Logan McRae Crime Series Books 1-3: Cold Granite, Dying Light, Broken Skin. Stuart MacBride

the road. He was doing his job.’

      Logan tried not to nod his head in agreement. Insch wouldn’t have appreciated it.

      The inspector ground his teeth and stared at Mr Turner, who shrugged. ‘I’m sorry, but he’s not guilty. If you don’t release him I’m going to go to the press. There are still enough cameras out there to get this all over the morning news.’

      ‘We can’t let him go,’ said Insch. ‘Someone will rip his head off if we do.’

      ‘So you admit that he’s done nothing wrong then?’ There was something distinctly patronizing about the way Turner said it, as if he was back in the classroom again and DI Insch had just been caught behind the bike sheds.

      The inspector scowled. ‘Listen, sunshine: I ask the leading questions in here, not you.’ He rummaged in his pockets for something sweet and came up empty-handed. ‘With Cleaver going free, the great, good and stupid of the community are on the lookout for anyone even slightly dodgy. Your boy had a dead girl in his shed. He’s going to be top of their list.’

      ‘Then you’ll have to provide him with protective custody. We’ll speak to the press: get them to understand that Bernard is innocent. That you’ve decided to drop all the charges.’

      Logan cut in. ‘No we haven’t! He’s still guilty of hiding the body!’

      ‘Sergeant,’ said Mr Turner with condescending patience, ‘you have to understand how this works. If you try to take any of this to court, you’re going to end up losing. The Procurator Fiscal won’t stand for another cock-up. He’s got enough egg on his face with the Cleaver fiasco. Mr Philips will go free. Question is: how much tax payers’ money do you want to waste getting there?’

      Logan and DI Insch stood in the empty incident room, looking down at the growing bustle of activity in the car park. Mr Turner had been as good as his word. He was standing in front of the cameras, enjoying his moment in the spotlight. Telling the world that Bernard Duncan Philips had been absolved of all charges, that the system worked.

      The ex-teacher had been right: the Procurator Fiscal didn’t want to touch the case with a stick. And the Chief Constable wasn’t that happy about it either. So Roadkill was off to stay at a safe house somewhere in Summerhill.

      ‘What do you think?’ asked Logan, watching as yet another camera crew joined the throng. It was almost eleven o’clock, but still they came.