Not Dead Enough: A Roy Grace Novel 3

by Peter James

Bishop had had a charmed childhood, Vernon had told him.

& the other him is very, very VERY pissed off at this fact

both Miss Harrington’s mobile phone records and Brian Bishop’s, has informed me that each party made a large number of phone calls daily to the other during this six-month period. The most recent was a call from Miss Harrington to Mr Bishop at four fifty-one on Friday afternoon, a few hours before her estimated time of death.

Phone numbers can be faked rather easily, to the point that even I could do it!

At the time it had seemed a more attractive proposition than spending another evening alone in this room with his thoughts and a room service trolley.

Hey it could be worse, I’ve been in a hotel for 7 months, but I have to feed myself! Not kidding.

He realized he was alone now and the door had been shut. The cell was completely silent, as if he were in a soundproof box.

It could be worse, he could of had a cellmate, that’d scare me more than anything else

outline to Bishop’s solicitor the background, and why Bishop had been arrested, without Bishop present.

That took me about 3 reads to understand

I’m really very angry.

Understatement of the book

Lloyd had positioned himself at the head of the table, as if arranging the stage to assert himself from the getgo.

Yup, it’s body language time, so open those eyes & ears & get ready to see what happens when Bishops B/L shows he’s telling the truth when the cops have proof, to them anyways, that he’s lying. Should be interesting, you really have to feel sorry for the poor bugger, & wonder how other people who full well have been arrested innocently feel when their world, that’s already collapsed upon them, gets aftershock after aftershock :|

The solicitor smiled. ‘OK. That’s good enough for me.

I hope he’s not just saying that, the poor bugger needs someone on his side

He walked back into the observation room, smiling, exasperated and relieved.

That’s just odd, why would she act like that? & why would he let it go when he was so concerned he had police looking for her?!

He heard it flipping around as he let himself back out of the front door.

Wow Not often things in books really shock me, I’ve read genre after genre & am pretty immune to that sort of thing, but THIS got me, all the other peeking etc, expected, didn’t bother me beyond thinking what a truly creepy character he is, but the last few lines, shocked me.

DNA analysis on semen present in Sophie Harrington’s vagina would match Bishop’s. Huntington was fast-tracking the analysis and he should get the results later today.

& the DNA should clear him, it’d be a very high chance of their DNA being the exact same, even for twins, even identical ones Btw I am still guessing here regarding the twin thing, my whole theory could be thrown out of the water/window anytime…

looking sick as a parrot.

WTH does that mean??

Both were a complete match with

Well…. That’s rare, even for an identical twin, which leaves the other option a little more open, he’s got MPD

sweet potatoes

Or kumara as they’re called here in Aotearoa, they were brought here by the first Polynesians that came here to live, way before the Americans decided to rename OUR historical vegetable, & it IS of historical significance here, back way way when there wasn’t a lot of food sources such as this one & it played a big part in the life & health of our settlers.

She had learned from her last relationship that just when you thought everything was perfect, life could turn round and bite you.

Oh yes don’t I know that feeling all too well, nothings ever perfect with me, but life does still manage to crap on my parade, as it were

DNA evidence

I won’t be absolutely shocked if he does turn out to have MPD, but I’m much more thinking evil twin

And suddenly, for the first time, he found himself – almost – hoping that he wouldn

This part of the backstory always reminds me of the movie The Vanishing

‘Did you see The Fast and the Furious, with Vin Diesel?’ ‘He’s got the most stupid name for an actor.

He used to be hot as! As for his name I actually always thought it was pretty good, different enough to stand out, but not so odd that it stood out in a bad way Vin Diesel sounds better than Mark Sinclair, especially for an action movie star

From where Grace was sitting, stomach in his mouth, it was more about not flying off into the seriously sturdy-looking trees that lined both bends.

I do love sarcasm early in the morning, well any times good for me, my Mum says I’m like my Dad, I have a ‘dry wit’ but that’s not true, dark & bloody humors quite messy at times, especially the cleaning up part ;)

‘P1?’ ‘It’s a club for petrol heads that Damon Hill – the racing driver – former world champion – runs. You pay an annual subscription and get the use of various sports cars.

Oh my Dad would of ….. L O V E D ….. something like that, cars were his passion

‘Suddenly, my friend, it is all your birthdays rolled into one!’ ‘Sorry, old-timer, you’ve lost me!’ ‘Your driving skills. I’m going to give you a chance to show them off. We’re going to drive first, at a steady legal speed to Bishop’s flat in Notting Hill. From there, you’re going to drive like the clappers! We’re going to see just how quickly Bishop could have made that journey.’ The Detective Sergeant beamed.

I don’t usually highlight such a large portion, but this is bloody good! I can just imagine how stoked Branson is! I even have a silly little grin on my face, for a fictional character in a book!

There were no blue MG TF 160s to be found anywhere.

Ohh, now I see what’s been behind this part of the storyline, I was wondering, Cleo’s got one of those doesn’t she? They’re going to witness an abduction aren’t they?

‘I mean it. I want you to know that.

That’s so surprisingly sweet

‘Get your panties off.

I do hate that term, it’s been used in a way that makes it purposely overtly sexual, with how it’s used right in this sentence being a prime example.

