help you with my daughter...’
    Tommy’s face fell when Mac said this.
    ‘…but I won’t hinder you either. Just keep me out of it. However, there is one thing you should know.’
    ‘What’s that?’ Tommy asked.
    ‘Bridget’s very like her mother in one way, she has a fearful temper, but it disappears as fast as it comes and she never holds a grudge.’
    Tommy nodded and simply said, ‘Okay.’
    When Bridget arrived Tommy stood up and pulled out a chair for her. She gave Mac a quick questioning glance and Mac replied by rolling his eyes heavenward which made Bridget smile. She thanked Tommy and gave him an appraising look.
    ‘Find out anything?’ she asked.
    ‘No but he’s going to ask his team