• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

A Dish Best Served Cold By Stephen Knight A Dish Best Served Cold About the Book Stephen Bishop has had to grow up from a young age. Throughout his life he finds it hard to socialise with those around him, finding himself at the wrong end of ridicule from others. His Mother often compares him with his dead brother, whom she misses. Battling with his sexuality at the age of 14, he gets outed by a family member and enters into a downward spiral of revenge on anyone that stands in his way, plotting sometimes intellectual premeditated attacks on his victims. One Detective is putting two and two together and realising there is a common denominator in the spate of crime committed by Stephen Bishop. Now all Detective Inspector Cooper has to do is catch him. The Ocean City of Plymouth, UK has never been the same. 2 A Dish Best Served Cold About the Author This is the first book from Stephen Knight who lives in Plymouth, UK and has done for most of his life. He is a professional musician and singer/songwriter, playing percussion from the age of ten and then keyboards and guitar. Dedicated to …. My Son Gareth, who has been through a lot in his young life and believes in me as much as I believe in him. 3 A Dish Best Served Cold Copyright © 2020 Stephen Knight All Rights Reserved 4 A Dish Best Served Cold Chapter 1 Life. Your life. Your world. Someone once described life as, ‘When you have heard the sound of horse’s hooves, but all you get are Zebras’. You grow up as a young child just seeing life from the view of a child, innocent, exciting. You think your pretence is the real world. You can park those toy cars in the toy garage without charge. Teddy will save you from the bad things in the darkness. Your parents warn you not to talk to strangers, play with fire as it will burn you, wear your coat otherwise you will always get cold and respect your elders. Life. Stephen’s life, and his world, changed when he was three years old. He had a good family, Mum, Dad, Brother David, Sisters Vicky, and Rachel as well as a wealth of close Aunties and Uncles. Over the next few years, his world would fall apart. He was talking to strangers, playing with fire, forgetting that coat and did not care about anyone younger or older. Life had destroyed his world. 5 A Dish Best Served Cold Now people handle life in different ways. Some can shrug off their problems with a shrug of the shoulders. Their problems almost seem surreal to them, as though they had crashed the car, but no one was seriously injured. You can always buy another car, but you cannot buy another life, and that is the way they look at it. Not a stressful thought in their minds. Some people plough themselves into their jobs, career minded, and blank out the everyday life problems, as though they are living in another world. Humans look at these types of people and wish for the same life trait, but it never comes to them. Life has not chosen them for that easy life they so yearn. Life is what you make it, they say. No, life is shaped for you. Do your parents have good jobs, money, their own house, a good car, lots of friends that they do not find it hard to socialise with, family that they can rely on, and generally an easy going home life? You could have all these things, but life can change that for you with one bad turn. You could lose your job, lose your house, crash the car, have no friends, family could disown you and your home life could be full of arguments. Life can change, and often does. It did for Stephen in 1969. There was a painful screaming sound coming from the direction of the bottom of the stairs. Stephen was three years old coming up for four. His mother had told him not to play on the stairs, but the temptation was always there because his toy box was in the alcove under the stairs, full of his toy cars. He loved his toy cars, and his garage that his brother David had bought him for Christmas. David had a newspaper delivery job at the 6 A Dish Best Served Cold age of fourteen with the local newsagent and had saved some of the money from that each week with the Christmas Club in order that he could buy his little brother a nice present. Katie picked the toddler up and tried to calm his crying. “What have you done, baby?” She asked as the youngster pointed to his knee, then his arm, then his head. “It hurts in all those places, does it?” She looked at all three, just in case, but noticed there was no actual damage. “I don’t know. What are we going to do with you?” “Biscuit.” “Ah, yes. A biscuit always makes it better,” she replied, heading towards the kitchen cupboard. Stephen indicated that he wanted to get down as soon as he had the treat, and he ran off in the direction of his cars as his mother lowered him. “Don’t get too many cars out,” she shouted. “It’s bedtime soon!” “Noooooooo!” Katie always knew that this answer was coming. Stephen was an ‘awake until you drop’ toddler, and she had often found him asleep by his toybox, or in the dog basket with the dog. But she would put him to bed and have a rest from her daily routine. Husband Michael was down at the Labour Club playing dominoes, the girls were out with their boyfriends and David was at work; he now had a part time evening job at Bush Radio in Ernesettle. ‘Yes,’ she thought to herself. ‘Coffee, feet up, and Corrie!’ Suddenly she was startled by a knocking on the front door. Who could that be? she thought. She was not expecting anyone. Bloody neighbours again. She opened the door to find two Police Officers stood on the doorstep. 7 A Dish Best Served Cold “Mrs Bishop?” asked the Officer with three stripes on his lapels. “Yes, that’s right,” she replied with an inquisitive frown on her face. The two officers did not wait for an invite but stepped inside. “Do you have a son, David?” continued the Sergeant. “Yes,” said Katie, nodding. “Oh no! Please, no!” She leaned her back against the wall and started to think the worst. Why else would two officers turn up at her doorstep? “David was involved in an accident on Tamar Way earlier, Mrs Bishop. He is at Freedom Fields Hospital accident and emergency department right now.” Katie removed her hands from her mouth and nose. “Was it a bad accident?” “From what we can make out your son is in a bad way. But we will let the Doctor’s tell you. We can take you there if you would like to get your coat.” He looked at Stephen. “Have you got anyone that could look after the boy?” Katie paused, as though she was not hearing anybody, but only her own thoughts. “What?” She looked up. “The boy?” “Yes,” she said. “My daughter is over at number 24 at her boyfriends.” Sergeant Mercer nodded to the Constable who disappeared back out the front door to fetch Rachel, Katie’s daughter. “What about your husband, Mrs Bishop. Is he in?” 8 A Dish Best Served Cold Katie was already putting her coat on, a big thick heavy sheep wool coat. She felt the cold. She often joked with Stephen that he had taken all her blood when he was born and that is why she was always cold, although he did not understand. “No, he’s down at the Labour Club.” “That’s ok. We will get another Police Car to go and pick him up.” The Sergeant noticed PC Barlow coming across the road closely followed by Rachel, Stephen’s sister. Concerned, Rachel went right into her mother’s open arms. “Mum, what has happened?” “All I know is David has been in an accident,” Katie replied with some concern in her strained voice. “I’m going up the hospital now. I need you to take care of little one.” Rachel started to walk down the steps towards the toddler. “Keep me informed, Mum.” Katie and the two Police Officers got in the waiting police car and moments later it sped away up the street. The journey seemed so long to her. It was four miles, but it could have been to the end of the Country for the time it was taking. She looked out of the window all the way, although she did not see anything because her mind was imagining just what she was going to see when she arrived at the hospital. Suddenly the radio burst into life. “Three-six.” The junior officer was driving the police car, so Sergeant Mercer picked up the handset. “Yes, three six. Go ahead.” “Just to confirm that we have picked up Mr Bishop from Honicknowle Labour Club as requested.” 9 A Dish Best Served Cold This was the first thing that Katie had heard during the Journey so far, as Sergeant Mercer looked behind him towards the lady, and then further out the back window of the car. “Thank you Sierra One. Out.” He looked at his driver.

Load more

  579

Copy Link