Crash Course by Derek Fee (freenovel24 .TXT) 📗

“You’ve asked more than your one question.” They had reached the door of the office building. “Driving your father’s boat is another job to me. At the end of the season, I’ll have completed my obligation to my uncle and your father and then I’ll be on my way. So don’t bother yourself trying to get into my head. There isn’t a great deal going on there. I’ve got to take a shower before I hit the hot spots of Falmouth.”

“Maybe we could have dinner together?”

It would have been so easy to say yes. And he wanted to. “No, I don’t think so. I have a prior arrangement with Doc.” He pushed open the door of the office and left her standing in the yard.

She waited until the door of the office was shut before saying, “Damn.” Was he doing it on purpose? Although she would never admit it to her parents, she had been involved with men since she was thirteen when she had lost her virginity to her dishy English teacher at the private school her parents had sent her to. Since then, a long parade of men had found their way into her bed. All had been invited and all had been dumped. She had an insight into men and it was telling her that Mark Kane was interested. Then why the hell was the bastard playing hard to get? And why the enigmatic personality? Maybe this was his gambit. Come over all mysterious and hope that the female would swoon over him. Well, she wasn’t the swooning type. But she did find him interesting. So many unanswered questions. She would have to find out a lot more about her new teammate.

Chapter Fifteen

“This had better be good.” Superintendent Davenport looked across the bay from the imposing height of Pendennis Fort. “I have a desk full of work back at the Yard and pleasant as the view is, I don’t have the time to waste on useless trips to Cornwall.”

“I wouldn’t have asked for this meeting if I didn’t feel it was necessary.” Doc Watson walked alongside Davenport as they toured the parapets of the ancient fort. There had been a fortification on this hill for four hundred years and the present structure dated from Tudor times.

“I agonised over my decision to contact you but I felt you needed to be informed of my unease about Mark. I think we have a problem.”

“Already?” Davenport was beginning to feel that Kane had been right on the question of a partner. He’d known that Kane was likely to be difficult to work with but he had hoped that Watson would be flexible enough to fit in with Kane’s unconventional approach. “What’s this problem we’ve got.”

“I think he’ll crack up big time.”

“I don’t think so.” Davenport had read every word in Watson’s file and spoken to the man’s superiors in Manchester. He wasn’t the type who flapped easily. Ergo the visit to Falmouth as soon as he called. He hoped that getting the message from him would not be the equivalent of pulling teeth. “I know he’s unconventional but he’s also effective. His record speaks for itself.”

“I know.” Doc sat down on one of the ancient walls. “I checked the bugger out before I agreed to participate in this operation.”

“Maybe we should start at the beginning.” Davenport towered over Doc. “And let’s get to the point as quickly as possible.”

Doc related his experience with Kane. The scream in the middle of the night. The sweat and the obfuscation when he had pursued the matter.

When he was finished, he looked into Davenport’s eyes. “I think that there’s something that you know that I should know and I think that you should tell me as soon as possible. For me, Kane is a perfect case of PTSD. He might have been suffering for weeks, months or years but I can tell you that I don’t want to be around when he cracks. The man needs professional help.”

Davenport held Doc’s stare. The man had risen inestimably in his opinion over the past few minutes. It had taken guts to call his superior officer this early in an operation but it had taken a damn sight more to inform on his partner’s apparent weakness. “Maybe there is something you need to know.” Davenport sat on the wall beside Doc. “And perhaps you should have known from the beginning. Kane was married. He had a wife and children: a two-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl. His wife was a high-strung girl. She was never really at home with him being an undercover copper. But everything was alright until the first child arrived. About two weeks after the birth, she began to develop post-natal depression. He took time off work and gradually his wife got on top of things and the depression appeared to go away. Things returned to normal, if you can say that the life of any SO10 copper is ever normal. He was constantly living on the edge. He was away from home a lot and although he loved his wife and child there were obvious strains on the marriage. That was when they made their worst mistake. To save the marriage, his wife became pregnant with their second child.” Davenport paused for a second. He saw that Watson was listening intently. “They were over the moon. Happy again. He vowed he’d give up SO10 and move into some quiet station and be an ordinary copper again. After the second child was born, his wife hit the depths again. Major depression. I don’t think his work was helpful. He was on what was supposed to be his last case with us. He was deep undercover and hardly saw his wife for weeks on end. As soon as the spin was over, he went home. Two days later he walked into his flat at six o’clock in the evening. He found his two children hung in the