above board, so a social worker from Craiginches Prison had to sit next to Roadkill as he rocked and rambled and smelled.
The interview room stank to high heaven. Eau de Rotting Animal and BO Pour Homme. Roadkill really, really needed a bath. DI Insch had grabbed the first opportunity to get the hell out of there, leaving Logan and the social worker to suffer while he went off to check on Roadkill’s incoherent statement.
Logan shifted in his seat and wondered for the umpteenth time where the inspector had got to. ‘Do you want another cup of tea, Bernard?’ he asked.
Bernard didn’t say anything, just went on folding a bit of paper in half and in half again. And, when it was folded so tight it was a little solid lump that couldn’t be folded any more, he unfolded it carefully and started all over again.
‘Tea? Bernard? You want some more tea?’
Fold. Fold. Fold.
Logan slumped in his seat and let his head fall back until he was staring at the ceiling. Off-grey ceiling tiles, the pockmarked kind. The ones that looked like the surface of the moon. God this was dull. And it was going on six! He was supposed to be meeting WPC Jackie Watson for a quiet drink.
Fold. Fold. Fold.
Logan and the social worker complained about Aberdeen Football Club’s latest performance for a bit before lapsing into gloom and silence again.
Fold. Fold. Fold.
Six twenty-three and the inspector stuck his head round the interview room door and asked Logan to join him in the corridor.
‘You get anything out of him?’ asked Insch when they were both outside.
‘Only a really nasty smell.’
Insch popped a fruit pastille into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. ‘Well, his statement checks out. The council van drops him off after work in the same place just before four every day. They’ve been doing it for years. He gets the four twenty-two bus to Peterculter, regular as clockwork. Wasn’t hard to find a bus driver who remembered him, the smell’s hard to forget.’
‘And the bus stop is—’
‘Right outside Garthdee Primary School. Apparently he used to go to school there, before he went mental. Probably feels safer with a familiar routine.’
‘And did any of our “concerned parents” bother to ask him why he was there every afternoon?’
Insch snorted, and helped himself to another pastille. ‘Did they bollocks. They saw a ragged-arsed bloke who smells funny, hanging about outside the school and decided to beat the crap out of him. He’s not our killer.’
So it was back into the smelly interview room.
‘Are you sure there isn’t something you want to tell us, Mr Philips?’ asked Insch, settling back down into his chair.
There wasn’t.
‘Right,’ said the inspector. ‘Well, you’ll be happy to know we’ve managed to corroborate your version of events. I know you’re the one who was attacked, but we had to make sure the accusations against you were groundless, OK?’
Fold. Fold. Fold.
‘OK. I’ve asked the council to make sure that you get dropped off somewhere else after work from now on. Further along the road. Nowhere near the school. The people who attacked you aren’t very bright. They might decide to have another go.’
Silence.
‘We’ve got their names.’ It hadn’t been hard, the silly sods had identified themselves with pride! They’d taken a paedophile off the streets! They’d saved their kids from a fate worse than death! That they’d just committed criminal assault didn’t seem to cross their minds. ‘I’d like you to make a statement so we can press charges.’
Logan recognized his cue and pulled out a notepad, ready to take down Roadkill’s complaint.
Fold. Fold. Fold.
The paper was getting loose along the seams where it’d been folded again and again. A perfect square flapped away from one corner and Roadkill scowled at it.
‘Mr Philips? Can you tell me what happened?’
Carefully the battered man pulled the square of paper free and placed it in front of him. It was perfectly lined up with the edges of the desk.
And then he started folding again.
Insch sighed.
‘OK. How about the sergeant here writes down what happened and you can sign it? Would that make things easier?’
‘I need my medicine.’
‘Sorry?’
‘Medicine. It’s time for my medicine.’
Insch looked at Logan. He shrugged. ‘They probably gave him some painkillers at the hospital.’
Roadkill stopped folding his paper and placed both hands on the desk. ‘Not painkillers. Medicine. I need to take my medicine. Or they won’t let me go to work tomorrow. They wrote me a letter. I have to take my medicine or I can’t go to work.’
‘It’ll only take a few minutes, Mr Philips. Perhaps—’
‘No statement. No minutes. Medicine.’
‘But—’
‘If you’re not going to arrest me, or charge me, I’m free to go. You can’t force me to make a complaint.’
It was the most lucid thing Logan had ever heard him say.
Roadkill shivered, hugging himself with his arms. ‘Please. I just want to go home and take my medicine.’
Logan looked at the tattered, bruised figure and put down his pen. Roadkill was right: they couldn’t force him to make a complaint against the people who blackened his eye, split his lip, loosened three of his teeth, cracked one of his ribs and kicked him repeatedly in the goolies. They were his goolies after all. If he didn’t want the people kicking them to be punished, it was his call. But Grampian Police weren’t about to just turn him loose on the street either. The stupid people would still be out there. And by now the Press would be too. ‘LOCAL MOB CAPTURES KIDDIE FIEND!’ No, ‘mob’ sounded too negative. These violent, stupid people were heroes, after all. ‘PARENTS CAPTURE COUNCIL PAEDOPHILE!’ Yes, that was much more like it.
‘Are you sure about this, Mr Philips?’ asked Insch.
Roadkill just nodded.
‘OK. Well in that case we’ll get your possessions returned and DS McRae here will give you a lift home.’
Logan swore very quietly. The social worker beamed, glad not to have been lumbered with the task. Smiling from ear to ear, he shook Logan’s hand and made good his escape.
While Bernard Duncan Philips was signing for the contents of his pockets, Insch tried to make
