you’re not telling me. What is it?’
‘Nothing, honest.’
‘See? Come on, what is it?’
‘Oh, it’s just that I’ve had a couple of phone calls.’
‘What sort of phone calls?’
‘The silent kind.’
‘Breathers? How many?’
‘Three within the last week; Tuesday, Thursday and last night.’
‘Describe them.’
‘What’s to describe? The phone rang, I picked it up: there was someone on the line, no doubt about that, but nothing said. No, that’s not quite right: last night I thought he said, “Alex,” in a whisper, a sort of hoarse, croaky whisper.’
‘He?’
‘Yes, it was a male voice, I’m sure of that.’
Bob was perched on the edge of his chair. ‘How did you respond?’
‘The first time, I just kept on asking, “Who’s there?” until the line went dead. The second time I said nothing. The third time, after I thought he whispered my name, I said, “Fuck off,” and slammed the phone down.’
‘Did you try 1471?’
‘Of course I did, Pops, but even the dumbest pervert these days knows how to withhold his number.’
‘You’d be surprised. Right, what are we going to do about this? I’m off to London on Monday, but you’d better come to stay with us for a few days.’
‘Bollocks, I’m not doing that!’
‘Why the hell not?’
She gasped. ‘You’re really asking me that? For a start, in the circumstances I don’t want to share space with Sarah: it wouldn’t do either of us any good. But most of all, this is my home, and I’m damned if I’ll let some creep think he can scare me out of it.’
‘Let’s change your phone numbers, then; make them ex-directory.’
‘That’s impossible, for business reasons.’
‘Rubbish. If I tell Mitch Laidlaw why it’s necessary, he’ll make sure that all your colleagues and clients are advised of the changes within the day.’
‘And all my friends? Will he tell them too? Pops, I’m not bowing down to this.’
‘Maybe not, but I’m not having anyone stalking my daughter either. I’m going to find this person, and I’m going to give him a piece of my mind, and maybe a right good tanking as well. I’m going to have someone camp on your line, and monitor your mobile. Next time you get one of these calls, keep him on the line for as long as you can, however you can. Talk dirty, whatever.’
‘Pops!’
‘Humour me, love, please. You know I’ll do it anyway.’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘If you must. Meantime, I must get dinner under way.’ She poured the last of the
As soon as she was gone, Bob took out his mobile and called a programmed number. ‘Neil,’ he said, as the call was answered. ‘Glad you’re in. I’ve got something that needs taking care of now. I’m at Alex’s new pad. She’s been having breather calls. You’ve got her numbers, haven’t you?’
‘Yes,’ McIlhenney confirmed. ‘I’ll get people sitting on both of them. She’ll be aware of it, yes?’
‘Yes, she’s okayed it. Make sure Mario’s up to speed on this, please.’
‘Will do.’
‘And when you find him . . .’
‘He’ll be interviewed, by Mario and me, and if that doesn’t scare the living shite out of him, he’ll be reported for prosecution. Never in this century will he be allowed in the same room as you.’
Skinner laughed. ‘This new rank of yours is going to your head. Just find him, Neil, and kick his arse as hard as you have to.’
‘Consider it kicked.’
‘Good. Anything happened since we spoke last that I need to know about?’
‘Motherwell won two-nil, but I guess you’ve heard that already. Apart from that, Bandit Mackenzie called me from a very bloody crime scene in Trinity. The victim’s a small-time bookie called Gareth Starr.’
‘I know that name: a seedy wee chap, from what I remember. Did he welch on the wrong man?’
‘That’s one of the possibilities Bandit will be pursuing. He called me to ask whether I wanted to take over the inquiry.’
‘Hah! That’s more tact than I expected from him. What did you tell him?’
‘I told him that if I was going to be senior investigating officer on every serious crime in Edinburgh, I’d hardly need him.’
‘Spot on. What happened to the victim?’
‘Have you eaten yet?’
‘No, my lovely daughter is being creative in the kitchen.’
‘In that case, I’d best keep the detail to myself. You don’t want to be doing what Mackenzie did.’
‘What was that?’
‘He barfed in the victim’s kitchen sink, in front of a house full of SOCOs. Arthur Dorward went ballistic, apparently.’
‘How did you hear about it?’
‘Like I said, there were witnesses: you know the force gossip mill. Once it starts . . .’
‘. . . there ain’t no stopping it. Keep an eye on him, Neil. That’s not the way you want to start a new job.’
Sixteen
‘Have we got that E-fit yet?’ asked Bandit Mackenzie, scowling irritably at Ray Wilding across the mobile crime-scene headquarters that had been parked in the lane behind Starr’s house.
‘Not yet, sir. Big Ming is not the easiest man to deal with: he lives on his own wee planet. I’m not sure we’re going to get anything meaningful. Maybe we should just put out a statement saying that we’re looking for a number of people, one of whom has a bad hand injury.’
‘We’ll do that, Sergeant, but I want that image to go with it. Not tomorrow, not the day after, but now, within the hour. Get on to the office and bloody tell them that, will you!’
‘Will do, sir.’ He made to pick up the phone, then stopped. ‘I’m still not happy, though, that we’re going about this the right way.’
‘Oh, yes? What would you do differently?’
‘I’d look into the victim a bit more deeply than we’re doing just now. The way things stand at the moment we know sod all about him, other than that he was a bookie, and now he’s dead. Whoever did that to him was very angry with him. Maybe your assumption is right, but maybe it wasn’t Frodo fucking Baggins and some mates, come back to take revenge.’
‘Who? Christ, you told me we didn’t have an ID on this bloke.’
‘That was a joke, sir.
‘Now you listen to me, Ray,’ the chief inspector hissed. ‘Gwennie Dell, my old sergeant through in Strathclyde, has put in for a move, and she could be on her way through here. I could have her in your chair on Monday just by asking. So don’t you try to tell me how to do my fucking job, okay!’
Wilding stood his ground, glaring back at him. ‘First of all, sir, you couldn’t do that. DS Dell is coming through here, but she’s been approved for a posting to the Drugs Squad, working with the new commander. That was one of
