Logan McRae Crime Series Books 4-6: Flesh House, Blind Eye, Dark Blood. Stuart MacBride

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      ‘“Follow James McLaughlin as he comes to terms with the loss of his parents and the hunt for their killer …” Sounds like a bag of laughs.’

      ‘Aye, wait till you get to the photographs.’ She took a deep drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out into the rain. ‘Tell you, Laz, this is a golden opportunity. Wiseman turns up at that address you got from the Mastrick Monster, we catch him, cover ourselves in glory, and dance the dance of a thousand pints.’ She took another slug of coffee. ‘Speaking of being covered in stuff, where’s Wee Fat Alec?’

      ‘Last I heard he was off home to shower and chuck his clothes in the washing machine. Why?’

      ‘Because when Wiseman turns up I want Mr Stinks-of-Piss filming as you and me arrest him.’

      Logan sighed. ‘It’s supposed to be a low-key operation. Flood the place with parked cars full of CID and BBC cameramen, Wiseman’ll run a mile.’

      She wrinkled her face at him. ‘You’re no fun.’

      ‘I’m knackered: haven’t had a day off in weeks.’

      ‘Oh?’ Steel sooked the last gasp from her cigarette and pinged it out into the rain. ‘Well, tell you what, why don’t you take a couple of days at home. Put your feet up. Don’t worry your pretty little head about a thing.’

      ‘Sarcasm. Nice. It was my day off today, and where was I?’

      ‘I’m sure that wee boy they found barricaded in his room in Fittie is over the moon you’re prepared to put your social life on hold for two minutes while we try to find the man who butchered his bloody parents.’

      Logan handed her the brolly. ‘Good night, Inspector.’ And marched off into the night.

      She shouted after him: ‘Seven – sharp! And it’s your turn to get the bacon butties!’

      Jamie McLaughlin’s book wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Logan had expected. OK, so Jamie had a tendency to use three words where one would do, but other than that it was pretty good. Logan sat in the lounge, with the radiator and electric fire going full pelt, a cup of tea balanced on the arm of the settee, and a packet of Jaffa Cakes on the coffee table, reading about the hunt for Ken Wiseman, AKA: the Flesher.

      Every now and then he’d come across a few pages of photographs, usually of the investigative team. Some were lifted from newspaper cuttings, but others were more candid: a uniformed officer standing outside the McLaughlin house while an SOC team shuffled by in the out-of-focus background; Jamie’s bedroom; the pathologist having a sneaky cigarette in the back garden; a thin man with thick, dark hair deep in conversation with a statuesque redhead; a clunky looking, old-fashioned patrol car with … Logan flipped back a page. According to the caption it was DC DAVID INSCH (GRAMPIAN) AND DS JANIS MCKAY (STRATHCLYDE) DISCUSSING THE CASE.

      ‘Bloody hell …’ Logan had never seen the inspector with hair before. And he didn’t look like an angry, pink dirigible either, he was actually smiling!

      There was a sight you didn’t see every day.

      Logan flipped to the index and went looking for more about Detective Constable David Insch.

      He was in the kitchen, making another cup of tea when the doorbell rang. Logan thought about ignoring it – probably kids dressed up in black bin-bags and cheap plastic masks. Halloween was four days ago and the little bastards were still shouting ‘Trick or treat?’

       RRRRRRRRRRingggggggggggggg

      Logan stuck the milk back in the fridge.

       RRRRRRRRRRingggggggggggggg

      He went through to the lounge and peered out of the window at the street below. There was a darkish Volvo estate illegally parked on the other side of the road, its hazard lights flashing orange in the rain, the BBC Scotland logo stencilled on the driver’s door.

       RRRRRRRRRRingggggggggggggg

      ‘OK, OK, I’m coming.’ Logan hurried down the communal stairs and opened the building’s front door.

      It was Alec, standing on the top step. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said, sticking his hands in his pockets, ‘you ready to go?’

      ‘Where?’

      Alec looked puzzled. ‘We’re going for a pint with ex-DSI Brooks, remember? You and me; Oldmeldrum? Meeting Insch and Brooks? Remember?’

      ‘Oh for God’s … You still want to go, after everything—’

      ‘I’m a professional: the Ob Doc comes first.’ He frowned at Logan. ‘Don’t tell me you’re bailing!’

      ‘Well—’

      ‘You can’t! You promised!’

      ‘No I didn’t. And in case you didn’t notice, I got clobbered in the face today.’

      ‘I got pushed in pish. Twice!’

      ‘That’s not my fault—’

      ‘You bloody did it the second time.’

      ‘Saving your arse.’

      The cameraman frowned, obviously trying to think up his comeback. ‘Yeah? Well … I lied for you.’

      ‘No, you lied for Insch.’

      ‘Fuck …’ He tried on a winsome smile. ‘I promise I won’t let them make a tit out of you when we do the voiceover for the series.’

      There was a stunned silence. ‘What?’

      ‘When they do the voiceover, they usually want someone to come across … well … you know what can happen when people start editing stuff. Amazing how you can make one thing look like another.’

      ‘This blackmail?’

      Alec grinned. ‘Coercion. Maybe. At a push … please?’

      Logan closed his eyes, swore, then went inside and fetched his coat.

       16

      Ken Wiseman was not a happy man. Hadn’t been for many, many years. It wasn’t his fault: life conspired to fuck him over at every available opportunity. Good things would happen to other people, but nothing good ever happened to him. Because life was a bastard and it hated him.

      Some days it was all he could do to fuck it right back.

      Everything had been OK for a while. Calm. Back to normal … and then it all started to unravel again. Just like it had last time. Taking a human being apart … the chunks of meat … the spiral into darkness.

      He tightened his grip on the holdall. It was a lot heavier than it looked, knives and saws were funny like that. They looked so pretty, and sparkly, but the legacy of blood СКАЧАТЬ