Read Online Written in Bone by Simon Beckett - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Simon Beckett
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night bird. Or something else. Wide awake now, I got out of bed and went to the window. The street lamp below was visibly shaking in the wind. I caught a flash of something pale flitting on the edge of its yellow corona, then it was gone.
Just something blown on the wind, I told myself, when it didn’t reappear. But I continued to stare into the dark outside the window until the cold air sent me shivering back to bed.
CHAPTER 6
WHILE I WAS wondering what I’d seen outside my bedroom window, out at the cottage Duncan wasn’t happy. The wind had picked up, buffeting the camper van like a boat in a high sea. He’d already taken the precaution of putting the paraffin heater in a corner to stop it from tipping over. Its blue flame hissed only a few feet from where he sat wedged behind the camper’s small table. Still, even though the cabin was cramped, it was better than spending the night either in the Range Rover or huddled in the cottage doorway. Which was where Fraser would probably have put him, he reflected. No, it wasn’t having to stay in the van that bothered him.
He just couldn’t stop thinking about what lay in the cottage.
It was all well and good Fraser laughing, but he wasn’t the one having to stay here. And Duncan had noticed the sergeant hadn’t offered to linger after he’d brought out his supper. No doubt in a hurry to get back to the bar, because judging by his breath he’d already made a start on the whisky. Duncan had watched the Range Rover’s lights disappear with a feeling he’d not had since he was a kid.
Not that he was afraid of being out here. Not as such, anyway. He lived on an island, and once you were out of Stornoway town there were plenty of places on Lewis where there was no sign of a living soul. He’d just never had to stay out in the middle of nowhere by himself before.
Not with an incinerated corpse lying no more than twenty yards away.
Duncan couldn’t get the image of those unburned limbs and baked bones out of his mind. However it had happened, they’d once been a
person
. A woman, according to Dr Hunter. That was what was so shocking about it, that someone who’d once laughed and cried and all the rest could end up reduced to that. The thought was enough to give him the creeps.
Too much imagination, that’s your trouble.
Always had been. He wasn’t sure if it would make him a better or worse police officer. It wasn’t enough for him to note down the facts, he always had to get lost in ‘
what if’
s. Couldn’t help it, it was just the way his mind worked. Like what if the woman
had
been burned by something science didn’t know about yet? What if she
had
been murdered?
What if the killer was still here on the island?
Aye, and what if you stopped trying to scare yourself?
Duncan sighed and picked up the criminology textbook he’d brought out with him. Fraser could laugh at that as well, but he intended to make detective some day. And if he was going to do something, he wanted to do it as well as he was able. Learn as much about it as possible, and if that meant making a few sacrifices, then so be it. Unlike some people he could mention, Duncan didn’t mind hard work.
Tonight, though, he found it hard to concentrate. After a while he pushed the textbook away, restlessly.
Stick the kettle on. At least you can make a cuppa.
Duncan thought he would be sick of tea by the time he’d finished here.
As he got up to fill the kettle at the tiny sink, there was a sudden quietening as the wind dropped, gathering itself for its next assault. In the brief lull Duncan heard another sound from outside. It was drowned out a second later as the gale struck the van again with renewed force, but he was sure he hadn’t imagined it.
The sound of a car engine.
He looked out of the window, waiting for the dazzle of headlights that would announce the Range Rover’s arrival. But the darkness outside remained unbroken.
Duncan thought for a moment. Even if the sound had come
Just something blown on the wind, I told myself, when it didn’t reappear. But I continued to stare into the dark outside the window until the cold air sent me shivering back to bed.
CHAPTER 6
WHILE I WAS wondering what I’d seen outside my bedroom window, out at the cottage Duncan wasn’t happy. The wind had picked up, buffeting the camper van like a boat in a high sea. He’d already taken the precaution of putting the paraffin heater in a corner to stop it from tipping over. Its blue flame hissed only a few feet from where he sat wedged behind the camper’s small table. Still, even though the cabin was cramped, it was better than spending the night either in the Range Rover or huddled in the cottage doorway. Which was where Fraser would probably have put him, he reflected. No, it wasn’t having to stay in the van that bothered him.
He just couldn’t stop thinking about what lay in the cottage.
It was all well and good Fraser laughing, but he wasn’t the one having to stay here. And Duncan had noticed the sergeant hadn’t offered to linger after he’d brought out his supper. No doubt in a hurry to get back to the bar, because judging by his breath he’d already made a start on the whisky. Duncan had watched the Range Rover’s lights disappear with a feeling he’d not had since he was a kid.
Not that he was afraid of being out here. Not as such, anyway. He lived on an island, and once you were out of Stornoway town there were plenty of places on Lewis where there was no sign of a living soul. He’d just never had to stay out in the middle of nowhere by himself before.
Not with an incinerated corpse lying no more than twenty yards away.
Duncan couldn’t get the image of those unburned limbs and baked bones out of his mind. However it had happened, they’d once been a
person
. A woman, according to Dr Hunter. That was what was so shocking about it, that someone who’d once laughed and cried and all the rest could end up reduced to that. The thought was enough to give him the creeps.
Too much imagination, that’s your trouble.
Always had been. He wasn’t sure if it would make him a better or worse police officer. It wasn’t enough for him to note down the facts, he always had to get lost in ‘
what if’
s. Couldn’t help it, it was just the way his mind worked. Like what if the woman
had
been burned by something science didn’t know about yet? What if she
had
been murdered?
What if the killer was still here on the island?
Aye, and what if you stopped trying to scare yourself?
Duncan sighed and picked up the criminology textbook he’d brought out with him. Fraser could laugh at that as well, but he intended to make detective some day. And if he was going to do something, he wanted to do it as well as he was able. Learn as much about it as possible, and if that meant making a few sacrifices, then so be it. Unlike some people he could mention, Duncan didn’t mind hard work.
Tonight, though, he found it hard to concentrate. After a while he pushed the textbook away, restlessly.
Stick the kettle on. At least you can make a cuppa.
Duncan thought he would be sick of tea by the time he’d finished here.
As he got up to fill the kettle at the tiny sink, there was a sudden quietening as the wind dropped, gathering itself for its next assault. In the brief lull Duncan heard another sound from outside. It was drowned out a second later as the gale struck the van again with renewed force, but he was sure he hadn’t imagined it.
The sound of a car engine.
He looked out of the window, waiting for the dazzle of headlights that would announce the Range Rover’s arrival. But the darkness outside remained unbroken.
Duncan thought for a moment. Even if the sound had come
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