“Oh, aye. Nearly forgot that there!” Tyler said. He picked the jacket up, performed a complex juggling act as he pulled it on while still clutching his Quavers, then waved enthusiastically to the other men. “Thanks again, lads. I had a great time.”

“Cheers, Tyler.”

“Awrabest, wee man.”

“Catch you later, eh?”

Logan held the door open as the DC trotted through, beaming from ear to ear. He shot a series of suspicious looks at the shower of scary-looking bastards clustered around the pool table, then let the door swing closed between them.

“I’ll be honest, boss, I was a bit worried when they took me up here,” Tyler said, leading the way down the stairs. “But they’re a great bunch of lads. Cheating bastards at pool, like, but nice enough.”

“Aye, well, I’m glad you had a good time,” Logan said, feeling very much like he should be carrying a party bag with a slice of birthday cake in it.

“You’d have been proud of me, though, boss. I think I might’ve managed to get some info out of them, too,” Tyler added, with a tap to the side of his nose. “But subtly, I mean. Proper James Bond stuff.”

“This should be good,” Logan muttered, mostly to himself. Then, raising his voice, “What did you find out?”

They reached the bottom of the stairs. Tyler glanced at the double swing doors that led into the bar proper, and then to his left, to where the outer doors were currently bolted shut.

“Brace yourself, boss. This’ll blow things wide open,” Tyler whispered. “It turns out that Archie had a new partner in the porn business. A right bad bastard he is, too.”

Logan raised his eyebrows and shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. “Well now,” he said, rocking back on his heels. “Is that a fact?”

* * *

Sinead had just hung up her desk phone when her mobile rang. She snatched it up from her desk, swiped quickly on the green icon below the picture of Tyler, and spun her chair so she was facing away from the others.

“Ty? Where are you? Are you OK?”

“I’m fine,” Tyler told her. “I’m, eh… The boss is making me get the train up the road in a bit. We… had that chat that I’ve been putting off.”

Sinead relaxed into her chair. Later, she’d swear she actually felt some of the weight leaving her shoulders. “Good. That’s… great. How did he take it?”

“Better than expected. He was pretty good about it, actually.”

“What did you expect? A bollocking?” Sinead asked, then she winced. “Sorry, bad choice of words. Was he shocked? When you told him?”