Page 97 of Better the Devil

‘I’m not saying… I don’t know. Bosco can be a persuasive bastard. Maybe he talked her into helping him. Maybe they were, I don’t know, conspiring to?—’

‘Conspiring?’ Shona scoffed. ‘Now you’re being ridiculous.’

Logan drew in a breath, then slowly let it out again. ‘The first time I ever spoke to Olivia was at her mother’s house. Shewas carrying a kitchen knife.’ He held his index fingers roughly twelve inches apart. ‘About yon size. Made it very clear that she was willing to use it. She must’ve been… what? Ten? Eleven?’

‘You can’t seriously think that means anything?’

‘You remember what happened to the last guy who tried muscling in on her father’s territory?’ Logan pressed. ‘You remember what she did to him? Locking him in that freezer? Leaving him to die?’

‘That was different, and you know it!’ Shona snapped. There was a desperation in her voice that cracked the words wide open. ‘He would’ve killed her. Worse. He was a monster.’

‘And now he’s dead.’

‘Good!’ Shona screeched, racing down a couple more steps until she stood eye to eye with the detective. ‘That bastard… He was going to… He was going to kill me, Jack.’

Pain burned behind her eyes, bringing tears to them. Logan reached out to hold her, but she drew back, twisting out of his reach.

‘Do you know the nightmares she’s had about him? The nightmaresI’vehad? She’s a child, Jack.’

‘But she knew,’ Logan stressed. ‘She knew he was coming. That Bosco was getting out. She knew, and she didn’t tell us. She lied. She pretended not to know. Why? Why would she do that?’

Shona made a succession of huffing noises that didn’t amount to any sort of explanation. But then, she had none to offer.

‘She lives with us. She’s part of… this. Our family.’

Logan’s voice was like the crunching of dry leaves. Like the scraping of a blade on a sharpening stone.

‘I know. But she didn’t tell us. She kept it from us. And I need to know why.’

‘Don’t,’ Shona warned, and her tone matched for sharpness. ‘Don’t you dare. You’re not going to accuse her of this. You can’t.’

‘I’m not accusing. I’m asking. I have to,’ Logan said. He sighed. ‘Harris reckons she’s got some new boyfriend.’ He shifted around on the spot, like he wasn’t comfortable with the words coming out of his mouth. ‘Given what you said about Victor Belov. About… what he’d been up to?—’

‘Jesus Christ, Jack!’ Shona all-but bellowed at him. ‘Listen to yourself!’

‘Given what you said—’ he began again, but she shut him down once more.

‘Go!’ she cried, pointing to the door behind him. ‘Go to the office. Get out.’

Logan shut his eyes, unable to look at her while he said the next part. ‘There was a girl spotted leaving the scene, she?—’

‘Go look at the report, Jack,’ Shona spat.

Logan opened his eyes again. The pathologist was almost to the top of the stairs, facing away from him, not looking back.

‘Go look at the report, and you’ll see how bloody ridiculous you sound.’

CHAPTER THIRTY

DCI Nathan Reeve’ssmile had not faltered. Not until now.

‘I can see why you didn’t need a lawyer present, Mr Maximuke,’ he said, running a hand through his thick crop of red hair. ‘You’ve already got that whole “talking plenty, saying nothing” thing nailed down tight, huh?’

Across the interview table, Bosco feigned his innocence. ‘I do not understand. I try my best to be helpful and answer your questions.’ He held his hands open, palms upwards. ‘Perhaps there is language barrier.’

Reeve let out a single breath of laughter. ‘Perhaps.’

He drummed his fingers on the table a few times, then sat back in his chair like he was settling in.