Stark Contrasts (An Adam Stark novel Book 1) by Peter Carroll Page A

Pritchard, “cut off his ears, then dumped him a couple of streets away from here, where a passerby found him and called an ambulance. The constable said the doc told her he'd been sedated but also had alcohol in his bloodstream as well as traces of cannabis.”
    Mrs Pritchard's face suddenly hardened and she gave her son a stare that needed no augmenting with words.
    “Ok, let's just forget about lectures and so on as far as his social life is concerned for now,” said Stark. “We'll leave all that to you for later, Mrs Pritchard. What I want to know, Luke, is what you remember. Just start at the beginning and give me everything you can.”
    The boy looked broken - physically and emotionally - struggling to come to terms with what happened to him. A sudden thought occurred to Stark.
    “Sorry, can you actually hear me ok, Luke?”
    Luke nodded slightly.
    “Good, sorry, it's just...you know...”
    Stark felt a bit foolish at this outburst.
    “Go on, Luke. Tell us what you can,” interjected Katz.
    “I don't really remember anything,” came the whispered reply.
    “Start with the party. Who was there? When did you leave? That sort of thing. Sometimes a tiny thing can really help us,” Katz suggested softly.
    Stark really liked this modulation. There was a hint of a foreign accent in Katz's voice that served to make it sexy; despite the serious nature of the words being spoken.
    It didn't have that effect on Luke, if anything, it seemed to increase his nervousness and unease.
    “It was my friend Ryan's party.”
    “Do you have a phone number and address for Ryan?” Stark asked.
    “Yeah, he lives on the next estate to us, 10 Pheasant Avenue. You can find his number in my phone.”
    Katz picked up the phone and scrolled through the contacts until she reached an entry called Ryan. Luke confirmed the number belonged to his friend and she scribbled the number on her notepad, then placed the phone back on the bedside table.
    “Go on,” prompted Stark.
    “His Mum was away so he had the house to himself. There was a whole bunch of people there but I didn't know that many of them. I got bored and left about midnight. I was walking home coz I can't afford taxis and it wasn't that far...”
    He drifted away and his eyelids began to droop.
    “I think that's enough for now, Detective Inspector. He's very tired and full of painkillers. He already told the policewoman who was here earlier all that he knows, which seems to be very little,” said Mrs Pritchard, springing to her son's aid despite her disapproval of his flirtations with illegal herbs.
    Katz and Stark exchanged glances. She was right. There was little to be gained by pushing hard right now.
    “That's fine, Luke. You need to rest and get better as quickly as you can,” Stark said sympathetically.
    “Bye for now, Mrs Pritchard. We'll come back when he's feeling stronger.”

21. Lion Hunting
     
    I was sitting in the spare room noodling on my guitar. The room's a half-hearted attempt at a home-studio. A musician since my early teens, I played in a succession of bands that never really got anywhere. These days, I express my muse through Cubase, composing little ditties via the computer that no-one other than my son's goldfish would be interested in. And, let's be honest, the fish only tolerated them because it couldn't remember how shit they were between each listening. I also filled some time posting video tutorials on YouTube for kids to learn how to play their favourite rock tracks. It's important to put something back. Actually, more like a pathetic attempt to try and prove to the world that I still had it, which I never did. Still, at least I could recognise my own shortcomings - even if I couldn't avoid them.
    Browsing YouTube as I doodled on the fretboard, I looked for stuff on this Citizen V character, trying to find out who this fucker was. Why was he following me, upping my ante and 'finishing off' what I started?  
    When I stumbled upon the video, the