Read Online In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride - Free Book Online Page B

those metal bar things as well…
    Not that it’d stop Reuben or his minions from coming in the window.
    Still, that didn’t mean he had to make it easy for them.
    He clicked the switch, setting the hall’s bare bulb glowing. ‘Cthulhu?’
    Samantha poked her head out from the lounge. ‘You’re still alive, then. No trip to the pig farm for you?’
    ‘Not tonight. Not till Hamish Mowat dies.’
    ‘You want a tea?’
    ‘Nope.’ Logan held up the bottle. ‘Present.’ Through to the kitchen for a tumbler, which got a good splash of the Glenfiddich.
    Samantha’s hand on his shoulder. ‘You need a plan, you know that don’t you?’
    He rolled a sip of warm leathery whisky around his mouth. ‘Thought I’d give Beaton and Macbeth your photo from Rennie’s engagement party. You always liked that one. Get them to match your make-up.’
    ‘This is serious, Logan. Reuben’s dangerous, you
know
that. If you don’t do what he wants, he’ll kill you. Slowly.’
    ‘Can’t decide what to do about all the piercings, though. I mean, he’s a nice enough guy, but I don’t fancy Andy fiddling about getting your nipple ring back in. Never mind the more intimate ones. Maybe he could get George to do it?’
    ‘You need a plan!’
    ‘I know George has got huge hands, but she’s not as rough as she looks. Did I tell you she breeds chinchillas?’
    ‘God’s sake, Logan,
listen
to me. Reuben will grab you, torture you, kill you, then feed you to Wee Hamish’s pigs. Is that what you want? Are you
happy
with that?’
    Another sip of whisky. It seeped through his innards, spreading across his chest. He lowered his head. ‘I’m a police officer.’
    ‘And I don’t care.’ She stepped in front of him. ‘You have to kill Reuben, or you have to get the hell out of Narnia. If you don’t, you’re pig food.’
    ‘Maybe not.’ Logan swirled the tumbler, leaving smears of whisky around the glass. ‘Maybe he’ll go to Professional Standards and tell them I sold my flat to one of Hamish Mowat’s minions for twenty grand over the asking price?’
    ‘Yes, but you didn’t
know
you were selling to someone dodgy.’
    ‘Think that’ll matter to Napier?’ A grimace. ‘I could fit Reuben up? Get him sent down for something. Keep him out of the way for eight to twelve years.’
    ‘And all he has to do is make one phone call to the outside world and have some of his minions pop up to Banff and do the job for him.’ A sigh. ‘Oh, Logan…’ She stepped in, her body warm against his chest. Reached up and kissed him. ‘I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to kill Reuben.’

7
    ‘Of course they’re no’ connected, you idiot.’ Steel had a pull on her e-cigarette, then let the steam trickle out of her nose. It found its way down the wrinkles either side of her mouth. Then the ones around her eyes deepened. ‘Now, does anyone
else
have a stupid question?’ Her grey suit looked as if someone much larger than her had slept in it. Whoever it was had done something unmentionable to her hair as well. Possibly involving an electric whisk, a Van de Graaff generator, and a bucket of wallpaper paste.
    The DC lowered his hand and mumbled something. Pink flushed the back of his neck, darkening the skin above his suit jacket.
    Steel had a dig at her underwire and settled on the edge of a table parked beneath the whiteboard. The board took up nearly the whole wall of the station’s Major Incident Room.
    The conference table in the middle of the room was packed with uniformed and plain-clothed officers. They’d commandeered every chair in the place, set up in a long line facing the board. More Uniform stood around the walls, arms folded across their black police-issue T-shirts.
    ‘Moving on.’ Steel stopped fiddling with her upholstery for long enough to point her fake cigarette at the whiteboard. An array of photographs – much like the ones Logan had on his phone – were Blu-Tacked across the shiny white surface, along with