Electric Light (Blair Dubh Trilogy #3) Read Online Free Page B

wouldn’t think they were fucking ghouls, would you?”
    “It’s okay,” said Craig. He’d got used to being stared at. Still, Gordon’s anger heartened him. Maybe he wasn’t in as bad a way as he’d thought.
    Craig glanced over his shoulder to study the strangers. Both appeared to be in their early forties and looked respectable and well-off. They also looked like they should be holidaying somewhere upmarket with a golf course and a five-star restaurant, not the murder village.
    Graeme occupied his usual corner in the pub, one slender white hand wrapped around a whisky glass. As was his custom he didn’t speak, content to listen to the villagers’ banter. At first they’d thought his insular silence strange, but they’d become accustomed to his ways and accepted him as part of the furniture. Craig’s appearance here tonight was unexpected and Graeme was surprised to realise he was disappointed Freya hadn’t come with him, the one person in the world he could empathise with, who had suffered like he’d suffered.
    Craig’s arrival was the sign he’d been waiting for and now he could finally execute his grand plan. He’d already initiated phase one but Craig being here just made everything seem so right, so fitting. Graeme didn’t like staying in one place for too long and he’d been here almost two years, longer than he’d stayed anywhere, but Blair Dubh deserved his special attention. It was about to get it too.
    He took a sip of whisky, enjoying the burn as it slid down his throat and realised Craig was frowning at him. He snapped himself out of it and looked away. He must have been staring again, he had a habit of doing that when he drifted into his own world and some people took offence. Craig didn’t like him because he’d caught him staring at his wife once too often but he really had been looking at her, she fascinated him. He’d got into a physical fight with the husband too and Graeme was proud of himself for giving as good as he’d got, even though he was physically slighter.
    His ears pricked up as the conversation took another turn, the residents putting voice to their worries.
    “Fred hasn’t been seen for a few days,” said Bill.
    “Is Joanie bad again?” replied Craig. Joanie had cancer and it wasn’t unusual for Fred to stay at home with her when she took a turn for the worse.
    “She’s never good,” said Gordon. “I don’t think she’s got long left.”
    Lizzy was appalled. “Well that’s a nice thing to say.”
    “True though,” he remarked.
    “Has anyone been round there?” said Craig.
    “Both me and Lizzy have knocked but there’s no answer,” replied Bill.
    “Maybe she’s gone to hospital?”
    “If she had then someone would have seen the ambulance come into the village. Fred doesn’t drive,” said Jimmy. “You’re a police officer, it would be best if you were there if something bad has happened.”
    There was a vague rumble of thunder outside and Craig’s t-shirt was becoming sticky with sweat as the humidity continued to rise. He looked out of the window and recalled Freya’s words about how the weather always became violent when something bad was about to overtake Blair Dubh. He was glad she and Petie were safe in Glasgow.
    “Alright, I’ll take a look,” he said, reluctantly pushing himself up off the bar stool.
    “We’ll come with you,” said Bill.
    Graeme took this as his cue to leave. No one noticed as he quietly slid off his stool and slipped outside, body humming with excitement.
    “Hold it. You’re staying here,” Jimmy told his wife.
    Lizzy folded her arms across her considerable bosom. “Who do you think you are talking to me like that Jimmy Clark?”
    “We don’t know what we’re going to find. It might be unpleasant.”
    “I used to be a nurse you numpty, I’ve seen things that would make your bloody hair curl, what’s left of it.”
    “After everything that’s happened in this village I’m taking no chances. You’re