Page 68 of Better the Devil

‘That’d be great, son,’ Ben had said approvingly. ‘I’ll have a cheeky wee extra tattie scone on mine, in that case.’

By the time Tyler returned, laden with paper bags and still smarting from an earbashing Moira had given him about being left to run the café on her own, and how they were all a shower of bastards, the rest of the team was ready to go.

While he dished the food out, the team spoke about what was going on out at Forres. Palmer’s crew was still working the scene. The pathologist from Aberdeen had popped in to confirm that the headless man in Kendrick Crichton’s kitchen was, in fact, dead. The body was going to be transported to Raigmore later that day for Shona to make a start on.

‘What about the dog?’ Sinead asked.

‘Goldie,’ Tyler added helpfully.

Logan didn’t have an answer for that. ‘That’s a point. Where is the dog?’

‘I think DCI Reeve might still have it,’ Hamza said. ‘He put her in his van, apparently, to calm her down.’

‘I could phone him and ask, if you want,’ Sinead suggested, then she smiled at the dirty look this earned from her husband.

‘What do we make of him, this guy? I mean, who is he?’ Tyler asked.

‘Who, Captain Stars and Stripes? Don’t know. Never come across him.’

‘That’s weird, isn’t it, boss? I mean, Police Scotland’s no’ exactly huge. And you think you’d remember a guy like that.’

‘I knowyoudefinitely will,’ Dave said. He waved a hand in front of his face like he was trying to cool down his cheeks.

Tyler gave him the middle finger, which only made Dave cackle gleefully.

‘What I’m saying is, he’s based, what, a hundred miles away, and none of us has ever met him? I’m just saying, that’s weird.’

‘You think he might be dodgy?’ Ben asked.

Tyler shifted around in his chair as he unwrapped his bacon roll. ‘I’m not saying he’sdodgy, exactly, but it’s definitely weird.’

‘Not really,’ Logan said after a few seconds’ thought. ‘It’s not like any of us really pays much attention to polis politics.’

Tyler conceded the point, and took a big bite of his roll while the conversation continued around him.

They speculated while they ate, considering the bigger picture possibilities as to thewhyof it all. Figure out why someone had killed those men, and they’d be a step closer to working out who was responsible.

Unfortunately, the why was, so far, proving to be problematic.

Rival gang hit was a definite possibility. Bosco Maximuke’s name was never far from anyone’s lips, but even if it wasn’t him, then a turf war remained the most likely scenario.

The time of Kendrick Crichton’s death was going to be interesting. The dog hair in the back of Victor Belov’s car, and Eleanor’s son Jack’s reveal about the bad man’s Golden Retriever, potentially connected both men. That was even before you dug into the CID files that painted them in a potential business relationship.

Bosco had pointed a finger at Crichton as being the one responsible for Victor’s death. Had Victor’s brothers thought so, too? Had they headed round there when they’d left Eleanor’s that night, after Logan had broken the news? Was Kendrick Crichton killed as revenge for Victor Belov’s death?

It was possible. It was neat. Too neat, maybe?

Logan couldn’t get away from the timing of it all. CID had been watching these bastards for months. Years, in fact. Things had remained low-key and under the radar for that entire time.

And then, a couple of days after Bosco Maximuke gets out of prison, they start killing one another?

Convenient.

Too convenient.

Bosco wasn’t an idiot. Logan had known that before the Russian had pointed it out. If he was involved in this, it was reckless. It was madness.

And why would he come to Logan of all people for help? The one man who would judge him more harshly and doubt his word more than anyone else on the planet.