“You asked me what I thought about a run up the road to Inverness. I asked you why, and you said you had an idea,” Tyler said, the words coming out in a sort of rapid-fire where each flowed into the next. “That doesn’t help me make a decision. If you really want my opinion, you need to tell me why we’re going.” He swallowed again as everything he’d said replayed in his head. “Boss.”
“I don’t really want your opinion,” Logan told him. He turned to look out the back windscreen, but Tyler wasn’t done.
“Aye, well, I want to give it,” the DC persevered. “I deserve the information, boss. I’m a valuable member of this team. I’ve nearly died, like, eight times doing stuff for you. Doing stuff to impress you. I at least deserve to know why I’m doing them.”
Logan grunted, then disengaged the handbrake and started to reverse. Tyler reached for the controls once more, but Logan slapped his hand away.
“Touch that again and I’ll break your fingers,” he warned. Then, once he’d turned the car so it was facing back down the hill, he put his foot on the brakes and turned to the man beside him. “I want to take the case to Shona so she can X-yay it,” he said. “I also, on a personal level, could do with picking up some more clothes, since I think we’re going to be down there a few days yet at least, and there’s no’ exactly an abundance of places to buy pants.”
“Actually, that wee shop sells pants, boss,” Tyler said. “They sell everything.”
“Great! Do they sell medical-grade X-ray machines, too?”
“Not unless they keep them through the back,” Tyler admitted.
“Right. So, I’d like, if it’s alright with you, to go to Inverness, get the case checked out, probably spend the night, given the time, then drive back down the road with supplies first thing tomorrow morning.
“If you’d prefer, I can drop you back in the Fort and you can go back to Strontian with Hamza and Ben, assuming they’ve no’ left yet. Your choice, son. Far be it from me to make it for you. You are, after all, a valuable member of this team.”
Tyler’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “Was that sarcasm, boss?”
“Which bit?”
“Any of it.”
Logan shrugged. “Some bits more so than others, maybe, but by and large no. You’re right, Tyler. If I’m dragging you hundreds of miles up and down the country, you’ve got a right to know.”
“I do?” Tyler asked, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. He cleared his throat and nodded. “I mean, aye. I do. Too right I do.”
“Don’t push it, son,” Logan warned. “You coming to Inverness or not?”
“Aye. Aye, I’ll come, boss. Could do with getting Sinead and me some more clothes, too, and I should check in with Harris and Jan.”
“Right. Good. It’s agreed, then,” Logan said. He indicated the car’s controls. “May I?”
“Fire on, boss.”
“You’re not going to have a hissy fit and suddenly swerve us off the road?”
“No plans for now, boss, but I’ll keep you posted.”
“Right. Good.” Logan started to pull away, then stopped again. He let out a sigh so faint it was almost non-existent, then turned to the Detective Constable. “What you said. About trying to impress me. You don’t have to, son. There’s no need.”
Tyler’s eyes and mouth formed three little O’s of surprise. “Oh. Eh, cheers, boss.”
“I’ve long since given up on the prospect of that ever happening,” Logan clarified. Then, fighting back a grin, he patted Tyler on the leg, and started off down the bumpy, uneven track.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Logan and Tyler were north of Fort Augustus on the main A82 road to Inverness when the phone rang and a Fort William number flashed up on the car’s internal display.
Tyler, who had been scouring the surface of Loch Ness through the breaks in the trees like he always did when he wasn’t behind the wheel on this stretch of road, looked to Logan for approval, then tapped the icon that answered the call.
“DCI Jack Logan.”
“Jack. Hello. Can you hear me?” asked Ben. His voice was muffled, yet was echoing at the same time in a way that was quite unpleasant to listen to. These were, Logan knew, the telltale signs of a conference call.
“Aye, I can hear you.”
Ben became quieter still as he turned away to talk to someone else. “He can hear me.”
“Aye, I heard him say that,” Hamza confirmed.
“Jack, it’s Ben. Ben Forde,” the DI continued, his voice echoing as a loud crackle from the speakers.
Logan rolled his eyes. He could picture him now, leaning in far too close to the pyramid-shaped gadget on the desk, raising his voice to make himself heard.
“You’re coming in loud and clear,” Logan told him. “We’re on Loch Ness side, though, so signal might dip in and out. We’re headed back up the road. We’re going to swing in and see Shona.”
“Good idea,” Ben said. “She seemed to be in a hell of a state earlier.”
Logan tore his eyes from the road and let them linger on the stereo system for a moment. “What? How do you mean?”
“Just… Did nobody say?” Ben asked.
“Say what?”
“She just seemed a bit…” Ben’s voice went quieter again as he turned to Hamza. “What would you say?”
“A bit manic, maybe, sir,” Hamza said.
“Bit highly strung, boss,” Tyler added. “She’d pulled an all-nighter for the PM.”
“Is that Tyler?” Ben asked, his voice becoming a high volume crackle again. “Is Tyler with you?”
“Aye, he’s here. What do you mean ‘manic’? How highly-strung are we talking?” Logan asked, not yet ready to change the subject. “Was she… Was something wrong?”
“I don’t know about wrong, Jack, no. I don’t think there was anything wrong, exactly. She’d been on the energy drinks all night. Probably just a bit jittery. You can always ask her yourself when you see her.”
Logan looked down at the screen again, then shot a sideways glance at Tyler.
“I don’t think it’s anything major, boss,” the younger detective assured him. “Probably just buzzing from the caffeine.”
“Aye. Probably,” Logan conceded, trying not to show his concern.
The trip back up the road was mostly for the reasons he’d told Tyler, but partly it was to surprise her with a visit. It wasn’t exactly a big romantic gesture, but then big romantic gestures weren’t really his forte. Hopefully, it would put a smile on her face, at least.
“I’ve got Sinead on the call, too,” Ben boomed from the speakers. “Have we got Sinead?”
“I’m here, sir,” Sinead said.
“Can everyone hear her OK?” Ben asked. He turned to Hamza. “Can they hear her OK?”
“You’d have to ask them, sir,” Hamza replied.
“I did ask them, but they didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t exactly give us a chance,” Logan pointed out. “Aye, we can hear Sinead. We can hear everyone.”
“Can everyone hear us?” Tyler asked.
Ben’s voice once again became quieter. “Can everyone hear them?”
“We can hear you,” Sinead said, and though he didn’t say anything, a smile lit up Tyler’s face at his wife’s reply.
“Right, everyone can hear everyone else. That’s a solid start,” Logan said, guiding the car around a Z-shaped series of bends in the road, before picking up speed on the straight that followed. “What’s happening?”