A bad place alone, p.1
A Bad Place Alone, page 1
A Bad Place Alone
Tony Packer, Volume 1
JT Viner
Published by HSB Publishing, 2024.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
A BAD PLACE ALONE
First edition. May 5, 2024.
Copyright © 2024 JT Viner.
Written by JT Viner.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
A Bad Place Alone (Tony Packer, #1)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
About the Author
COMING SOON FROM JT VINER
An Absence So Cruel
A Bitter Silence
To join my mailing list and review news on work-in-progress and new releases, please e-mail me at james.viner.author@gmail.com. I will never provide your e-mail address to any third party.
Chapter 1
There was a blast of cold air along Aberdeen Street when they stepped down from the front step of the nightclub and onto the footpath. The bouncer ignored them. They were leaving the hotel, which made them someone else's problem.
Haylee stumbled at the bottom, her high heels falling off the edge of the concrete step and one of her ankles turning as she tried to maintain her balance.
Sadhi gripped her plump arm just below the shoulder, pulling her back upright.
"Steady there," he said, forcing a smile.
She stared at him, a drunken grin across her face. Her cheeks were pink from all the alcohol, her eyes heavy-lidded and unfocussed.
"Okay?" Sadhi asked.
She just grinned at him, too drunk to reply.
Inside the pub, where the light had been much dimmer, she had looked really hot. Here, under the harsh glare of the streetlight outside, he could see her better, and she looked much less pretty. She was a lot fatter than he had thought and her nose had a strange hook shape to it.
Sadhi didn't care, though. His erection was pushing against the inside of his jeans now.
Gripping hold of Haylee's arm, Sadhi steered her along the street past the edge of the club and around the corner.
There was a Chinese noodle shop along the street, its intense light spilling out onto the street. A man so heavily intoxicated that he was swaying was using a plastic spoon to dig clumsily in his cardboard box of takeaway noodles. He was dropping as much on the front of his shirt as he was getting in his mouth.
Someone was sitting on the street beside the shop, his head down. The front of his brightly-striped shirt was a mess of spilled alcohol and sweat. Someone was standing beside him, staggering slightly as he tried to light a cigarette, the wind blowing away the flame.
Sadhi looked around hurriedly. There had to be somewhere.
He pulled Haylee along the street. She was swaying a lot now, unable to stand up properly.
Hardly surprising, Sadhi thought. He had bought her twelve drinks to get her into that state.
Sadhi turned the corner, pulling Haylee behind him.
The headlights of a car flashed in his eyes, and he squinted against the glare. Haylee didn't even seem to notice.
Up ahead was another nightclub, a long line of patrons trying to persuade the two bouncers that they were sober enough to get in. Four or five of them sat on the ground outside, having failed in their mission and been told to sit outside for a while until they sobered up enough to come in.
Sadhi looked around, starting to get desperate. Shit. There had to be somewhere.
In his hurry to pull Haylee along the street, he almost missed it entirely.
Nestled back between two buildings was the narrow alleyway between them. The entrance was only about a metre across, with a couple of derelict boxes blocking it and graffiti plastering the walls on either side.
Sadhi stopped and looked more closely. It was hard to see, but it was dark and looked empty. It would do.
He turned towards the darkened space and pulled Haylee along behind him.
"Ooooh," she slurred, surprised by the change in direction. She stumbled again on her high heels, almost falling, and he had to hold her upright by her arm.
"Where are we going?" Haylee mumbled, her words almost unintelligible.
"Just over here," Sadhi said, "Just for a minute."
He kicked a broken cardboard box out of the way and walked into the darkened alleyway, dragging Haylee behind him. She followed numbly.
At the end of the alley, there was a narrow space about ten metres long. It reeked of urine and something much worse, making Sadhi wrinkle up his nose. He thought about trying somewhere else, but he didn't want to risk it. He had to do it now while Haylee was still compliant.
The space was so narrow that the walls brushed against his shoulders as he shuffled along, the ground slimy underfoot.
"Where are we going?" Haylee slurred again.
"Nearly there," he told her, tugging her forward.
In the near distance, he could see a patch of brighter light. The end of the alleyway opened into a much wider space. There was a rectangle of concrete about ten metres across that ran along the backs of all the nightclubs and shops on the other side. A couple of metal rubbish bins lay against the walls, together with broken boxes and a stack of metal beer kegs. There were no lights out here, but the top was open to the sky and the moonlight and lights from the surrounding buildings was bathing the place in a faint twilight. Just enough to see.
To his relief, nobody else was here.
Sadhi steered Haylee over to the one of the walls, then turned her around so that she had her back to the raw brickwork. She stumbled slightly, groaning and lurching to the side, until he propped her up.
Sadhi leaned forward, pressing against her large breasts and belly and pushed his mouth against hers.
