Shot Through The Heart (Supernature Book 1) (32 page)

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Authors: Edwin James

BOOK: Shot Through The Heart (Supernature Book 1)

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Another thing that made it difficult was the fact I've been working in London for the past five months, commuting down every week. I managed to get 45,000 words of the first draft done while I still worked in Edinburgh, but I've found it a lot harder to get through that much writing down there. I finished DYED IN THE WOOL in July, before focusing on completing this and then the plot for the next Cullen, so maybe I've not done too badly. Working in Edinburgh again will help.

Infinite thanks this time to Kitty - as ever - for the initial sense check and the awesome cover, to Pat for reviewing and commenting on an early draft and keeping me right in terms of genre tropes, Claudia for the proofing, but most of all to Rhona for the astounding editing job she did, from the initial structural edit to the painful (for both of us) line edit, where most of my lazy cliches got unpicked and six thousand redundant words went missing.

The book is dedicated to my brother, Ross - I know you love vampires, so I hope you enjoy this.

Anyway, that's all from me - I hope you enjoyed it, whether you’re a Cullen fan or new to my work. Let me know what you think - I'm on twitter, facebook, or email [email protected]. Finally, I'd really appreciate it if you could post a review wherever you got it from (and Goodreads, Shelfari, etc if they're your bag).

Ed James,

East Lothian, September 2013

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Also available for free from most retailers -

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

DC Scott Cullen Mysteries Book 1

Detective Constable Scott Cullen of Lothian & Borders CID has only been a full detective for three months. Struggling with his burning ambition, Cullen is assigned a Missing Persons case. Caroline Adamson, a young, recently-divorced Edinburgh mother, has disappeared while on a date.

But when Caroline's body turns up, Cullen digs into her past and her private life starts to unravel. Who was she on a date with? What happened during her divorce? What was she doing on Schoolbook?

Now, as Cullen investigates, his own private life gets messier and the relationship with his DI deteriorates. As other bodies turn up, Cullen soon finds himself hunting for a ghost in the machine.

GHOST IN THE MACHINE is an intense police procedural novel about privacy, loss and social networks that builds to a shocking climax.

Excerpt

Caroline

Wednesday 27th July, 7.30pm

Where was he?

Caroline was still waiting in the bar where they'd arranged to meet. She checked her watch - he was twenty minutes late.

It felt like hours.

She shouldn't have got there half an hour early. She took another sip from her cocktail, staring into the ice.

The music playing on the bar's stereo switched song. She recognised it, something about making him magnificent tonight. She looked over at the barmaid and pointed up at the speakers. "What's this?"

The barmaid checked a CD case. "Sleeper.
Atomic
."

Caroline smiled. "Thanks."

Taking a deep breath, she hoped Martin would be magnificent. She rummaged around in her handbag and found her mobile. She opened the Schoolbook app and found her train of messages with him, re-reading the instructions again, just like she had four times on her laptop at home.

No, there it was - meet in the bar of the Jackson Hotel at half seven.

She went into Martin's profile, looking at the baby-blue eyes in the photo, the wide smile, the perfect teeth. Almost too good to be true.

The only messages on his profile were hers - she wondered if she looked like some mad stalker woman.

She scanned around the room again for anyone even vaguely resembling Martin's profile shot. Nobody came close.

Caroline looked over at the barmaid. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone." She held up her mobile. "Has he been in?"

The barmaid inspected Martin's profile for a few seconds before shaking her head and returning the phone. "Don't recognise him. He's pretty, though." She wiped the counter with a cloth then nodded at Caroline's mobile. "Did you meet him on Schoolbook?"

Caroline smiled. "If you can call it meeting."

"Happens a lot these days, I suppose."

"We'd been talking about films on a message board."

The barmaid smiled, before moving off to fuss over the coffee machine.

Caroline took another sip and looked back at the message chain stretching back almost two months, the flirtatious subtext getting ever stronger towards the inevitability of their meeting.

She'd not felt that level of connection with anyone for a long time. It felt like he knew everything about her.

Her heart was thudding in her chest. She took another sip to steady her nerves.

The CD switched track again and she started humming along. She made eye contact with the barmaid. "What's this one?"

The barmaid looked at the box again, her eyes squinting. "New Order,
Temptation
."

Caroline frowned, thinking she knew the album. "What CD it?"

The barmaid held up the box. "
Trainspotting
soundtrack. It's just what was here. Got some decent tunes on it, though."

"That's my favourite film. It's what we were chatting about on Schoolbook." Caroline looked down at her glass again and bit her lip. "Rob bought me that."

"Who's he?"

"My ex-husband. He's a wanker."

The barmaid snorted. "Don't get me started on mine." She moved off to serve another customer.

Caroline stabbed at her phone, tempted to delete Rob from her friends list there and then. She should never have accepted his invite in the first place, but she'd been trying to be
friends
for Jack's sake.

She noticed her fists were clenched. She let them go, taking another drink, hoping nobody noticed.

She looked across the bar area, seeing herself in the mirror. She sighed, reflecting on how little had outwardly changed in her - she'd lost weight after having Jack and didn't look much older than her thirty-two years. The divorce had added dark rings around her eyes she just couldn't get rid of.

Her mobile lit up - a text from Amy. "
Jack's just gone to sleep. No more phone calls. A x
"

Caroline swallowed hard, feeling guilty at being out and leaving her son with a friend.

The music changed again. Anger burned through her as she thought of Rob moving on, leaving her with Jack. Not that she resented him it was just-

Caroline put the phone back on the bar.

It buzzed almost immediately - a text from Steve Allen, one of her oldest friends. "
Just on my way to Parkhead, wanted to wish you good luck for tonight. Not that you'll need it.
"

She texted back. "
I don't think I will. You might.
"

She tapped send and the phone rang, an unknown number. Her hands shook as she put it to her ear.

"Caroline, hi, it's Martin."

His voice was familiar, almost reassuring. She loved Northern Irish accents.

"Hi." Her voice was a nervous croak. She cleared her throat. "Hi, Martin."

"I'm really sorry, but I'm running late. I've just got back from the office, had a last minute meeting thrown at me and I'm only getting ready now. And I left my personal mobile in my hotel room like an idiot."

Caroline wasn't sure what to make of it. "That's okay."

"Tell you what, I'm just about ready now so why don't you come meet me at my room and we'll go on from there?"

"Sure."

"It's just at the back of the ground floor. Room twenty."

The phone clicked dead.

Her heart was racing again. She was finally going to meet him.
In person
.

She wondered about meeting him in his room but they'd talked so often on Schoolbook it felt like they'd known each other for years.

She smiled at the barmaid as she got up, leaving the ice at the bottom of her glass. She walked through reception, a brass plate on the wall pointing along a wood-panelled corridor to room 20.

When she got there, the door was ajar.

She called into the room. No answer.

She frowned and looked back along the corridor, her heart racing.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It opened further.

"Come in."

She entered.

The door slammed behind her. A hand clasped over her mouth. "Hello, Caroline."

As she twisted around, she saw his face. Her eyes bulged.

A rope bit into her neck.

A fist slammed into her skull.

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