Death in the Black Wood, Oliver Davies [short story to read TXT] 📗

can’t afford to grind to a halt. If you’re stalled on one case, you’re expected to work on another, pure and simple.

I’d been at my desk for less than three hours when a knock on my door announced Caitlin a little before eleven.

“Another file for your In tray,” she told me, waving a slim folder in one hand. “And Walker and Bryce just got back from the Off Licence in Dalneigh that was broken into last night.”

“Did they have any luck?” I asked, gesturing for her to sit down. The thieves had made off with a decent haul of tobacco products and spirits.

“They did.” Her cheerfulness at that news seemed a little forced. “They sprayed the CCTV camera but there was a second concealed device running that caught them all with their masks off. The owner even recognised two of the thieves, both local lads, and only fifteen or sixteen the daft little idiots. Their mums pop in there regularly and have done for years. We have first and last names for both boys. The third guy was older, maybe mid-twenties.” He was probably both the organiser and the driver then.

“Was the second camera up to regulations?”

“It was. All the collected data was encrypted properly. No problem there.” On a normal day news like that would have made me smile.

“Maybe Collins could process some stills for them while they’re checking family and friends connections,” I suggested. “He’s getting pretty good at that job and I’m guessing they’d rather have those quickly.” The sooner they could get an identification on the unknown man the better. We’d want to hit all three addresses at the same time once we had them, and we’d want search warrants before moving too. “What’s the file?”

“Just the print out of Mike’s final report on his street robbery case.”

Right. I’d need to check through that. I was confident that Collins would have made a decent job of it but there was still room for improvement in his write ups. Nothing my team did went through to the Procurator Fiscal’s office until I’d made sure it was ready. I’d get round to that when I’d finished going over the report I was working on and then we could go over it together after lunch. He was making a lot fewer mistakes and omissions than he had when I’d first got here but he wasn’t quite there yet.

Caitlin was studying my face worriedly.

“How about a coffee break?” she finally ventured, having wisely decided to keep whatever she’d been about to say to herself. “You look like you could use one.”

“Sure.” That sounded like a very good idea. “If you get the kettle on, I’ll be out in a couple of minutes.” After she’d gone, I got up to stretch again. I’d been staring at my screen for too long and that was never a good idea. Another restless night hadn’t helped either, my eyes were starting to get that dry, sandy feel again. I opened up a drawer and gave them a couple of drops each from the little bottle I’d brought in the week before. It was going to be a long day and an even longer night.

I left the office punctually, at five, an almost unheard of occurrence. I hadn’t thought Shay’s plan of stuffing an early dinner into me so I could get my head down for a couple of hours would work but it did. When he woke me again at nine, with coffee to hand, I was feeling a lot fresher.

“Moon rise was about fifteen minutes ago so we’ve got less than eight hours to get through before it sets again.”

“How’s the sky?”

“Partially cloudy, as predicted. Hopefully, they’ll be right about it clearing later too. I’ll see you downstairs in a few.”

I drank down the coffee and went to freshen up in my bathroom before pulling on some comfortable trousers and going down to join him in our temporarily transformed living room.

“You’ve been busy in here,” I told him, taking in his set up approvingly. His satellite feed was on display on our big screen against the wall facing the couch. To either side of that and nearer the couch, he’d pulled in low tables from all over the house and set up another three monitors each for us. Trays in position over the couch itself held our laptops, and he’d even stocked the coffee table with an array of thermoses and snacks. We wouldn’t need to take our eyes off things except for quick trips to the loo.

“Where did you decide to park your big drone in the end?”

“On top of one of the cathedral towers. It’s a nice central spot, and it’s tucked away out of sight up there.”

Despite his best efforts, my cousin hadn’t been able to find a way of keeping his mini drones in the air for more than thirty minutes at a time but his larger drone could carry a two kilo payload and had provided him with a partial solution to the problem. He’d rigged that with adapted power banks and could now keep three of his six drones in the air at all times while the others recharged at their docking stations.

“Drones one and four will take it in turns to run my pre-programmed patterns over Kinmylies, two and five over Ballifeary and three and six over Drummond. Everything’s set to record all the footage, including the satellite feed.”

Our pre-planned vigil was yet another long shot. but as we’d intended to stay up to monitor the satellite feed anyway, we’d both thought it was worth pursuing. Private drone operators had their own regulations, permissions and certifications to deal with, but Shay had made sure to deal with all of that. He was fully licensed to fly his newest toys, and nobody needed to know that he was operating so many of them.

Neither of us expected our drone test tonight to amount to anything, but it had seemed like a better option than merely manning the satellite