Germany. Drugs, prostitution, currency rackets, counterfeiting . . . he takes profit from them all.’
‘Why don’t they lift him then?’
‘They can’t. He’s too well protected. He has a sort of presidential guard with more firepower than all the police in St Petersburg and Moscow put together. When we told them about his trips over here, they started salivating. So did the Germans: they have an international warrant out for his arrest.
‘So the game plan is that when he turns up at Raglan’s tomorrow . . .’
‘
‘No, we’ve told the press that yesterday’s call-out to the shop was a false alarm. The Russians have sent us over a photograph, and we know from Midland that he and a man, his minder, we’re assuming, are on their early flight from London tomorrow. When he turns up, Dan’s going to lift him, take him straight to the Sheriff Court and have him held on remand, for extradition to Germany. The minder will be put on the first plane back to Russia.’
‘Where we going to keep him? Not Saughton, I hope, after what happened to Bennett.’
‘I’ve arranged with the prison service that he’ll be kept in Shotts. Security there is as good as anywhere in Britain.’
‘Have you advised the Russian Embassy?’
‘The St Petersburg police told us not to. Malenko has people on the payroll everywhere.’
The DCC chuckled. ‘You have had a busy afternoon.’ He paused. ‘I’d tell Dan not to take Ankrah along tomorrow, if I were you. This man Malenko sounds pretty heavy duty, and he and his minder may not like being arrested. I wouldn’t like to chance our guest being hurt if trouble does start.’
‘Fair enough. Do you think I should deploy an armed unit?’
‘In the city centre? No thanks. Let’s contain the action within the shop.’
Martin nodded in agreement.
‘Is that all you have for me?’ Skinner asked him.
Martin frowned. ‘Not quite. McGuire and McIlhenney called in from Parliament House. They’ve finished their interviews, but so far they’ve drawn nothing but blanks. Tomorrow, they start to review Archergait’s history on the Bench.’ He paused. ‘I don’t think we can keep this confidential much longer, Bob. They’ve spoken to a hell of a lot of people now. This “security review” cover’s wearing thin.’
‘I appreciate that. Look, let’s try a bit of news management tomorrow. When we announce that we’ve lifted Malenko, then spill the beans about the size of the Raglan’s robbery, the entire media corps will go completely fucking crazy. While they’re chasing their tails, let’s have Alan Royston slip out a quiet statement that we’re treating the judge’s death as suspicious.’
With their backs to the door, which Martin had left slightly open as he entered, neither had seen the woman, nor had they heard her faint knock.
‘I don’t know if you’ll be able to do that, sir,’ said Maggie Rose. Both men, surprised, turned to face her. ‘I had a call from Detective Superintendent Mackie on my mobile ten minutes ago, while I was on my way home. He was calling from a crime scene in East Lothian, and asked me to find you and Mr Martin.
‘Apparently a bird-watcher found a body this afternoon, out on Aberlady Nature Reserve.
‘I’m afraid we’ve got another dead judge on our hands . . . and this time the press are all over the place.’
As Skinner looked at his Head of CID, a slow smile of disbelief spread across his face. ‘If I believed in curses, I might think that this was all aimed at me, on my first day as acting Chief.
‘Come on, you two. Let’s get out there and take a look for ourselves.’
DCI Rose looked up at him. ‘You may have to wait a bit for that, sir. From what Brian said, I think the tide may beat us to it.’
33
It was a clear and cloudless night. Although the midnight sun still cast its aura along the northern horizon, Aberlady Bay was bathed in moonlight as the convoy, led by the Ranger’s Land Rover truck, made its way along the track which crossed Luffness golf course, towards the Nature Reserve.
The silver light glistened on the wide expanse of water, and on the wilderness upon which thousands of birds were settled for the night. With Skinner, Sarah, Martin, Brian Mackie and Maggie Rose in the passenger seats of the long wheelbase vehicle, the Ranger drove slowly, for fear of scaring up the great flocks of geese to which the Reserve offered safe haven.
Occasionally, a family of rabbits would start in the headlight beam, then disappear towards the many entrances to their warren, their night world disturbed.
Another Land Rover in police livery followed, and behind that, a yellow tractor, with a battery of lights arrayed on a bar above its cab. The line of vehicles was completed by a third off-roader, a deep blue shadow in the night. It carried no markings, but it was distinguished from the rest by a revolving ventilator cap in its roof.
‘It’s a wonderland, isn’t it,’ whispered Sarah, as if even within the cab she might disturb the bird population. ‘And to think it’s within walking distance of our doorstep.’
‘Sure,’ said Bob, ‘but you wouldn’t come here on foot at two o’clock in the morning. The terrain’s rough, and even with a torch there are plenty of ways to break an ankle.’
He looked over his shoulder, at Mackie. ‘What did you do with the press, Brian?’
‘I’ve gathered them together on the beach, sir, with three uniformed officers to keep an eye on them. The Assistant Ranger’s there as well. They all wanted to hang on for the next low tide, and as it’s a public place, I’d have had trouble ordering them to leave.
‘We’d only been there for a couple of minutes before the first group arrived. After that they began to descend like those geese at nightfall. Fortunately, no one’s been too close yet. We’ll have photos in tomorrow’s papers, I’m sure, but there’ll be no more detail than we saw on the late television news tonight.’
‘You’re sure none of them know who the body is?’
‘Quite sure, sir. I took the wallet from the body myself. I haven’t even told our people, other than Mags, who it is. Dead judges are getting to be a habit with me.’
‘Let’s hope they don’t come in threes.’ Even on the balmy summer night, something in Skinner’s voice made the truck feel suddenly chilly.
As they drove on they could almost see the wide silver band of the sea retreating on the ebb of the tide. ‘The Aberlady sandflats stretch for more than a mile, from the road out of the village to the low-water mark,’ said the Ranger, breaking the silence once more. ‘It wasn’t always like this. Aberlady had a harbour once . . . you can still see traces of the jetty . . . but over the centuries the Bay became silted up, until it was unusable.’
He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. ‘The tide should be far enough out in about fifteen minutes. After that, you’ll have about five hours to do what you have to do.’
As he spoke, the rudimentary track came to an abrupt end, and scrubby flat-land stretched out before them. The Ranger drove on over the rough ground, jerking and bouncing in his seat as did his passengers, until at last the vehicle crested a small dune which opened out on to the beach. He drove on for a bit, until the rest of the convoy was in sight behind him on the hard, wet sand, then drew to a halt, three hundred yards short of the water.
Skinner looked around. A distance away to the right, on the edge of the dunes, he saw the flickering light of a driftwood fire, with figures clustered around it, some sitting, others standing, looking across at the line of vehicles.
He turned to DCI Rose. ‘Mags, would you dig Alan Royston out of the vehicle behind and go along to see the press people. Tell them that there will be no statements made here, but that Mr Martin will be aiming to have a briefing at Fettes at seven o’clock this morning.’
‘How close will we allow the photographers, sir?’ she asked, as she opened the door beside her.
‘Keep them a couple of hundred yards distant. Near enough to do their work without disturbing ours.’
‘Very good, sir.’ The red-haired detective jumped out on to the sand. At almost the same moment, Alan Royston, anticipating Skinner’s orders, stepped out of the Land Rover behind. She spoke to him, briefly, then together they headed towards the group around the fire.
The others sat in silence, with the windows wound down and the vehicle lights switched off, listening to the
