Page 74 of Better the Devil

‘Aye. Aye, that would be the ideal, right enough.’ The old man wiped his eyes on his sleeve. ‘And I’d maybe give that lassie a piece of my mind while I’m at it.’

There was a subtle change to the atmosphere in the room. A slight shifting, like an electrical current had begun humming through the air.

‘Lassie?’ Logan asked. He turned to Fleck, but the sergeant appeared equally in the dark. ‘Tell me, Joe—just what lassie might that be?’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

‘There was someone else there,’Logan declared, throwing open the swing doors like an Old West cowboy entering a saloon. ‘Near Victor Belov’s car. Last night. There was a woman. Joe Robertson saw her.’

Tyler rolled his chair back from his desk so he could look past his computer at the DCI.

‘A woman, boss? What sort of woman?’

‘I don’t know. Young, he thinks. Passed him about quarter of a mile from the car, headed in the Aviemore direction. She had a hoodie on, and when he pulled her up for dropping litter, she told him to go fuck himself.’

‘Charming,’ Ben remarked.

‘Did he get a look at her?’ asked Sinead. ‘Did he see her face, I mean?’

‘No. She was too far away. They were on opposite sides of the road. He reckons she was in a hurry, though.’

‘Could he pinpoint it?’ Dave asked. ‘Where she dropped the litter, I mean? Could be worth picking up.’

‘He’s going to try and show that sergeant when he drives him home.’

‘Home, boss?’ Tyler asked. ‘You mean, we’re not charging him?’

Logan grimaced, like he wasn’t particularly happy about any of this. ‘No. Not yet. We’ll see. But we’ll keep it on the back burner for now. I think he did a stupid thing and now regrets it. He’s the least of our worries at the moment.’

Hamza stood up from behind his computer. ‘Aye, you’re not wrong on that. Bit of bad news.’

‘Christ.’ Logan drew in a breath, bracing himself. ‘What now?’

‘I sent Uniform round to the address we’ve got for the Belov brothers. Well, the two still-living ones, anyway.’

Logan knew what was coming. ‘Empty?’

‘Cleared out, by the looks of it,’ Hamza confirmed. ‘Ran their plates. ANPR camera pinged one of them on the M8 near Glasgow.’

‘Fuck!’ Logan hissed. ‘Alright, put a shout out for them. I want eyes wide open, cameras looking for them?—’

‘Already done, sir,’ Hamza assured him.

‘It’s all in hand, Jack,’ Ben said. ‘Don’t you worry.’

Both the former DI and the current one unwrapped Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers in unison. Logan watched in silence as they both bit into their biscuits. His stomach rumbled, reminding him it had been quite a long time since that roll and sausage.

‘You got any more of them?’

Ben shook his head. ‘Nope’

‘Sorry,’ Hamza said, chewing. ‘These were the last ones.’

Logan sighed. ‘When I asked you to come in to help with handover and training, Benjamin, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.’

Ben grinned. ‘Aye, well, get the important stuff nailed down first.’ He took another bite. ‘And everything else’ll fall into place.’

‘Should we widen the net on doorbell cameras, sir?’ Sinead asked, before anyone could plunge too far down the chocolate biscuit rabbit hole. ‘We checked the houses nearby, but if this woman was headed to Aviemore along that road, she could’ve been picked up further along.’