Black Daffodil (Trevor Joseph Detective series) Read Online Free Page B

Phillips share the penthouse with two other film students. They and all of Hodges’ and Phillips’s friends and acquaintances have been questioned. Some were at that party, some weren’t. Locals are checking out their stories. But it will take time.’
    ‘Lucky students,’ Trevor mused. ‘I was under the impression that all most of them could afford these days was a cardboard box.’
    ‘One of the students, Damian Darrow, owns the penthouse. His father gave it to him. You’ve come across him, Eric Darrow.’
    ‘The Darrow who owns casinos and nightclubs?’ Trevor raised an eyebrow.
    Bill smiled grimly. ‘Didn’t you and Collins investigate him ten years back?’
    ‘We went undercover in his clubs but all we succeeded in doing was arresting a couple of personal users and one small-time dealer.’
    ‘Upstairs is concerned about this one. We’ve three dead, one in a coma and four walking lunatics. Can you imagine what will happen if one of the gangs gets hold of this formula and starts mass marketing it? That’s if they haven’t already. Professor Robbins estimates that four dozen pills like the ones we found on Alec Hodges could be produced for under a pound. Trials suggest sniffer dogs would be useless at tracking it down. They’re light, easily transportable. Flood the international market and we’d get …’
    ‘Murders, mayhem and a generation of thrill-seekers with pea soup for brains.’
    ‘Exactly,’ Bill concurred.
    ‘I understand why the locals cried “Help”.’
    ‘They’re running the usual investigation, but upstairs want our people out there right away. We need to find out who is manufacturing and marketing this stuff and stop it before it does any more damage.’
    ‘Any ideas?’
    ‘Too many,’ Bill complained. ‘The Bay is the executive and desirable place to live now; but it’s an old dock area, you name it, they’re there. Chinese Triads, Somalis, Yardies, South Americans, Kurds, Asians, Eastern Europeans, and that’s without the Italians. They’ve had businesses in South Wales for a century and more.’
    ‘Mafia?’
    ‘Most of their businesses are legit these days but we’re not ruling out anything,’ Bill said tersely. ‘We’re putting out as many ethnic undercover operatives as manpower will allow.’
    ‘You’ve forgotten someone.’
    ‘Who?’ Bill looked at Trevor through narrowed eyes.
    ‘The Welsh locals.’
    ‘No, we haven’t. That’s where you and Collins come in.’
    ‘Me? I left the drug squad two years ago. I’m serious crimes.’
    ‘Three dead is serious crimes, Joseph,’ Bill snapped.
    ‘We’re all entitled to a personal life. Lyn is due to give birth in five weeks. I’ve booked leave …’
    ‘All the more reason to wrap this case up quickly.’
    Trevor had been bullied into giving up leave dozens of times by Bill, but this was different. It wasn’t just his social life but his family life that would suffer. And there was absolutely no way he was going to miss the birth of his baby, no matter how important the case. ‘No. Absolutely not. No! Besides I haven’t a Welsh accent. Not even an implausible one.’
    ‘Haven’t you heard, boyo, Wales and especially the Bay is the new European international hotspot. They even allow the English in there now. You and Collins are the best undercover operatives I have – or have seen in any force.’
    ‘Flattery won’t win me over, and your Welsh accent is the phoniest I’ve heard.’
    Bill became serious. ‘What kind of a world do you think your baby is going to come into if this crap hits the streets big time? No one will be safe. Not you. Not me. Not the young mother shopping in the supermarket alongside the chemist buying new supplies. And don’t forget the crazed junkie who doesn’t know what he’s doing and doesn’t care as long as he gets his next fix.’
    ‘You sound like a recruiting poster, Bill.’
    ‘I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t desperate. How about a compromise? You go