BURY ME DEEP an utterly gripping crime thriller with an epic twist (Detective Rozlyn Priest Book 1) by JANE ADAMS (best romantic books to read TXT) 📕

— and she got the impression that Thompson had been operating for a while — there’d have to have been someone inside Frank’s organisation giving him cover . . . and taking a cut.

Rozlyn didn’t give much for their chances now. She recalled what Frank had said about Rozlyn knowing when Frank had found out how Thompson had kept his secret. No doubt there’d be another body in the canal sometime in the near future. Assisted suicide was rumoured to be one of Frank’s specialties. Rozlyn shuddered. If even Frank considered Donovan a dangerous man, what the hell was he actually like? It was not a pleasant thought.

She returned to her more immediate concern.

“Well, Mr Thomas Thompson — and who the hell would call their kid that? It has to be a made-up name. I mean, come on! Anyway, whatever your name is, you’d better pray I’m the one that finds you first and not our beer-drinking friend back there.”

CHAPTER 18

Home before nine, entering an empty house, no lights, no heat — she’d forgotten to set the timer again. In the hall the red glow of the answerphone light told her she had a message. It solved the mystery of the missed calls.

“Rozlyn, this is Jenny, I’m at the General Hospital. It’s your Mouse Man. Someone tried very hard to kill him and he’s asking for you.”

She added the ward number and the fact that she’d tried her mobile. Rozlyn retrieved her keys from the blue dish and left home a scant two minutes after walking in.

* * *

Rozlyn hated hospitals. She stepped reluctantly from the dark into the brightly lit world of medics and sickness and squeaky floors. That smell of death and disinfectant. Rozlyn had hated hospitals since she had watched her parents die in one. She had been just sixteen years old.

Mouse was propped in a clean white bed. His hands lay trembling on the coverlet, twitching like the whiskers of his pets. A tube ran into his left arm from a bag supported by a drip stand. Mouse, it seemed, was blood group O positive. The right side of his face was almost black with bruising and the one visible eye was swollen closed.

“What the hell happened?”

Jenny shrugged, then got up and came over to Rozlyn, leading her away from the bed. “He’s asked for you but he keeps drifting in and out of consciousness. Someone came to his house, wrecked the place and beat him to a pulp. Somehow, he managed to crawl out into the street and a passer-by, chap walking his dog, found him and called an ambulance. Other than that, we don’t know much.”

“Who the hell would want to hurt Mouse? How bad is he?”

“Broken ribs, internal bleeding and he’s lost an eye. They thought at first he might have a ruptured liver. There was talk of him bleeding out, but they’ve managed to stabilise and they hope he’ll pull through.” She smiled, trying to reassure. “He’s made it this far. He’s tougher than he looks.”

Rozlyn nodded, looking at the Mouse Man. He’d always struck Rozlyn as being as fragile and vulnerable as one of his small charges. Short and skinny, he gave no impression of durability. Rozlyn hoped that this appearance would indeed prove to be deceptive. “When did they bring him in?”

“About four this afternoon. They took him straight into theatre. He was asking for you then,” she chuckled, “but they thought he wanted a vicar.”

Rozlyn laughed. “Oh boy.” She glanced at her watch. It was close to ten. “Had he been lying there for long?”

“Maybe. It began to rain at about half three. When they found him, Mouse was soaked through. The guy with the dog thought he’d been mugged but the police officers that arrived just after the ambulance crew noticed the open door and took a look. When they saw the blood in the hall, they realised he’d been attacked inside and think he might have interrupted a thief. I think that’s the way it’s gone down on the initial report. The place has been sealed and secured, but SOCO can’t get there ’til tomorrow, they’re stretched.”

Rozlyn nodded. “Any idea when he’ll wake up?” If he’ll wake up.

Jenny shook her head. “No, but they think he’ll be OK. The Houseman’s still around somewhere. I told him you’d be here; he might be able to tell you more. I’ve supposedly got someone from uniform coming to sit with him. God knows when they’ll get here.”

If they get here. An old man, little better than a down and out, who’d been processed as a victim of an aggravated burglary wasn’t going to be a priority when it came to expenditure of police time, at least, until he either died — in which case it would be elevated to murder — or he could tell them something about his assailant.

Rozlyn nodded. “You get off home,” she said. “I’ll stay awhile.”

“Right you are, but look, there’s not much you can do here. You’d be better grabbing some sleep. I only called you out because I knew you’d never speak to me again if I hadn’t.” She grinned. “At least he’s a bit cleaner.”

“Yeah, right. He was attacked because he’d refused to take a bath. Anywhere I can get some coffee?”

“There’s a café on the ground floor and a machine at the end of that corridor,” Jenny pointed. ”Both equally vile.”

“Thanks. OK, I’ll see you in the morning.”

She nodded, snatched her coat from the back of the chair and made her exit. Rozlyn drew a deep and what she hoped would be a calming breath, then sat down in the chair that Jenny’s coat had vacated. “God, Mouse, what the hell have they done to you?” The side of his face was pulped and swollen and Rozlyn wondered if anything was broken. His nose was so inflamed and