Skinner laughed. ‘That sounds like Ewan all right. It sums up the reason why I recommended him for promotion to uniformed sergeant. Sometimes in CID work you have to put your arse on the line. Cameron was conscientious all right, but he’d never do that.’
He took a sip of his coffee and picked up a low-fat chocolate digestive. ‘What about Sergeant Neville?’
‘She simply denies the allegation. There’s a statement from PC Keenan, the boy she’s alleged to have assaulted, describing the incident. Then there’s a note from the Divisional Commander, which says that he can’t judge the facts, but that she’s a bloody good officer, and that the probationer has not impressed him in his attitude to the job. Finally, there’s her own statement which says simply that she bumped into Keenan in the cupboard. She says that they just happened to be in there at the same time.’
‘Will she have a Fed. rep. with her?’
Gerry Crossley frowned, momentarily. ‘No. Sergeant Geary, from Dalkeith, is her area rep., but when I spoke to her to arrange this hearing, she refused point-blank to have him present. She said she was going to come alone.’ The secretary paused, and coughed. ‘I told her that in the circumstances, sir, I thought that would be completely inappropriate, so I insisted that she bring another personal representative.’
Skinner laughed out loud. ‘Were you scared she’d walk out of the meeting and accuse me of groping her as well?’
The young man flushed, and smiled, awkwardly. ‘No, sir, but in this office you can’t be too careful.’
‘I know that, son. So just you make sure that the recording system is switched on.’ Crossley looked at him in sudden, shocked surprise. The acting Chief Constable grinned. ‘Gerry, there’s nothing I don’t know about this building. You bear that in mind, and don’t ever think about phoning your stockbroker from in here.’ He pointed to the desk. ‘Especially not through that white telephone over there.’
By the time the buzzer sounded at three o’clock, Skinner had read his way through all of the papers relating to the cases which he was to hear. He had also changed into uniform, something which made his secretary’s eyebrows rise momentarily as he showed in PC Green and Sergeant Cameron.
Both men marched into the room stiffly, and stood to attention. ‘At ease, at ease, for Christ’s sake, and take off those bloody hats,’ the DCC burst out. ‘Ewan, you don’t have to come to attention in front of me.
‘Sit down both of you. Take one of the comfortable seats over there.’ Sergeant Cameron smiled and nodded. Green seemed, in an instant, as if a weight had been taken from him.
‘That’s good, that’s good,’ said Skinner as they settled into the plush, well-upholstered chairs.
‘Okay, we all know why we’re here. PC Green . . . it’s Mark, isn’t it . . . Mark, I’ve read the Divisional Commander’s complaint, I’ve read your wife’s statement and I’ve read yours. Is there anything you want to say to me, now you’re here?’
PC Mark Green gazed across at him, confidence replacing his initial apprehension. He was twenty-eight years old, small for a policeman, but with a wiry strength exuding from him, suggesting that he was someone to be approached with caution.
‘Well, sir, really only what’s in my statement, sir.Wendy and me, we had a wee argument; bawling and shouting and that. She threw a plate at me and I lost my temper and hit her. The next thing I knew there were two coppers at the door, two of my mates from the station.
‘There was this wee nyaff of a neighbour wi’ them. He’s always had a down on me. Bad family they are; his son’s aye in the jail. If he hadn’t been there, sir, the whole thing would have been sorted on the spot, but since he was, the lads felt that they had to lift me.’
Skinner nodded, sympathetically. ‘So it’s all a misunderstanding, then?’
‘Aye, sir. That’s how I’d put it.’
‘Ewan, do you have anything to add?’
The sergeant shook his head. ‘No, sir. PC Green’s been given the opportunity to say his piece. That’s what I’m here to ensure.’
‘Fine. That’s fine.’ The DCC paused. ‘In that event, I hope we can get this sorted quickly and easily. I hear what you say, Mark, and of course, I’ve read your statement. I’ve read your wife’s too. I have to say, there’s nothing in there about flying plates.’
‘Well, no, sir. There wouldnae be, would there?’
