After making sure Lucy got on the bus safely, Mark left the probation office and walked the short distance to where his car was parked. The lighting was poor in the parking lot, but it was fairly empty at this time of night. He unlocked the door and sat down, throwing his jacket in the back seat before he started his car and headed home. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up with Lucy. She was acting strange at the end of the night and he didn’t know why she was so adamant to take the bus home. He waited around to watch her go, in case any of the group members lagged behind to harass her. He hated the way the men in the group eyeballed her. In fact, he just hated the men in the group. Mark was brought up to respect women.
Bloody assholes should get a taste of their own medicine.
The drive home was uneventful. He pulled up outside his flat, sat for a moment and then gathered his things, before making his way inside. Dropping his keys in the bowl by the doorway, Mark sat down and reflected on the evening. Lucy had been creeped out by one of the group members and mumbled something about seeing him on the news. Mark made a mental note to follow it up in the morning. He knew it was none of his business but he had a soft spot for Lucy. Had she not been married, he may have eventually asked her out. He shook his head. Mark felt tired and his vision blurred. He realized that his blood sugar levels were probably high. It had been a while since he’d checked, and his mind was otherwise occupied. He went to the bathroom and took out his kit and tested himself. He was hyperglycaemic, probably distracted with all that was happening at work. He immediately injected himself with insulin, relaxing as he felt the effects almost immediately. He needed to keep on top of it in future, as he couldn’t risk any side effects while on the job.
Mark hated that he had to monitor his injections. He threw the used needle in the sharps bin and made his way to the kitchen to put the kettle on. He was lucky that the police no longer forced people with conditions like his to strict desk duties. He’d have ended up choosing a career he hated otherwise. He took his mug of tea and the newspaper and sat down on his lumpy couch to relax.
LONDON WOMAN BEATEN TO DEATH BY JEALOUS EX-HUSBAND
was the headline that greeted him on the front page. Mark threw the paper on the floor in anger. He had wanted to chill out but instead found himself thinking about Drew Talbot’s murder. The crime scene photos turned his stomach but he wasn’t sorry to see that Talbot was dead. He rubbed his neck; he needed to escape from the case for tonight at least. Sticking in a DVD, he lay back and closed his eyes for a moment. Sleep came quickly.