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

excitedly
on the lead, happy to be involved. The busy scene had a lot going
on, red and blue lights were still flashing on a few of the patrol
cars, there was a gaggle of people standing further down the road
being shepherded by an harassed looking junior officer. Flashes of
brighter light were visible inside the doorway like a disco-tech,
no doubt the Police Photographer doing his thing, recording
everything in minute high definition detail, the frailty of
humanity seen through the eyes of a lens. He took a deep breath and
exhaled slowly.
    Time to get
back on the horse, he thought.
    He
opened the car door, then stepped out into the cool night air and
walked purposefully towards the controlled chaos. Entering the
store, he found Grant and Gillian off to one side; they were
talking in hushed tones as the photographer snapped away at a large
pool of blood on the floor. Grant must have said something funny as
Gillian suddenly let out a short but loud belly laugh. They both
looked happy in the circumstances, not really a care in the world.
Life goes on in the busy world of policing, a new day, a new crime,
a new way for humanity to surprise him.
    He had
been off work now for a number of weeks, more than he cared to
remember, each long day bringing a new battle with his emotions,
with his loneliness, and with his addictions. He was glad he was
back at work, something else to worry him and take his mind of his
life. He was ready.
    "Hi
Mike," Grant said, looking up. "Good to have you back."
    "I see
you lot have let things slide a bit", he said, looking at the pool
of blood on the floor, "This wouldn't have happened on my watch",
he added, trying for a bit of levity.
    Bridger
felt the familiar adrenalin surge as it started to make its way
through his bloodstream, banishing any lethargic feelings he may
have harboured prior to receiving the call from Grant. He may have
lost his way a bit in the last few months, but this was what he did
best. He loved the challenge of making sense out of chaos, finding
the cancer in the midst of society. No matter what happened in his
life, he always had this to escape to. It was an oddly comforting
thought though, seeing as it took someone else's misery to enable
him to feel this way.
    "What's been
done so far Grant? Gill?” he looked at both of them in turn.
    Grant let
Gillian give Bridger a briefing on what had occurred prior to his
arrival then added his own little bit. "Just really the basics
Mike, it’s pretty fluid at the moment. The dog tracked a short
distance down the road but lost the scent. It is most likely that
they got into a car at that point. Witnesses have said they saw a
blue Subaru leaving at speed." Grant shrugged his shoulders. "We
were just about to have a quick look at the CCTV", he added,
indicating the camera above their heads.
    "Right
then, let’s do that", Bridger said. It was a good a start as
any.
    The black and white images were flickering in front of their
eyes, the time lapse making it hard to see clearly. The scene
started with a girl on her own, standing behind the counter. Flicker , there were now
three people wearing black masks in the store with her, one of them
was slightly out of shot; one had a shotgun in his hands. Flicker , the girl had
backed up against the wall, the larger person was running the
barrel of the shotgun down her front. One person was filling a bag
with items from the shelf. Flicker , a fourth person had entered
the scene with a baseball bat he appeared to be an older male, the
person with the bag now had the shotgun. Flicker , the larger person was on
the floor, the person with the gun shot the man with the bat in the
back. Flicker ,
the man with the bat was lying face down on the floor; the girl was
crouching next to him. There was only one other person in the shot
but slightly out of view. Flicker , that person was gone. The
only two left were the victims. Two and a half minutes of action
reduced to 45 seconds of footage, not ideal.
    "The