Page 16 of Better the Devil

‘You opened the door?’

‘Too right I did. I was going to give them a piece of my mind for their… their dirty shenanigans,’ Joe explained. ‘And then, when I saw him, I knew straight away something wasn’t right. You know, with the blood, and the…’

He motioned to his throat, drawing an invisible line across it.

‘You don’t expect to see that sort of thing, do you? I mean, I suppose you do. I suppose it’s par for the course when you do your job,’ Joe said.

He turned his attention to the window again, and to the darkened world beyond the glass. The words became a whisper, clawing their way up his throat.

‘But when you’re not expecting it, it really catches you off guard.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

Olivia was sittingin the dark when Logan and Shona returned to the house. Taggart, who had been lying sprawled on the couch beside her, immediately started running laps of the living room at the sound of their key in the lock.

‘What’s with the lights? Power off, or something?’ Logan asked, stepping into the room.

He flicked the switch, and Olivia gave a vampire hiss as the LED bulbs burned into life.

‘Jesus!’

Logan clicked the lights off again, giving the room back to the dark.

Upstairs, the floorboards creaked as Shona raced about, getting changed into work clothes.

‘You sick, or something?’ Jack asked. ‘You’ve normally got every bloody light in the house on, and then some.’

‘I’ve got a headache,’ Olivia said.

‘Oh. Right. You taken anything for it?’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘There’s paracetamol in?—’

‘I said I’ll be fine!’

Logan shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. Dog been out?’

As if sensing he was now part of the conversation, Taggart stopped running and came to a sudden stop right at Jack’s feet. He sat down, staring up, big brown eyes gazing hopefully.

‘Just the walk home,’ Olivia told him.

Logan was well-used to abrupt answers from the girl. Or, often, no answers at all. Normally, it was because she was too engrossed in her phone screen, or whatever shite was blaring through her earphones.

Now, she was just sitting there in the dark, doing nothing. Maybe the headache story was legit, right enough.

‘Right, well, Shona’s grabbing some stuff then shooting into the hospital. She’s just going to get the body booked in, and then she’ll crack on in the morning. I need to go and do a house call.’

Olivia looked up. Her eyes flashed in the gloom. ‘You’re going out? Both of you?’

‘Aye. For a bit. We shouldn’t be long,’ Logan said. He considered her huddled there on the couch. Noted the closed curtains.

In the single flash of the overhead lights, he’d clocked that she was still wearing her trainers—the battered white Converse that she’d drawn patterns on in black Sharpie. Normally, any shoes got kicked off the moment she came home, and lay where they fell until Logan inevitably tripped over them on his way out the door.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked.

There was silence. For a moment. For an eternity.