Page 20 of Better the Devil

It was so big he didn’t think it would even fit inside his house. Although, if someone somehow managed it, he’d be quick to take an axe to the awful bloody thing.

‘You might want to take a seat,’ Jack urged. ‘I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.’

‘Oh, God,’ Eleanor groaned. ‘Don’t tell me he’s been arrested.’

‘That’s enough,’ the older of the brothers-in-law warned.

‘I knew this was going to happen. I knew it.’

‘Stop talking!’

Logan didn’t see the look on the man’s face, just the reaction on Eleanor’s. She averted her eyes, turning away like she’d been struck.

‘No. It’s not that, Mrs Belov,’ Logan said, stepping between her and the men. ‘There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come right out with it.’

He didn’t. Instead, he waited until the running boy had gone clattering off down to the far end of the hall again.

By then, she knew. He could see it in her eyes.

‘I’m afraid your husband’s dead.’

‘And what doyou think we have here?’ Geoff Palmer cried, as he thrust an evidence bag into the unsuspecting face of DI Hamza Khaled.

Hamza drew back far enough that he could actually focus on the bag’s contents. Although, this didn’t help much, since the bag appeared, at first glance, to be completely empty.

‘Fuck all, by the looks of it,’ DC Neish chimed in. He had been updating the DI on Uniform’s progress with the neighbours when Geoff had come barrelling in between them.

Not that the update had been that useful, given that everyone the officers had spoken to so far claimed to have seen and heard nothing.

‘That, young sir, is where you’re wrong,’ Palmer declared.

If he’d had a moustache, he would’ve twirled it. Since he didn’t, he just stood there in his paper hood, looking red-faced and gormless.

‘What you’re looking at is a heady mix of silicon dioxide, sodium carbonate, and calcium carbonate.’

The sound of Tyler’s brain whirring was practically audible, even over the sound of the wind and rain.

‘What’s that? Air?’

Palmer tutted. ‘How would that be air? Those are three solid things.’ He held the bag a little higher. ‘It’s glass.’

‘Jesus Christ,’ Tyler muttered. ‘Could you not have just said that like a normal person?’

He and Hamza both leaned in and looked more closely. Sure enough, if they squinted, they could just make out a few small diamond-like shards clustered at the bottom of the bag.

‘Found it on the ground just to the right of the driver’s door,’ Palmer explained. He turned and pointed to the verge at the side of the lay-by. ‘On the mud there.’

‘Could’ve been there for a while,’ Hamza reasoned.

‘Onthe mud there, notinthe mud,’ Geoff said. ‘Resting atop the mud, if you will. Important distinction. Couldn’t have been there long, or the rain’d have sunk it in. Eh?’ He grinned and tapped the side of his head. ‘Not just a pretty face and a boatload of talent.’

Hamza took the bag and studied the glass up close. A couple of the pieces were dotted with flecks of brown mud, but the rest were mostly clean. It looked like it shattered in much the same way a windscreen would—little chunks, rather than pointed slivers.

‘Could it have come from the car?’ he guessed. ‘Windows are intact, but… I don’t know. Something internal? The headlights will be polycarbonate, so not that.’

‘Nope. Checked it over, and all intact. Lovely motor. Very nice condition throughout,’ Palmer replied. ‘Apart from, you know, all the blood everywhere. But, no, mirrors, windows, lights, internal glass, we checked it all, and there’s nothing broken. Which means, gentlemen…’

‘This could have come from the killer,’ Hamza said.