Read Delirium (London Psychic) for Free Online Page B

her desk.  
    "It's Rory's birthday, and he insisted you eat that."  
    Jamie felt a wave of nausea to look at it, but she knew Missinghall meant well. Food was a constant in their working relationship, at least. She popped it in her mouth and chewed, forcing the sweetness down, willing the sugar to lift her mood. Missinghall smiled and in his brief moment of pleasure for her, Jamie felt better. At least she was beginning to make some friends in the force now, after years of being distant from her colleagues. At first, her independence had been a way to protect the little time she had left with Polly, and a way to stop herself being hurt again. Her ex-husband, Matt, had ripped her heart out when he had left her to cope with a disabled daughter alone. As the years went by, Jamie had turned her independence into a kind of armor, and doing her job well became more important than friendship. Perhaps that was changing now, since her fellow officers knew about her role in the Hellfire Caves. They also knew that somehow the glory had gone to the senior officer on the case, Detective Superintendent Dale Cameron, and there were rumors he had been offered a more senior role in the last few weeks. Jamie hoped he would move on because his presence still made her uneasy, the way his eyes followed her when she walked past his office.  
    Jamie still had flashbacks to that night of blood and smoke, when in a drugged haze, she had thought Cameron's face was amongst those who performed the atrocity. He had been protective of her in the aftermath of the investigation, encouraging her return to the force and then making sure she was supervised by his hand-picked team. Jamie had wondered what he was protecting her from, or whether he was merely making sure she wasn't able to report her suspicions. If Cameron moved on, Jamie might be able to breathe again as things returned to something resembling normal. Or at least what was considered normal in the homicide team.
    Missinghall flipped open his pad.  
    "Just heard from Skinner. Time of death was likely between midnight and five a.m. Cause of death was drowning, but the Doc also found a needle stick in the victim's neck and suspects a powerful hallucinogenic drug was used. It will take a while for toxicology to come back though."
    Jamie shook her head as she imagined being stuck in that box, strapped down while seeing terrifying visions. It brought back hazy memories of being manacled in the swirling smoke of the Hellfire Caves, unsure of what was real. "So it was torture as well as murder," she whispered.
    Missinghall continued. "We've also got the full list of statements from the people who were setting up the Psyche Fun Run that morning. Unsurprisingly, no one saw anything. They were all down the other end of the field because the curator didn't want kids near the flower beds so close to the reopening of the museum." Missinghall shuffled his papers, pulling out a sheaf of statements. "But Monro's financials are interesting. We got hold of his other bank account, the one he was clearly keeping separate. It shows significant payments of large amounts at sporadic intervals. The company they're from traces back to a shell organization that we can't penetrate. There's also substantial transfers for smaller amounts of money at more regular intervals. Interestingly, one of the regular transfers is to Mr Harkan, the solicitor who seemed very keen to point the finger at anyone but himself."
    "Right, get him down here," Jamie said. "You can go over that new evidence with him, although killing Monro would seem to make it less likely he would get his ongoing payments."
    Missinghall nodded. "I'll also get on with arranging access to Broadmoor so you can check out Timothy MacArnold, although clearly he didn't kill Monro himself. That place is a fortress."
    Jamie's phone rang, interrupting their discussion. As she picked up, Detective Superintendent Dale Cameron's smooth voice spoke before she could.
    "Can