Dark Blood

Through in the victim support lounge Steel and the FLO were still trying to tease information out of Knox’s latest victim.

Logan pulled out his phone, grimacing as his fingers touched the evidence bag with his puke-stained notebook in it. He pulled that out too and dumped it on the desk.

Should really throw the thing out. But it had Douglas Walker’s statement in it, his handing over of the holdall full of counterfeit notes, and his agreement to come into the station voluntarily. All the stuff Professional Standards would need to see.

He picked up his new mobile and called Colin Miller.

‘Laz, foos yer doos, my sheepshaggin’ friend?’

‘Where did you get the exclusive?’

‘What, no witty repartee?’ Sigh. ‘Which one? Got three in the paper the day: Sex Scandal Rocks Local School, Drug Dealers’ Vigilante Fears, or Tyneside Sex-Beast—’

‘That one: how did you get hold of Jimmy Evans before we did?’

‘The auld mannie? His son emailed me.’

Logan flipped back to the paper’s front page. Colin’s Aberdeen Examiner email address was printed under his by-line. ‘Email?’

‘Member of the BlackBerry generation, Laz. Online twenty-four-seven. Found out just in time to get it in: hold the front page, the whole works. Brilliant, so it was.’ Pause. ‘So…what do you think? Knox has to be escalatin’, right? First his Sacro handler and now the old boy. Two in two days.’

‘I’m not giving you a quote, Colin.’

‘Aw, come on, man. I’ll make it, “sources close to the investigation” if you like?’

Logan put the paper back on the tabletop. ‘Tell me about Jimmy Evans and I’ll think about it.’

‘The son’s up visitin’ from Sunderland with his wife – they come back from some party, and there’s the old man in the back garden, wanderin’ in the snow, wearing nothing but his jim-jams. They bundle him into the car and drive him straight to A&E. Son emails me from the waiting room, cos he’d seen my stuff in the papers.’

‘They didn’t search the house?’

‘Laz, if your dad was workin’ on a dose of hypothermia with his face all battered, would you?’

46

‘I’m not your enemy, Logan.’ The Chief Inspector took a sip of tea, peering at him over the rim of the mug.

‘All I’m saying is I should be out there, searching the house.’

‘Oh, I’m sure DI Steel can manage without you for an hour or so.’ Chief Inspector Young – filling in while Professional Standards’ arch bastard Superintendent Napier was off at a conference somewhere – smiled. He had broad shoulders; short hair greying at the temples; big meaty fists, the knuckles criss-crossed with scar tissue; and small, dark eyes, surrounded by starburst wrinkles. The kind of man you’d want standing in front of you on crowd control, or forcing entry into a drug dealer’s flat.

The Professional Standards Unit wasn’t exactly Logan’s favourite part of Force Headquarters, which was a shame, considering how often he had to visit. Young shared his office with another chief inspector, who’d excused himself as soon as Logan arrived – giving them a bit of privacy for the bit where Chief Inspector Young bent Logan over the desk and, as Biohazard Bob so gleefully put it, proceeded without the aid of lubricant.

Young nodded at the photocopied complaint sitting in the middle of the desk. ‘And you never visited Douglas Walker at his home?’

Logan stared at him. ‘I only interviewed Walker twice. Both times, right here. With all due respect, sir, this is bollocks.’

‘You do know I can just check the custody log?’

‘Good – check it.’

Young glanced down at his notes. ‘His lawyer claims this was part of an “orchestrated campaign of harassment” that started when you dragged Walker into the station under false pretences.’

‘Not this again…’ Logan dragged the bagged notebook from his pocket and peeled it open. The bitter-sharp scent of bile crept out into the room.

Chief Inspector Young recoiled slightly in his seat. ‘What is that smell?’

‘It…kind of fell in some sick.’ The pages were all stuck together on one side, so Logan stole the silver letter opener from the room’s other desk and started flicking them apart, setting a little avalanche of pale yellow flakes free.

Sunday 31^st January:

Attended caravan in steading development. Questioned Danny Saunders and fiancee Stacy Gardner in relation to armed robbery at Henderson’s Jewellers…

‘Sergeant I really don’t think that’s necessary. We—’ ‘Hold on…’ He snicked a few more sheets loose.

Saturday 30^th January:

Attended incident at Richard Knox’s house – Knox agitated and destroying his possessions. No charges made.

A couple more and he had the declaration Walker had signed: the one saying he was coming into the station