Logan turned, shoulders back, chin out. ‘You want to try again, Fat Boy? ’

Reuben’s scarred face creased around dark slitted eyes. ‘You’re bloody dead.’

‘Come on then; won’t be the first time I’ve battered the living crap out of you, will it? ’

Wee Hamish gave a dry rattling laugh, that ended in a wheeze. ‘Children, children. Behave or you’ll not get any ice cream.’

Logan stared straight ahead. ‘This fat piece of shite ambushed me on my doorstep Sunday morning. And your nurse gave him a fake alibi.’

‘I see. . .’ A cough. A sigh. ‘Reuben, did you ambush Detective Inspector McRae? ’

‘Course I didn’t.’

‘Chloe, was Reuben with you at the time of this alleged assault? ’

‘Yes, Mr Mowat.’

Wee Hamish nodded. ‘There we are then, you must’ve been mistaken, Logan.’

‘Mistaken? I WAS THERE!’

A cold smile didn’t go anywhere near the old man’s eyes. ‘Reuben has an alibi. He tells me he didn’t attack you, and I believe him. That’s an end to it.’

‘Is it hell!’ Logan wrenched his arms free from Nurse Slessor’s grip and took a step towards Reuben.

The big man grinned, showing off gaps in his teeth. ‘Anytime you’re ready, sunshine.’

Another leathery sigh from the wheelchair. ‘Chloe, why don’t you go make us a nice pot of tea. Reuben, I’m sure you’ve still got plenty to be getting on with.’

Reuben shrugged one shoulder, licked his lips. ‘No skin off my nose.’ Then he turned and swaggered off, hands in his pockets, whistling the theme tune to The Great Escape.

Nurse Slessor sniffed, wiped her trainers on the decking floor – as if she was a bull about to charge – then nodded and walked inside, head held high.

Wee Hamish dangled the oxygen mask from a hook built into the side of the electric wheelchair. ‘There: everyone’s friends again.’

Unbelievable. ‘Reuben was waiting for me, on my doorstep, at six in the morning! How can you take that vicious bastard’s—’

‘Loyalty goes both ways, Logan. I can’t expect my people to be loyal to me if I don’t reciprocate.’ He fumbled with the joystick for a moment, then the wheelchair whined forward and left, right at the edge of the decking. Off in the middle distance, Reuben was climbing back onboard a ride-on lawnmower.

Wee Hamish pointed with a shaky finger, twisted with arthritis. ‘Reuben sees himself as an alpha male. And when I go. . . When I go he expects to take over the pack. You’re a challenge to his ascension, so he does the only thing that makes sense to him: he lashes out. You just have to be the bigger man, accept that, and move on.’

Just accept being ambushed and punched in the face?

Logan scowled out as the lawnmower puttered into life. ‘What if he’s got a gun next time? ’

Chapter 26

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