by Ryan Casey
“For both of us,” he said. “But mostly to redeem myself.”
She giggled again. Smacked him in the chest. “Just as well I didn’t really start the abortion process, then.”
Brian’s stomach dropped. “Wait—what?”
Hannah raised her eyebrows. “I’m almost two months pregnant.”
Brian backed away. “Shit. When were you going to tell me?”
Hannah shrugged. “I dunno. I was kinda hoping you’d just think I’d got fat.”
Brian shook his head. His whole world seemed to be spinning around him, only not with the negative energy of the Eye Snatcher case, not with the negativity of everything that had happened. “Shit,” was all he could say.
“Is that a ‘yes’ then?”
“Don’t think you’ve left me with much of a choice really.”
Hannah stepped up to him again. Gave him a lipstick-tasting kiss right on his lips.
“Look on the bright side,” she said, as they embraced again. “At least you won’t be quite as ancient a daddy.”
FORTY-THREE
The graveyard looked nice in the low winter sun, but it always took Brian back to that day when he’d said his goodbyes to Cassandra Emerson.
It was a chilly day. Brian could see his breath frosting out of his mouth. There were crowds of people around, all dressed in black. More people than Brad Richards had ever let on to knowing.
Shit. Brian might have to admit that Brad was actually more popular than him after all. He would’ve loved that one. Thank God he’d never have to.
He swallowed a lump in his throat and watched the priest read out words that blurred through Brian’s ears, went over his head. It was strange, watching these people say their goodbyes to Brad. A week had passed since his death, and still it didn’t quite seem real. Brad always seemed to be one of those guys that pulled through, no matter what. He’d battled through depression. Fought through a frigging suicide attempt. Come out the other side, just like Brian.
Maybe that’s what scared Brian about Brad’s death the most. Maybe that’s what brought home the reality of it. Brad wasn’t too different to him, not really. They were similar in their world views, their outlooks.
Brad was just another person, another human being, another police officer.
Someone who had lost their life.
It could so easily have been Brian.
He noticed a few people were looking at him. A woman with dark curly hair, mascara running down her withered old cheeks. She half-smiled at Brian, and Brian nodded back at her. An auntie, maybe. Or an old friend of the family. Brad didn’t seem short of them. He was never one to talk about his personal life much. But one thing was for certain. Just looking at the sheer number of people at this graveyard, Brad was a well-liked person. People mourned him.
He was going to be missed.
Brian felt the breeze brush against him. Hannah’s hand was in his, warming him up. He was pleased she’d been able to make it. Pleased she’d come along with him. She’d only met Brad a few times, but she always said what a decent guy he seemed. And that’s exactly what he was—a decent guy. A thoroughly decent human being.
A thoroughly decent human being who’d had something terrible happen to him. Who’d lost his life on duty.
Members of family stepped forward. Tossed dirt down onto the coffin. A little kid, no older than eight for sure, threw a handful of soil, blubbered as he looked down in the ground. Truth was, Brian had felt some guilt for Brad’s death. If he’d never got out of that car, Brad might have survived. If he hadn’t gone searching the woods opposite the Hoppers rugby club, perhaps things would’ve been different.
But Hannah had brought him to realise that he wasn’t the guilty party. The only guilty parties were Adrian West, or Bobby Halshaw as he was actually called. Jed Green, or Harry Bryden. They were the guilty ones. They were the ones who’d done awful things in the name of self-preservation, or in Adrian’s case, self-gratification. Brian wasn’t the one who should be guilty. After all, if he hadn’t got out of that car, he might not have been able to save Ainsley Pratt in time. Adrian might’ve killed him before Brian even got to him. As it stood, he had a stitched up stomach which would cause him a lot of pain for a while, but he was alive.
That was the main thing. Ainsley Pratt was alive. Brian had saved his life. No—Brian and Brad had saved his life.
Brian listened to the mumbling cries and sniffs of Brad’s funeral guests. Watched as the last of the family poured handfuls of soil down on his coffin.
“We’ll make our way to the family’s choice of post-funeral service now,” the priest—a glasses-wearing man with a bald patch—said.
Hannah squeezed Brian’s hand.
Brian squeezed back.
The case had wrapped up a week ago. Galaxy had been dismantled completely for its corruption over the years. Its gangland links, its false identification, just two of its dodgy dealings that had worked to the detriment of the people of Preston for many years. And then there was New Blue Brook, too. The chief manager had lost her job. A complete restructuring and tightening of security was coming into place. All measures to stop future exploitation.
But Brian knew, deep down, there was only so much that could be done to stop crime. Because as long as there were people with motives, and as long as there were loopholes to be exploited by those people with motives, criminals would exist.
And that’s exactly why he’d spend the rest of his life doing everything he could to get people like Adrian West and Jed Green off the streets.
Brian walked away from Brad’s grave, hand-in-hand with Hannah. They made their way down the little winding pathway that led through the churchyard. It was a scenic place, really. Right in the middle of the countryside. Cute little church, much nicer than a run-of-the-mill cemetery. A peaceful spot, if there was such a thing.
“Doesn’t bother me where I’m buried,” Brad once said. “They’re all just holes in the ground to rot in at the end of the day.”
For some reason, that statement of scepticism made Brian smile more than anything. A reminder of what Brad was like. Cynical, but good underneath.
Just damn good.
“Is that your friend?” Hannah asked.
Brian wasn’t sure what she meant at first. He looked up, squinted ahead into the distance, expected to see Molfer or Arif or someone like that. But of course, Molfer was still sunning himself up on holiday. Arif had religious reasons obstructing his attendance.
Who Brian saw stopped him in his tracks.
