having the first fag in this office, it’s me.’
She lipped one out of the pack, pulled a Zippo from her pocket and sparked it up. The sweet tang of raw petrol was drowned out by the curling smoke. The inspector sighed, eased herself gently into her office chair, and stuck her feet on the desk. ‘Ahhhhhhhhh, Bisto.’ She slumped there, with the cigarette sticking out the corner of her mouth. ‘Laz, make sure the door’s locked, yeah?’
Angus shuffled his feet. ‘Come on, I’m
Steel took a long drag, aimed smoke at the ceiling tiles, then tossed the pack over. ‘Knock yourself out.’
‘Ta…’ He fired one up, making post-coital noises. ‘Long night in a cell when you’ve got no smokes.’
‘Shouldn’t be a nasty wee drug-dealing turd-burglar then, should you?’
Logan locked the door. ‘Tell the inspector what you told me.’
Angus blew a lazy stream of smoke out into the snow. ‘What’s it worth?’
Steel frowned at Logan. ‘What’s what worth?’
‘Mr Black here wants paid to tell us where he got his drugs from.’
‘Get bent, we’re no’—’
‘I’m saying sod all otherwise. These bastards’ll kill me if they find out – you gotta make it worth the risk.’
Logan pulled out his notebook and flipped back a couple of pages. ‘Dog shit.’
Angus shook his head. ‘No it isn’t, you haven’t seen them, they’re fucking
‘No, you idiot – “dog shit”. You said you didn’t want to end your days as a big pile of dog shit.’
‘Oh…right. Yeah, their boss’s got this massive Rottweiler. Thing’d have your hand off like
Steel waved a hand at Logan. ‘How much we pick him up with?’
‘About a grand’s worth of heroin.’
‘Wasn’t mine – I was just holding it for a friend.’
‘Aye, right.’ Steel took a bite of her buttie. ‘McNab’s on the bench today, Angus, how many times has he done you for dealing? Word is he’s looking to set an example. Only way you’re going to see the sun again in the next seven years is if you dob in your suppliers.’
‘Old ones are the best ones, eh Inspector? What’s next: going to terrify us with poofter cellmate stories?’ Angus grinned. ‘Done my time before, can do it again. At least I’ll still be alive when I get out.’
The phone on Steel’s desk started ringing. She peered at the little LCD display. ‘No one important.’ She hit the disconnect button. ‘Start talking, Angus.’
‘Not till I see some cash.’
Steel took her wallet out and slapped two tenners down on her desktop. ‘Twenty quid, take it or leave it.’
Logan shifted against the filing cabinet. The smell of Steel’s bacon buttie was making him feel hungry and nauseous, all at the same time. It was getting cold in here too, all the heat disappearing out of the open window, along with the cigarette smoke.
He let them haggle for a bit, then pulled a clear evidence pouch from his pocket and gave it a shoogle. ‘Three hundred pounds.’
‘What?’ Angus curled his lip. ‘Three thousand,
‘That’s how much you had on you when I picked you up: three hundred pounds in counterfeit notes.’
He stood there with his mouth hanging open. It wasn’t a good look. ‘Counterfeit…? I sold my bloody car to buy that stuff! Four and a bit
‘So where’s the rest of it?’
Pause. ‘Rest of what?’
‘You had a thousand pounds’ worth of heroin in the rucksack, where’s the other three?’
The phone started ringing again. Steel raised an eyebrow. ‘Little Miss Popular today.’ She hit disconnect again, settled back in her seat and stuck the smouldering cigarette between her teeth. ‘Laz, get a search warrant. We’re going to do Angus a favour and tidy his house before he gets out.’
‘Erm…Maybe we could come to some sort of understanding? You like iPods, right?’
Logan clapped a hand down on Angus’s shoulder. ‘Not your day, is it?’
‘You try to do a bit of business, and what happens? Everyone screws—’
A thump at the office door. Then the handle jiggled up and down a bit. Someone outside called, ‘Steel? Inspector? Are you in there?’ DCI Finnie.
Steel sprang upright in her seat. ‘Arse!’ She flicked her cigarette through the open window, grabbed a file off her desk and started fanning like mad. Angus obviously wasn’t as daft as he looked. He followed her lead, hurling his fag out into the snow, then, while she was busy clearing the air, grabbed the remains of her buttie and crammed it into his mouth.
‘Inspector?’
