Logan popped open the driver's door and stepped out into the drizzle. 'You can stay here if you like. I'm just going for a quick look around.' 'But we haven't got a search warrant. You can't--' He closed the door before she could start swearing at him. Five seconds later Alec was out in the rain too, his HDV camera tucked under his jacket to keep it dry. 'Just in case ...'
60
Logan swung his torch along the row of dilapidated houses. The beam sparkled against the rain-slicked grass and broken windows. He turned his collar up and picked his way between the potholes to the middle house - number three - now festooned with blue-and-white POLICE ribbon, like a shabby, unwanted birthday present. 'What do you think, Alec - one, two, four, or five?' 'I'm bloody freezing.' 'You're such a girl.' Logan fought his way up the weed-clogged path to number two, rainwater trickling down the back of his neck. The front door was locked, but the wood was so rotten that a firm push was enough to tear the lock out of the frame. The door creaked open on rusty hinges. His mobile rang as he stepped into the gloomy hallway - Jackie wanting to know what the hell he was doing. 'I'm poking about.' 'We don't have a warrant for 'poking about' - Faulds says you have to get your arse back in the car.' 'I'm not going to be long. Just want to take a quick look through the other houses. There's a police officer's life at stake, remember?' She said something rude and he told her it would go much quicker if they got off their bums and helped. There was some muffled conversation and then Jackie was back with,'OK, fine. Be like that. We'll all go tromping through the rain so you can satisfy your bloody curiosity.' So much for being civil. Logan didn't rise to it. 'Thank you. We'll do numbers two and one, if you and Faulds do four and five--' 'Care to tell me what we're looking for?' 'No idea.' Five minutes later he was back out in the rain again, doing his best to ignore Alec's revolting monologue on the perils of eating a whole family-sized bag of Fruit-tellas in one sitting. Torchlight spilled out through the broken windows of number five. Jackie and Faulds might not be happy about searching the place, but at least they were giving it a go. Number one was the last building on the deserted street. It was slightly bigger than the others, with a garage tacked onto the side, but the roof sagged like a mouldy hammock and the front windows gaped black and empty. God knew who owned these ghost properties, but they wouldn't be selling them anytime soon. Logan pushed through the wrought-iron gate - the squeal of metal on metal following them up the path as it swung slowly shut.
