“So, is this Frankie guy our main suspect?” Tyler asked once the cars had gone speeding off again.

“I don’t know if I’d call him that, exactly,” Logan said. “If Archie stole money from him, then he’d have a motive, aye. But motive isn’t everything.”

“How would he find him?” Tyler wondered. “I mean, they were pretty much out in the middle of nowhere.”

Logan’s foot scuffed the ground as he mistimed a step, Tyler’s words reminding him of something that had been bothering him all afternoon.

“I’ve been thinking about that. ‘Middle of nowhere.’”

“What about it, boss?”

“That’s what Billy Neeps said when we told him about Archie renting a holiday cottage, wasn’t it? Something about him not staying out in the middle of nowhere on purpose?”

“Rings a bell, aye,” Tyler said. “So what, though?”

“Think about it,” Logan prompted. “Think through the conversation.”

Tyler fixed his gaze on the pavement ahead of them. His legs swung in time with Logan’s as he replayed what he could remember of the interview in his head.

The details were sketchy, though, so he reached into his pocket, took out his notepad, and shot Logan a hopeful look.

“If you must, aye,” Logan conceded, then he waited while Tyler flipped through his pages and read through the drunken spider scrawl of his handwriting.

They were approaching the second high-rise block now. Just beyond it, a path led away on the left to the play area. Logan could see half a dozen adult-sized individuals through the gaps in the rusted metal fence, but could make out no more detail than that.

“Oh! I think I’ve got it, boss!” Tyler announced. “‘Middle of nowhere.’ Those were his exact words. How did he know that?”

“Well done. And aye, that’s what I was wondering. We just said the Highlands. Could’ve been Inverness. No saying it was out in the wilds.”

Tyler folded his notebook shut and returned it to his jacket pocket. “I mean… I suppose he could’ve guessed,” he mused. “Like, if you say someone’s staying at a holiday cottage in the Highlands, city folk are probably going to assume it’s somewhere remote. They think everywhere north of Stirling’s the arse-end of nowhere.”

Logan had to concede that point. Up until a couple of years ago, he’d probably have made the very same assumption.

“And how would he find him, boss? Billy, I mean? How would he know where to find Archie, if he was in hiding?”

“I don’t know,” Logan admitted.

“And, I mean, Billy doesn’t strike me as someone capable of… well, much. I can’t see him managing to force his way into a house to murder four people, can you?”

“Probably not.”

Tyler shot him a sideways look as they plodded along the pavement. “Are you...? Was that you agreeing with everything I just said, boss?”