‘. . . to pack?’
‘Hmm?’ Logan dragged his attention back to the man working the checkout.
‘Ah says, do yous want a hand to pack?’ He held up Logan’s packet of crisps. ‘Yer shopping, do yous want a hand to pack?’
‘Oh, no. No thanks.’
Logan stuffed the wine, crisps and pickles into a plastic bag and headed back out to the car. He probably should have bought a few beers for the cold, damp and disappointed constables he’d dragged all the way out here, but it was too late now.
There was a sound of laughter and Logan turned to see the little girl from the supermarket jumping up and down in a puddle while Granny laughed and clapped.
He stood and stared at the scene, a frown creeping onto his face.
If Richard Erskine’s dad wasn’t allowed to see him, chances were his grandparents weren’t either. Everybody loses. . .
The main bedroom hadn’t looked much like the sort of place a twenty-two-year-old man slept in. That crocheted throw and all those jars of moisturiser. The half-naked woman and the computer, that was more like it.
He jumped back in the car, slinging the shopping at his feet.
‘How do you fancy paying Mr Caldwell another visit?’ he asked with a smile.
The dark red hatchback was still on the drive, but now there was a light blue Volvo estate sitting in front of the house, two wheels up on the kerb. That made Logan’s smile widen.
‘Pull up in the same place as last time,’ he told the driver. ‘You two around the back, we’ll take the front.’
Logan gave them a minute to get in position and then strode up the front path and mashed the doorbell with his thumb.
Darren Caldwell opened the door. His face went from annoyance to panic and then to flustered anger, all in the space of a heartbeat.
‘Hello, Darren,’ said Logan, sticking his foot in the door so it couldn’t be slammed in his face. ‘Mind if we come in again?’
‘What the fuck do you want now?’
‘Darren?’ It was a woman’s voice, high and slightly wobbly. ‘Darren there’s policemen in the back garden!’
Darren’s eyes darted to the open kitchen door and then back to Logan.
‘Darren!’ came the woman’s voice again. ‘What we going to do?’
The young man’s shoulders sagged. ‘It’s OK, Mum,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you put the kettle on?’ He stood back and let Logan and the WPC in.
There was a pile of shopping bags in the middle of the lounge floor. Logan opened one and found brand new clothes for a small child inside.
A woman in her late forties emerged from the kitchen clutching a tea towel to her chest, working it through her fingers like a set of rosary beads. ‘Darren?’ she asked.
‘It’s OK, Mum. It’s too late.’ He slumped down on the horrible green settee. ‘You’re going to take him away aren’t you?’
Logan motioned for the WPC to block the lounge door.
‘Where is he?’ he asked.
‘It’s not fair!’ Darren’s mother shook the tea towel in Logan’s face. It had little dancing sheep on it. ‘Why can’t I see my grandson? Why can’t he stay with his father?’
‘Mrs Caldwell—’ Logan started, but she hadn’t finished yet.
‘That rotten little cow took him away and won’t let us see him! He’s my grandson and I’m not allowed to see him! What kind of mother does that? What kind of mother doesn’t let a child see his own father? She doesn’t deserve to have him!’
‘Where is he?’ asked Logan.
‘Don’t you tell him anything, Darren!’
Darren pointed towards the smaller of the two bedrooms, just visible over the WPC’s shoulder. ‘He’s just gone to sleep,’ he said so quietly Logan could barely hear him.
The WPC jerked her head in the direction of the bedroom and Logan nodded. She returned with a sleepy-looking little boy in blue and yellow tartan pyjamas. He yawned and stared blearily at all the people in the living room.
‘Come on, Richard,’ said Logan. ‘It’s time to go home.’
A patrol car sat outside the front door of Darren Caldwell’s house, the lights off, the engine slowly ticking over. Inside, one of Logan’s commandeered PCs was reading the young man his rights while his mother collapsed in tears on the lime-green sofa. And little Richard Erskine was fast asleep.
Sighing, Logan stepped out into the misty drizzle. It was getting stuffy in there and he was beginning to feel sorry for Darren. He was little more than a kid. All he’d wanted to do was see his son. Maybe have him to stay for a bit. Watch him growing up. Instead he was going to end up with a criminal record, and probably a restraining order too.
Logan’s breath curled away in wisps of white fog. It was getting colder. He hadn’t decided what to do about the owner of the Broadstane Garage. Supplying a false alibi: perverting the course of justice. Not that it mattered now they had the kid. Alibi or not, Darren had been caught red-handed.
Still, perverting the course of justice was a serious offence. . .
He stuck his hands deep in his pockets and stared out at the street. Silent houses, drawn curtains, the occasional twitch as some nosy neighbour tried to figure out what the police were doing at the Caldwell household.
Warning, or press charges?
He shivered and turned to go back into the house, his eyes sliding over the small garden with its border of dying roses to the pale blue Volvo. He pulled out his mobile phone and dialled Broadstane Garage’s number from memory.
Five minutes later he was standing in the small kitchen with Darren Caldwell, the other officers dispatched to the lounge with a cup of tea and puzzled expressions. Darren slumped against the sink, shoulders hunched, staring through his reflection into the dark garden. ‘I’m going to go to prison, aren’t I?’ The question little more than a whisper.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to change your statement, Darren?’
The face in the darkened glass bit its lip and shook its head. ‘No. No, I did it.’ He wiped a sleeve over his eyes and sniffed again. ‘I took him.’
Logan settled back against the worktop.
‘No you didn’t.’
‘I did!’
‘You were at work. The Volvo you were re-wiring was your mother’s. I called the garage back and checked the registration number. You lent her your car. She was the one who grabbed Richard Erskine. Not you.’
‘It was me! I told you it was me!’
Logan didn’t reply, letting the silence grow. In the lounge someone turned on the television: muffled voices and canned laughter.
‘You sure you want to do this, Darren?’
Darren was.
They drove back to Force Headquarters in silence, Darren Caldwell staring out of the window at the shining streets. Logan handed him over to the custody sergeant, watching as the contents of Darren’s pockets were stacked in a little blue tray, all signed and accounted for, along with his belt and shoelaces. Nervous sweat sparkled on his face, and his eyes were pink and watery. Logan tried not to feel guilty.
The building was quiet