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Logan slowed down as they reached the outskirts of Oldmeldrum. 'How we doing for time?' Faulds scowled. 'Badly.' 'Not my fault there was a tractor.' He threaded the car through the village centre, making for Insch's house. 'Anyway, if we stick the siren on all the way back we can--' There was a familiar-looking Range Rover up ahead. It only stayed in vision for a second, and then it was hidden by the curve in the road. 'What?' 'I think that was Insch ...' Logan pulled up outside the inspector's house. Where the muck-encrusted four-by- four should have been, there was just a patch of oily gravel. 'Someone must've got through on the phone. Told him it was going down at two.' 'Are you telling me we came all this way for nothing?' 'We can still catch him.' Logan ignored the thirty limit all the way up to the T-junction. The Range Rover was just visible, driving along the A947 back towards Aberdeen. Logan followed it. 'What if it's not even his car?' Logan accelerated, closing the gap. There were two vehicles between them and the four-by-four: a blue Audi and a tatty Daihatsu 4Trak, Logan peered past them at the car in front. 'No ... it's definitely Insch's.' 'Well, flash your lights, or something.' Alec shuffled himself forwards. 'Jesus, that thing gets filthier every time I see it; you could grow tatties on that.' Flashing the lights didn't seem to help so Logan leant on the horn. The driver turned, glancing back over his shoulder - only it wasn't Insch. 'Fuck!' Logan gripped the steering wheel. 'It's him!' 'What? Of course it's--' 'Wiseman! Wiseman's driving the car!' 'WHAT?' He grabbed the car's radio handset as the Range Rover accelerated away uphill. 'He's seen us!' The road was too twisty to get past the Audi and the 4Trak. Logan fumbled on the dashboard for the siren switch, and the handset went flying: clattering down into the footwell. 'Bloody hell!' But at least the siren's wail made the slowcoaches get out of the way. Logan hammered it. The black slab of Alec's HDV camera poked between the seats. 'Put your bloody seatbelt on!' Over the brow of the hill. A hard right curve and the Range Rover was putting as much distance between them as possible. Round a wide bend, the four by four overtaking a JCB digger. Logan put his foot down and followed suit, jerking them out into the opposite lane.
