In the Midst of Wolves by Kurt Ellis

Author:Kurt Ellis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2019-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

44

He rode down in the lift with a fat, young man in a black suit. It was silent, apart from the man’s breathing. The sound reminded Creed of an old British bulldog that he and Megan had once babysat for a friend of hers in Seattle. Loud and shallow pants. The sound cut at his already frayed temper. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘you won’t die if you try a salad once in a while.’

‘Excuse me,’ the man responded. ‘What’d you say?’

‘A salad. Perhaps you should leave the pizzas and hamburgers alone, you fat bastard, and try a salad occasionally?’

Creed saw the punch coming but he didn’t try to avoid it. He let the stranger’s knuckles crack him square in the mouth just as the doors of the lift opened. He stumbled back into the corner of the box.

‘Hey!’ Eli Grey rushed in. He grabbed the fat man and pushed him against the back wall of the lift. ‘You’re under arrest. You …’

‘Let him go,’ Creed said calmly, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Grey, who already had a set of handcuffs out, ignored him.

‘I said let him go,’ Creed said louder. He sucked on his split bottom lip and tasted the rust-flavoured blood. ‘I deserved it.’

‘I know you did. But I don’t care if you deserved it. It’s assault.’

‘Let the guy go, Eli. You’re making him late for the gym.’

Grey hesitated a second longer before releasing his grip on the man. ‘Get the hell out of here.’

A torrent of sweat poured from the stranger’s forehead and wobbly cheeks. His jowls jiggled as he rushed off.

‘What did you say to him, Nick?’

‘I just gave him a motivational speech on healthy eating.’

Grey pulled him to his feet.

‘What’re you doing here?’ Creed asked.

‘I came to update you on the case.’

‘I thought I was off the case.’

‘You’re not,’ Grey said curtly. ‘There’s a good coffee shop around the corner from here. We can chat there.’

The two men dodged the pedestrians on Sandton’s pavements before slipping into the café. The tiny coffee bar was dominated by a counter with a blackboard above it, the menu and the day’s specials scribbled in multi-coloured chalk. High on the adjacent wall, an old French-style bicycle was fixed to the red bricks. They took a seat in the far corner, next to a shelf of homemade preserves for sale.

‘You’re right,’ Grey started.

‘You need to be more specific, Eli. I’m right about a lot of things.’

‘You were right about the boyfriend. Or ex-boyfriend rather.’

A waitress came to take their order, her eyes drawn to his bloodied and swollen bottom lip. Grey ordered a black coffee. Creed asked for the coldest Coke they had and a glass with ice.

Once the waitress had left, Creed ran his tongue over the wound again, ‘Come on, Eli. You know it’s a stock-standard theory in all murder cases: look at the spouse first. Shit, even Steenkamp would’ve got there … eventually. I didn’t do anything special.’

Grey looked out of the large window, then shook his head.

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