After picking up Tyler, the detectives had set off on the long drive back down the road. Logan had filled the younger officer in on everything that had come up the night before. Tyler nodded, looked thoughtful, and made appropriate noises at the important parts, before eventually admitting that Sinead had told him everything when she’d called him late the night before.
“She, eh, she had a bit of a run-in with that politician guy,” Tyler said, and this time it was Logan’s turn to act ignorant.
“Did she?” Logan asked, feigning ignorance. “How did that go?”
“Eh, alright for her, not so great for him,” Tyler said. He was fiddling with his hands, and Logan knew something else was coming. “We, eh, we had a good long chat.”
“Good,” Logan said. “About…？”
“About what happened. You know. In that farmhouse. She said she wanted to do it face to face, but I think after last night, she just needed to say it, you know? Get it out. I think keeping it in was doing way more harm than good.”
Logan thought back to the conversation he’d had with Sinead here in this car just a couple of days before.
And to the conversation Shona had talked her way out of having just last night.
“Aye. You need to share that stuff,” he said. He side-eyed Tyler, who was gazing out of the window. They were passing Loch Ness again, this time in the opposite direction. The sun was shining. It was, to the casual observer, going to be a good day. “She going to be alright?”
Tyler half-turned. He nodded, but there was no certainty to it. “I mean… I hope so, boss. We’re going to keep talking. I think maybe… I think maybe she’ll need more help than I can give, though. Like… I think there’s some stuff that might be hard to talk to me about. I mean, I’ll listen, obviously, just… I don’t know. There might be some stuff she doesn’t want me to hear.”
“Aye, well. We’ll all support her, son,” Logan said. “Both of you. Whatever you need.”
“Cheers, boss,” Tyler said.
He looked out of the side window again, and Logan made a point of failing to notice the way the younger detective ran the back of his hand across his eyes, or how he took a moment to steady his breathing before clearing his throat.
“But anyway, boss,” Tyler said, bright and chipper once more. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
“I was thinking we might solve this bloody murder,” Logan replied. “You in?”
“I’m well up for that, boss, aye. You know me when it comes to solving murders.”
“Well-meaning but largely ineffectual?” Logan guessed, earning a laugh from the other man.
“That’s me to a tee, boss. Bumbling along, cheering everyone else on!”
Logan’s eyebrows twitched downwards. Something about the DC’s reply had struck a nerve.
“That’s not you, son,” he said. “Don’t sell yourself short. Selling yourself short is my job. Yesterday, when we left Dinky’s, you gave me some backchat. You became a lippy wee bastard.”
Tyler adjusted his seatbelt and wriggled in his seat. “Aye. Sorry about that, boss, I was just having a bit of—”
“Shut up, Tyler, I’m not finished,” Logan snapped.
“Sorry, boss.”
Logan sighed. “What I’m trying to say—ironically, I suppose, given that I just told you to shut up—is that you need to do that more.”
Tyler frowned. “Do what?”
“Put me in my place. Tell me to shut the fuck up occasionally.”
Tyler laughed, then it quickly crumbled away into a look of sheer terror. “What? I can’t say that, boss.”
“Aye, you can.”
“But… you’d kill me.”
“I wouldn’t. Well, I might. But take the chance every once in a while. I said you’re well-meaning but largely ineffectual. And that’s fine. I’m going to keep doing that,” Logan said. He tore his eyes from the road long enough to shoot the DC a warning look. “But don’t you ever agree with me, because it’s not true. You are a damn good officer, Tyler. A bit… unconventional sometimes, and a massive pain in the arse, but a damn good officer. If I had to build the team from scratch all over again—if I had to start with an empty Incident Room and fill it with people I wanted working alongside me—you’d be right there on the list.”
Tyler cleared his throat for the second time in as many minutes. “Oh,” he said. “Eh… cheers, boss.”