Billy made a croaky sort of cough, like the words were caught somewhere in his throat.

“You don’t have to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to that one, Mr Pinnock,” Heather told him.

“You don’t have to answer at all, Billy,” Logan said. “Allow me to do it for you. See, I think you reacted the way you did because you knew why we were there. You knew Archie was dead. And you knew that, whether you were a suspect or not, you’d be questioned. The legendary Neeps and Tatties. How could you not be in the frame somewhere?”

“I didn’t kill him,” Billy whispered. “I didn’t!”

Logan ignored the remark and pressed on. “I spoke to DC Neish about my… I’m not sure ‘suspicions’ is quite the right word. Concerns, let’s say. I told him that I was concerned by your reaction. And you know what he said?”

Billy shook his head. “No.”

“He asked me how you could possibly have known where Archie was. From what we can gather, he was in hiding. He certainly wasn’t broadcasting his location, anyway.”

The DCI left a gap there. A few seconds of stifling silence, giving Billy time to stress over what was coming next.

“Except he was doing exactly that. Wasn’t he, Billy?” Logan continued. “He was broadcasting his location. To you, specifically. Ever since you fixed his phone for him.”

Billy said nothing. Not with his words, anyway. His face, however, spoke volumes.

“We’ve got DC Neish to thank for this, too. He figured it out. It’s a built-in feature, I’m told. Find My Phone or something,” Logan continued. “You just have to tweak a few settings, and anyone you choose can see your location at any time. All seems a bit creepy to me, but I suppose I can see some upsides.” He shrugged. “Few downsides, too, of course, if it ends up getting you and your family killed.”

“That’s a pretty major drawback, right enough,” Heather agreed.

Billy opened his mouth, but Logan silenced him with a raised hand. “Before you say anything, Billy, I want you to know that Archie’s phone was handed over to our tech team yesterday, and they’ve submitted a report this evening.”

This was true. They had. Admittedly, it was quite a short report, and one whose focus was almost exclusively on how they had not, as of yet, been able to access it.

“I just want you to keep that in mind before you say anything that might be considered in any way incriminating,” Logan added. He gave a smile of encouragement, then crossed his arms and shuffled in closer to the table, like he was waiting to hear a funny story.

Across the table, Billy’s mouth was still moving as he started to form the first word of several different potential replies, before abandoning each and every one of them.