Page 56 of Better the Devil

Hamza gently cleared his throat and glanced at the entrance to the dead man’s driveway. DCI Reeve took the hint immediately.

‘Yes! Thank you, good call, Detective Inspector! To business, right?’

He gestured for Hamza and Ben to lead the way, and guided them both with a gentle hand on their backs.

‘Call came in at eleven-fifty-four in the a.m.,’ he began. ‘At approximately eleven-forty-eight, a delivery driver attempting to drop off some Amazon packages got no response out front, so went round to the back to leave them there. Apparently, happens all the time. The driver, Frank—real nice guy, total sweetheart—this is his regular route, so it’s an established arrangement. Shoes!’

Hamza and Ben both stopped and looked down. Reeve handed them both a set of bright blue shoe coverings, and nodded encouragingly.

‘I know, we’re still some distance from the scene, but belt and braces, right?’

‘Uh, right. Aye,’ Hamza said.

He and Ben both took the shoe coverings and leaned against the garden wall while they pulled them over their feet.

‘So, Frank knocks on the back door. Checks it. Locked. Car’s out front, dog’s barking inside, something about the whole situation feels a little off, so at eleven-fifty-one, give or take, he looks in through the window, sees blood on the wall, realises something untoward has happened, and places the call to nine-nine-nine.’

Hamza and Ben both looked at the DCI as they finished pulling on their coverings, expecting to see he’d been reading from a notebook. He hadn’t, though. The details had all come from memory.

‘So, naturally, we rushed out here right away, and, well, you’ll see for yourselves in just a few moments.’

Reeve placed hands on their shoulders and looked at them both with a sincerity so heartfelt it could’ve cut glass.

‘I’ll warn you both now, it’s not pretty. I get that we’re all used to dealing with these things, and I have no doubt you’ll have seen worse. But I’d rather be accused of being condescending than have you both step in there unawares.’

Ben made a sound at the back of his throat that was impossible to quantify. A laugh, or a growl, or a grunt. He shifted position, ever so slightly, so the DCI’s hand slipped off him.

‘I’m sure we’ll be grand,’ he said.

Reeve’s smile returned with a vengeance. ‘I am absolutely positively convinced of it,’ he said. ‘No harm in saying, though, right?’

He continued past them, up the step, and onto the red brick path that led to a sandstone cottage with two big bay windows and a dormer window conversion in the roof.

‘We’ve got the pathologist en route,’ Reeve announced.

‘Shona?’ Hamza asked. The question was met by a frown of confusion. ‘Dr Jarrett. From the ARI.’

‘ARI?’ Ben asked.

‘Aberdeen Royal Infirmary,’ the other two men said in tandem.

‘And, as I’m sure you saw, the Scene of Crime crew is already assembled,’ DCI Reeve continued. ‘Not sure if you guys have dealt with Mr Palmer, who heads up the team, but you’re in for a treat. He is quite a hoot. A real character.’

Hamza looked at the DCI’s broad back as they continued up the path towards the house.

‘And to think,’ he said below his breath. ‘I was just starting to like him.’

There werea lot of things Logan didn’t like about Bosco Maximuke. Even before the Russian had got mixed up with the serial killer, Owen Petrie, he and Jack’d had a long, violent, and bloody history.

There had been threats. Intimidation. At least one failed attempt on the DCI’s life.

Aye, there were a lot of things Logan didn’t like about the man, but the thing he hated most of all right now was the way he was slurping his coffee.

Shona had made him it, despite Logan’s very vocal objections. She had insisted, though. Whatever else he might be, he was Olivia’s father. Olivia had invited him in, which meant he was their guest. And guests, whether Jack liked it or not, got an offer of tea or coffee.

The slurping had to be deliberate, Logan thought. Same with the smacking of lips and the self-satisfied wee, ‘aah,’ after every bloody sip.

He was on the wind-up. He was trying very hard to get on Jack’s tits. And he was excelling at it.