Sixty-two
Mackenzie heard the footsteps on the gravel. He waited for the thump on the door, but instead he heard the ring of a bell, from the rear of the house. He stayed in his chair, staring at the muted television as Cheryl showed the visitor into the living room, listening to the shouts of his children, at play upstairs. ‘Why did you come to the back door?’ he asked.
‘I wanted to count the empties,’ Neil McIlhenney replied.
‘That’s got fuck all to do with you.’
‘Wrong. When you call in sick on the second day of a murder investigation because you’ve had too many bevvies the night before, that has everything to do with me.’
‘Hey, you’ve got some nerve!’
‘Yes, I have, and don’t protest your innocence. We both know I’m right. Are you on the hard stuff?’
Mackenzie sagged in his chair. ‘I have been lately,’ he admitted.
‘Well, you can cut that out for a start. Try having a dry week; see whether it’s easy or hard. That’ll tell you a lot. I know this from bitter early experience: if you’ve got a grudge against the job and you look for help to forget it, you’ll find it doesn’t work. And you do have a grudge, we both know that too.’
‘I’m beginning to think it has a grudge against me. I don’t fit into this force, Neil. Moving through from Glasgow was a mistake: I’m going to ask for a move back.’
‘That would be a much bigger mistake.’
‘Why?’
‘You want a straight answer? You’ve just pissed off the commander of the SDEA, and he’s a big mate of Max Allan, the Strathclyde ACC. After that they won’t take you back in a hurry. If you don’t believe me, put your request in and see what happens. Once that’s been knocked back you’ll find out how dumb you’ve been, because the boss won’t have anyone in a key position in CID who isn’t fully committed to it. You will wind up in a uniform and in an office.’
‘I’d leave the force if that happened.’
‘Then make sure it doesn’t.’
‘How?’
‘First, don’t breathe another word about a transfer. Then take a look at yourself, and work on your big weaknesses. You’re too much of a loner, Bandit, you’re too much of an extrovert and you’re too ill disciplined. You’re trying to be the sort of cop you find in crime novels, and we don’t have room for mavericks like them. They might have been able to cope with you in a force the size of Strathclyde, but we can’t, and we won’t. Top to bottom, we’re a team; nobody can play his own game without regard for proper methods, for rules and procedures. You want my very serious advice, beyond cutting down on the drink? Then use your time off to consider what I’ve said, and work out how you can be a better cop, and a better leader. When you get back you can start by apologising to Ray Wilding. He’s made no complaints about you, but I’m damn sure he’s had grounds.’
Mackenzie sighed. ‘Okay, Neil,’ he said. ‘I hear what you’re saying. I’ll give myself a good kicking.’
‘No. Remember what’s happened, but don’t dwell on it. Relax with your kids and come back to work rested and refreshed.’ McIlhenney stood. ‘I’ll leave by the front door,’ he said.
The two men walked together into the hall. ‘How’s the Starr thing going?’ Mackenzie asked.
‘Check the Scottish news tonight and you’ll hear that we’re looking for Eddie Charnwood, for the murder of Starr, Big Ming, and a dealer in Dundee.’
‘Charnwood?’ Bandit’s face went white. ‘Of course: he was too close to Starr not to have known what was going on, yet I bought his innocent act. Christ, that’s how far up my arse my head must have been.’
Sixty-three
‘How did your big meeting go today?’ Bob asked. ‘What’s the view on super-casinos?’
Aileen smiled ruefully. ‘My opposite numbers in the Westminster parliament,’ she replied, ‘still have their fingers crossed that the questionable positives will outweigh the undoubted negatives. Personally, I wouldn’t have had any in Scotland, but gambling isn’t a devolved power, so the decision wasn’t entirely in our hands. What’s the police view?’
‘We don’t really have one. We are but poor public servants put on earth to perform the tasks wished upon us by our political masters or, in your case, mistresses. If you tell us you’re going to set up bloody great gaming halls and we’ll have to police them, that’s what we’ll do.’
‘Bollocks,’ she said cheerfully. ‘The police have a view on everything.’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘In this case it will have to be a moral one, founded on whether or not we agree with gambling in principle. Casinos are not a policing problem, and it’s most unlikely that they ever will be. My personal view is that I regard gambling as an entertainment; like everything else, how much a person spends on it should relate to what they can afford.’
‘There are gambling addicts, remember.’
‘And alcoholics and junkies and foodies and inconsiderate bastards in sports cars who can’t help turning up their stereo systems to full volume, then driving through my home village at night with the top down. Addiction is a fact of life: self-control is impossible for some people until it’s imposed upon them by poverty or death. Yes, some people bet more than they or their families can afford, but for the majority, gambling on a horse race or on who scores first in a football match is a reasonable investment, because they understand it and accept the odds. So why penalise them by banning it? You won’t stop it, you’ll only drive it underground, and then it will become my problem. The core task of the police service is ensuring peace and order in society: let us concentrate on preventing crime against property and the person and let everything else, wherever possible, be a matter of self-discipline, with economic rather than criminal consequences for failure.’
Aileen de Marco picked up her coffee cup. ‘That, my darling, is as fine a mix of cynicism and practicality as I’ve heard in a while. I will make a politician of you yet, for all your protests.’
He took her free hand in both of his and looked into her eyes. ‘There’s something you should know about me, something I only admit to people I love.’ He paused, enjoying her sudden uncertainty. ‘I am a politician.’
She laughed. ‘I thought you were going to tell me something serious. I know: you’ve got an honours degree in politics . . . more than I have if it comes to it . . . but I’m talking about practical application.’
‘So am I. What’s a politician’s job? To work for the benefit of the people, in a variety of ways; legislation is only a small part of it, as you’re well aware. What do you do with the rest of your time? You get things done, for your constituents and others. How? By considering, discovering, persuading, but only occasionally by instructing. What are your basic skills? I’d say they lie in knowing which buttons to push, knowing where the expertise lies in relation to each problem you face, and knowing who the decision-maker is in each situation. I’ve been doing that all my career; before I ever went to university and took the degree you mentioned . . . which also includes philosophy, in case you’ve forgotten . . . I learned it from my father, and I never even knew he was teaching me. I’m bloody good at it, much better than people give me credit for. They think I open doors by kicking them in.’ He shot her a quick smile that seemed to wipe all the tiredness from his face. ‘I suppose I do, from time to time,’ he chuckled, ‘but only as a very last resort.’
‘We are going to be some combination,’ she murmured. ‘Scotland doesn’t know what it’s in for.’
‘I’m thinking outside Scotland at the moment. And just to show you how good a politician I am, I’m going to ask you to open that door for me, the one I mentioned last night, not because of our relationship . . . I’ll never do that, I promise . . . but because I reckon you owe me one.’
‘I owe you more than one. What do you need?’
‘I’m in a position with my investigation where I need some questions answered and maybe some orders given. There’s only one person who can do all that, and I need to get to see him, in total secrecy. You’re my key.’
‘If I can I will. Who’s behind this door?’
‘The Prime Minister.’