As his tongue slipped between her puffy lips, she stood there unresponsive. There was a sickly-sweet taste of cocktails and cheap wine in her mouth.
After a moment, Haylee began to respond dully, her mouth opening to receive Sadhi's tongue, as he pushed it between her lips. Her hands slid along the sides of his shirt, fumbling at him.
Sadhi slid one hand up beneath the bottom of her short skirt and pushed it between her heavy thighs.
She groaned into his mouth and clumsily moved her legs apart for him.
His fingers rubbed across the front of her panties, touching her through the thin material.
He pushed hard against her with his hand, moving his tongue around inside her mouth as he roughly groped her.
Haylee's movements were slow and awkward, but she stroked his arms with her hands.
Still pushing against her with his mouth and his chest, Sadhi reached down for his belt buckle. Curving his arse out behind him, he managed to get his belt undone and tugged open the button on his flies. He pulled down the zip and yanked his erection out of his underpants. The night air felt chilly against his naked skin.
Sadhi straightened up, pulling his mouth away from Haylee's.
He put both hands on her shoulders and pushed her down to her knees in the grime. She staggered and fell onto the filthy ground with a slight thump.
She muttered something, but he couldn't understand what it was and didn't care anyway.
Gripping the base of his erection with one hand, he pushed it forward. He gripped Haylee's wavy, blonde hair with the other hand and pulled her head down.
"Ugh, fuck," he grunted, as the wet heat of her mouth washed over him.
Gripping her hair with both hands, he began to thrust, shoving himself into her mouth. She gave a muffled gag, but he ignored it and continued thrusting.
Grinning, Sadhi forced himself into Haylee's mouth, pushing deeper and deeper. One of her hands was on his thigh, trying to push him back, but he slapped it away and kept thrusting. She was far too drunk to stop him.
"Yeah," he grunted, "That's it."
As he thrust, Sadhi glanced to the side. There was a dark-green wheelie bin along the wall beside them, with a pile of boxes and other garbage spilling out of the top and onto the filthy floor beside it.
A pair of eyes was staring up at Sadhi.
Someone was lying on the ground amongst the rubbish looking at him.
"Ah, fuck!" Sadhi yelled out in shock.
He pushed Haylee's head away and stepped back.
Haylee gave a loud grunt of relief and wiped at her mouth with her hand.
"You fucking arsehole," she slurred drunkenly at him.
Sadhi turned away, as he hurriedly pushed his rapidly-softening penis back inside his underpants and pulled the edges of his jeans together.
In his haste to get his jeans done up, flesh caught in the zip.
"Fuck!" Sadhi screeched in pain. He fumbled with the zip, finally getting it done back up and began to buckle his belt once more.
Haylee was screaming abuse at him now, her words barely coherent.
Now dressed once more, Sadhi turned back to the rubbish near the bin.
He stepped forward.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he yelled, "Getting a fucking sneaky peak at us? You fucking perv."
Sadhi kicked at a broken box, sending it skimming across the dimly-lit space.
It was hard to see, but there was enough moonlight overhead for him to make out the face once more. Now he could also see a shoulder and part of an arm, chocolate-brown skin blending in with the patch of darkness beside the bin.
A hand stuck out from beneath the pile of boxes, fingers splayed out on the ground.
"Well?" Sadhi yelled, "I asked you a fucking question."
He kicked at the boxes again, but there was no response.
Belatedly, Sadhi realised the person on the ground wasn't moving. The eyes stared up at him, unblinking, the mouth hanging open slightly.
Sadhi stepped forward, his anger disappearing and something else taking its place.
He leaned down towards the ground.
Holding out a hand, he waved it in front of the face looking up at him.
There was no reaction at all.
"Oh, shit," Sadhi hissed, taking a hasty step backwards, "Shit! Shit!"
He stumbled over something on the ground and landed on his side, mud squelching against his jeans and something sharp sticking into the back of his thigh.
Hands sliding in the filth, he pushed himself back to his feet again.
Haylee was standing up now, drunkenly swaying as she watched him.
"What is it?" she slurred.
Sadhi looked up at her.
"It's a body," he yelled, "There's a fucking dead body over there."
Monday
Chapter 2
Tony Packer turned the car along Lake Street, heading deeper into Northbridge.
Up ahead, the dim flash of blue lights cut through the darkness. Two marked police cars were blocking the end of Aberdeen Street, a fence formed from traffic cones and fluorescent tape creating a barrier across the footpath. A group of uniformed officers were standing guard as a large crowd of onlookers stood a couple of metres from the makeshift barrier, trying to see what was going on.
A couple of the rubber-neckers were clearly drunk and had begun an argument with one of the officers who was shouting angrily at them and pointing down the street, trying to get them to leave.
Packer pulled up on to the footpath, parking half over the curb and turned off the engine.
