Read Online The Amulet by William Meikle - Free Book Online

tomorrow."
    He was enjoying himself, and his laugh followed me as I turned away.
    I made my way back to the railway station with my tail firmly between my legs. On my way I passed an off-license. I went in and bought a good bottle of malt and put it on my credit card. It was beginning to look like the case was going nowhere, so I figured I'd make the most of the money while I could.
    I had a half-hour wait for the ten-thirty train, and had a hard time fighting off the call of the bottle. Things got worse on the train when the guard wouldn't recompense me for the unused part of my Perth ticket.
    "How do I know you haven't been to Perth?" he asked.
    "How do any of us now anything?" I asked, but he wasn't in the mood for philosophy. I had to stump up for another single back to Glasgow, on the credit card again.
    * * *

By the time I got back to Queen Street station, it was raining, and I couldn't get a cab until I'd walked nearly halfway home. It was almost midnight as I paid the cabby and turned towards my door, only to be confronted by two of the people I had least wanted to meet.
    "Mr. Adams," the taller, heavier, one said. "Can we have a wee word?"
    "It won't take much of your time," the thinner one said.
    Of all the people I didn't want to meet, these two were on top of the list. Detective Inspector Hardy, the fat one, and Detective Sergeant Newman, the thin one, "Stan and Ollie" on the street, were cops. Hard-nosed, no-nonsense cops who believed their own publicity. I let them into my office and hoped I wasn't in too much trouble.
    I laid my damp jacket over the back of my chair, took the whisky from its box, and offered them a drink.
    "No, thanks," Newman said.
    "Not while were on duty," Hardy responded.
    I shrugged and poured myself a large one. I downed it in one smooth gulp.
    "In some parts of the island that would be considered a criminal offence," Hardy said.
    "Nearly as bad as putting lemonade in it," said Newman.
    Their style of alternating speech was beginning to grate on me.
    "So which toes have I stepped on this time?" I asked.
    "We need to know your movements," Newman said.
    I spoke before Hardy had a chance.
    "Well, the toilet's through there," I said, motioning to the door.
    "Funny," Hardy said.
    "Very," Newman replied.
    "I wonder if Mr. Harris is laughing," Hardy said.
    "Who's he?" I asked.
    I wanted to sit down in the chair, but that would have left them looming over me. They intimidated me enough already without me giving them any more advantage. They were dressed almost identically, in long black woolen coats that reached their ankles over black Italian suits. The only difference was in their shirts, Hardy white, Newman blue. I suspected that they would have worn trilbies if they thought they could get away with it. Their black shoes were buffed to a deep shine. Legend on the street had it that they were steel toe capped, but I wasn't about to rile them enough to find out.
    As I said, Hardy was the taller. About six-one, and twenty stone, he was a big chap. He had recently taken to shaving his head, and along with the moustache and small beard, it gave him a menacing, almost psychopathic, look. He pumped iron, and although his stomach had spread in the years that I'd known him, he was still someone I wouldn't like to meet on a dark night.
    Newman was his physical opposite. He stood about five-nine, and weighed only nine-stone at most. He wore his hair long at the collar, and affected tinted aviator sunglasses, even at night. His coat seemed to hang off him, and rumor had it he was an evil, vicious sod who would have been in jail if he wasn't a cop.
    A further rumor had it that they were partners in bed, but I wasn't about to go down that route.
    While I was musing, Hardy had taken out his notebook.
    "John Harris. Local derelict and moocher. No fixed abode. Age: thirty-nine. Last known address: a private psychiatric hospital in Ayr. Found dead at eight this evening at the back of Buchanan Street Bus