“You’re scared of him, too. Aren’t you?”

“Am I fuck,” Cowan spat back. He harrumphed a bit and shifted around on his chair. “I’m… troubled by him. He’s… I don’t know what he is. I’ve done some things in my time, Jack—Christ, you know that more than most—and I built up quite the reputation, but Frankie?” He shook his head. “Frankie’s something else.”

“And how did Archie take it?” Logan asked. “Having to work with this… something else?”

Across the table, Cowan shifted uncomfortably on his rickety chair. “Aye, well,” he said, shooting another look at the door to make sure it was still closed. “Not great. They didn’t exactly hit it off right away. See, Archie… Archie’s a gentleman. The girls—the actresses, I mean—he sees them right. You get a lot of lecherous bastards in the adult entertainment business. Folks who think they’ve got a right to sample the talent, if you know what I mean?”

“Well, it’s no’ exactly a cryptic metaphor, Shuggie. I can imagine that sort of thing probably goes on a lot, aye.”

“Aye, well Archie wasn’t like that. Not one bit. Archie was like a father to some of those girls. And I know how that sounds, before you start—what sort of father films his daughter getting pumped on all fours?—but I mean it. He looked out for them, treated them fair and square. He cared about them. Cared for them. It’s an exploitative business by its very nature, but Archie made sure none of our girls ever felt they were being taken advantage of. They had a problem, they came to him, and either he sorted it, or—depending on the nature of said problem—I had it dealt with. Those girls… Those young women were like family.”

Logan could see where this was going. “I take it Frankie doesn’t share that level of consideration?”

“You can say that again,” Cowan muttered. “He and Archie clashed heads from the start. And if there’s one man you don’t clash heads with, it’s Frankie. Not if you want to hang onto it, anyway.”

“Sounds like he and I should have a word,” Logan reasoned. “Where will I find him?”

Cowan laughed. “I’m not telling you that. In fact, I didn’t tell you any of this.”

Logan blinked, barely able to believe what he was hearing. “You are, aren’t you? Shuggie Cowan’s actually afraid of someone.”

Across the table, Shuggie’s smile was a thin, joyless thing. “Let’s just say, I don’t need the drama,” he replied. “I’m sure your old colleagues in Dalmarnock will be able to point you in the right direction. Even that useless shower’s bound to have noticed him by now.”