That produced a grimace. ‘She is. And before you say anything – I know, but it’s too late to change it now.’
Marshall Carter bustled about with mugs and teabags as the kettle rumbled to a boil. ‘...and I tried going by “Marsha” for a while, but it just ended up as “Marshy”, then “Swampy”, then “Swamp Thing”. Then I had to move schools because of fighting, and it was easier to go back to “Marshall” again.’
The kitchen wasn’t bad, with lots of wood and shiny appliances, and a view out over the well-tended back garden.
She peeked into a biscuit tin. Went, ‘Poop.’ Then plonked it back down beside a wee pile of post, today’s paper, and a couple of flyers for ‘RUMPLINGTONBROTHERS’ CIRCUSOFDELIGHTS!’ – complete with photos of strangely un-miserable clowns, acrobats, and a funfair.
Logan leaned back against the worktop. ‘I take it you’ve heard we’re looking for Charles MacGarioch.’
She poured boiling water into all four mugs. ‘Word is he torched that migrant hostel.’
Tufty raised his eyebrows.
‘Really?’ Logan kept his voice nice and neutral. ‘Who told you that?’
‘The first rule of Orphan Club is: you do not clype on other members of Orphan Club.’
‘And you’d be...OK with him burning the hotel down, withpeopleinside?Ifthat’s what he’s done.’
‘Course not.’ Mashing the teabags with a spoon, working her way down the line.
‘But...?’
She dumped the first bag in the sink, then fished out a second. ‘It’s weird. To start with I hated being called an “orphan”. It’s such aheavyword to tie around a child’s neck. “You’re an Orphan now, Marshall, and you have to go live with Pappa Carter.”’
She put on a child’s sing-song voice. ‘“Mar-shall’s an orphan, Mar-shall’s an orphan.”; “Where’s your parents,orphangirl? Oh, that’s right, you haven’tgotany!”’
A splosh of milk in everyone’s tea. ‘Sometimes you have to reclaim a word, wear it with pride so the bastards can’t use it to hurt you.’
She handed a mug to Logan. ‘You’ve been to see Keira, right? Charlie never stayed at her house overnight, because his nan would freak if he was out of her sight for that long.Obviouslythe world’s full of corrupting influences for her nice littlewhiteboy.’ A sad little laugh. ‘She’ll be throwing a total wobbly now he’s missing.’
‘So...you think his grandmother radicalised him? He burned the hotel to please her?’
‘Charlie’s been shagging the darkest one of his friends tospitethe old cow.’ She passed a mug to Tufty. ‘Sorry, that was unfair. There was probably abitof spite involved, but Charlie really does love Keira. The only reason he doesn’t have her name tattooed across his chest is his nan would find out.’ Marshall rolled her eyes. ‘And “Oh, the stress would kill her!” Good sodding riddance.’
Marshall picked Mug Number Three off the worktop. ‘’Scuse me. Need to take this up to Grandad.’ Then off she went, shutting the door behind her.
Tufty had a slurp. ‘Sarge: you thinking what I’m thinking?’
‘I severely doubt it.’ Frowning out at the garden. ‘Every single one of Charles MacGarioch’s friendsswearshe wasn’t racist. Or xenophobic. Or a violent prick. So why the arson attack on a migrant hotel?’
The wee loon put on his old-man-doctor voice again. ‘“In times like these, my old friend and colleague, Mr Sherlock Holmes, would go back to the very beginning, because it’s a very good place to start.”’
‘If you burst into song, I’m going to wallop you one.’
There had to besomesort of reason for all this horror and misery. People didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to torch a hotel full of people.
A lovely big ginger cat padded its way across the grass, tail a feather-duster plume against the dark foliage.
A blackbird hurled abuse at it from the branches of a plum tree.
A quartet of bluetits swarmed around a dangly thing of peanuts...
Maybe the wee loon had a point?
‘OK, let’sgoback to the very beginning: how did we land on Charles MacGarioch as our suspect? Easy: we got an anonymous tip-off on the Crimestoppers hotline.’ Logan took a sip of tea. Bit peely-wally, but not bad. ‘Can you bring the call up? Play it?’
‘Erm...’ Tufty fiddled with his phone. ‘Might take a while...’