time off.’
‘Did he have family other than his wife?’
‘His father’s been dead for around ten years. His mother remarried and moved to Maryland but Colin didn’t like his stepfather; he didn’t regard him as a particularly upright citizen. When he did take a break, he went to the Florida Keys to do some fishing. It was supposed to be for a month, but he came back after a couple of weeks and begged me to let him go back to work. He told me, and right now I can hear him say it as if he was standing beside my desk, “Chief, if I’d stared at that water any longer, I’d have been in it.” I guess finally he couldn’t stop himself.’
‘That’s the way it looks,’ Skinner admitted. ‘He was weighted down with a chain, so falling in isn’t an option.’
‘And he couldn’t have been mugged?’
‘It’s unlikely in that area, and even more so where he was found. If he’d gone in a bit up-river, maybe, but he wouldn’t have drifted with that chain round him. He went in where he was pulled out, and that was in a commercial dock that he could have seen from his hotel-room window.’
‘Sounds open and shut, then. You’ll autopsy, I take it.’
‘It’s mandatory.’
‘You’ll use your top pathologist?’
‘Be sure of it. I’ll copy the report to you.’
‘Thank you for that. What about your media? Has this hit the press yet?’
‘They know a body was recovered from the dock. That of itself isn’t big news, but when they find out who it is, it will be. As of now we’re hiding behind the standard line of not revealing the identity until next of kin have been informed. In this case, that means you; now that we’ve spoken I’ll authorise a formal statement through our communications manager.’
‘Could you see your way to doing something for Colin? In that statement could you call it accidental?’
‘I can do that. How it’s filed eventually isn’t my decision, but I’ve got some influence with the guy who’ll make it.’
‘Thanks. NYPD appreciates that.’ Chief Lovencrantz was silent for a moment. ‘I’m going to send someone over to Scotland, Chief Skinner, as an honour guard, to bring the body back home. It’ll probably be Inspector Nolan Donegan, the commander of Sixth Precinct; he was Colin’s best friend on the force, so I guess that’s appropriate.’
‘Fine. Once he’s booked his flight, let my office know his itinerary and I’ll have him received. Meantime, I’ll ask Mario McGuire, our man on the exchange between our forces, to take charge of his personal effects.’
‘Thanks,’ said Lovencrantz. ‘I’ll be in touch. Now I’d better go downtown for what will surely be my worst duty of the year, and break the bad news, personally, to the officers of the First Precinct.’
Skinner replaced the phone and sat for a while at his son’s desk, staring out of the window. ‘It’s a shit job,’ he murmured, ‘that can do that to a man. So why do I love it?’
He picked up the handset once more, found the head of CID’s cell-phone number in his notebook, and dialled it. ‘Dan. DCC here. What’s up?’
He listened as Pringle described the hand grenade that had been thrown into the midst of his investigation. ‘Bloody hell!’ he exclaimed, when he was finished. ‘Did you ever have one of those days, my friend, when all you wanted to do was go home, pack a suitcase and fuck off somewhere nobody could find you? Well, I’m at home right now, as it happens, and the temptation’s hard to resist. I will, though. Have you found a hotel?’
‘It wasn’t easy, but I’m putting them in the Alpha. I just hope my budget can stand it.’
‘You leave that with me. I’ll have a word with Jim Gainer; I’m sure the archdiocese can stand that tab. What’s your next move?’
‘I’ll be back at Fettes in ten minutes,’ said the chief superintendent. ‘Once I get there, I’ll call my opposite number on the Humberside force, and see what he can tell me about this drunk-driver hit-and-run.’
‘You’re making a big assumption there, Daniel,’ Skinner murmured into the phone.
‘What’s that?’
‘That the guy was drunk.’
‘You don’t think so?’
‘Call me a world-weary cynic if you will, but when I see two fatalities in two days, involving members of the same small group, “accidental” is not the adjective that jumps into my mind.’
54
‘How was she, then?’
‘Very professional, very sharp, very good; Mary’s going to do fine.’
Maggie smiled as she hung her uniform on one of the handles of his wardrobe. ‘So it’s “Mary” already, is it?’ she said.
‘We got off on the right foot; plus, as a person she’s not given to excessive formality. A bit like yourself, Chief Superintendent Rose.’ Stevie hugged her to him, grinning back at her.
‘It’s a bit hard to be formal when you’re standing in your bra and knickers.’ She wriggled free of his embrace and reached for her jeans. ‘If Sauce and Charlie Johnson could see us now, eh.’
He sat on the edge of the bed, looking up at her as she dressed. ‘That’s something we’re going to have to think about.’
‘I know,’ she agreed, ‘but in our own time, yes?’
‘Not necessarily. Mary’s an even better detective than you gave her credit for, and she’s got a knack of recognising people by their cars. She spotted yours turning in here yesterday evening.’
‘And she asked you about it?’ Maggie gasped.
‘Straight out.’
‘What did you tell her?’
‘I didn’t have to tell her anything. Like I said, she’s a very good detective; she wouldn’t have asked the question unless she’d been damn sure of the answer. It’s nothing to worry about, though. Mary Chambers of all people knows how to be discreet, and she’s not going to fall out with you.’
‘Let’s hope not, but what does it mean? For us, that is.’
‘Mary says,’ he began, ‘that is, her advice is, based on her personal experience, that we shouldn’t try to cover anything up.’
‘We could always walk away from it, of course.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘We could say to each other, “Thanks, that was nice, but let’s just stay friends,” and back off before it goes any further.’
‘Is that what you want?’ he asked her quietly.
She looked down at her hands, then up at him, into his eyes, and shook her head. ‘No,’ she whispered. ‘What about you?’
‘No more than you do. I want the opposite.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that I’d like you to move in with me.’
She raised her eyebrows, then sat beside him on the bed. ‘Do you mean that?’
‘Am I a serious guy or am I not?’
‘You’re a serious guy.’
‘So?’
‘I’m a handful, you know.’
‘I can handle you.’
‘I reckon you can at that.’
‘So?’
‘This is happening awful fast, Stevie.’
‘No, it isn’t, we’ve been working up to it for months, and you know it.’
