The Devil's Due: A Cooper and McCall Scottish Crime Thriller by Ramsay Sinclair (good inspirational books .TXT) 📗

cut her off, warning her to be polite when speaking to a CID detective. Her cursing was the last thing playing on my mind. “Sorry, Miss. It was a huge scandal when he left, though. Everyone talked for weeks. Even Mr Lang was gossiping about it, and he never gets involved with us lot—”

“Cass,” My receptionist paused Cass mid-conversation. “Sorry about her. She doesn’t get much social interaction.” Standing up, the receptionist leaned against a doorway which led to a secretive back office. “Jack Harper was fired for stealing medical records. They managed to retrieve them back in the end, but we reckon he wrote down all the information he would’ve needed to know somewhere. Then there were the pills—”

“Don’t tell me,” I groaned rhetorically, already guessing what had happened. “He got caught stealing prescription drugs?” Cass giggled, surprised at how accurate I was. “And what? He got fired, and that was that?”

“Yeah,” the receptionist nodded regretfully. “They wanted to keep it away from papers and the press. I think Jack wanted that too, in all honesty. He wasn’t right in the head, not since his daughter died. Kept saying he wanted to save another girl's life, like he should have saved his own daughter.”

It was a first-hand quote which didn’t help Jack Harper’s deceiving lies. ‘He wasn’t right in the head.’ Enough to make him capable of murder? It seemed likely, looking back at all those facts recently coming to light. But who was he stealing prescription drugs for, and why did he so desperately want stolen medical documents?

“Do you know where I could find any record of Jack and his time he spent employed here?” That would be my most logical next step: uncovering some hard evidence. Hard enough to break with a hammer.

“Out back, ma’am. Not Australia, just out there. Every employee record stored properly, under lock and key, which I so happen to have.” Cass waggled a set of keys in the air enticingly. “Jack Harper’s is probably still in there for legal purposes, you know, in case the case comes back to haunt us all.” We unlocked their backroom excitedly, three young girls experiencing their first rule-breaking moment. Filing cabinets stood tall and proud, labelled, thankfully, for utmost convenience.

They pretty much left me to it, following my strict instructions to email me over the clock-in names from the eighth to prove Jack Harper's absence back at CID. We swapped email addresses, and she got right to business. Lovely jubbly. Cass continued cleaning for a few hours, chattering now and again to fill her time. I was grateful to them both for letting me stay, even though it was well past their home time. Duty called. They seemed just as invested in the case as CID, having heard all about it from the papers. Both of them swapped intriguing but frankly ridiculous theories, probably trying to help out.

It did the exact opposite.

I rifled through cabinet drawer after drawer, tons and tons of loose papers. They needed hired help to get on top of all their paperwork.

“H. H. H,” I repeatedly murmured, sounding delirious. Finally, I located the ‘H’ drawer and spent half an hour pulling out every brown envelope. It was all very seventies in taste. No one had updated this little nook past that particular era. All handheld and typed medical records were shoved inside each folder, containing facts on many people's personal, private lives.

Nobody should abuse their power to protect such sensitive information, I reminded myself ironically that I, myself, had stooped to Jack Harper’s level. Hypocritical, much?

“Here you go, ma’am,” Cass made me jump, suddenly appearing with a steaming mug of coffee on hand.

“Thanks, Cass, you’re a saviour.” I smiled gratefully, taking their warm and steaming cup away. A shockwave of relief overtook my body after one sip, rejuvenating me. It had all gotten dark recently, and harder to push through all those meticulous sheets of paper. It was exactly what I needed.

“Do you think you’ll find them, ma’am? The killer?” Cass stared down towards her ropey shoes nervously, her earlier confident demeanour melting away. “It’s just that… I’ve got a little boy. He’s all I have. I want him to grow up in a safe place, you know. Not one where people can get away with murder.”

My sometimes sensitive heart broke for her. People like Cass were the reason we continued working for CID. To protect those who can’t defend themselves, who are easily intimidated by evil.

“I hope,” I vowed out loud. If I wasn't fired by time I returned to the CID office tomorrow, that was. Relieved, Cass sighed, returning to her normal self once more.

“Thank you, ma’am. Drink up. Otherwise, your coffee will go cold, and I’ve still got the staff room to clean yet.” Her eyes sparkled mischievously, a ray of sunshine remaining through the darkness. I chuckled as Cass bustled away, lugging that great stinking hoover with her.

I pulled myself back to the folder, resting in my lap. I’d gotten tired of standing and filled the floor with an explosion of paperwork, like a bomb had gone off. I sat centre stage, at the eye of the storm, causing the never-ending explosion. Shaking from nerves, I opened Jack Harper’s folder and recognised a few confidentiality agreements and employment contracts. There had to be something else. Anything.

Aha. A typed up, formal note rustled the furthest back. This had to be promising? ‘Termination of employment’. Bingo. Documentation to prove Jack was indeed fired. It detailed a few notes which the receptionist already ran through briefly before. But names stood out against the grain. Jack Harper had been caught stealing medical records of himself and a girl called Catherine Jones.

Catherine Jones? Who is she and what would she have to do with Jack Harper? I went through the whole process again until I found her record. It was illegal to do that, which is the same grounds on which Jack Harper was fired. But this was an investigation, and surely any