He was writhing, thrashing, moaning, in the most terrible agony she had ever seen a human being experience.

It’s nerve pain, once you remove the protection of the skin, all the nerves are suddenly ‘on show’ & the nerves are there for one purpose to CAUSE PAIN, it’s our bodies alarm system, to tell us “hey! Something is wrong here” it’s to save our lives, but take it from me, the pain is beyond anything you ever want to feel. I had a nonmalignant tumor sitting on some nerves just above my right knee, it was undiagnosed for years & the pain took me to the brink of suicide. You NEVER want to feel a full onslaught of this type of pain, death is kinder.

The other officer, Paul Packer, was also in the same hospital, with severe, but not life-threatening, burns.

Have to give him full credit & kudos for that, especially considering the ‘finger incident’

And the sticking plaster on his right hand.

That might come into play at some stage, who has it?

‘Tell me something, what do you know about the DNA of twins?

& there we have it. Finally, the words I,}

But the DNA would be an exact match.

Not always, mostly, but not always.

Despite being desperately tired, Grace slept fitfully, woken by the slightest noise and not settling again each time until he was certain that it had come from outside Cleo’s house, not from inside.

Survival instinct, protect your mate & procreate, thus you survive

‘In England and Wales the time of birth in addition to the date of birth is only put down for multiple births.

Good thing that, I don’t think we do that here as mine has the time on it & as far as I know I’m not a twin!

Finally the door opened and a young woman entered, managing to put Grace’s back up even before she opened her mouth, just from the way she looked, combined with her scowl.

God I hate people like this, I had shit jobs & just as bad customers, workmates, people related work wise, but never did I ever act bad to anyone, I was always friendly, actually to the rude to me ones, I was overly friendly as nothing pisses off a rude person as much as a big smile & “have a great day!” :)

The woman came back into the room with a tray containing a china teapot, milk jug, sugar bowl, cups and saucers and a plate of biscuits. She had removed her gardening gloves

There’s my Mum to a T Although she’d be apologetic for her clothes & the house, even if both were spotless

‘Poor soul, he died. He never really had his life.

Yeah, that’d be because he stole someone’s else’s ….

Had someone gone to the trouble of having surgery to make himself look like Brian Bishop? Then somehow obtained fresh semen from the man?

Oh good god! I’ve had some asinine theories in my plot twisting nightmares, but this?! If it looks like a horse it’s generally not a bloody zebra!

There’s also a CCTV camera in the men’s room.

I cannot believe this to be true, there’s no way in hell they could put a camera in the public toilets

was. ‘Quiet day,’ she said, sounding tired but reasonably

MY highlight is to make a note of why 3 people decided to highlight these few words, I mean it’s hardly earth shattering….??

strong South African accent, despite having lived over twelve years in England.

Yeah some people do keep their accents, or should I say from some places, South Africa being one, as are Eastern Europeans, Russians

‘He was in software,’ she said. ‘Something to do with

Ding ding Ding Ding ding Ding … Grace, who else you know who does that? Hmmm…

man he recognized from this department standing there. Lorna looked up at him. ‘Sorry, Dermot, is it anything urgent?

My webs twitching & my little red fishies are nudging the gate to freedom…

It was a gallery of news cuttings.

Somewhere it’s gonna say “because you love her” I’ve a feeling it’s his catchphrase

and in spite of the medication he was taking, his hand did not seem to be healing

Sepsis most likely, or it’s turned into an ulcer

a third victim found with a gas mask would make Detective Superintendent Grace look a fool, because it would show he had the wrong man locked up.

While he’s not a typical serial killer Vs Bundy etc, he’s made the typical mistake, it’s gone personal with the cops, the press, the need to flaunt, the usual downfall will follow.

the sardines lying there beneath you, tantalizing you, but you couldn’t yet touch or taste them.

& that’s a good place to leave them, where you cannot touch them. I honestly cannot understand how people actually really like eating these, what in the hell is the attraction? Their fishieness? How oily & slimey they are? Just thinking about it makes me want to gag!

Grace ran after him, determined to get this fucker.

Well, detective Grace, never heard such words in my entire life, how rude & uncouth ;) ;)

Then the guard ran back, panting. ‘I’ve asked them to switch off the power. It should only take a few seconds,’ he said. Then suddenly the night erupted into a cacophony of wails. It sounded as if every emergency vehicle’s siren in the whole of the city of Brighton and Hove had been switched on together.

Nicely done, 2 juxtaposed impressions for the reader

‘Did you get him?’ ‘Most of him.’

Heh

‘Because he was the one born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and me – you know what I was born with? A plastic breathing tube down my throat.’

Oh grow up, I was a premie emergency birth, with I’ll add, the cord wrapped around my neck & nobody besides nurses touched me for days, even my parents. So forgive me if I’m a tad …

the Crown might be experiencing some difficulties with the prosecution as a result of new evidence coming to light.

“Might be”? Sheesh, understatement! & are they not telling him about his brother? Although imagine a plot twist where… they had already found each other & discovered they both wanted to kill & realized they could use this twin thing to do alibis & literally get away with murder…

Why were they lying about each other?

Or, was it triplets? I’d say another baby by someone else, but it has to look identical, so that couldn’t work