Page 17 of Better the Devil

‘No,’ she finally said. ‘Just wondering.’

There was something. He was sure of it. But, despite his decades of training and experience, he’d never been able to get the truth from the girl via direct interrogation. He’d found it was best just to wait.

Or, even better, to let Shona handle it.

‘Right, well, no parties. I should be back in about an hour. I’ll give the dug his last walk then.’

Taggart sprang to his feet, tail whirling like the rotor of a helicopter.

‘Shite. I saidwalk. Bollocks, I said it again.’ Logan sighed. ‘Bugger it. Fine. Five minutes, once around the block. That’s your lot for now.’

He looked over at Olivia. Her eyes were lowered again. Otherwise, she hadn’t moved a muscle.

‘You want to come?’

This time, there was no hesitation.

‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t.’

Olivia wasn’tthe only one behaving oddly. Taggart, who would usually be attempting to pull Jack off his feet by now, albeit with very little chance of success, was trotting along at his heels. His excitement at being outside had almost immediately given way to a sort of low-key wariness that kept him from pulling ahead.

It might have been the wind. It had started picking up on the drive back to Inverness, and though the rain was off for the moment, the odd north-westerly gust still came whistling down the gaps between the houses.

Jack looked back at his house. The lights were on upstairs, but downstairs was still in darkness. If it wasn’t for Shona up in the bedroom, the place would be almost invisible in the evening gloom.

Was that deliberate? Did she really have a headache, or was she hiding?

If so, hiding from what?

Sulking was more likely, he reckoned. The first half of parents’ night hadn’t exactly been brimming with positive reports, but in her own sullen way, she’d seemed pleased that he and Shona had taken the time to attend. It had been a first for her, having someone turn up to talk to the teachers on her behalf, and she’d raced back to the school from God knows where so she could attend the meetings with them.

She was probably just annoyed they had to ditch early. There had been some talk of getting dinner afterwards, too. Maybe she was disappointed about that.

Aye. Aye, that’d be it. They’d make it up to her, though. She’d understand.

Before he had a chance to dwell any more on it, his phone buzzed. Taggart instinctively looked up when Logan’s hand went into his pocket, in case it heralded the arrival of biscuits. When it came out holding the phone, he lost interest and went back to sniffing the ground.

The text was from Tyler. It gave a name—Eleanor Belov—and an address in Nairn. Logan winced. He’d be away longer than an hour, then.

At the bottom, a line space below the address, was a single “x”. The little bubble had already popped up below the message, letting him know that Tyler was typing something else.

It arrived with another buzz.

Sorry, boss. Didn’t mean to add the kiss.

Logan rattled off a reply—Aye, ye did—then returned the phone to his pocket.

‘Right then, dug,’ he announced, picking up the pace. ‘Let’s get a shifty on.’

Business was clearlygood for Victor Belov. Well, not so much now, Logan supposed, given his current condition, but he’d evidently been earning well while he was alive.

His house was a glass and metal monster of a thing, situated just outside Nairn, looking out over the town’s East Beach towards the North Sea. It was the sort of place that got featured onGrand Designson the telly, as one of those overly ambitious projects that spiralled out of control, resulting in bankruptcy and divorce.

Though the front was all shiny chrome and black-tinted glass, the roof was covered in grass that curved down to meet the ground at the back of the house. The whole thing looked like it had been built into a hillside. Or, like some underground creature had just popped its head above the surface to say hello.

Not cheap, then.

A long driveway curved up from the beach road, meandering through a landscaped garden that was all statues and fountains. A security gate at the bottom of the garden stood open as if the owner of the place was expecting visitors. The wheels of Jack’s SUV crunched along the gravel driveway and into the car park at the side of the building.