A Need To Kill (DI Matt Barnes) by Michael Kerr

soft leather of t he seat and listened to the pianist playing a gentle arrangement of Mack the Knife .  Alec meant well, and was a good friend.  He was also a shrewd and highly gifted man; a world-renowned behavioural psychologist who even tutored at the FBI academy at Quantico.  Alec was in his seventies, hailed from Chicago and, when not working, could be found playing golf at his local club in Arlington Heights.  He maintained that any weakness in the human psyche was amplified out on the course, and that golf rage was much more common than road rage, but did not result in such dire consequences.  Alec saw the fairways, greens and sand traps as Petri dishes, where anger, frustration and despair were prevalent, breeding at a faster rate than any bacteria.  He maintained that the true nature of most men was laid bare on a golf course.
    “ I’m in love, Alec.  Does that explain why I might be a little more contemplative than usual?” Beth said after the drinks had been set down in front of them, and she had taken a large sip of the Jack Daniel’s.
    “ Who is the lucky son-of-a-gun?  One of the shrinks at the nuthatch you’re affiliated to?  Tell me it isn’t a patient, Beth.”
    “ Worse, a cop.”
    “ Some high-flying head of CID.”
    “ A murder cop.  A DI who I’ve worked with on a couple of cases, and nearly ended up dead on both occasions.”
    “ Tell me about him.  I’m fascinated.”
    “ There’s not a lot to tell, Alec.  His name is Matt Barnes.  He’s one of those hard-headed coppers on a mission, who lives and breathes whatever case he’s on.  He has a knack of drawing serial killers to him and making it personal.  Anyone close to him becomes fair game for a psycho who wants to hit back at him.  I don’t know if I can spend the next twenty years being in the firing line of every monster who decides to go head-to-head with Matt.”
    “ That’s heavy shit, Beth.”
    “ Is that a profound and specialist assessment of my predicament?”
    “ Of course.”
    “ So what do you see as being the way to go?”
    “ Start at the beginning and tell me all there is to know about you two, and then I’ll be better able to give you my take on what might be the right road for you to go down.  Although it will be very subjective on my part, and therefore probably of no help whatsoever.”
    Once started, Beth couldn ’t stop.  She used Alec as a conduit to purge her of the fears and apprehension that was threatening to overwhelm her.  By the time she ran out of words, she felt exhausted, wrung out like a dishcloth, but more at ease for having unburdened herself.  The relaying of the good, bad and ugly components of her relationship with Matt had lessened the impact of it and smoothed off the sharp edges that had been burrowing into her consciousness.
    “ What do you think, Doc?” she asked, surprised to see a fresh drink on the napkin in front of her.  She had been too absorbed to notice Alec order another round with a gesture to the waitress, or to be aware of the girl setting the glasses down on the table.
    “ Well, Doc, I get the picture,” Alec said, smiling.  “You hardly mentioned yourself.  It was all about this Barnes character, and his work.  He’s like most professionals in any field of endeavour, Beth.  What he does isn’t a job of work to him, it’s a vocation; a quest he is on that will never be concluded.  It’s part of the package.  It comes with him, and I suspect that an element of his courting extreme danger makes him what he is, and is a key factor in your being drawn to him.”
    “ Then why am I feeling hesitant and reluctant to fully commit?  I shouldn’t be having second thoughts.”
    “ Commonsense is telling you to avoid being placed in danger again.  But if you walk away, you will be one sad psychologist.  You need to sit down with Matt and work out a way forward.  If he loves you half as much as you obviously love him, then he will approach his