Prayer for the Dead: A Detective Inspector McLean Mystery Read Free Page A

really need the hassle all this was going to create, but he also knew betterthan to fight his own nature. ‘What if I just want my flat back?’
    Jock’s eyes narrowed. ‘Youwant one of the apartments.’
    ‘No. I want my apartment. Top floor left. Shiny blue door. Three bedrooms, proper bathroom and a box room a hard-up student would be happy to live in. I want a kitchen where I can look out over the garden and see Arthur’s Seat if I crane my neck a bit. I’ll pass on the rusty bicycle frame chained to the railings on the stairs outside, and if there’s no lingering smellof cat piss in the entrance that would be a plus.’
    Both McClymonts stared at him, their expressions nearly identical. Joe was the first to speak again.
    ‘But the plans—’
    ‘Are a bit rubbish, aren’t they?’ McLean cut him off. ‘Six storeys? Really? How the hell did you get that past planning? All you’re doing is leaving the front wall and building a crappy modern box behind it. You really thinkthat’s what the city needs?’
    ‘What the city needs is unimportant.’ Jock McClymont’s growl was even more menacing now. ‘We’ve a lot of cash tied up in this place. More besides. We’re not going to let it go just because of you. Top-floor flats are going to cost way more than your share’s worth. If you’ll no’ take the money we’ve offered …’
    ‘I think you misunderstand me, gentlemen. I appreciatethe time and effort you’ve put into all this.’ McLean swept an arm around the general area of the Portakabin. ‘But what you’re proposing … I can’t begin …’ He picked up the top sheet of plans, spun it around on the table. ‘You need to come up with something a lot better than this ifyou want me to help make it happen. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve important work I need to get back to.’
    McLean stoodoutside the front door, took a deep breath and looked around the street. It was as familiar to him as his skin, a place he had lived for fifteen years and more before that terrible fire. But that was then and this was now. He had a house, far too big but just as difficult to part with. It wasn’t that he needed a place nearer to work, he could have bought one if he wanted. No, it was somethingmuch less rational, a feeling that the people who’d lived and died in that tenement block somehow deserved better. More than that, was a growing dislike of McClymonts senior and junior. And finally, the nub of it. He’d been taken for granted. They wanted him to sell up, thought that throwing a little more money at the problem would make it go away. They should probably have made the effort to getto know him a bit better first.
    Head down to avoid making eye contact with passers-by, he set off on the walk back to the station, hoping for a chance to get his thoughts together. When his phone started to buzz in his pocket, it wasn’t one of the ring tones DC MacBride had programmed into it that he knew he had to answer, and yet something about the trilling gave it an urgency he couldn’t ignore.Fishing it out of his pocket, McLean stared at the screen. An international number. No doubt someone trying to sell him some scam financial scheme or get him to part with sensitive passwords for his computer. Intrigued, he thumbed the accept call icon and held the slim handset up to his ear.
    ‘Hello?’
    ‘That’s not Gordon. Shit, have I dialled the wrong number?’ McLean recognised the voice eventhough it was far too long since last he had heard it, and couldn’t help the smile that turned up the corners of his mouth.
    ‘Seems so, Phil. How’s things?’
    ‘Wait … What? Tony? Jesus mate. How are you doing?’
    ‘Oh, same old same old. Busy. You know how it is.’
    ‘Tell me about it. Place is running me ragged. American students. They’re so … what’s the word?’
    ‘Committed?’
    ‘Yeah, that’s it.’ Phillaughed. ‘Either that, or they should be.’
    ‘How’s Rae? You two not going to be asking me to be