you get the message then? Not at all?’
Skinner started out of his chair. For a moment, it seemed that he would explode in anger, but he settled back down, with a calm, sad look in his eyes.
‘If not me, who?’ he asked.
‘Pardon?’
‘Don’t go dumb on me, Kevin. The operation I’ve just been on: how much do you know about it?’
‘I know as much as was in my brief for these interviews, and what I’ve read in the papers. Why? Was there more to it than that?’
‘That’s irrelevant. My question is, if I hadn’t been there to lead it, who else could have done it and seen it through to success?’
‘The army?’
‘No time: it all happened too fast.’
‘Andy Martin?’
‘He wasn’t there.’
‘McIlhenney?’
‘Close, but no; there was only me, Kevin. And if I hadn’t stood up, then and on all those other times you mentioned, what would the consequences have been? Innocent lives would have been lost for a start, lives that I’ve sworn an oath to protect. You’re telling me that’s had an effect on my wife? Of course it bloody has: it’s had an effect on me too. But it’s my job. Yes, I do it my way, but it’s the only way I know how to, and I cannot run away from it before my time is up. As I said, if I do have a nightmare, it’s about not living to see my kids grow up. But if I turn my back on my duty . . . that’s what it is, Kevin, my duty, not just another job . . . who’s going to protect them, and others like them?’
‘Come on, man, you’re part of a team.’
‘No, I’m the leader of a team, a very special team, and I do my best to lead by example; always have, always will.’
‘You’re addicted to it, to the danger.’
‘Maybe I am, but if so, that’s what makes me so fucking good at it.’
The unexpected grin made O’Malley blink. ‘Maybe you’re thinking,’ Skinner chuckled, ‘that you could save my marriage by declaring me off the wall, by giving me a psychological red card. If so, forget it; if Sarah can’t live with me in the job, then without it I couldn’t live with her, for a bit of me . . . no, all of me . . . would always blame her for forcing me out of it while there was still work for me to do. Anyway, she doesn’t love me any more.’
‘You’re not the man she married, you mean?’
‘Ah, but I am, that’s the problem.’
‘Do you love her?’
‘No, not the way I should. Kevin, we’ve had this discussion, Sarah and me; we know where each other stands, and we’re content with that and with what we’ve agreed. I understand your professional interest, and I appreciate your concern as a friend, but there’ll be no going back.’
‘Okay,’ O’Malley conceded. ‘If that’s the way it is, so be it, and good luck to you both.’ He frowned again. ‘This session is over, but there is one other thing. Earlier you asked me about my interviews with McIlhenney and Mackenzie.’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll let you have my reports on them, which are fine, but you won’t find what I’m going to say in McIlhenney’s. You’re very close to the man, Bob, I know that, almost as close as you are to Andy Martin. Just don’t try to mould him in your image, that’s all.’
‘Who says I am? Neil?’
‘No, I do. That’s how it seems to me, and I’m usually right about these things. He’s an exceptional officer, and a strong man, but there’s something in him that isn’t in you, and vice versa. You have a quality he hasn’t.’
‘What’s that?’
‘To boil it all down, he won’t always pull the trigger in time.’
It was Skinner’s turn to frown.
‘I believe that you’re going to London soon, on special assignment, and you’re taking him with you.’
‘Yes, but it’s very far from common knowledge. Did Neil tell you that?’
‘It came up during our discussion. Of course, that makes it a privileged communication, so you don’t have to worry about confidentiality. Bob, he will never tell you this himself, but he doesn’t want to go.’
‘Why not?’
‘Jesus, man, you can’t guess? Because his wife is pregnant and because she was scared to death by his involvement in what just happened.’
Skinner whistled. ‘Bloody hell! I should have considered that.’ He leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. ‘My problem is,’ he said, ‘that I’m taking Neil because he’s in the loop, so to speak.’
‘Do you have another option?’
‘No, but it looks as if I’ll have to find one. Thanks for marking my card, though. And thanks for our chat. It’s always good to talk to you.’
‘Indeed? Why?’
Skinner winked. ‘It reminds me how sane I really am.’
Two
There were days when Sir James Proud could not help but agree, reluctantly though it may have been, with his wife. He could retire at any time he chose, with a pension that would fund a lifestyle that would be the envy of most, and with the certainty that he would be able to top it up by accepting one or two of the offers of directorships that would be bound to come his way.
He could have gone, honourably, after the warning shot of his coronary incident. Instead he had lost weight, taken sensible exercise, and resumed his duties.
Proud Jimmy had been a police officer for all of his adult life, and had been the chief constable of Scotland’s capital city, of which his father had been Lord Provost, and of the green lands around it for far longer than any of his predecessors. Indeed, only one of them was still alive, and he was in his mid-eighties.
In his heart of hearts, he had never expected to make it to the highest rank in the service, and certainly not to the command of Scotland’s second largest force. When he was appointed there had been whispers that his elevation owed much to his connections to people of influence, but he had ignored them. He knew his strengths: he was a good administrator, a first-class personnel manager, and he had an authoritative appearance, with bearing to match, that made him stand out in a crowd. Strangely, the virtue which he valued least, the natural diplomacy he had inherited from his father, was the one that had been crucial in taking him to the top. Never, at any time in his service, had he been known to upset anyone, other than certain members of the police advisory board, and even then, only when it had been absolutely necessary.
On the other hand he was aware of his weaknesses: he was old fashioned in his attitudes, almost his entire career, after four years of beat-pounding, had been spent behind a desk, and he had no background in detective work. He had spent his early years protecting public order and preventing crime, usually from a distance, but he had never been a thief-catcher and, in truth, had never really understood what made a good one stand out, not, at least, until he had met Bob Skinner.
He had understood from the outset that there was something exceptional about the young man, whose very early promotion to detective sergeant had been sent to his office for approval. He had seen it first in his personnel file. Graduate officers were unusual in those days, but one who came from an affluent professional family was unique in Proud’s experience. And then, of course, there was his father. The young Skinner’s promotion would be likely to take him into sensitive areas, and so, without his knowledge, he had been vetted. The screening had revealed that William Skinner was far more than an ordinary Scottish solicitor. During the Second World War he had been a member of the Special Operations Executive, and although the Ministry of Defence had refused to divulge any details of his service, they did reveal that he had been decorated three times, the last being the award of the George Cross. Because of the nature of the SOE’s work, none of the citations had been made public, and there had
