‘Anything else?’
The Superintendent closed his eyes once more. Then he nodded. ‘His water carafe. A couple of minutes before he died, I saw him pour himself a glass. I didn’t see him drink from it, but when he fell, he knocked it over. There was no water on the Bench or on the floor, so I guess he must have drunk it.’
‘I thought so,’ said Skinner. ‘Poisoning his food would have been virtually impossible in the Supreme Court Dining Room, without killing a few other people as well. Someone must have spiked that carafe with cyanide.’
‘He probably wouldn’t have noticed,’ Mackie volunteered. ‘Wee Colin, the Court Officer, told me that he liked a measure of gin and lime in his water jug.’ He put the beer bottle to his lips, then froze, his eyes wide.
‘Bloody hell,’ he whispered. ‘I was going to take a drink from that carafe, until Colin stopped me.’ On the couch beside him, Sheila Mackeson gave a little cry of fright.
‘He stopped you?’ Skinner repeated.
‘Yes. That was when he told me about the gin and lime. Christ, Boss, you don’t think it could have been Colin, do you?’
‘Naw, no more than you do. If wee Colin was going to poison a judge, I can think of a few that he’d have picked before Archergait. Still, we’re going to have to talk to him.’
Finally, Mackie summoned the resolve to take a mouthful of beer. He grinned at Sheila. ‘Tastes okay.’
She frowned. ‘Is your job always like this?’
Skinner answered for him. ‘It’s nearly always repetitive and boring, Sheila. I can promise you that no one has ever tried to poison, shoot, stab or otherwise mollicate the Thin Man, nor will anyone ever. I have a theory that some people attract violence. Christ, I’m one of them. People have been having a go at me since I was sixteen. So far, I’ve always walked away afterwards.’
Mackie chuckled. ‘Or limped. Like the time you kicked that guy in the head and nearly broke your foot.’
‘Ouch! I can still feel it! That was different though. That man only wanted to get away. The trouble for both of us was that I was between him and the door.
‘Anyway, Sheila, don’t worry about Brian. If there’s something about me that invites attack, equally, there’s something about him that invites co-operation. He may be the best shot in the entire force, but that’s another matter.’
She smiled at him. ‘I’ll always worry about him. But I’ve worked for you lot for long enough to know that it comes with the territory.’
‘You planning on getting married?’
‘Eventually,’ she and Mackie said, in unison.
All three laughed. ‘It’s the same with my daughter and Andy,’ Skinner chuckled. ‘One minute they’re gung-ho, and the reception’s almost booked, then something comes up and it goes on hold again. As I understand it, right now Alex wants to complete her training period with her firm, and take her exams for the Bar.’
Mackie looked at him in surprise. ‘The Bar. So that would mean she could wind up cross-examining Andy in a murder trial?’
‘Exactly: a point which has occurred so far to neither of those bright people, but one which I might have to bring up myself.’
Mackie was serious once more. ‘What are you going to do about Archergait’s murder, Boss? How are you going to investigate it?’
‘I’m going to use McGuire and McIlhenney. Their brief will be get it sorted before we have to go public on it. They’re a good combination. They can handle sensitive situations, but they can be ferocious too, when the need arises.’
‘Tell them to go easy on wee Colin, eh. No way did he do it.’
‘No, but it’s his job to fill up that carafe. After he did, someone must have had access to it. He’s going to have to explain how that happened. Better he’s interviewed by two guys he doesn’t know, rather than by a couple of his pals, like you and me.’
24
The little man looked round the door, then stepped into the room. ‘The Principal Clerk told me to come and see you, gentlemen,’ Colin Maxwell announced. He wore a light check jacket and fawn trousers, having had no time to change into his formal black Court uniform.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ Mario McGuire nodded. ‘Come in and take a seat, Mr Maxwell.’ The two policemen were in an office in the Supreme Courts administration unit. It was on an upper floor and looked out on to the back of the newly built complex in Chambers Street which housed the Crown Office and Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Maxwell’s eyes narrowed as he looked at McGuire. ‘Here,’ he said, ‘you’re the guy that succeeded Brian Mackie in Special Branch. What’s this about?’
‘It’s a very confidential matter, sir, and not to be discussed outside this room. Is that clear?’
The Court Officer nodded.
‘Sergeant McIlhenney and I have been asked by the Lord President to review security within the Supreme Court building,’ McGuire went on.
Unexpectedly, the little man threw back his head and laughed. ‘That’s a good one. This is the most insecure building in bloody Edinburgh. These fellas at the front door, they’re a waste of time. Not that they’re bad at their job, like. It’s just that this is the High Court. We get some right bad buggers on trial here,. A lot of their friends are right bad buggers too, yet they’re allowed to swan in here unchecked.
‘Have you seen all those advocates’ boxes down thon corridor? The idea is that solicitors leave papers in there for Counsel, but the fact is anybody could leave anything. The public . . . all those hooks and crooks in for trials . . . walk right by that corridor on their way to the Courts.’
‘We’ve noted that already,’ McIlhenney acknowledged. ‘Maybe we can persuade the Courts Administration and the Faculty to put the boxes in a more secure part of the building.’
‘What about the Courts themselves?’ McGuire asked.
‘They’re open to the public.’
‘What happens during the lunch adjournment?’
‘Sometimes they’re left open. If there’s a lot of productions lying about then the Court’ll be locked, though.’
The Irish-Italian detective leaned back in his chair and grinned. ‘Let’s take a theoretical example, Mr Maxwell. Poor old Archergait popped off the other day. For the sake of argument, suppose someone had it in for him, how easy would it have been for them to nip into Court during lunch and put something in his water jug?’
The little man laughed, softly. ‘In that case it would have been bloody difficult. I always changed old Billy’s jug at lunchtime. He liked his gin and lime in the afternoon, you see. Everyone around here knew that.’
The smile left his face. ‘Mind you,’ he mused. ‘I suppose they could always have gone into the retiring room.’
‘What d’you mean?’ asked McIlhenney.
‘There’s an ante-room for the Judge behind the Court. I robe him in there, and that’s where I mixed old Billy’s gin, lime and water. It’s conceivable that someone could go in there.’
‘Is there a tap in there?’ The sergeant’s inquiry was casual.
‘Not for drinking water. I fill a bigger jug in the morning, and that does us through the day.’
‘The ante-rooms aren’t locked?’
‘No. They’re left open just in case the judge gets back early from lunch, to work on someone for the afternoon. There are lockable cupboards for the robes and wigs. The Court Officers have the key to them.’
‘How many doors are there to each room?’ McGuire fired at the man. ‘Just the one leading from the Court?’
‘Some of them have a second door out to the corridor behind.’
‘As a matter of interest, have you ever found anyone in a judge’s room?’
Maxwell looked at the policeman curiously, then shook his head. ‘Never that I can recall. Not without an invitation, anyway.’
‘You didn’t see anyone hanging around, for example, on the day Lord Archergait died?’
