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

      ‘Was it the cause of death?’

      ‘If drinking bleach didn’t kill her. . . I won’t be able to say until I’ve opened up the skull.’

      There was a bone-saw lying on the trolley by the table. Logan didn’t want to watch what was going to happen next.

      Damn Detective Inspector Insch and his little bloody daughter. He should have been the one standing here watching a four-year-old getting cut up into little chunks, not Logan.

      Isobel ran the scalpel blade from behind one ear, all the way across the top of the head to the other, slicing through the skin. Without even flinching, she dug her fingers into the wound and pulled, peeling the scalp forward like a sock. Logan closed his eyes, trying not to hear the sounds as the skin separated from the underlying muscle structure: like breaking up a head of lettuce. Exposing the skull.

      The teeth-rattling shriek of the bone-saw echoed around the tiled room and Logan’s stomach lurched.

      And all the way through it Isobel kept up her detached, emotionless narrative. For once he was glad they weren’t seeing each other any more. There was no way he could have her touch him tonight. Not after this.

       9

      Logan stood outside the front door of Force Headquarters under the concrete canopy, looking out at the dreary buildings. The rain looked as if it was settling in for another night and this end of the town was virtually deserted, enjoying the post-nine o’clock lull. The shoppers had gone home hours ago, the drinkers were all in the pubs, where they’d stay till closing time. The crowds outside the Sheriff Court dispersed for another day.

      Force HQ was pretty quiet too. The day shift were long gone: off enjoying a pint, or the arms of a loved one. Or, in DI Steel’s case, someone else’s loved one. The back shift were drowsy and bloated after a heavy lunch, coasting the last three hours towards midnight and home-time. The night shift still another hour away.

      The air was clean and cold, with just the slightest hint of traffic fumes: which was a damn sight better than the smell of burning bone. He never wanted to see the inside of a child’s skull again. Grimacing, he clicked the top off the painkillers and swallowed another one. Last night’s punch was still making his stomach ache.

      Taking one last breath of fresh air, Logan shivered and made his way back into the tiny reception area.

      The man behind the glass frowned at him, then recognition dawned and he beamed a welcoming smile. ‘It is you!’ he said. ‘Logan McRae! We heard you was coming back.’

      Logan did his best to place the middle-aged man with the rapidly receding hairline and wide moustache, and failed.

      The man turned and shouted over his shoulder, ‘Gary, Gary, come see who it is!’

      An overweight man in an ill-fitting uniform stuck his head round from behind the mirrored partition. ‘What?’ He had a big mug of tea in one hand and a Tunnocks Tasty Caramel Wafer in the other.

      ‘Look!’ The moustached one pointed at Logan. ‘It’s himself.’

      Logan smiled uncertainly. Who the hell were they? And then it clicked. . . ‘Eric! I didn’t recognize you.’ Logan peered at all the scalp on display above the desk sergeant’s glasses. ‘What’s happened to everyone’s hair? I saw Billy this afternoon: he’s bald as a coot!’

      Eric ran a hand through his thinning locks and shrugged. ‘It’s a sign of virility. Anyway, look at you!’

      Big Gary grinned at Logan, little flakes of chocolate falling from his caramel wafer down the front of his black uniform like dirty dandruff. ‘DS Logan McRae, back from the dead!’

      Eric nodded. ‘Back from the dead.’

      Big Gary took a slurp of his tea. ‘You’re like that bloke that comes back from the dead. Whatsisname, you know, the one from the bible?’

      ‘What,’ said Eric, ‘Jesus?’

      Big Gary smacked him lightly on the back of the head. ‘No not bloody Jesus. I think I can remember Jesus’ bloody name. The other one: leper or something. Comes back from the dead. You know.’

      ‘Lazarus?’ said Logan, starting to inch away.

      ‘Lazarus! That’s right!’ Big Gary beamed. Bits of chocolate biscuit were stuck to his teeth. ‘Lazarus McRae, that’s what we’ll call you.’

      DI Insch wasn’t in his office, or the incident room, so Logan tried the next logical place: interview room three. The inspector was still closeted with Watson, Slippery Sandy and Norman Chalmers. There was a look of utter disgust on Insch’s face. Things obviously weren’t going well.

      Logan politely asked if he could have a word and waited outside until the inspector suspended the interview. When he came out, Insch’s shirt was almost transparent with sweat. ‘God, it’s boiling in there,’ he said, wiping his face with his hands. ‘Post mortem?’

      ‘Post mortem.’ Logan held up the thin manila folder Isobel had given him. ‘Preliminary results. We won’t get the bloodwork back till later this week.’

      Insch grabbed the folder and started flicking through it.

      ‘The results are pretty conclusive,’ said Logan. ‘Someone else killed David Reid. The MO’s different, the method of disposal’s different, and the victim was female rather than male—’

      ‘Fuck.’ It was more of a grunt than a word. Insch had reached the part of the form marked ‘PROBABLE CAUSE OF DEATH’.

      ‘And they can’t rule out a fall at this stage,’ said Logan.

      Insch said fuck again and stomped off down the corridor, heading for the coffee machine by the lifts. He punched in the numbers and handed Logan a plastic cup of pungent, brown, watery liquid with a faint scumming of white froth on the top. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘So Chalmers is out of the frame for the Reid kid.’

      Logan nodded. ‘We’ve still got a killer out there, preying on little boys.’

      Insch slumped against the coffee machine, making it rock alarmingly. He rubbed a hand across his face again. ‘What about the bleach?’

      ‘Applied after death: there wasn’t any in her stomach or lungs. Possibly trying to get rid of DNA evidence.’

      ‘Successful?’

      Logan shrugged. ‘Isobel didn’t find any seminal fluid.’

      The inspector’s shoulders sagged. He stared blankly at the file in his hand. ‘How could he do something like that? A wee girl. . .’

      Logan didn’t say anything. He knew Insch was thinking about his own daughter, trying not to put the two images together.

      At last DI Insch straightened his shoulders, his eyes sparkling dark in his round face. ‘We’re going to nail this bastard to the wall by his balls.’

      ‘But the head injury? If she fell, if it was an accident—’

      ‘We’ve still got him on concealing a death, getting rid of the body, attempting to pervert the course of justice, maybe even murder. If we can persuade a jury that he pushed her.’

      ‘Think they’ll go for it?’

      Insch shrugged, sipping suspiciously at his white coffee with extra sugar. ‘No. But it’s worth a crack. Only fly in the ointment is forensics. So far there’s no sign of the girl having ever been in Chalmers’s flat. And it’s not like the place had been recently cleaned either, the bedroom was your proverbial pigsty. Chalmers says he’s got no idea who the girl is. Never seen her before.’

      ‘That’s a shock. What’s Sandy the Snake saying?’

      Insch glowered in the direction of the interview