One of the uniformed officers saw him and started shouting. He walked across to Packer, gesturing for Packer to move the car.
Packer walked towards him, pulling his identification out of the pocket of his jeans.
"It's alright, mate," Packer told him, "Detective Senior Sergeant Packer."
He held out the ID for the officer to read.
"Sorry, Sarge," the officer said, looking embarrassed, "You're the new bloke?"
Packer nodded, and the officer introduced himself.
"It's just that we're having trouble keeping the crowd contained," the officer continued, "There's a lot of drunk dickheads causing problems."
Packer nodded dismissively.
"Where is it?" he asked.
The officer pointed over towards another marked police car and a police van that were parked on a concrete area a couple of metres in from the road.
"See there's a laneway over there behind the car? Right down the end. Forensics are there already."
Packer nodded again and headed over towards the car.
He could see a uniformed officer standing near the wall, talking to a heavily-built man whose large belly pushed against the front of his shirt.
As Packer got closer, the big man turned towards him.
"Evening, boss," Detective Senior Constable George Thompson said. Twenty years of living in Australia had softened his Belfast accent, but only slightly.
Packer nodded a greeting.
"What's the story?" he asked.
Thompson nodded over towards the police van. "That prick over there."
Packer followed his gaze. A man in his mid-twenties was sitting in the back of the van, looking out through the grill over the window and staring daggers at the blonde girl who was sitting in the back of the patrol car. The door of the patrol car was open and a female officer in uniform was squatting on the ground beside her, making notes in her notebook as they spoke.
"Got that girl over there pissed as a parrot," Thompson went on, "then dragged her down the alleyway here for a blowjob. He was shoving his dick in her mouth when he suddenly realised they were standing next to the dead body."
"Jesus. That'd put you off your stroke," Packer said.
"Aye," Thompson agreed, "Two lads heard the screams and grabbed a couple of uniforms who were down the road on patrol."
"Who was screaming? Him or her?"
"Both, according to them."
"Have you spoken to either of them?"
Thompson nodded. "The girl's sobered up a bit, but she's still too pissed to have much idea what's going on. Says she was trying to push him off, then he fell over and started yelling that there was a body in there."
"What about him?"
"Says they were going back to his place for some 'consensual sex' - quote, unquote - but passion suddenly got the better of them. They couldn't wait until they got home, so headed down here to make a start. Just as they got started, he noticed someone was watching them, so they stopped. Then he discovered the peeping tom was no longer capable of doing any peeping. Next thing he knew, a couple of police officers arrived."
"Do we know who he is?"
"Sadiq Mehri," Thompson said, "I ran a check on him. There have been a couple of previous complaints of sexual assault, but not enough to charge him with. He knows the ropes. First thing he did when he calmed down was ask someone to contact his solicitor."
"How drunk's she?"
"Blew 0.23 on the breathalyzer."
"Shit," Packer said, "How's she still standing up?"
Thompson shrugged. "Robust constitution?"
Packer looked over at Sadiq Mehri sitting in the back of the police van. His hair was greased back and he had a sneer of arrogance on his face, angry at being detained by police.
"After the girl's given her statement, charge him with sexual assault," Packer said.
"It won't go anywhere," Thompson pointed out, "She's the only witness and she was far too pissed to be a reliable witness. Presumably, that was why he filled her up with booze first."
"You're right. But do it anyway. At the very least, the bail conditions will cramp his style for a while and he'll run up a few dollars in legal fees before the DPP drops the charge."
Thompson nodded. "Okay, boss."
"Where's the body?"
Thompson jerked his head towards the alleyway behind him.
"Down there. FME's down there with a team."
"Is it someone you know?"
Thompson shook his head. "Nobody I've seen before. Young Indian lass."
"Let's go and have a look. Have you got any shoe covers?"
Thompson produced two pairs of disposable paper shoe covers and a pair of blue gloves. Both men pulled the shoe covers on over their own shoes, then tugged on the blue gloves.
Thompson led the way, walking down the narrow alleyway. He had to move carefully to avoid his thick belly brushing against the walls on either side. Packer was broad shouldered and had to be just as careful.
The empty space at the end of the alleyway was now lit up by several powerful halogen lights on stands that were placed up against the walls. Three forensics officers in white paper suits and hoods were standing on either side of the wheelie bin. One was recording the examination with a video camera, the second was taking still photos with a large camera, and the third was recording samples on an exhibits sheet that was mounted on a wooden clipboard.
A fourth figure in a white jump suit and hood was squatting down beside the bin. The white suit clung to her figure, which was thin, but clearly female. A black plastic toolbox was open a metre away from her, the lid hinged back to form two trays that were covered with neatly arranged swabs and sample bags.
Thompson and Packer stood back a couple of metres to wait.
