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

Abbey pointed to the angle that showcased the yard view. “What’s that van used for? It looks dirty.”

Her impatient prodding left a fingermark on the screen. The large, beaten up van she referred to was the evidence van detained from the drug bust.

“That’s the van that was used to transport the drugs through the bay. It’s what we caught Flynn, Robin and Sam cooped up in before the shootings happened.”

The answer seemed to satisfy and occupy her for a few minutes before she spoke up again.

“I don’t understand why this video was so important. There are just people wandering around. Are you sure it’s not a decoy? To throw you off the trail?”

I reminded myself that she wasn’t used to our job, that she didn’t possess the same qualities we at CID did. “Patience, love.”

Ryan was too worked up earlier to have been lying.

Our turquoise, scuffed evidence van was parked there by itself. Mainly alone in the car park, besides a few sparsely positioned cars. Most of the police vehicles were out on call. McCall stayed transfixed to the pixelated screen, blue eyes flickering over every angle available to us.

“The drugs are still in the van here, right?” she checked, gripping the pillow and getting fluff all over her pyjamas.

“I presume so. They weren’t sent off until the forensic reports came back, sometime during our visit with Flynn.” I shrugged, watching the CCTV tape studiously and burned my eyes when I forgot to blink.

McCall sidled up to me and drummed upon her thighs impatiently. “Maybe Abbey's right. There’s footage, but nothing important. Maybe Ryan wasn’t being truthful?”

“No, you didn’t see him.” The image of Ryan freaked out in my office earlier, spurred me on and fired up my willpower to sit through the recording. “Let’s just wait and see.” In reality, my heartbeat was threatening to burst from my ribcage, like that famous scene in Alien.

“Tea?” Abbey suddenly wondered, starting to irritate me.

“No,” I barked irately.

McCall shook her head, wordlessly telling me that I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t need anyone to tell me, I already felt guilty the second I snapped.

“Sorry,” I meekly altered. “I’m just very stressed. Two sugars, please?”

Abbey nodded abidingly. “I just thought you guys liked tea when you’re working.” It made me feel worse knowing she was only trying to make us comfortable.

“We do,” McCall allowed her to make a fuss.

Abbey was that way inclined, a feeder and a caring person. It helped her conscience to know she was making others secure and happy. As she docilely scuttered to pour, the security footage played on. We avidly viewed the camera angles, it didn’t take much longer until McCall stopped something and stabbed the screen.

“There’s DCI Reid,” she mumbled instinctively. He was shown pacing through the reception area on camera one, checking the gold wristwatch he always wore. “He’s in early.”

Squinting to see better, I didn’t disagree. “Very early. We did have a heavy workload from both the shootings and the press.”

He disappeared from sight on camera one and reappeared seconds later on camera two. I expected to see him lighting up a cigarette or cigar even, but instead, he stayed put in the station yard and rocked on his heels for a while. His inscrutable countenance made it hard to tell exactly what DCI Reid was doing.

“It seems like he’s waiting for something.” McCall finally figured out. From the high angle of the CCTV tape, we noticed a bald spot on DCI Reid’s greying hair.

“Tell me mine isn’t like that,” I groaned and earned a muted giggle. It felt wrong to laugh at that particular instance. In the background, our mugs clinked. “If he’s waiting for our team, he’ll be waiting a long time. None of us were rostered in for another few hours.”

McCall’s puckered smile thanked Abbey for the steaming tea and slice of cake. “Even then, we were called to meet at the hospital instead.”

Placing the laptop atop the coffee table since my legs were going numb, I could accept the mug handle outstretched towards me. It was a white flag gesture, to let me know that my outburst was forgiven.

“Thanks,” I batted my eyelashes towards her pretty face. Abbey just pulled up a dining chair, dragging the legs across the laminate flooring, and situated herself next to the coffee table to catch up on what she’d missed.

Whilst I was busy blowing the steam away from the tea, McCall crucially tapped my bicep. The action knocked the mug and nearly sent hot tea burning my hands.

“Okay!” I scoffed but realised what had gotten her in such a frenzy.

In the station yard, another van had pulled up in front of DCI Reid. The logo graphics on the side of the second white van were that of the decorating company.

“They’re keen,” Abbey sniffed, rubbing her prominent nose with a kleenex.

That they were. None of the decorators I knew arrived partway through the early morning to complete some painting. Two men in overalls hopped out of their white van, shiftily peering around.

McCall turned to face me, creases showing between her eyebrows. “They’re the guys who redid our office. The ones who hassled Rebecca for tea.”

“Joined by that guy,” I pointed towards a third, burly one coming to join them. “Him and DCI Reid were exchanging heated words in his office before I found them.”

“They’re discussing something there, and they still don’t seem very chilled out.” Abbey shrugged at the group of them debating with DCI Reid. I’d know that stance of DCI Reid’s anywhere. It was one he subconsciously used whenever he was being confronted.

“Money,” I stated grimly.

“Money?” the redheads repeated, acting as two parrots for the afternoon.

“The superintendent sat with DC Taylor and me for lunch,” I barely paused, hoping to cut McCall off before she complained about the injustice and favouritism of that. “Apparently, DCI Reid paid for the decorating solely out of his own money, because the station’s funding wouldn’t cover it.”

McCall was taken