Samantha Carter was standing outside the black iron gates just outside the churchyard. Her hair was messy. She was dressed in a navy blue anorak and black trousers too baggy for her. She looked at Brian with tired red eyes, but weirdly she looked content. Happy to see him. Despite all the circumstances, despite having two officers behind her, despite being at a fellow officer’s funeral, she looked happy to see him.
Brian’s throat tightened. He wanted to go over there. To say something to her. To ask her why she’d gone and stabbed Adrian West in the back. To ask her why she’d screwed everything up for herself when she could’ve just gone back to the station with Adrian in custody. They had him. Ainsley had survived the knife wound. It could’ve been a… well, not a happy ending. But a happier ending than it was.
But he didn’t go over there towards her because in a way, he understood. He understood why she’d stabbed Adrian West. She’d stabbed him for the same reason that Brian so nearly had. Rage had taken over. She’d felt the need to act when she’d seen Brad’s body, his throat slit open, in that car.
So instead of going over and speaking to Carter, Brian just nodded his head at her. Smiled as well as he could.
She smiled back at him. Tears streamed down her face.
She didn’t look like a woman who regretted what she’d done to Adrian West, even if it did see her spending years in prison for murder.
She looked like a woman mortified that Brad, a fellow offic
er and in her case, a lover, had lost his life at the hands of that psychopath.
Brian couldn’t hold what she’d done against her.
“We going for a drink?” Hannah asked.
Her words broke Brian’s stare with Samantha. He looked at her. Smiled. Tightened his hand around hers. “Shouldn’t you be steering away from alcohol or something? With the babbie inside you.”
“Sure that’s not just an excuse for you not to enter a social environment?”
Brian shrugged. “Maybe.”
He looked at Hannah. Caught her looking back over at Brad’s grave. Her lips quivered.
“You okay?”
She sighed. “It’s just sad. It’s… I don’t know what else to say.”
Brian put an arm around Hannah. “I know it is. It’s not right. It’s the most wrong thing imaginable. But that’s the world we live in. And that’s the world I do my job to protect people from.”
Hannah didn’t look too convinced. She just kept on looking over at Brad’s grave. Brian knew what she was thinking. That it could so easily be him in that grave. Or it could so easily be him in those handcuffs that Carter was in, being taken away for a murder that was completely justifiable.
“Are we safe?” she asked.
A slight tingling in Brian’s chest. He knew what she was getting at now, too. The people from Galaxy. The gangland links. The same quarters that Bobby Halshaw had operated in for years—the people that had allowed him to get away with all sorts of obscenities all through his life.
“I’d be lying if I said we were ever safe,” Brian said.
A shaky deep breath from Hannah.
She looked up at him. Forced a smile. “Good. I didn’t get involved with you because I wanted safe.”
Brian held her hand again. Walked slowly up the pathway. They were the last ones left in the graveyard. Carter had been bundled back into a police car.
“Good,” Brian said. “Because the only thing safe about me is that I’ll be changing zero nappies after my perilous experience with Davey’s.”
Hannah puffed her lips out. “Oh there’s something else safe about you too.”
“Oh yeah?”
She looked at him. Smiled. “The fact that you’ll be popping in your false teeth and collecting your pension when you take our kid out for the day, oldie.”
Brian pinched her nose. The two of them left the graveyard.
As the sun descended and the frosty grass was illuminated, Brian knew he’d never be safe, not in his profession.
But he’d do his damnedest to make sure everyone else in this shitty city was.
What Next for Brian McDone?
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About the Author
Ryan Casey is a bestselling author of mysteries, thrillers, horror and sci-fi. He has written ten novels, a long-running serial, and several novellas and short stories. Across all genres, Casey is renowned for his dark, page-turning suspense, his unforgettable characters, and his knockout twists. His work includes the best selling Dead Days horror serial, the Brian McDone mysteries, Sunlight, Bubblegum Smoothie, Cucumber Coolie, Sinkers, The Hunger, Killing Freedom, What We Saw, The Watching, She Remembers, Something in the Cellar and Silhouette.
Casey lives in the United Kingdom. He has a BA degree in English with Creative Writing from the University of Birmingham, and has been writing stories for as long as he can remember. In his spare time, he enjoys American serial television, is a slave to Pitchfork’s Best New Music section, and wastes far too much of his life playing Football Manager games.
For more information go to ryancaseybooks.com
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my first reader for this project (and many others), Timothy Amell, my editor, Brian Cross, and my excellent cover designer, Yoly Cortez. Good work, team.
About this Book
A brutal murder. A devastating discovery. And that's just the first victim...
Detective Inspector Brian McDone never gets much rest. In an abandoned mental asylum, the dead body of a young boy is discovered in an unthinkable condition. Most terrifying of all, his eyes have been removed, forcing a disgusted Brian to chase down the culprit of this horrific act.
But the first body is just the beginning, and Brian McDone must dig deep inside his tortured soul and his investigative mind if he is to catch a ruthless, manipulative and highly skilled killer.
And as the mystery unfolds, Brian fast learns that nothing is ever as meets the eye...
Twisting and unpredictable, Eye Snatcher is the fourth book in the hit Brian McDone Mystery series from suspense author Ryan Casey. More brutal and dark than ever before, the book will be a delight for fans of previous books, or for new readers jumping on board this thrilling crime series.
Copyright
Eye Snatcher (Brian McDone, #4) by Ryan Casey
Published November 2014 by Higher Bank Books Edited by: Brian Cross Cover by: Cormar Covers This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your preferred retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 Ryan Casey
Table of Contents
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
What Next for Brian McDone?
About the Author
Acknowledgements
About this Book
Copyright
