within.
‘We were only just getting started,’ Tony Kaye said, not bothering to disguise the complaint.
‘Funny, I thought we were on to cheese and biscuits,’ Scholes countered.
‘DI Scholes does actually have to be at another meeting in five minutes,’ Pitkethly said. ‘Procurator Fiscal has a case to prepare…’
Scholes wasted no time getting to his feet. ‘Gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure.’
‘How soon can we have him back?’ Fox asked Pitkethly.
‘Mid-afternoon, probably.’
‘Unless the Fiscal has other ideas.’ Scholes had switched his phone back on and was checking for messages.
‘Couple of missed calls?’
Scholes looked at Fox and smiled. ‘How did you guess?’
Pitkethly seemed to be wondering the same thing. ‘Can I have a word in my office, Inspector Fox?’
‘I was about to suggest it,’ Fox answered.
A minute later, Kaye and Naysmith were alone together in the interview room.
‘Do I pack it all up?’ Naysmith asked, his hand resting on the tripod.
‘Better had. Can’t trust Scholes and his crew not to come in here and wipe their cocks over everything…’
‘Sit down,’ Pitkethly instructed from behind her desk. Fox stayed standing. The desk was empty. There was another at a right angle to it, and this second desk boasted a computer and busy-looking in-tray. The window had a view on to the car park outside. There were no knick-knacks on the sill; no photos of loved ones. The walls were bare except for a No Smoking sign and a year-planner.
‘Been here long?’ Fox asked.
‘Few months.’
‘And before that?’
He could see she was annoyed: somehow he was the one getting to ask the questions. But politeness demanded an answer.
‘Glenrothes.’
‘HQ?’
‘Wouldn’t it be quicker just to look at my file?’
Fox raised both hands by way of apology, and when she nodded towards the chair he decided not to refuse a second time.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t here this morning,’ she began. ‘I was hoping the two of us might have had this discussion before your work began.’ It sounded like a prepared speech, because that was what it was. Pitkethly probably had friends at HQ in Glenrothes, and had gone there for a bit of advice on dealing with the Complaints. Fox could have written the script for her. Most cases, someone up the chain of command would invite him to their office and tell him the same thing.
This is a good crew here.
We’ve got work to do.
It’s in nobody’s interest that officers are kept back from their duties.
Naturally, no one wants a whitewash.
But all the same…
‘So if any concerns could be brought to me in the first instance
…’ Colour had risen to Pitkethly’s cheeks. Fox wondered how elated she’d been when promotion had come, when she’d been offered her own station to run. And now this.
She’d been told what to say, but hadn’t had time for a rehearsal. Her voice drifted off and she started to clear her throat, almost bringing on a fit of coughing. Fox liked her all the better for this apparent awkwardness. He realised she’d maybe called in no favours, but had been summoned to Glenrothes.
Here’s what you have to get through to him, Superintendent…
‘Can I get you a drink?’ he asked. ‘Some water?’ But she waved the offer away. He leaned forward a little in his chair. ‘For what it’s worth,’ he said, ‘we’ll try to be discreet. And quick. That doesn’t mean we’ll be cutting corners – I promise you we’ll be thorough. And we can’t give you any tip-offs. Our report goes to your Chief Constable. It’s up to him what he does with it.’
She had managed to compose herself. She was nodding, her eyes focused on his.
‘We’re not in the business of making waves,’ he went on. This, too, was a speech he’d made many times, in rooms much like this. ‘We just want the truth. We want to know procedures were followed and no one thinks they’re somehow above the law. If you can help us get that message across to your officers, that would be great. If there’s a room we could use as a base, so much the better. It needs to be lockable, and I’ll need all the keys. I’m hoping we’ll be out of your hair in a week.’
He decided not to add ‘or two’.
‘A week,’ she echoed. He couldn’t decide if this was coming as good or bad news to her.
‘I was told this morning that DS Haldane’s on sick leave…’
‘Flu,’ she confirmed.
‘Flu, palsy or plague, we need him for interview.’
She nodded again. ‘I’ll make sure he knows.’
‘A bit of local knowledge might be useful, too – just where we can get a decent lunch or sandwich. But nowhere your officers would go.’
‘I’ll have a think.’ She was getting to her feet, signalling the end of the meeting. Fox stayed in his seat.
‘Did you ever have an inkling about DC Carter?’
It took her a few moments to decide whether she was going to answer, at the end of which she shook her head.
‘None of the women working here…?’ he pressed.
‘What?’
‘Gossip in the toilets… warnings of wandering hands…’
‘Nothing,’ she stated.
‘Never any doubts?’
‘None,’ she said firmly, crossing to the door and holding it open for him. Fox took his time; gave her a little smile as he passed her. Kaye and Naysmith were waiting for him at the end of the corridor.
‘Well?’ Kaye asked.
‘Much as expected.’
‘Michaelson might be around – want him next?’
Fox shook his head. ‘Let’s go back into town, grab a bite, drive around a bit.’
‘Just to get a feel for the place?’ Kaye guessed.
‘Just to get a feel for the place,’ Fox confirmed.
3
Kirkcaldy boasted a railway station, a football club, a museum and art gallery, and a college named after Adam Smith. There were streets of solid, prosperous-looking Victorian villas, some of which had been turned into offices and businesses. Further out were housing schemes, some of them so recent there were still plots waiting to be sold. A couple of parks, at least two high schools, and some 1960s high-rises. The dialect was not impenetrable, and shoppers stopped to talk to each other outside the bakeries and newsagents.
‘I’m nodding off here,’ Tony Kaye commented at one point. He was in his own car’s passenger seat, Joe Naysmith driving and Fox in the back. Lunch had comprised filled rolls and packets of crisps. Fox had called their boss in Edinburgh to make an initial report. The call had lasted no more than three minutes.
‘So?’ Kaye asked, turning in his seat to make eye contact with Fox.
‘I like it,’ Fox answered, staring at the passing scene.
