The Devil Among Us by Ramsay Sinclair (easy books to read txt) 📗

cards that threatened her life and mine too. My job, even. They listened to our conversation, I’m sure of it.”

“You think you’ve been bugged?”

Ryan nodded again. “I know it. Hence the fan. I’m hoping it’ll cover up our speech, should anyone be listening to this through a device. You could be bugged too.”

An unpleasant tingle ran up my spine. McCall’s home had been compromised, and our workplace didn’t feel secure either. Paranoia was going to cripple us.

“Me?” I asked with uncertainty. Surely, I would've noticed by now.

“You’re working on the case, aren’t you?” Ryan stated the obvious, cheeks puffing out in indignation. “You know too much already. That’s why the notes asked me to dispose of the tape. Your team has them spooked.”

Hence McCall’s rushed break-in job and Flynn’s open murder.

“What’s on the tape?” I flicked some ash into the heavy tray next to us.

Ryan looked to the left. “They told me not to watch it. That my task was to steal it only.”

“But you did?” I presumed by the way he shuffled.

“Uh-huh,” he said ashamedly, voice even quieter than before. “It was risky, but I had to know why I was risking everything for this footage. My job, my income, my livelihood. But if they ever find out I saw it and know who they are, they’ll ruin me.”

These people were beginning to irk me. The cowardice, their nerve to corrupt our station with their criminal tendencies.

“But who, Ryan?” My knuckles turned white from the amount of force I used to grip the desktop. “There must be some indication? Any strange looks coming your way, or phrasing in the letters that a certain person uses?”

“They’re on the tape.” Ryan shuffled nearer to the fan, afeared. “Some of them are, anyway. But the person who killed Flynn Jones isn’t. I saw the murderer when I was in hospital.”

“Who did you see?” I said again.

“The police guard is the one who slipped him the poison, I'm certain of it. He stopped by my ward a few times, just staring at me. Thing is, Sir, the station didn’t employ him.”

Whatever did Ryan mean?

That’s when he delivered the bombshell. “I did some digging of my own. The police guard that was supposed to be protecting Flynn doesn’t exist on the employee records here.”

If we did not employ him, then we’d had the murderer staring us in the face all along. Taunting us. We’d even spoken to the man who killed Flynn, one of the bastards involved.

“Shit.” The cigarette fell from my fingertips and charred the wooden desk. I didn’t care. The guard was gone, and we had no clue what his real name even was. I noticed Ryan significantly weakened, and his body struggled to stay upright in the seat.

“Ryan?”

He waved away my concern. “I’m fine. I just haven’t told anyone before now. It’s… frightening,” he admitted truthfully.

“I know it is.” Even I was spooked. “I’m glad you’re trusting me, especially given the circumstance.” My shoulders drooped heavily. “Just know that I’ll do everything in my power to stop this from going further. To keep you safe. We’ve failed Flynn and I won’t fail you too.”

Perhaps it was cruel to make a promise that I couldn’t necessarily keep. But to me, it wasn’t a promise. It was an oath.

Ryan’s blonde hair appeared even more dishevelled since he entered, from running his oily hands through it too often. “I heard you're one of the good ones. I just hope that’s true.”

“I’d like to think it is.” Though with the direction this case was heading, who knew anymore?

“Everything’s orchestrated,” he added, saying the same thing that our team had all along. “They've covered every inch of the station, and they’re cunning. Calculated. They managed to get in here unnoticed, a place that shouldn’t be susceptible to that form of manipulation. After watching the tape, you’ll see.”

If these people had crawled around our station and blended in with us all, then they had access to everything regarding the drugs case. Especially McCall’s prints.

“And it won’t stop there if they find out I’ve told you everything, to the best of my knowledge. That is why I’m glad you didn’t make me have a formal interview,” Ryan admitted. “But please, watch the tape anywhere but here. For safety. Then, you have to destroy it. If they know I failed the task and you’ve got the footage--”

“I know. Your life is at stake.”

“That’s how it starts. You’ll be next on their list too. The threats will start from then onwards, small at first but gradually getting worse. Lose a file here. Mention something else there.” He was beginning to well up, clearly overwhelmed and in deeper than he had cared to admit. “Once you’ve watched the tape, leave the case alone. Make your peace with it. The bad guys are always one step ahead. We’ll never be able to outwit them.”

That’s what the other stations thought too. They’d sidelined their cases before it went too far.

But I was different. I couldn’t live knowing that these people were still out there, threatening people I cared for.

“I’m not sure I can do that,” I said gravely, a bead of sweat dripping down my forehead, despite the fan. “We’ve already sat by and watched Robin and Sam die because we thought they were shooting first.” The guilt started to make me feel sick. “But they were innocent in this too and deserve justice as much as anyone else.” My legs felt ready to collapse. If we couldn’t trust our teams, who could we trust? Who could the public trust? “I’d rather die, then work for a corrupted workplace.”

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone here what I’ve told you today.” Ryan gritted his slightly wonky teeth. “Word gets around here. Nobody in the station can know, in case they let slip.”

This was a twisted repeat of Flynn’s discussion with McCall.

“I promise.”

I couldn’t tell anyone in the station, but how about outside of the station?

20

McCall and Abbey sat in shocked silence at the