Hiding under the Covers (at a glance)

Death has played in this room. Raymius can sense it. He 

moves his head a little. The outline of the vault door is around three feet by nine. The ceiling is around twenty, 

if his guess about the door is right. Each light overhead is 

protected by wire mesh. Apart from the trap door next to his face everything is covered with white tiles. There are little perspex spheres in each corner of the ceiling. HTFO, hi-tech fibre optics – electronic eyes. On the plastic table there’s a cup like the type you get from a water dispenser at the dentist. It has clear liquid inside. In between the tiles are intermittent dark stains that could’ve, once, been blood. He thinks about. the 11th Commandment, thou shalt not get caught.

catch (v) 1. to capture somebody suspected 

of wrongdoing 2. to trap something or 

become trapped 3. to understand or 

manage to hear something that is being 

said 4. to trick or deceive somebody 5. to 

record something or somebody on tape 

or film…

It’s dark, total blackness. Her eyes are wide open so she knows  it’s not a dream. The only sounds are her irregular breaths  and the beat, beat, beat of her heart. Fear holds her chest the  way the angler holds the fish. A vice-like grip moments before  the metal hammer stuns the brain and ends life. Helen Carter doesn’t know where she is or how long she’s  been there. She knows what way is up and what way is down.  She’s curled on her left side. Her right side feels tender. She is  free to move around but there is nowhere to go. The room is  eight steps by six steps. The ceiling is out of reach. She is also  free to cry out, but no one is listening. 

prologue (n) 1. preliminary discourse,  introducing act or event, serving as an  introduction... 

It’s still dark, blackness, until she lights the last one and  collapses on the sofa, mashed off her face with heroin. Four black candles blink in each corner of the room. Yvonne Morrison  smiles across at Emma Burgess and then dares to deviate  from the instructions. Yvonne doesn’t normally walk around  without anything on. She’ll always don a pair of pants or even  the littlest of towels to hide her modesty. She’s not a prude,  though. They’ve said many times.  

“You really are quite liberated, Yve, are you not?” 

She  hates the way these posh bastards speak to her.  

oubliette (n) 1. a dungeon designed with  only one method of entry or exit 2. an  underground cell where the only way in  or out is through a trap door at the top. 3. a dungeon with only one way out...

Emma’s voice pierces the air like a spear. It comes from the  corner of the room, defiant.  “You’re f**king insane,” she says.  His mobile phone rings. He answers her first. 

“Let me get rid  of this call, then you’ll have my undivided attention, darling.”  He turns his back on her and puts his free hand into his  pocket. 

“Yes, twenty-four red roses. Yes, the biggest you’ve  got. No, no message. No, no card. Yes, just put it on my account.  No, not at all, thank you. Yes, you too.” Click. He ends the call,  snaps the mobile shut, slips it into his shirt pocket. He’s not  big on conversation but when he speaks, you listen.

“So you  think I’m insane?” He laughs mockingly, shaking his head as  he turns to face her.  

currency (n) 1. The system of money  in general use in a particular country  2. The fact or quality of being  generally accepted or in use 3. From  Medieval Latin currentia, literally: a  flowing 4 From Latin currere, to run... 

Another Monday morning, beneath a bright blue Scottish  sky. Outside feels like being inside a deep freeze. They  sit in their unmarked car with the windows down and the  engine off. They look like two lumps of ice sitting in a frosted  glass. DCI Ribbon’s face is grey, but his ears, nose and cheeks  are pink and sting like a well-skelped arse. He watches DS  MacMillan use a half-eaten pencil to do battle with the daily  crossword. 

“What you stuck on, Mac?” 

“Who says I’m stuck?”  Ribbon doesn’t have to say anything. His look says it all.  Mac scratches his head and continues. “Indo-European languages in North Eastern Europe.  Closely related to the Slavonic group, six letters, begins with  a 'B’." 

Ribbon looks at the condensation in the inside of the windscreen and then down the street. Everybody has a scarf and  hat on; well, almost. It seems everyone is smoking too, but  of course they’re not. Hot breath swirling in the morning air  makes it look this way. That’s Ribbon’s job – to find out the way things really are, not the way they seem...

omen (n) 1. a happening that is regarded  as a sign of how something or somebody  will fare in the future… 

People go missing every day. You know that, don’t you? 

Two women take part in a sensuous performance while one man sits and watches silently. 

Nothing out of the ordinary now: Dead bodies, a killer, a forensic psychologist and more suspects than you can shake a sickle at. 

Except… Why do the dead women have a distinct smell of peach? What’s a homeless person doing with a kilo of hash and a £1000 a night prostitute? Why is our DCI being investigated by Special Branch? 

Is it such a ridiculous idea to take a trip to Glasgow and find out who is HIDING UNDER THE COVERS...