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    The Sound of Silence
    The Sound of Silence
    The Sound of Silence
    Ebook63 pages59 minutes

    The Sound of Silence

    By Stephen E Pennykid

    ()

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    About this ebook

    The third short story in this series sees ex-Chief Inspector Robert Casey looking back at his first involvement in a murder investigation in an effort to identify the sender of the package which so intrigued him and upset his equilibrium in the previous story.
    How would his unofficial investigations affect his retirement plans, his relationship with his ex-colleagues and more importantly his relationship with his wife? Would they lead him down a dangerous path?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherS & S P Publishing
    Release dateJun 21, 2019
    ISBN9780463897164
    The Sound of Silence
    Author

    Stephen E Pennykid

    Born in 1952, Steve Pennykid grew up on a Leicester council estate built to accommodate new families after the war and the baby boom of the 50's and 60's. Steve was an only child and although he had plenty of friends with whom to play football on the green outside his home, he had time on his hands to develop his love of the written word, and as a child always had something to read whether it be a football annual at Christmas, a thrilling children's story or a Look and Learn comic. Writing though did not come until much later. Steve took early retirement in 2005, which gave him a few years to achieve a number of goals he set himself to do before he was 60. One of these was to write a short story and try to get it published. This was a big ask as he had never written anything before. However, it was achieved in 2010 when a local story-writing competition gave him the opportunity. By then he had written one story – The News from Spain. He began to amend this story to suit the framework required for the competition but it soon became a completely different tale – Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. These are both gentle romances but Steve's writing has now become more eclectic with a number of other tales including two detective stories, from his Chief Inspector Robert Casey series, two children's short stories and a non-fiction title under his belt. Steve also loves music and you will undoubtedly notice a common theme in many of his stories of titles and chapters containing the names of songs, particularly those from the 60's. His passion for music of this era encouraged him to write his own personal favourite, the non-fiction "MisHits of the Sixties". Steve lives in Loughborough and is married with two sons, a daughter-in-law and two delightful granddaughters.

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      Book preview

      The Sound of Silence - Stephen E Pennykid

      The Sound of Silence

      A Chief Inspector Robert Casey Short Story

      by

      Stephen E Pennykid

      The Sound of Silence

      A Chief Inspector Robert Casey Short Story

      by

      Stephen E Pennykid

      Copyright © 2019 by Stephen E Pennykid

      Smashwords Edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Acknowledgements

      My thanks to my wife Sue for typing, editing and publishing this story, and to our friend Martin Litherland for his comments and suggestions.

      The Sound of Silence

      A Chief Inspector Robert Casey Short Story

      He sat in the darkened room. Time had no meaning. The urge to kill, which had lain dormant for so long, was back. A long lost feeling of excitement coursed through his body as he remembered the thrill of the magic moment; how he had seen the light of life slowly fade in his victim’s eyes. It had not been possible to experience that at every kill, but what a bonus when it occurred.

      Now, circumstances had delivered him back into the cycle of pain and pleasure: their pain and his pleasure. Originally it had been a means of revenge but the reasons for his actions had evolved. It now became a quest to achieve an ultimate goal with revenge becoming a delectable side issue. Once that goal had been reached he could relegate the murderous feelings to the nethermost regions of his mind. The contentment of those years was now at an end and therefore the hiatus was over.

      A new plan had been devised and the opening gambit played. Where it would lead he had no idea, but the end result was superfluous. The experiences would hopefully allay, if not eradicate, the grief now engulfing him.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      How can you solve the seemingly unsolvable? This was the dilemma facing Robert Casey.

      A recently retired Chief Inspector, he had imagined a life of ease after years of long and unsocial hours but the arrival of a package containing typewritten pages detailing a series of murders had changed his outlook completely. It would be his mission in retirement to find out whether the anonymous sender was a fantasist or, as Bob suspected, a psychopathic killer. If the latter, he needed to bring the perpetrator to justice.

      Numerous questions had kept his mind alert, affecting his usually restful nights. The fact that his marriage to Martha was already strained had not helped matters. There seemed to be a coolness between them since his retirement and he now realised that they had very little in common. His long, unsocial hours at work had probably disguised this fact, or perhaps it had been part of the cause. To his surprise, even the once mutual physical attraction appeared to be on the wane. He couldn’t remember the last time they had made love.

      Following another night of Bob tossing and turning, Martha had confronted him at breakfast. I’m moving into the spare room tonight. Your restlessness is keeping me awake and even if I manage to get to sleep I’m soon woken by your constant fidgeting.

      Bob hadn’t argued, but suggested that he would move into the spare room. He agreed with Martha that it was probably for the best whilst he decided what course of action to pursue, following the arrival of the package. He knew that Martha was upset by the fact that he wouldn’t tell her about the contents. She thought that a wife was entitled to know the reasons why the package had affected her husband so profoundly. However, in view of recent events, Bob didn’t think she had a valid complaint. It didn’t come as a complete surprise to Bob that, in some ways, he was quite relieved that Martha had suggested moving out of the marital bed. If the marriage was to survive he felt that space between them was needed.

      Although he would have to deal with his relationship problems, his energies were concentrated on resolving the issues posed by the package. He had decided that he would need the unofficial assistance of a former colleague, and in view of this Bob had made a shortlist of the serving officers he felt he could trust. One name had stood out from the rest. They had worked closely on his final few cases. There had seemed to be an unspoken understanding between them on the methods needed to solve the crimes they had been faced with.

      The decision was obvious but certain complications had to be taken into account. His first choice, Detective Inspector Anna Delaney, was a feisty, divorced 48-year-old career

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