air with his left hand. ‘One bag of doughnuts from the Viareggio deli: the finest in town, guaranteed.’
The DCC sat on the sofa beside McIlhenney, positioning himself so that he was facing the newcomers. ‘It’s good to see you up here, Dottie,’ he said. ‘I’ve been keeping my eye on your career for a while.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ the inspector replied, caution still in her tone as McGuire took his place beside her, handing her a mug and laying a plate bearing half a dozen sugar-coated doughnuts on the coffee-table.
‘There’s only four of us,’ Skinner pointed out.
McGuire displayed his most Italian grin. ‘Maybe, but two of them are for me: the rest of you can fight over the one that’s left . . . unless someone here pulls rank, or unless Neil decides to stick to his diet, in which case there’s two each.’
‘You wish,’ McIlhenney growled, reaching across the table and taking the top doughnut from the pile.
Skinner followed suit, then waited until he judged that everyone was comfortable and settled. ‘I want you all to know,’ he began, ‘that contrary to the occasional rumour you may hear, I am not a one-man army. I do not run this force, Sir James Proud does. The powers that I exercise are delegated by him, and the policies I put in place are approved by him, and where necessary by the police advisory board. So, what I’m telling you now has his blessing.’
He paused until he was sure that each listener appreciated what he had said. ‘I’ve asked you three here to give you what I hope will be good news, so I’ll get right into it. Mario, you are promoted detective chief superintendent and head of CID with immediate effect. Congratulations: it’s a year or so earlier than we’d expected, but it’s one of the easiest appointments we’ve ever had to make.’
McGuire’s Irish side seemed to take over: for once he looked diffident, and lost for words. ‘Thank you very much, sir,’ he said, at last. ‘It’s an honour.’
‘One that’s been well earned.’
‘Can I take Sammy Pye with me as my assistant? I’ve got nothing against Ray Wilding, but I know Sammy better.’
‘I thought you’d ask that; of course you can. Wilding’s ready for a move anyway, so he and Pye can do a straight swap. You’ll need a sure-footed back-up, one with Pye’s tact: one of your tasks will be to oversee a gradual restructuring in CID, one that’ll have to be explained to quite a few people. As a first step, a detective superintendent will be appointed and given responsibility for all of the City of Edinburgh. The three divisional commander posts will be down-sized to chief inspector as time goes on, but those who are there at the moment will continue. That’s where the need for diplomacy might come in, for two of them are superintendents, and they’ll be reporting to the new appointee, Detective Superintendent Neil McIlhenney.’
‘You . . .’ McIlhenney spluttered, spraying doughnut crumbs across the table.
Skinner laughed at his reaction. ‘Well earned too, and I’m glad I kept you guessing till the end.’
He turned to Shannon. ‘Inspector, Neil’s move leaves a vacancy at the head of Special Branch. I don’t need to tell you that, with the new parliament, the supreme courts, an international airport, and the main royal residence in Scotland all within our area, it’s the most responsible post of its type this side of the border. It’s not a task that should be forced on anyone, so we’re only offering it to you, with nothing being held against you if you turn it down. It’s got its up-sides, though. It’s a hell of a good career move, plus it’ll take you out of uniform and into this building.’ He paused. ‘Would you like some time to think about it?’
The woman’s eyes widened. ‘Do you mean it, sir?’ She gulped, and her cheeks flushed. ‘I’m sorry, that was a silly thing to say. But can I be bold and ask, why me?’
‘That’s not bold, that’s sensible. It’s because I believe that you’re the best person for the job, simple as that. I’ve been taking soundings among senior officers for some time now; your name was put into the hat by Chief Superintendent Mackie, and by Detective Superintendent McGuire. Those two aren’t famous for agreeing with each other, so that swung it for me. If I back their judgement, why shouldn’t you?’
‘Put like that, sir, there’s no way I can argue. Thank you very much: yes, I’d like the job.’
