Wasted Lives, a Detective Mike Bridger novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

masks."
    "That's
a start anyway Gill; it’s always a pleasure to attend a scene where
the attending officers have some sort of clue how to do their job".
He smiled at Gillian who took the compliment in her usual
self-depreciating manner. There was a lot to think about after the
initial excitement had worn off. It was one thing to save a life
but when it came to punishing those responsible everything had to
be meticulously gone over, every angle had to be covered. Any small
crack in the investigation could turn into a landslide inside a
courtroom, undermined by a clever defence lawyer blinded from his
client’s guilt by the promise of a big pay cheque or a moment of
infamy. Grant had learnt the hard way to do things properly right
from the start.
    "I thought you
were acting Senior Sergeant Gill? That’s mostly an office job, how
is it that you were here first?”
    "The section
is short staffed Grant, plus I don't really do offices anyway so I
teamed up with Steve..., besides someone has to keep him in
check".
    "I hear
you....” Grant said, retrieving his cell phone from his pocket.
     
    The phone was
ringing in his ear, Mike Bridger was not due back to work until
tomorrow after being on leave but Grant knew the recently promoted
Detective Sergeant would not shy away from this; he would want to
be involved right from the start. He just hoped he would find him
sober enough to attend the scene.
    "Mike
Bridger". The voice sounded sober, a good start.
    "Mike, its
Grant, we have a situation at work I thought you would want to know
about".
    Grant gave
Bridger the quick version while he listened to him getting dressed
at the other end of the phone. He could hear the sound of laboured
breathing and the occasional expletive as the phone dropped onto
the floor on more than one occasion requiring Grant to repeat what
he was saying.
    "I'll be there
in ten minutes," Bridger said "Call the team and have them meet us
at the scene". He cut the connection.
    Grant put away
his phone and looked at Gillian. "Mike's on his way, he wants a
full turnout on this, it could be a long night".
    "It's
not like we haven't had one of those before", Gillian replied with
a half smile. "How is Mike? I haven't seen him since the Marion
Watson abduction".
    "He's been on
leave; I think it was more directed rather than by choice,
something between Matthews and him. He was in a pretty dark place;
I think things just got on top of him".
    “ Well,
let’s hope he has had a good break then and is ready to get stuck
in. I have a feeling this one is going to test us.”
     
    He sat in the darkness of the car looking over at the store;
the area was busy and alive, with Police Emergency tape strung up
like confetti and flashing lights blinking blue and red. He could
see a number of uniformed officers standing around looking busy but
not really doing anything. 'Dimmer' was playing quietly on the car
stereo, 'Dark Night of Yourself'. Bridger loved his music, it
evoked all sorts of emotions in him, it cheered him up when he
needed it, and it brought him back to reality when he started to
get a bit ‘mixed up’ with stress. Something he had been
experiencing a lot of in the last few weeks. He thought of a quote
he had read recently ‘Without music, life
would be a mistake’ . It was something that
rang true in his mind.
    Recently
a psychotic man had abducted a girl in her twenties. He had used
her in a macabre piece of drama to exact out revenge on his parents
for past abuse. Bridger had been instrumental in recovering her
just in time, but that investigation had taken its toll in him. He
knew he had been using alcohol as a crutch during that time to get
through his day-to-day existence, but it had taken a downward
spiral. He knew that now, but he had hit rock bottom before he had
realised the extent. He had been on leave ever since.
    A police
dog handler came jogging down the road from out of the darkness,
red with exertion. His large hairy dog was still pulling