Page 95 of Better the Devil

Geoff Palmer’s team had turned up a fingerprint on the bag Joe Robertson had snatched, which was currently unidentified. Joe’s, Sergeant Fleck’s, and anyone else who might have touched it between the car and the station had been ruled out.

Joe Robertson himself was still missing.

Victor Belov’s brothers were both somewhere in the wind.

DCI Reeve continued to interview Bosco Maximuke.

And Olivia?

Olivia was nowhere to be found.

He should call her. He should. He would, just as soon as he figured out what he was going to say to explain why he was there. Why he was checking up on her. Why he was asking about her whereabouts.

Something tightened in Logan’s stomach when he heard a key slipping into the front door lock. Taggart barked excitedly, racing out of the kitchen and into the hall.

There was no time to figure out the answers to all those questions. He was just going to have to wing it.

‘Where have you been?’ he asked, striding out after the dog.

He stopped when he saw Shona hanging her jacket on the peg by the front door.

‘Eh, work. Just nipping in to get a change of clothes. Had a bit of an accident.’

She pointed to a streak of bright red that stained the bottom of her T-shirt and continued down the front of her jeans.

‘Jesus. That blood?’ Logan asked.

‘Chilli sauce,’ Shona said, smirking. ‘If your blood’s that colour, you’ve got a problem. What you home for? Have you not got murderers to be catching?’

‘Maybe if someone’d hurry up with the post-mortem reports…’

Shona stuck out her tongue at him. ‘They’ve both been sent. You’re welcome.’

‘Oh. Right. Hadn’t seen them.’

‘Because you’re swanning about at home instead of at work,’ Shona suggested. She looked him up and down when he didn’t laugh. ‘You OK?’

‘Fine,’ he said, dismissing her concern. ‘Anything new? In the PMs, I mean?’

Shona wrinkled up her nose. ‘Throat slit. Head shot off. Nah, pretty much—Oh! There was one thing.’

Logan’s ears pricked up. ‘Aye?’

‘Victor Belov. He’d recently had sexual intercourse.’

‘The condom,’ Logan said. He frowned. ‘But how can you tell that from the PM? That wouldn’t show up, would it?’

‘It does if you know what you’re looking for,’ she said, and she winked like she was teasing him. ‘It’s all in the report. Enjoy.’

She started to head up the stairs, before Logan called out to her.

‘You heard from Olivia?’

Shona stopped halfway up the stairs. ‘No. Why? She not here?’

Jack shook his head. ‘School finished a while ago, didn’t it?’

The stairs creaked as Shona came down a step. ‘Lunch is at one, yeah. And it’s Friday, so?—’