Page 71 of Better the Devil

But that was a drop in the ocean compared to what it contained.

‘You think they’re going to be hundreds all the way through, boss?’ Tyler asked, leaning over and peering into the bag.

It was the size of a small holdall, and filled to the top with bundles of rolled-up notes. The topmost note on each bundle was a turquoise Bank of Scotland hundred quid note. Without looking, it was impossible to say for sure that the rest were the same, but the colour of the edges certainly suggested so.

‘If they are, that’s got to be…’

Tyler’s lips moved silently, as he tried to calculate how much money might be in the bag.

He eventually decided on, ‘A shitload.’

Logan tore his eyes from the bag and looked across the table to where Sergeant Fleck stood, rubbing his forehead. JoeRobertson had been slung in an interview room almost as soon as the bag had been revealed.

‘He found this in the car?’

‘So he says, aye,’ Fleck replied. ‘He said he saw it in the back, spotted what was inside, then took it and stashed it before he called 999. I guess the guilt got to him, because he fronted up to me after the event.’

‘Did you tell him he’s a bloody idiot?’ Logan barked. ‘Tampering with a murder scene.’

‘Oh, believe me, sir, I went through him,’ the sergeant said. ‘He knows it was stupid. He said he wasn’t thinking straight. He’s a good guy. Really. This isn’t like him at all. He knows he messed up. He’s ready to face the consequences.’

‘Aye, well, they’ll start with my foot up his arse,’ Logan said. ‘Where is he?’

‘Interview room two,’ said Dave.

‘Right. You. What’s your name?’

‘Uh, Gavin.’ He straightened and pushed his shoulders back. ‘Sergeant Gavin Fleck, sir.’

‘Gavin. You know this guy, right?’

‘I do, sir,’ the sergeant confirmed. ‘And I can absolutely vouch for him being a decent?—’

Logan waved him into silence. ‘I don’t care. I don’t want you to vouch for him, I want you to sit in with me and see if you think he’s telling the truth.’

Fleck glanced down at the open bag of cash. ‘The, eh, the truth, sir?’

‘Aye.’ Logan set off at a clip towards the door. ‘If he was hiding this, who knows what else the old bugger’s been lying to us about?’

Shona Maguire pointedto a chair in the corner of her office, inviting Olivia to plant her arse on it.

The call had come in to let her know about the second post-mortem, and given that she had yet to type up her notes on the first, she had no choice but to head to the hospital.

Olivia had insisted she’d be fine at home, but there was no way Shona was leaving her on her own. Not with Bosco around. Not with how upset the girl had been.

‘I’ll try to be as quick as I can,’ Shona said, shrugging off her jacket and hanging it on the peg by the door. ‘I’ll get preliminaries done now, make sure he’s all checked in, then come back in the morning to do the full PM.’

Olivia shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

She flopped onto the computer chair, and immediately found the lever that tipped the back so she could slouch down. She sat there sprawled in it, shifting her weight left and right on its swivel base with her legs.

‘You going to be OK?’

‘I’d have been OK at home,’ Olivia replied.

Shona smiled, but it didn’t feel natural. It had been a stressful day. She understood that Olivia was upset—of course she did—but her pain-in-the-arse attitude wasn’t making things any easier.

‘I’m sure you would. I’m sure I’m overreacting.’