Page 135 of Better the Devil

Logan confirmed he remembered, but pressed on. ‘I meant earlier in the evening. Between the hours of four and six-thirty?’

‘At home,’ Eleanor reiterated. Nothing changed about her voice or her demeanour. ‘I was at home all day.’

‘That’s interesting,’ Logan said, but he left it there. ‘What about Victor’s brothers? Would they be able to corroborate that? If they hadn’t legged it, I mean.’

‘Yeah. They would.’

‘Do you know where they are, by any chance, so I can check that with them?’

‘No. I don’t.’

‘No idea?’ Logan pressed.

‘That’s what she said,’ Fairweather interjected. ‘My client is not responsible for your failure to track down your persons of interest.’

Something that wasn’t a smile but might vaguely resemble one in the right light crept across Logan’s face.

‘Of course not. But, you know, family. I thought maybe they might have kept in touch.’

‘They’re not my family,’ Eleanor said. ‘I mean, technically, yes, but I don’t like them, they don’t like me.’

‘And why’s that?’

‘Because they’re horrible pricks.’

‘Fair enough,’ Logan conceded. ‘Having met them, I can’t really argue with that.’

He thought of what Ben had seen. Two burly masked men bundling Bosco into their van.

‘You sure they’re not back in town, though?’

‘You tell me,’ Eleanor replied. ‘I have no idea where they are.’

‘Do you think they killed Victor?’ Logan asked.

Fairweather clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth. ‘My client isn’t about to speculate upon?—’

‘Maybe. I don’t know,’ Eleanor said, talking over him.

The lawyer didn’t flinch or react in any way. He just sort of went dormant again, like his aborted interjection had never happened.

‘What about Kendrick Crichton?’

Eleanor shrugged. ‘What about him?’

‘I don’t know,’ Logan said, sitting back in his seat. ‘You tell me.’

Something about her expression changed then. Just subtly. Logan couldn’t work out how the mechanics of it had shifted, but she no longer looked quite so unfazed.

‘They were friends.’

There was a subtle but noticeable stress on that last word.

‘Victor and Kendrick, I mean.’

‘Not his brothers?’ Logan asked.

Eleanor’s headshake was a quick, urgent thing. ‘No. God, no.’