A sneak preview of Callan’s chapter in OCEAN SLAYS, sequel to OCEAN KILLS.
Due for release early 2013. Disclaimer: Unedited version. Copyright Jade Hart 2013
CALLAN
“I want my bloody phone call.” I
shouted at no one in particular. I sounded like a fucking parrot—repeating
myself over and over since I’d been arrested and brought to the Perth Police
Station.
My prison cell was a tiny excuse of
space with a metal toilet, no sink, and a plank of wood they called a bed. It
was only temporary—my assigned accommodation before I was processed and
shuttled off to be denied bail and await a court date.
I'd locked enough men myself into
similar cells in Sydney, but at least I never kept the perps cuffed. What was
the point in keeping them shackled when they were behind bars?
I grinded my teeth as I tried to
shift. My shoulders were sore from the rough handling by the security guard at
Adrian Mathieu’s apartment, and my skin rubbed raw where the cuffs irritated
me. Plus, I didn't make it any easier on myself by fidgeting and squirming. I
couldn't sit still.
I was here because of Ocean. I was
arrested for a murder I watched her
commit. A murder I did nothing to stop. Was I guilty? An accomplice? By the
lines of the law, yes, I was incredibly guilty. I allowed Ocean to bash in an
old man's head with a whiskey bottle. But I couldn't agree he didn't deserve
it. Karma finally found him and extracted the toll of raping Ocean when she was
eight and taking her family from her.
My hands curled behind my back. The
metal rings around my wrists jingled as my shoulders tensed. Despite being
horrified at watching a murder committed right in front of me, I was happy for
her. She’d put some of her ghosts to rest and she needed to do that.
I sighed heavily; my slightly too long
hair tickled my forehead. I understood why she killed, and I wanted to believe
she was just so caught up in the emotions and horror of what happened to
remember to take me with her, but in my soul I knew what she said was true.
She didn't want me.
She'd locked away her heart and no
matter how much hammering, cursing, and maneuvers I pulled, I couldn't unlock
it without a key. And she didn't have one. I hoped in some corny way perhaps I
could be a lock-smith and pick the lock. To force her to admit she needed
companionship, love. But I was wrong. And it hurt too deeply to keep prodding
at the hole she’d left in my chest.
My teeth grinded as I glared at the
wall. “None of that matters,” I muttered under my breath. None of it mattered
because I wasn't interested in a woman who could leave an innocent person to
take the rap—to suffer for a crime they didn't commit.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. And
it showed me more about the darker side of Ocean than I wanted to see. It hurt
me deeper than anything she could have done, and made me doubt everything.
I thought she was the perfect one for
me. Someone who had secrets but was willing to share with me. It was all a lie
and I was done. I couldn’t go through something like that again… hoping…
wishing. Only to have those dreams crushed under a glass whiskey bottle.
“Bliss.”
My eyes shot to the officer standing
with his arms crossed outside my cell bars. I sat straighter, wincing when the
cuffs chaffed raw skin.
“You're allowed your phone call now.”
About bloody time.
I stood awkwardly and shuffled with
stiff legs to the bars. The officer nodded at his colleague down the corridor
to electronically unlock my cell. A loud beep and the bars slid open. Freedom.
Thank bloody heaven.
The officer grabbed my bicep as I
stepped past him. “Hey, mate. I don't get it. You worked for the Sydney force.
What happened to you in a few short weeks to end up arrested for cold blooded
murder?”
Shit. I should have seen this coming.
Of course they'd do a background search on my name. Of course it would show my
employment history with New South Wales police. “That's none of your business.
And I didn't commit the murder. I was at the wrong place, wrong time. That's
all.”
“Well, not sure how your old Captain
Gray is gonna accept that. He's demanded you to be transferred to the NSW
precinct to be filed for charges there. Our superior is fuming as the crime was
committed in our jurisdiction. Lucky you, you might serve your sentence closer
to family.”
The whole time he talked, he lead me
through the finger printing and photo processing room and a small bank of
dry-out cells for druggies.
My jaw ached from clenching so hard.
Captain Gray knew about this. Could this get any worse? First, I ruin my
career. Now, Ocean ruins my life.
“I just want my phone call, okay. Shut
your pie-hole.” My voice was dark. I didn't care if that confirmed to him I was
a ruthless killer with no remorse or feelings. I was sick to death of this
whole mess. My fingers itched to press buttons on the telephone.
“Just making convo, dude. No need to
bite my head off,” the officer snapped. “Here. Your five minutes begins now.”
He ushered me into a windowless room with a viewing mirror on one wall, a desk,
a chair, and a cell phone.
The door started to close behind me.
“Hey! Cuffs, you idiot. How am I
supposed to work a phone with my hands behind my back?” My chest heaved. This
whole station was run by a bunch of hicks. At least in Sydney the perps were
uncuffed in the cells and were given their phone calls within half an hour of
processing, not six hours later.
The officer rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah.
Turn around.”
I spun and held my wrists out. His
hands were slippery with sweat as he fumbled to unlock my shackles. When they
were free, I lurched for the table and snatched the cell phone up as if it were
the elixir of life. Ocean flickered into my mind as I stared at the black
keypad.
How much I wished I had her number so
I could call and scream at her. Tell her how much she let me down and shat on
all my warm emotions toward her. She stole a piece of me, chewed it up, and
left it to rot with the corpse of Adrian Mathieu.
Running a hand through my hair to get
rid of those thoughts, I dialed the number I knew by heart.
It answered on the first ring. “Kim
speaking.”
“Kim. I'm in jail.”
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