The Rock Read Online Free PDF Page A

that morning. The police canteen in which he and Bryant were queuing had been recently refurbished and a new “self-service” regime instigated. The new decor was an obvious pastiche of Starbucks, but sadly, the opportuity for it’s customers to serve themselves with any speed or efficiency was being undermined considerably by the painfully slow cashier at the end of the line. The food and coffee were of a better standard though, but then the rise in quality had also meant a hike in prices. But if you didn’t pack yourself a sandwich – and a number of officers didn’t, wouldn’t or couldn’t – then there was little else by way of convenient choice.
    ‘Three-nil tonight, I reckon,’ Calbot offered his colleagues as he joined the line and reached for a ham and cheese sandwich.
    ‘Two-one,’ Bryant replied.
    ‘Nah, no chance they’ll score. Two-nil, maybe.’
    ‘Both goals Berbatov?’
    ‘Oh yeah. What do you reckon, Ferra?’
    ‘Not a whole lot, really,’ the officer replied. ‘Not been keeping up with it. I still reckon Porto for the cup, though.’
    Calbot pulled a face. ‘I reckon you need to start watching golf, mate.’
    ‘I don’t want to die in my sleep ,thank you.’
    The men laughed and moved a little further along the line picking up soft drinks along the way. Calbot took his opportunity...
    ‘I was told you two were temporarlily suspended pending the accident investigation. That’s just shit.’
    ‘Due process.’ Ferra replied, shrugging his shoulders. ‘That’s why we’re in today. They know it wasn’t our fault. Doesn’t stop them making you feel as if it was though.’
    ‘You both okay?’ Calbot asked.
    ‘Been better,’ Bryant replied, looking Calbot straight in the eye..
    ‘Yeah, well,’ Calbot continued, unsure of what to say. ‘Not your fault. That’s clear as day. Tough on you though.’
    His colleagues simply nodded. There was an awkward pause.
    ‘Actually, I’ll grab this lot later.’ Calbot looked across to the cashier. ‘You could stand here all day waiting for her to get your change right. Catch you tonight. I owe you both a pint.’
    ‘Tell us about it.’ Ferra called after his colleague, ‘We were thinking you’d had your pockets sewn up.’
    *
    Calbot entered the office to find Sullivan still rifling through the files - a mountain of seen and to-see on either side of her.
    ‘Sorry, no coffee. The queue was running out of the building’
    ‘That’s ok.’
    ‘How you getting on?’ he asked.
    ‘Fine.’ Sullivan barely raised her eyes from the files, trying to keep conversation to a minimum.
    ‘Fancy seeing a corpse?’ Calbot asked, reaching for his mobile phone.
    ‘Corpse?’ Sullivan looked up, her attention finally having been secured.
    ‘The boat mechanic’s wife. Thought a trip to pathology might break your morning up a bit.’
    ‘Well, put so sweetly, how could a girl refuse?’
    Sullivan was up and out of the door before Calbot could compose a retort.
    *
    ‘She was flat as a pancake when we got to her,’ Calbot said, finishing off the ham panini he had stopped off for on the way to the hospital. The pair made their way through the main reception avoiding the lifts in favour of the stairs.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Well, not completely flat, but... well, you’ll see. Never seen anything like it myself. ‘
    They headed down to the basement level, through double doors and into a long corridor with many other corridors running off it. Calbot strode on as Sullivan followed.
    ‘It’s a maze down here,’ Calbot told her. ‘You’ll get used to though’
    ‘Pathology departments always seem to be hidden away,’ Sullivan observed.
    ‘That’s because it’s the last department anyone wants to have to find.’ Calbot responded. ‘Besides, half of the people who come down here don’t come back out again. Not right away anyhow.’
    The pathology department located, Calbot and Sullivan pushed the double-doors aside and entered. On the right was