Chapter 28
EDINBURGH
He and Ruth were quite happy being in the same room as each other, without having to have a conversation every five minutes. He was reading a Stephen King novel called Holly. He had found it in the book exchange at his mother’s café. Swapping it for the Dean Koontz he had left there.
Brodie liked reading horror novels. Some guys he worked with liked reading crime, but he wanted to steer away from that. He got enough of it at the office.
‘Good book?’ Ruth asked.
‘It is. In my experience, you can’t go wrong with a good King novel.’
‘I’ve read them all,’ she said. ‘I enjoy his short stories.’
‘Me too. “Everything’s Eventual” is my favourite.’ He stuck the bookmark into the book and closed it.
‘What are you reading just now?’
‘The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. It’s about a therapist who tries to help a woman who won’t talk. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.’
‘It must be good. You said you don’t read books about psychiatrists.’
‘I’d heard good things about it from a woman at work,’ Ruth said. ‘Word of mouth works wonders.’
‘I can see that.’
‘I put the kettle on if you want a cuppa.’
‘Great. I don’t feel like a beer tonight. I’ll make them.’ He got up and went into the kitchen and poured two coffees after the kettle switched off. ‘I have to go over to Fife tomorrow,’ he said to her after he put the mugs down on the coffee table.
‘To see Eric? Is he okay?’
‘No, it’s not that. It’s with work,’ he said.
‘Oh really? Why are they having you do that?’
‘Remember I told you I was seconded over to Fife about seven years ago? I was working a serial killer case.’
‘Oh, yeah. You told me ages ago about that.’
‘The papers nicknamed him The Embalmer. We didn’t catch him. But this time, the MIT in Glenrothes is a man down. Their DCI has gone missing and they want me in as the senior officer in charge.’
‘It must be a serious case.’
He nodded. ‘They found a skeleton under some floorboards, apparently.’
‘Oh no. Who would do that? Put a body under the floorboards?’ she said.
‘You would be surprised,’ Brodie said.