Dance with the Devil by Sandy Curtis

Author:Sandy Curtis [Curtis, Sandy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Thriller, Crime Fiction
ISBN: 9780987160461
Publisher: Clan Destine Press
Published: 2011-11-17T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Judge Aloysius Abercrombie scanned the rocky slopes with a practised eye. The countryside was a profusion of greens, from the olive of wattles, the khaki of gums, to the lime of new grass. But it wasn't the living colour which excited the judge, rather the prospect of finding a precious gemstone exposed by the recent heavy rain.

He was a sprightly man for sixty-four, thin, wiry, with a nervous energy that often chafed under the burden of his judge's robes. The pomposity of his position seldom allowed him to express his rather offbeat sense of humour, and he took secret delight in the circuit-court joke that 'old AA was coming, better hide your grog'. A temperate man when working, and a strict believer in keeping his private life separate, he knew he was viewed as a wowser, a man who frowned on others drinking. The fact they related his initials to Alcoholics Anonymous tickled the funny bone of the owner of one of the best wine collections in Queensland.

He picked his way across the uneven ground, occasionally stooping to pick up a specimen which looked promising. The early morning coolness and the crisp, clear light were a pleasure to be savoured after the sultry heat of the previous days.

At midday, he stopped in a grove of gum trees, swung his pack to the ground and sat on a smooth lump of rock emerging from the ground like a half-buried dinosaur egg. The sandwich his wife had prepared for him was kept cold by a small, chilled bottle of wine. The plastic glass was a minor irritation, but necessary in such rough terrain.

He sipped the mellow golden liquid, gazed up towards the stark grandeur of the mountains and sighed. Only birdsong and cicadas broke the perfect peace. Contentment flowed through his veins with more effect than the alcohol.

'You can almost feel God talk to you up here.'

The voice jerked him from his reverie; wine flew across his shirt, the plastic glass clattered onto the rocks. He whirled around, almost falling off the rock.

By the time his heart had slowed to a soft canter, the judge had taken in the appearance of the man who had spoken. A tall, big-boned man, he was dressed in khaki, his greying hair cut in a severe military style. Recently, judging by the pale strip of skin in front of his ears.

The judge wondered how a man so big could have crept up on him so quietly. Then he corrected himself. Of course the man had not crept up. If he'd wished him harm, he would not have spoken and alerted the judge to his presence. Perhaps, AA felt, he had been daydreaming and simply hadn't heard the man's approach.

'Yes,' he agreed, 'it's easy to feel you're close to God up here.'

The man smiled, his body relaxed slightly. Even so, AA sensed a tension, an alertness, in him. AA placed his glass back in his pack and stood up. He was suddenly acutely conscious that they were alone on the hillside.

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