Page 84 of Better the Devil

‘That’s right, sir,’ Sinead confirmed.

‘And she told him not to say anything?’

‘So he says, boss,’ Tyler replied. ‘And I reckon he was telling the truth.’

Logan groaned, rubbed at his forehead, then stood up suddenly. ‘He was lying,’ he announced.

Sinead shook her head. ‘I don’t think he was, sir. He seemed genuine. I don’t see why?—’

‘Not Harris. Bosco. The bastard looked me in the eye and lied to me. Said him popping up had been a shock to Olivia, like she hadn’t known a thing.’

He stood up and walked around to join them on the other side of the desk, then half-sat on the edge, arms folded.

‘If he lied about that, what else is he hiding?’

‘I, eh, I don’t know, boss,’ Tyler said. He shifted uncomfortably on the spot. ‘You, eh, you think that’s the big takeaway from this, though?’

Logan pressed his fingertips to his forehead again, and rubbed more forcefully, like he could wipe away the rapidly building stress headache.

‘For now, aye.’ He sighed. It was heavy and weary. ‘Do me a favour. Keep this to yourself for the minute.’

Another look was exchanged between the detective constables.

‘I know. I know,’ Logan said, picking up on it. ‘I just need a bit of time to sit with it. Just… just trust me on it, alright?’

‘Course, boss.’

‘Always, sir.’

Before anyone could say anything more, there was a sharp rap of knuckles on the glass door. Detective Superintendent Mitchell entered without waiting for an invitation. She nodded once to acknowledge Logan, then turned her attention to Sinead.

‘DC Bell? The panel is ready for you now.’

It was Tyler who reacted first. He sprang a few inches off the floor, his arms flapping around like he’d lost all muscle tone, his eyes widening in shock and horror.

‘Oh, God. Oh, God! This is it!’ he cried.

He lunged in to give his wife a good luck kiss on the cheek, before the disapproving look on Mitchell’s face jarred him off course. It had taken a lot of wrangling for Tyler and Sinead to be allowed to work on the same team, and part of the agreement had been that there would be no public displays of affection between them while on the job.

He was already moving though. Already committed to the kiss. Panic flooded through him, and he let out a little shriek of surprise as he spun ninety degrees and planted his lips on Logan’s cheek, instead.

Silence fell, broken only by Tyler’s horrified gasp, which he partly muffled by clamping a hand over his mouth.

For what felt like quite a long time, nobody said a word.

Finally, Logan cleared his throat and spoke.

‘I think it’d be best if we all just pretended none of that happened,’ he suggested.

‘I’m sorry, boss. I just… I panicked, and I couldn’t stop in time, so it had to go somewhere, and?—’

‘None of it happened, Tyler,’ Logan stressed, and the detective constable mimed zipping his lips shut before they could do any more damage.

Detective Superintendent Mitchell looked from Jack to Tyler, then raised her eyebrows and gave the tiniest little shake of her head.

‘DC Bell?’ she said, tacitly going along with Logan’s suggestion. ‘Shall we?’

Sinead took a breath, then followed Mitchell out of the office. Both men whispered, ‘Good luck,’ when she looked back over her shoulder, and she acknowledged them with a nod and a tight, anxious smile.