have any unsolved homicides on my record as head of CID.’
‘Understood, sir. Tomorrow morning I plan to re-interview Big Ming . . . that’s Smith, the board man. I’m also going to talk to his clerk, and his ex-wife. I want to find out everything there is to know about Gary Starr.’
‘Do I take it you’re not keen on the idea that the boy with the missing finger came back with friends?’
‘If he had friends, sir, why did he try to stick up Starr’s place on his own with a plastic gun? There is no commonality between the two events other than amputation. I find it hard to accept that someone who was such a disastrous, half-hearted failure as an armed robber could be involved in something as fucking hard-core brutal as this.’
‘I think I agree with you. Don’t stop with the ex-wife, Ray. Talk to his bank manager; look into his accounts for money flowing in. Take his house apart, take his shop apart; find out who his associates were, look for cash piles, go through all his books and pin down every penny he had. If you want assistance from specialist officers, you’ve got it.’
‘What about Mr Mackenzie, sir? He’s the senior investigating officer.’
‘He’s not here, Ray,’ McIlhenney intervened. ‘He can’t run a high-profile murder investigation from his sick- bed. Until he’s back, you report to me directly, and when he is back, the inquiry is to be run exactly as we’ve discussed here.’
‘And something else,’ McGuire added. ‘This is just a wild idea,’ he grinned, ‘but since it’s my wild idea, I expect you to bear it in mind. When you’re building up your list of his contacts and associates, keep an eye out for Muslims. Look at what was done to this man: he had both of his hands cut off. What’s the punishment for theft under Sharia law? Amputation.’
‘But not death,’ McIlhenney pointed out.
The new head of CID smiled, wickedly. ‘Maybe they weren’t trying to kill him. Maybe they just didn’t care.’
Nineteen
‘Where’s Lena? She hasn’t made herself scarce to give us a clear field, has she?’
Aileen laughed. ‘No, I wouldn’t ask her to do that. She’s visiting her parents, as it happens: she’ll be back around eight, in time for
‘Will she cough loudly and rattle her keys before she comes in?’
‘I’m sure she will, but there won’t be any need, will there?’
‘No, there won’t. Your place is one thing, but here I wouldn’t feel comfortable . . . and at my age, honey, that’s a must. There’s something else too,’ Bob admitted. ‘As long as Sarah’s still here, well, call me inhibited if you will, but it wouldn’t feel right.’
‘I know. If we’re truth-telling, I’m sort of glad that the opportunity’s never presented itself. Call me old fashioned if you will, but I’ve never slept with a man who’s gone home to his wife afterwards, even if they are estranged, and even if they will be divorced in a couple of months.’
He stepped up behind her and slid his arms round her waist, holding her lightly as she cored and sliced peppers. ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘I’ll make you a promise. Next Easter, the kids should be with Sarah in America, as long as she has somewhere for them to stay by then. I assume that the parliament will be in recess too. If that’s the case, you and I will fly out to my place in Spain, where we will be completely and utterly alone.’
‘A promise, you said? Just the two of us?’
‘Well, apart from your protection officers . . .’
She turned in his embrace, her eyes widening. ‘You’re joking. I won’t have . . .’
He grinned. ‘Not in Spain. I’ll be all the protection you need there.’
‘And here, I hope.’
‘No. We’ve discussed this already: once you’re confirmed in office you should have personal security on an official basis.’
‘Can’t you just do it yourself, when we’re together at least?’
‘I’m talking twenty-four hours a day here. It’s a professional job. Would you want me looking over your shoulder all the time, and never directly at you? Would you feel comfortable, bumping into my Glock in its holster?’
‘You mean they’ll be armed?’
‘We don’t give them catapults, babe. It comes with the territory you’ll be taking over.’
She raised herself up on her toes, kissed him lightly and turned back to the peppers. ‘If it’ll keep you happy,’ she said, ‘I’ll put up with it.’
‘Thanks, it will.’
‘In which case, there’s the matter of keeping me happy in return. Now that you’ve engineered that horrible man Jay’s resignation as the First Minister’s security adviser, there’s a vacancy to be filled. If, and I’ll keep saying “if” till it happens, I do get the leadership, I’d like you to take it on. I don’t mean I want you to give up your present job: it would be part-time, on a consultancy basis.’
‘God, no, love! Please don’t ask me. I’ve done that job already, before the parliament was set up and when the Secretary of State for Scotland was the main man. It didn’t work out well: in fact it ended with me telling him to shove it. What if I gave you some advice that turned out to be wrong? What if I gave you some advice, you didn’t take it, and the situation went sour?’
‘You’d forgive me and I’d forgive you, because we’d each of us know that the other was doing their level best.’
‘Aileen, it’s too close, too personal.’
‘That’s exactly why it’s got to be you.’ She slid the sliced vegetables into a colander, picked up two chicken breasts and laid them on the chopping board. ‘There is nobody in this land that I trust more than you. You agreed to be my counsellor on police matters when I became justice minister, didn’t you?’
‘But this would be different.’
‘No, it wouldn’t. Look at it this way: let’s say that in six months’ time I’m First Minister, you’re divorced, and if we’re not living together, we’re at the very least spending as much time as we can with each other. Suppose I appoint someone else? The first time he gives me advice, I come home and tell you about it and you disagree, bang goes my confidence in that person.’
‘So don’t tell me about it.’
‘Do you mean that? Do you really want me keeping secrets from you?’
He smiled wryly. ‘No, I don’t suppose that’s the ideal basis for any relationship. In that case, appoint Andy Martin, the DCC in Tayside.’
‘You mean the same Andy Martin that was your right-hand man until he moved? And what would he do if I appointed him? Every time something big came up, he’d call you to ask what you thought before he advised me.’
‘Andy’s his own man, I promise you.’
‘He’s also a human being. Look, I wouldn’t be against him touching base with a trusted colleague. My point is that if that trusted colleague is you, you might as well be doing the job yourself, and calling on DCC Martin when you think it necessary. Go on, my darling, do it for me. After all, it’s not as if we’re talking about an appointment that’s going to be public property.’
Bob picked a wok from a hook on the kitchen wall, then poured olive oil, soy sauce and a little balsamic vinegar into it, running them around the surface of the wide pan before putting it on a gas burner. ‘If it’s what you want,’ he said, ‘I’ll do it. But there will be no formal appointment, no consultancy, and absolutely no remuneration: that would be hugely improper, and could bring you down. I’ll be your security adviser, but it’ll be strictly between you and me.’
She kissed him again, for longer this time. ‘Thanks, Bob,’ she murmured. ‘I promise it won’t be a burden to you. As far as privacy is concerned, our friendship is a matter of record, so once people find out, as they will eventually, how close we really are, they’ll assume you’re doing the job anyway.’