‘Very good, Detective Inspector, I’m pleased to hear it. Now, tell me what you have in your diary for the next fortnight or so.’
Shannon thought for two seconds. ‘Nothing I can’t cancel, sir.’
‘Good. Cancel the lot then, for you’re coming to London with me, to play with the big boys. If today’s been a surprise to you, Dottie, you have no idea what next week’s going to be like.’
Seven
‘It’s been a funny old Friday,’ Sammy Pye mused.
‘Maybe so,’ Detective Sergeant Ray Wilding said, ‘but it’s been on the cards. Your gaffer was always going to take over from Dan Pringle: it was only a matter of when.’
‘What about you, Ray? Are you not pissed off at being moved out?’
‘Not a bit. I don’t know Mr McGuire and he doesn’t know me, so I didn’t expect to stay on when he was appointed. Actually I’m pleased to be back on the operational side: being the head of CID’s assistant might look good on your record, but it gets boring after a while . . . at least it did with Dan Pringle.’
‘I wonder what he’ll do now.’
‘He might drink himself to death, I fear. He’s got no interests outside the job, as far as I could see, other than the Masons.’
‘Have you seen him since he chucked it?’
‘No. He didn’t even come in to clear his desk: he just called and asked me to have all his stuff sent to the house. The DCC told me to organise a whip-round, and I’ve done that. You’ll find the money locked in the filing cabinet in your office.’ Wilding handed Pye an envelope. ‘These are the keys. There’ll be some more dough to come in from Borders and West Lothian. Mr Skinner said that once it’s all gathered, you should touch base with big Jack McGurk, in his office, to organise a farewell do and presentation.’ Wilding looked around the office. ‘So this is Leith, eh? You know what? I’ve been in the job for nine years, and I’ve never been in here before. Do you know anything about my new boss?’
‘DCI Mackenzie? Only that he’s got a reputation for being a bit flash, and for sailing a bit close to the wind at times.’
‘How will that go down with your man?’
‘Fine,’ said Pye, ‘as long as he stays off the rocks and gets results. But we won’t see much of him: he reports to Neil McIlhenney, remember, not Mr McGuire.’
‘Of course. It’s funny,’ Wilding mused. ‘When I joined the force those two were a bit of a legend, great mates, liked a pint, wild boys. Now here they are, running CID and pillars of the force establishment. Your boss might not have changed that much, but you’d barely recognise McIlhenney from what he was then.’
‘A lot of people have underestimated big Neil in their time. Many of them are still locked up. Mind you, from the hints I’ve picked up, he underestimated himself too. Not any more, though.’
‘Should I watch out for him?’
‘No, he’s a good bloke. You watch out for Mackenzie, that’s all.’
‘I’ll bear that in mind. Now, what about this hand-over we’re supposed to be doing? I hear a story about a body being found in a van in Newcraighall the other day. Is that one of yours?’
‘This office attended, but Dottie Shannon told me it was a suicide, so you won’t find a file on that.’
Wilding scratched his chin. ‘Dottie Shannon. I’m sorry she’s going; I’ve fancied her since she was a probationer. Of course, back then she was going with . . .’
‘Don’t have any wet dreams over Dottie: she’s paired off. Besides, she’s too old for you.’ Pye picked up the top folder from the small pile on his in-tray. ‘She and I were out on an investigation this morning. The story’s all in here.’ He described the attempted robbery at the Evesham Street bookmaker’s, and its grisly outcome.
‘Did you get a match on the print?’
‘No, God damn it, we did not. They’re working on DNA comparisons, but I don’t see us doing any better there: if they don’t have fingerprints on file, they’re unlikely to have that either. That means that the robber is a first offender, not known to the police. He hasn’t shown up at any hospital as yet, and our telephone trawl of health centres has come up with nothing. My next step was going to be to ask all officers to keep an eye open, on and off duty, for a tall young man with a bandaged hand, but that’s as far as I can take it.’
