Logan was decent enough to gloss straight over it. “And you haven’t heard from Archie since December?”

“Got a card at Christmas. We’ve always sent them, even those years when we weren’t talking. We put a pound note in them. Been swapping the same two for decades now.” He looked at Tyler again. “The pound note was a callback to a little skit we did for the telly, where…” He sighed, recognising the indifference on the younger man’s face. “Actually, doesn’t matter.”

“And that was the last you heard from him?” Logan asked.

“Yes. Why?” Billy asked. He adjusted his glasses on his nose. For reasons Logan couldn’t quite grasp, this involved him contorting the rest of his face into a grimace. “What’s happened? Is he alright?”

“I’m afraid not, Mr Pinnock,” Logan said, and both detectives scrutinised his reaction. “I’m afraid Archie Sutherland has been murdered.”

Billy’s eyelids fluttered like someone had thrown sand in his eyes. His body froze, and Logan half expected him to topple sideways off his chair in comically exaggerated shock.

Instead, he cleared his throat, swallowed, then replied in a voice so quiet it was barely a whisper. “Sorry, he’s been…?”

“We believe there was a home invasion at a holiday cottage Archie was staying at. He and his family were all found dead.”

Behind the counter, Billy sunk further into his chair. “Found…? You mean they were…? They were killed? Oh, God. Archie. Oh, God! Where? When? In Spain? He had a house in Spain. Is that where…?” His hand flew to his mouth, missed slightly, and knocked his glasses squint. “Oh, God, Archie. Oh, those poor girls.”

“I’m very sorry to be the bearer of such bad news,” Logan said. “In answer to your question, not in Spain, no. Here. Up in the Highlands.”

“The Highlands? What was he doing in the Highlands?” Billy frowned, almost absent-mindedly. “He never took holidays in this country. Never. ‘It’s either pissing down, or it’s midges,’ he used to say. That was why he bought the place in Spain, so he could get away from Scotland. There’s no way he’d take himself out there to the middle of nowhere. Not on purpose.”

“Well—”

“Wait, sorry, sorry,” Billy interjected. “You’re sure he’s dead? It’s definitely him?”

“There’s still to be a formal identification made. His sister-in-law is coming up later today to make it official, but yes,” Logan confirmed. “It’s definitely him.”

“And it was… So, the attack. The home invasion. Was it…? Do you know who did it?”

“We’re looking into it,” Logan said.

“Was it… random, do you think? Wrong time, wrong place, or…?”