[2022 Wattys shortlisted story]
A missing family. A twenty year old murder. An old ghost story. And a private detective from London. But what do they all have in common? It's the job of DCI Neo Denzel to figure it all out.
In the quiet town of Mart...
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A buzzing to his left was the first thing Neo heard as he tried to get his sleepy brain into gear. A foreign arm around his waist made him pause, and for a second he panicked. But then he realised who it belonged to.
He shuffled forward and turned to look at the sleeping beauty behind him. Her blonde hair fell over her cheek and pooled in the nook between her shoulder and neck. The sight of Charlie lying naked in his bed set his heart racing and the thoughts of what they'd done invaded his mind. He had known how feisty she was, but the passion was something he hadn't expected.
They'd come together perfectly. She had met his every demand for more with her own until they'd both climbed to the highest peaks of pleasure multiple times. And yet, even though he'd had more than his share of her, his body wanted her again. The feel of her skin on his was bliss and only fueled his hormones to pull her close and continue where they'd left off, but the continued buzzing of his phone made that impossible.
With a sigh, he slipped from the bed and picked up his mobile. He closed the bedroom door behind himself and looked at the time.
Only 20:14pm.
Samira and the kids wouldn't be home for another hour at least, she'd promised to take them to the cinema, a sure-fire way to Dante's heart though Willow had been less than impressed.
He coughed to clear his husky throat. 'DCI Denzel, speaking.'
There was a moment's hesitation on the other end of the phone before Barry pressed on.
'Hope I'm not interrupting anything?' He could hear the sleep in Neo's voice and knew there was only one thing that would have the DCI in bed at just after eight and that was a woman. Barry's stomach sank, already guessing who was snuggled up in Neo's bed. It was going to make the news he had that much more difficult to share.
Neo snagged his boxers off the floor. He didn't know how they'd managed to end up there, when he was sure that Charlie had removed them in his room, but he pulled them on regardless. Barry rarely contacted him about nothing, which meant this was no casual call for them to chit chat about the weather.
'Nothing,' Neo said gruffly. 'What do you need, Barry?'
Barry contemplated hanging up. It had been years since Neo had let a woman get so close to him, and now Barry was going to ruin it all. But his pathologist side won out.
'Lucy Phillips had undergone a medically induced abortion at least two days before she went missing.'
Neo took a moment to stare at the picture of his two kids hung on the wall next to his head, unable to think of a response.
'H-how was something like that missed?' he stammered.
'Incompetence, lack of governance, inadequate training. You can take your pick. The pathologist's report is a catalogue of errors if you ask me,' Barry said unamused.