‘No, I suppose not. But you see, I’ve read some other papers too. I’ve read the arrest reports, for example. If the arresting officers were mates of yours . . . well, all I can say is that you should pick your pals more carefully. They seem to have been out to stuff you. They both say that when they arrived, you were in a rage, and Wendy was terrified. They also said that she was bleeding from a cut lip and that her left eye was badly swollen.’ As he looked across at Green, he was still smiling, but nonetheless a palpable feeling of tension had crept into the room. Sergeant Cameron shifted in his seat.
‘Okay,’ he went on. ‘We’ve all been in the job for a long time; we all know that arrest reports can read worse than things actually were. But you see, I’ve spoken to the arresting officers. They stand by every word of their account. Still, it’s possible they may have had a grudge against you.’
He paused again, for longer this time. PC Green sat staring at him, his right fist clenching and unclenching. ‘The trouble is,’ the words burst out suddenly, startling both of the other men, ‘there’s Wendy’s recent medical history. Let’s see, Mark, you’ve been married for going on three years. In that time, she’s been treated on four occasions for domestic accidents, on three of them by her GP and on the other in the Accident and Emergency Department, after she broke her wrist.’
‘She fell off a step-ladder!’ the constable protested.
‘At midnight? Don’t insult me, Mark.’ He shook his head. ‘Look, I don’t know anything about your wife. She may be an annoying wee so-and-so. She may even have been unfaithful to you. I don’t know, and quite frankly I don’t care. The way all this comes across, it’s clear to a blind man that you are a serial wife-basher.’
He held Green’s gaze, almost hypnotically, until the other man gave the briefest of nods.
‘Good,’ he said, almost gently. ‘So let’s proceed on the basis of honesty. I say to my officers, and I mean it, that what happens in their domestic lives doesn’t affect me, until it affects their operational efficiency.
‘But this is different. What you’ve just admitted is criminal behaviour. Even on the basis of one incident, your Divisional Commander was right to bring his complaint. On the basis of five, it was his public duty.’
The DCC glanced across at Sergeant Cameron. ‘As Ewan will have told you, my powers in this case are pretty wide-ranging. I can reprimand you and enter that on your record. I can reduce in rank . . . irrelevant in this case . . . or I can dock you seniority.
‘However, I can’t do any of those things here. If this was an isolated incident, I’d probably dock you three years’ promotion eligibility. It isn’t, though. Constable, you’re supposed to be a protector of the public: in fact, you’re a danger to them. Maybe if Sir James was sitting here, he’d see it differently, but I doubt it. In any event, he isn’t here. I am, and there’s no way I can let you continue in this job.’ As Skinner looked at him, he saw Mark Green begin to shake.
‘There are two ways of doing this,’ he continued. ‘I can suspend you and institute dismissal proceedings, right now, or I can accept your resignation. I hope you’ll choose the second way. In fact, I’ve had my secretary prepare a letter for your signature. We’ll honour your full notice period, give you accrued holiday pay, and preserve your pension rights: all that stuff. But you’re out today. You don’t even go back to your nick to pick up your belongings. They’ll be sent on to you.
‘Is that acceptable to you? I can’t give you time to think about it, I’m afraid; not in the circumstances.’
Green sat for a while in silence, trying to come to terms with what Skinner had said. There was a catch in his voice when finally he replied. ‘Yes, sir. I’ll sign the letter.
‘About Wendy, sir. She’s all right, really. I should never have got married, that’s all.’
‘Are you seeing anyone else?’
‘Yes, sir. Someone I knew before I met Wendy. I’ve never stopped seeing her, in fact.’
Skinner shook his head. ‘Then choose, son. For everyone’s sake, choose.’ He rose to his feet, and the others followed. ‘One thing though. You’re walking out of here with a good chance of finding a new career. I will give you a personal reference based on your performance reports. But if there is ever another call-out to a domestic at your house, you’re done for.
‘Understood?’
‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’
Skinner saw the sergeant and the soon to be ex-constable to the door. As soon as it closed behind them, he
