Cash kept his attention on Scholes, whether or not he was the one to answer. ‘What were the four of you talking about?’
‘This and that.’
‘His uncle’s death?’
‘For a bit.’
‘You all left the Wheatsheaf together?’
There wasn’t an immediate answer. Haldane glanced in Scholes’s direction.
‘Yes, DS Haldane?’ Cash prompted him.
‘We’d had a few words,’ Scholes admitted, pre-empting his colleague. ‘Bit unsettling to find you’re being tailed.’ He gave Naysmith a hard stare. ‘Paul was on his high horse about it.’
‘And after a few drinks, he did have a bit of a temper.’
‘It wasn’t that,’ Haldane blurted out. ‘It was just such a bloody headache listening to him drone on.’
‘Droning on, was he?’
‘The Complaints, the court case hanging over him, then his uncle and the finger of blame.’
‘Poor bastard was cracking up,’ Scholes commented.
‘So you had words in the pub?’ Cash asked.
Scholes nodded. ‘We left him to it.’
‘He was still there?’
‘We had work the next day.’
Cash nodded slowly. ‘I gave the manager a bell. He reckons it was close to eleven when DC Carter staggered out of there. Manager guesses he’d had about six pints and three nips by then.’ He paused, unfolding his arms and pressing his hands together. ‘So how do you think he ended up in the water?’
‘Does it matter?’ Scholes glared at Cash. ‘Makes your job that bit easier, doesn’t it, now he’s not here to fight his corner. Pin his uncle’s murder on him; case closed. No trial necessary… all nice and tidy.’
‘Ah, but that’s just what it isn’t.’ Cash waited for his words to sink in.
‘How do you mean?’ Michaelson eventually asked.
‘We had a phone call earlier. Member of the public happened to be out walking his dog last night. He saw a man down on the beach. He was being chased by another man. First guy wasn’t screaming or shouting or anything. Just running as best he could.’ Cash broke off, waiting for a reaction.
‘What makes you think it was Paul?’ Scholes eventually asked.
Cash shrugged. ‘Just that the witness saw him run into the sea. His only chance of getting away. Onlooker took them for a couple of drunks having a laugh.’ He looked down at his lap. ‘We’re not long back from the autopsy. DC Carter somehow ended up with a broken nose and grazes on his hands…’
‘Wait a minute,’ Haldane said, voice unsteady. He had gripped the arms of his chair and was starting to rise to his feet.
‘Sit down,’ Cash said.
Scholes placed a hand on Haldane’s shoulder, and Haldane lowered himself back on to the chair.
‘What’s this got to do with us?’ Scholes asked.
‘You tell me.’
‘I will, then – the answer is: nothing. We left Paul in the pub, went back to our cars and drove home.’
‘You weren’t over the limit?’
‘Of course not. We’re the law, aren’t we?’
‘And you went your separate ways – meaning none of you can vouch for the others, unless you have psychic powers.’
Michaelson snorted and shook his head. ‘This is fucking unbelievable,’ he announced, pointing a finger at Fox. ‘That lot’ll stop at nothing to see us flushed down the pan.’
‘Your wife will vouch that you were home before ten?’ Cash asked.
‘Absolutely.’
‘How about you, DS Haldane?’
‘I went round to my mum’s. Left her place just after eleven.’
‘Night owl, is she?’
‘She nodded off for a bit; the news does that to her…’
Cash nodded. ‘Which brings us to you, DI Scholes.’
‘I really can’t believe I’m hearing this.’ Scholes looked calm enough, but he only just had his emotions under control. When he spoke, it was as if his voice was trying to rid itself of a straitjacket. ‘Paul was our mate. Now you’re saying one of us smacked him? You’re saying he was so scared of us, he ran into the sea?’ Scholes actually laughed, arching his head back.
‘I’m waiting,’ Cash said, sounding as if he had all the time in the world.
Scholes stopped laughing. ‘You might as well lock me in the cells,’ he stated. ‘All I did was drive to Milnathort to see my girlfriend. She was out, so I came back to town. Didn’t see or speak to anyone.’ He stared at Cash. ‘So I must’ve done it, mustn’t I?’
‘Only if you can’t think of anybody else. DC Carter couldn’t have been the most popular character in Kirkcaldy.’
Scholes seemed to give this some thought. ‘You’re right,’ he conceded. ‘And here I am in a room with the people who probably hated him the most.’ He pressed his hands together in imitation of Cash and leaned in towards him. ‘Going to charge me, or what?’
‘Don’t give them the satisfaction, Ray,’ Michaelson said.
‘This interview is over.’ Cash got to his feet, checked the time and announced it out loud for the benefit of the recording. Scholes remained seated, eyes on Malcolm Fox.
‘I’m sorry about Paul,’ Fox told him.
‘Fat lot of good that does anybody,’ Scholes replied.
30
‘What about a line-up?’ Tony Kaye asked Cash, once Scholes, Michaelson and Haldane had departed. ‘Maybe the witness got a good look.’
‘That’s not the message we received,’ DS Young countered. ‘Just two figures. He only marked them out as male because of their size and the way they moved.’
‘So we’re only guessing that Paul Carter was the one being chased?’ Fox added.
Cash gave him a look. ‘Muddying the water seems to be your particular party trick, Fox.’
‘I call it “keeping an open mind”.’
Cash turned back to Brendan Young. ‘Let’s bring the witness in anyway. Need to get a proper statement from him.’
‘If Carter ran into the water and drowned,’ Joe Naysmith speculated, ‘what’s the charge?’
‘Might not be one,’ Cash acknowledged. ‘On the other hand, if he got himself in a fight, realised he couldn’t win and legged it…’
‘And the assailant,’ Young continued, ‘gave chase, putting the fear of God into him…’
‘Then that assailant’s guilty of something,’ Kaye determined.
‘That’ll be for us to decide,’ Cash cautioned. ‘Meaning CID – not the Complaints.’ He turned his attention back to Fox. ‘So you and your merry band of fuck-ups can bugger off back across the Forth.’
‘Can’t do that,’ Fox responded. ‘Not until your Chief Constable tells us that’s what he wants us to do.’
‘You’re not even supposed to be here!’ Cash jabbed a finger into Fox’s unyielding chest.
‘We handed you those three on a plate.’
‘Am I supposed to kiss your feet for that?’
‘A simple “thank you” would suffice.’
‘Six,’ Young broke in. ‘You handed us six on a plate.’
‘That’s right,’ Cash said with a nod. ‘I forgot you three were there last night.’
