'Oh God ...' Logan saw the punch coming long before anyone else: Insch curled one huge hand into a fist and swung. Alec didn't stand a chance. So Logan lunged forwards, shoving him out of the way. The cameraman went sprawling, right back into the urinal again - and that was when Logan realized he'd not thought this through properly. Insch's fist whistled through the gap where Alec used to be and clattered into Logan's face.
15
Everything smelt of burning copper. Logan sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair with his head thrown back and a clump of soggy paper towels clamped to his nose. 'Still bleeding?' Chief Inspector Napier - head of Professional Standards - was probably doing his best to sound concerned, but it wasn't working. Hook-nosed ginger bastard. His office was crowded and noisy. Big Gary - huge, uniformed and covered in biscuit crumbs - sat in the corner, next to Napier's colleague, taking notes while Steel and Insch lied about what had happened in the toilets. Everyone doing their best not to get too close to Alec, who was starting to smell. Logan pulled the compress away and dabbed at his nostrils with a finger. It came away covered in blood. He tipped his head back again and applied a fresh wodge of paper towels. 'As I see it,' said Napier, treating them all to his fish-like gaze,'no one is denying DI Insch hit DS McRae in the toilets. Correct?' No one said anything. 'I see ...' Napier picked up a silver pen from his neat-freak desk and pointed it at Alec, as if it were a magic wand and by some miracle of prestidigitation he could make the cameraman not stink of piss. 'And did you manage to film this 'assault'?' Alec looked at Insch and Steel, then blushed and stared at the carpet instead. 'My ... my camera wasn't working because it fell in the urinal ... when I ... tripped.' 'Really?' The chief inspector pulled a notebook from his drawer and read aloud. 'He attacked me - he shoved me into the urinal. He tried to--' Alec went even redder. 'I was wrong. I slipped and fell.' 'You slipped and fell.' 'I slipped and fell.' 'I see ...' Napier put the notebook back in the drawer. 'And this sudden change of opinion wouldn't have anything to do with being threatened by DI Insch?' The inspector lumbered to his feet. 'Are you suggesting I tampered with a witness? Because if you are--' Napier didn't even look at him. 'Spare me the indignant act, you're in enough trouble as it is. Half the station heard you and DI Steel screaming at one another.' 'Friendly disagreement,' said Steel. 'Quite.' Napier turned a reptilian smile on Logan. 'I'd like to hear what DS McRae has to say for himself.'
