Page 91 of Better the Devil

But what if Joe hadn’t set out to do himself harm? What if he’d set out to harm someone else?

‘I want him found. Now. Get dogs down there and a chopper in the air,’ Logan instructed. ‘Dave, did the wife have any ideas where he might have gone?’

‘None she could think of.’

‘Then tell her to think again.’

‘What about the neighbourhood watch lot?’ Ben suggested. ‘From the presentation thing. They might have some ideas.’

Hamza didn’t look convinced. ‘He seemed a bit… removed from the rest of the group.’

‘Don’t care. Worth a try,’ Logan said.

‘Sergeant Fleck would be the best person to ask,’ Hamza suggested.

‘Good. Right. In fact, bring him on board. I’ll get him assigned to the investigation. He handled himself well in that interview room. If Joe Robertson is tied to this, he could be handy.’

He raised his voice into a shout that almost made Ben jump out of his skin.

‘Sinead!’

Sinead sprang to her feet like a child getting caught mid-mischief.

‘Sir?’

Logan went striding past the others, headed towards the back of the room.

‘My office. Now. The rest of you, get to work!’

Sinead hurried across the Incident Room and followed Logan into his office.

‘JesusChrist!’

Hamza, Dave, and Ben all turned to see Tyler staggering in from the corridor. His hands were pressing into his lower back like he was stretching after a long car journey. His eyes were wide, his face pale, and there were at least half a dozen strands of hair ever so slightly out of place.

He blew out his cheeks and shook his head, sweeping his thousand-yard stare across the far wall.

‘I amneverdoing that again!’

Logan closedthe door at Sinead’s back, then spun to face her.

‘Well?’

Sinead blinked. ‘Sir?’

‘How did it go?’

‘How did…? You mean the interview?’ Some of the tension ebbed from her stance. ‘I thought I was in trouble for something, the way you shouted.’

‘What? Oh, no. That. Just putting a rocket up their arse out there.’ He nodded encouragingly. ‘So?’

Sinead pulled a face that suggested the interview experience had been something of a traumatic one.

‘I mean… they’re quite full-on.’

‘They’re a shower of arseholes, you mean,’ Logan corrected. ‘But?’

Sinead shrugged. Smiled. Ran a hand through her hair.