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

about his personal life now. Tonight will be a chance to meet some more of his friends, see who he surrounds himself with on a weekly basis. Gambling, drink and men. There’s plenty of wealthy people going there, what with the doctors and lawyers DCI Reid mentioned. They’re bound to know things about Reid that we don’t,” I shrugged hopefully.

“You’re lucky you always were his favourite.” McCall raised her thin eyebrows. “He wouldn’t have invited me if the roles were reversed.”

“Because you’re not a guy,” I said as though it was obvious. “But when there are only men around, there are different conversations of the sort they’d have in front of their wives. They talk about women, business, and propositions. Especially when there’s gambling involved.”

McCall shivered in the afternoon chill. The day was grey and drizzly as seemed to be a regular occurrence in these months. “Perhaps they’re the sort of wealthy men who could afford expensive cocaine,” she proposed.

“That’s what I thought. The type of crowds with spare money to waste on drugs. I'll keep an ear out for any code words or mention of shipments passing through the bay,” I said decisively and gingerly touched the cut on my neck.

“Try to catch some names too, preferably those who are talking to DCI Reid the most,” McCall ordered. “If you get them, we can pull some files on them. I mean, you can. At the office…” She trailed off then.

Abbey pouted sadly at McCall’s mishap. “As much as I liked Iona, I can’t stand DCI Reid. You’re one of the best sergeants I’ve met.”

“Thanks, Abbey, but you’re being kind. I’m one of the few sergeants you’ve met,” McCall reminded us with a small grin.

Checking the ticking clock, I only had a few hours until the card game was due to start. McCall had already done the honours of picking out another acceptable suit, a bit less fancy than yesterday’s one but just as stuffily formal.

“I’ll think about it like a game of cards. I’ll be two steps ahead at all times.” My comment was greeted by blank faces and light giggles from the two women. “What?”

“That’s chess,” Abbey snorted. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

“Of course I am.” My jaw jutted out at their teasing. “The sooner you two are apart, the better. You seem to enjoy ganging up on me.”

The house in which the card games were to be held was a sight to behold. Their front lawn smelled freshly mowed, and the hedges were trimmed to perfection. Sprinklers darted and threw spats of water over the green grass and kept it full of life and lusciously thick. The front of their home was stark concrete grey and had windows taller than two of me put together. They towered above my head, an ominous building where the types of people I barely mingled with were waiting inside. This time, I was completely alone and about to enter the shark's opened jaws.

As I tracked up the neatly placed stone path with tiny lanterns to light the way, acres of garden unfolded on themselves. Males puffing cigars were donned up by the entrance in three-piece suits, studded in cufflinks and looking like they’d stepped off of the set of the godfather. They didn’t speak a word to me but sized me up instead.

I guessed new members of the ‘club’ were held in low regard until they’d proven themselves a dab hand at the games.

A gloominess spread over the top of my head as I entered the house where the colours of the wide rooms were all black. Black sofas, black walls, black floors and ceilings too. The list went on. Heavy, draped theatre-style curtains blocked any form of light or nosy parkers from seeing into the building. Large heaters warmed up the inside and a faint buzz of many dignified conversations took place at once.

“Roy!” someone exclaimed in a posh accent, slapping my back earnestly. I turned around in surprise to see an elderly, stick thin man with a judgemental air about him. “Oh, my apologies. I thought you were someone else. You both look similar from behind.”

This was going to be a long night.

“No. I’m supposed to be meeting DCI Reid. Alec Reid,” I clarified, in case the frowning man had no clue who I meant.

“Ah, I should’ve known. Cooper, isn’t it? He’s been threatening to invite you here for a while now. Said you’d be a perfect guy for a place like this. You enjoy a spot of gambling?” Considering this guy was short, he had the voice to make up for what he lacked in height.

“Not really,” I said truthfully, which warranted a humorous reaction from the man currently leading us over to where some drinks were being served.

“Good. At least I know I’ll be able to beat you.” He shook his oval-shaped head. “Say, you two work at the station together, don’t you?”

This guy seemed to know an awful lot about me, whilst I knew nothing of him. “Yeah, I’m his DI. And you are?”

“My apologies, I completely forgot. I’m Judge Ramsey.” He took out a sweaty hand for me to shake. “It’s nice to have someone else from our field here.”

“Judge Ramsey?” I prompted him to tell me his first name. The judge seemed sympathetic to my requests.

“Trust DCI Reid to let you come here unprepared. We only call each other by our last names here, as a form of respect. We’ve all worked hard for our places in society and shouldn’t have to be ashamed of it,” Judge Ramsey informed me. “For example, that’s Father Gideon over there.” He pointed towards a fumbling old man, with half-moon glasses that constantly slid down his nose.

“I see,” I hummed, even though I didn’t understand it at all. “How did it start?”

“Nobody really knows,” Judge Ramsey chortled. “We just enjoy it for what it is. Drink?”

Blend in, I reminded myself and saw what the other men seemed to be sipping or downing. “A brandy alexander please,”