Page 78 of Better the Devil

‘I’ll, eh, maybe let you ask that one, boss,’ Tyler said. ‘On account of me not wanting to be sacked, and that.’

‘They can’t sack you for asking a perfectly valid question, son,’ Logan assured him.

‘Maybe not, but they could do something worse,’ Tyler reasoned. ‘Like transfer me to Dundee.’

A grim silence fell at the very thought of such a fate. The others agreed that it was probably best if he didn’t ask the question, after all.

When everyone had packed up for the night, they gathered together over by the door, pulling on jackets and coats. Or, in Dave’s case, aGuns N’ Roseshoodie.

‘Well, I can’t say I haven’t had a bloody wonderful day,’ Ben said, beaming at them all as he fastened up the buttons of his blue duffel coat. Moira had picked it up for him from a city centre charity shop a few weeks back. It was a couple of sizes too big, and the material was thinning here and there.

When Ben had suggested that it made him look like a down-on-his-luck Paddington Bear, she’d simply said, ‘I know,’ like this had been the entire point of the exercise all along.

‘Seriously,twomurders. You really spoiled me,’ Ben said.

His smile continued unabashed, but the rest of his face didn’t share the same commitment.

‘But you don’t need an old bugger like me getting in the way,’ he continued. ‘There’s not a whole lot more I can teach Hamza that he wouldn’t be better off figuring out for himself. I’m only going to get in the way here.’

‘Aye, fair enough,’ Logan said, which drew a scowl from the older man.

‘Cheeky bastard!’

Logan smirked. ‘‘We could still do with your help, Benjamin. You’re no’ getting off that easily.’

‘He’s right,’ Hamza agreed. ‘I’ve still got a lot to pick up. You’ve not shown me that secret drawer yet.’

‘What secret drawer’s this?’ Tyler asked, but Ben waved him away like he was shooing a bug.

‘Never you bloody mind. It’s DI business.’

‘They’re right,’ Sinead said. ‘With the interviews tomorrow, and everything else going on, we’re going to be short-handed.’

‘We could really do with you sticking around, boss,’ Tyler said. He frowned. ‘Um, ex-boss, I mean.’

There was a sudden blockage in Ben’s throat. He had to spend a few momentsharrumphingit away. ‘Well, I mean, if you’re desperate…’

‘I’d say we’re a pretty desperate bunch,’ Dave volunteered.

‘Then, I’m sure Moira’ll manage to cope for one more day,’ Ben said. ‘I mean, it’s no’ like any bugger ever comes in. She’ll probably enjoy the peace.’

‘Great!’ Hamza said, smiling as he gave the older man a grateful pat on the arm. ‘Same time tomorrow, then.’

Ben looked around the Incident Room, before nodding. ‘Same time tomorrow.’

They locked up, said their goodbyes, and headed down in the lift together. At the front door, Logan let Hamza, Ben, and Dave shoot off, but had Sinead and Tyler wait with him by the door.

‘You alright, sir?’ Sinead asked, pulling her jacket in tighter to fend off the cold. ‘You look a bit concerned about something.’

‘That’s just my face. That’s how I always look,’ Logan pointed out, and neither of them could really disagree. To the casual onlooker, the DCI’s emotional spectrum was concerned, annoyed, and not a whole lot else in between. It didn’t even qualify as a spectrum, really, so much as a binary switch.

Tonight, though, he looked more concerned than usual.

‘I just want you to know I’ll be rooting for you tomorrow. Both of you. I’m not going to play favourites. My feedback on thepair of you was damn near identical, and I made clear that either one of you could do the job with your eyes closed.’

‘Cheers, boss.’

‘Thanks, sir.’