Vampire Shift - By Tim O'Rourke Page 0,17
pocket, Luke said, “You’ll be needing one of these.”
I took the key from him and closed it in my fist.
“It will open the cabinet where we store the CS spray and Taser,” he told me. “Yours are marked with the number four.”
“What’s under there?” I asked him, pointing to a hatch in the floor of the corridor. It had been secured with a large padlock.
“Oh, that’s just the basement. It’s full of old office furniture and stuff – just crap really,” he smiled. Then taking me by the arm, he led me further down the corridor. At the end was a metal gate. Unlocking it, he swung it open and said, “This is the cell area. There are only three cells. As you can probably guess, we don’t have much use for them. But they do come in handy from time to time.”
Switching off the light, he swung the gate shut. “Get your stuff together and I’ll take you out on patrol,” he said. “Looks like your first night will be a busy one.”
“How come?” I asked him.
“Father Taylor, the priest up at St. Mary’s, has reported that another grave has been desecrated,” he told me.
“Whose grave?” I asked him.
“The grave is that of a fifteen-year-old girl who was killed a month or so ago. Her name was Kristy Hall,” Luke said.
“How did she die?” I asked, already guessing his answer.
“Like the others – throat ripped out,” he said, turning away. “I’ll see you outside in five.”
Drawing my equipment from the secured cabinet, I took a radio that had been charging in the office. Slipping on my police jacket, Sergeant Murphy looked up at me and asked, “All set Constable Hudson?”
“I guess,” I said, fastening my jacket.
“You be careful out there,” Potter smirked, sucking on the end of his cigarette.
“Don’t take any notice of him,” Murphy said. “I’m sure Bishop will take good care of you. He’s a good lad. Bit naive, but a good lad.”
“Taking you up to the graveyard, is he?” Potter grinned.
“That’s right,” I said.
“Keep an eye out for the vampires,” he said, and again that cheesy grin of his spread right across his face.
“Vampires?” I said, as if I had no idea of the stories that I’d already been told.
“Haven’t you heard?” Potter said, with mock surprise.
“Heard what?” I said, acting dumb.
“Put a sock in it, ”Murphy told Potter. Then turning to face me, he added, “Just be careful, Kiera, and you’ll be fine.”
Turning my back on them, I left the station. Luke was waiting outside in a marked-up police car. Yanking open the passenger door, I jumped inside, throwing my cap onto the back seat.
“Good?” Luke asked.
“Oh yeah,” I said, glad to be back in my uniform and raring to go.
“Let’s get going then,” Luke smiled back at me as we sped into the night and towards the graveyard at St. Mary’s Church.
We drove in silence and I couldn’t help but think back to how I’d seen him smell the bloodstains on his sweatshirt. So to break the uncomfortable silence and to find out a little more about him, I said, “So what’s your story?”
“You tell me,” he said, looking straight ahead. “You’re the super sleuth,” and I caught him smiling.
“That’s the problem,” I said. “You don’t give much away.”
“Work your magic,” he said over the sound of the wiper blades.
“You’re not married,” I told him. “You don’t have a girlfriend and you live alone.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“No wedding ring for starters,” I smiled.
“But I could live with a girlfriend,” he said back.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“You use cheap smelling soap and no aftershave – so you’re not trying to impress anyone. You hurriedly ate a fried egg sandwich before you left for work tonight, which suggests that you can’t cook and there isn’t anyone cooking for you – so therefore you live alone. The sweatshirt you lent me today hasn’t been washed since you last had a haircut, which I’m guessing was about four weeks ago by its current length – which again suggests that you’re a typical bloke fending for himself and only having to do a wash when you really need to. You haven’t had a female in your car – apart from me – in the last six months. So everything added together, tells me that you’re single and you live alone,” I told him.
Luke smiled at me and said, “Very good. I can see now how you figured it all out. But how