'That ... cock?' She scrubbed her hands across her face. 'How could they say I'm not pro-active enough? How? How much more pro-fucking-active could I be? Did we not just catch Leith?' Logan settled himself in behind the other desk, bracing himself for the oncoming rant. Ten minutes later she was still at it. 'Course you know what this is really about, don't you? Can't have a lowly woman heading up a high-profile case like this. Nooooo. That needs a baldy-headed bastard, doesn't it?' She put on a broad Banff and Buchan accent for, ''I think it'd be mare appropriate fer DCS Bain tae tak a mare active roll ... ' Wankers didn't take the damn thing off Insch, did they?' Steel sat and seethed in silence for a while, then pulled out her cigarettes, turning the pack over and over in her hands. 'Do us a favour, eh? Go see how the fat git's doing.' 'What, now?' 'No, no' now: tonight. I know he's been a tosspot lately, and he smacked you in the face ... but ... well ... take him a bag of jelly babies or something.' 'I can't, I've got something on tonight.' Which was a lie. Logan just couldn't face dealing with Insch's grief on top of all the guilt. Not yet. 'Insch is one of us, Laz, we've got no right abandoning him. No' with his wee girl dead like that.' 'But if I hadn't chased Wiseman--' 'You've always been Inschy's favourite. He needs someone to talk to, and you're it. Besides, what's the worst that can happen? He shouts at you a bit? Least it'll make him feel better. You no' think we owe him that?' Logan swore. But the inspector was right: he owed Insch that much. 'OK, OK, I'll go see him.' 'Good lad.' Steel hauled herself out of the chair and headed for the door, calling over her shoulder,'But for God's sake don't tell him I sent you! Got my reputation as a hardnosed bitch to think about.'
Half four and Steel still wasn't back. Logan sat with a fresh cup of tea and the old Media Office file on Ian and Sharon McLaughlin - all the press releases, the follow-up articles culled from the newspapers, speeches written for whoever was Chief Constable at the time. One of the newspaper clippings included a photo of Ex-DSI Brooks outside the Sheriff Court, a thin and hirsute DC David Insch standing off to one side.'SUSPECT REMANDED IN CUSTODY' He laid the article out on the desk and sat back, staring at the death board. How many of them died because Brooks couldn't get over his Wiseman-focussed monomania? Logan called Colin Miller and asked for a favour. 'What, again? You still owe me lunch from last time.' 'Do this one and we'll call it dinner - takeaway Thai?' 'I'm listening ...' 'Need you to go through the paper's archives. Missing persons, housebreakings, outbreaks of food poisoning, CJD ... that kind of thing. 1987 to 1990.' There was silence on the other end. 'You gonnae tell me what this is all about?' 'Nope.'
