Dying light

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i The woman looked tired, bags under the eyes, the end of her long, straight nose tinted strawberry pink, as if she'd been blowing it for years. 'Wonderful, isn't it? Like I don't have enough bloody paperwork to do!' A sigh. Then she rubbed her face with her hands. 'Sorry, we're short staffed at the moment – as bloody usual – one on maternity leave, two off on the stress, one walked out four months ago and we've still not hired anyone to replace them!' Logan counted the desks: there were only six.

'So you're pretty much on your own then.'

The and sodding Margaret, and she's useless at the best of times.' A loud sniff, followed by fumbling about in a desk drawer for a man-sized paper tissue, and then a lot of wet snorking noises. 'What you want to know?'

'It looks like Jamie's taken an overdose: think he might have done it on purpose?'

Her whole face clouded over. 'He was on suicide watch!

OK? We're short staffed. There's only so much-'

'I'm not looking to assign blame: I just want to know if you think it was an accident, or suicide.'

She sighed, sounding tired and depressed. 'He's been having a rough time. Beaten up a lot – don't know why, but a lot of the guys had it in for him. Then there's being accused of murdering his lover, on top of having to deal with her death. And last time we spoke he'd just found out she was pregnant with his kid. He wouldn't stop crying…' Shrug.

'So yeah, I think it's likely. What's he got to lose? The love of his life's dead, so's his unborn child, and all he's got to look forward to is getting beaten up in prison every day for the next thirteen to twenty years.'

Logan nodded gloomily. 'What about witnesses? I mean, it's the middle of the day and he's out there in the exercise yard, surely someone must have seen him do it?'

That produced a short, derisory laugh. 'You've got to be kidding me! Witnesses? In this place? You'll be lucky.'

'Well, what about the security cameras then? They-'

'Buggered. Someone was supposed to come fix them last Thursday, but so far: nothing. Only ones working are inside the building, and half of them are screwed.' She shrugged.

'You know what it's like.'

'Starting to.' This was a dead end. Jamie had scored some dope and put himself out of his misery. 'How did he get the drugs?'

'You'd be surprised what you can buy inside. We do everything we can to keep it out, but they're always finding new ways. It's like a pharmacists' cash and carry round here some days.'

Logan sat back in his seat and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of anything else he should be asking. 'Did he have any visitors since he got back from hospital?' Like two large gentlemen from Edinburgh, for example. She didn't know, but she could find out. One quick phone call later and the answer was yes – yesterday evening: Jamie's girlfriend. That made no sense and Logan said so. 'Girlfriend? How can he have a girlfriend? The love of his life's just been beaten to death.'

Luckily the visiting room was one of the few places in the prison where the CCTV cameras still worked. Logan and Re

Logan stabbed the screen with his finger. 'Suzie McKi

Suzie leaned across the table and slipped a big French kiss into her brother's open mouth. 'Oh. I see.'

'So,' said Re

Logan nodded. 'Looks like it. Come on, we have to pay her a visit anyway; she's next of kin.'

Suzie McKi

'Right,' said Logan, unfastening his seatbelt. 'Here's the plan: I go inside and knock. Re

The communal door still wasn't locked so Logan let himself in, picking his way down the dark stairs to the basement flat, the glass from a shattered light bulb scrunching underfoot.

The McKi

Logan grabbed her arm before she could inflict any more damage and said, 'Jamie's dead, Suzie.' She froze, staring at him in disbelief while the rain fell all around them. Up close he could see that her make-up had been hiding more than just spots. As it dissolved in the rain, bruises and scrapes were coming to the surface.

Her mouth worked up and down, until the word 'How?' finally made it out.

'Looks like an overdose. But we won't know for sure until…' He stopped, not wanting to go into detail about what Isobel would do to Jamie's body. 'Until later. We won't know until later. Come on, let's go inside.'

The chain was still on the door, so they had to clamber in through the lounge window, treading wet footprints into the tatty settee on their way to the carpet. They stood there in silence for a moment, Suzie chewing on her black-painted fingernails while Re

'What happened to the front door?'

She frowned, as if his words were coming from a long way off. 'Door? Oh, it…' she shrugged, wincing at the motion. 'Ah forgot ma key.' She wouldn't meet his eyes.

'I expect you fell down the stairs too. What with it being dark out there and all.'

Suzie closed her eyes and nodded, tears sparkling over her lashes and falling onto her bruised cheeks. Logan sighed.