But she'd missed that: the setts sending tremors through a lorry.
Rather than repeat himself, Rebus just asked to be let in.
'I need to get dressed.'
He repeated the request and the buzzer sounded. He pushed open the door into the communal stairwell and climbed the two nights.
She'd left her door ajar for him, but he gave a knock anyway.
Wait in the living room!' she called, presumably from her bedroom.
Rebus could see the living room. It was at the end of a wide
hall, the sort that often got called a 'dining hallway', meaning you were supposed to have a table there and entertain your friends to supper rather than have them traipse all over your actual living room. It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing. Welcoming, but not very. The living room itself boasted stark white walls to complement stark white furniture. It was like walking into an igloo. The floorboards had been stripped and varnished and he concentrated on them for a moment, trying to avoid becoming snow-blind. It was a big room with a high ceiling and two huge windows. He couldn't imagine that Gill Morgan shared with anyone, the place was too tidy. There was a flat-screen TV on the wall above the fireplace and no ornaments anywhere. It was like the rooms in the Sunday newspaper supplements, the ones designed to be photographed rather than lived in.
'Sorry about that,' a young woman said, walking into the room. 'I realised after I'd let you in that you could be anybody. The officers the other day carried ID – can I see yours?'
Rebus got out his warrant card, and as she studied it, so he studied her. She was tiny – almost elfin-like. Probably not even five feet tall, and with a pointy little face and almond-shaped eyes.
Brown hair tied into a ponytail, and arms the thickness of pipe cleaners. Hawes and Tibbet had said she was a model of some kind… Rebus found that hard to believe. Weren't models supposed to be tall? Satisfied with his credentials, Morgan had sunk into a white leather armchair, tucking her legs beneath her.
'So how can I help you, Detective Inspector?' she asked, hands clasped to her knees.
'My colleagues said you have a modelling career, Miss Morgan – must be going well for you?' He made show of admiring the living room's proportions.
'I'm moving into acting, actually.'
'Really?' Rebus tried to sound interested. Most people would have responded to his original question by asking what business it was of his, but not Gill Morgan. In her universe, talking about herself came naturally.
'I've been taking classes.'
Would I have seen you in anything?'
'Probably not yet,' she preened, 'but there's some screen work on the horizon.'
'Screen work? That's impressive…' Rebus lowered himself on to the chair opposite her.
'Just a small part in a television drama…' Morgan seemed to
feel the need to play down the significance, no doubt in the hope that he'd think she was being modest.
'Exciting, all the same,' he told her, playing along. 'And it probably helps explain something we've been wondering about.'
Now she looked puzzled. 'Oh?'
'When my colleagues spoke to you, they could see you were trying to feed them a line. Fact that you say you're an actor explains why you thought you'd get away with it.' He leaned forward, as if to take her into his confidence. 'But here's the thing, Miss Morgan, we're now investigating two murders, and that means we can't afford to get sidetracked. So before you get into serious trouble, maybe you should own up.'
Morgan's lips were the same pale colour as her cheeks. Her eyelids fluttered, and for a moment he thought she might faint.
'I don't know what you mean,' she said.
'I wouldn't give up those lessons just yet – looks to me like you've got a few things to learn about delivering a line. The blood's left your face, your voice is shaking, and you're blinking like you've been caught in someone's headlights.' Rebus sat back again. He'd been here five minutes, but he thought he could read the whole of Gill Morgan's life in what he'd seen of her so far: cushy upbringing, parents who poured money and love over her, schooled in the art of confidence and never having faced a challenge she couldn't sweet talk her way out of.
Until now.
'Let's take it slowly,' he said in a softening voice, 'ease you into it. How did you meet Nancy?'
'At a party, I think.'
Tou think?'
'I'd been to a few bars with some friends… we ended up at this party and I can't remember if Nancy was already there or if she'd somehow attached herself to the group along the way.'
Rebus nodded his understanding. 'How long ago was this?'
'Three or four months. Around Festival time.'
'I'm guessing the two of you come from different backgrounds.'
'Absolutely.'
'So what did you find in common?' She didn't seem to have a ready answer. 'I mean, something must have helped you bond?'
'She's just good fun.'
'Why do I get the feeling you're lying again? Is it the shaky voice or the fluttering eyelids?'
Morgan leapt to her feet. 'I don't have to answer any of your
questions! Do you know who my mother is?'
'Wondered how long it would take,' Rebus said with a satisfied smile. 'Go on then, impress me.' He clasped his hands behind his head.
'She's the wife of Sir Michael Addison.'
'Meaning he's not your actual father?'
'My father died when I was twelve.'
'And you kept his surname?' Colour had flooded back into the young woman's cheeks. She'd decided to sit down again, but keeping her feet on the floor this time. Rebus unclasped his hands and rested them on the chair arms. 'So who's Sir Michael Addison?' he asked.
'Chief executive of First Albannach Bank.'
'A useful sort to know, I'm guessing.'
'He rescued my mother from alcoholism,' Morgan stated, eyes boring into Rebus's. 'And he loves both of us very much.'
'Nice for you, but it doesn't help the poor sod who ended up dead on King's Stables Road. Your friend Nancy found the body, then lied to us about where she'd been heading home from. She gave your name, Gill, and your address. Meaning she must think you're one hell of a friend, the kind who'd go to jail on her behalf rather than tell the truth…'
He didn't realise his voice had risen, but when he stopped, there was a moment's reverberation from the walls.
“You think your stepdad would want you doing that, Gill?' he went on, voice softening again. 'You think your poor mum would want that?'
Gill Morgan had bowed her head and seemed to be analysing the backs of her hands. 'No,' she said quietly.
'No,' Rebus agreed. 'Now tell me, if I were to ask you right now where Nancy lives, could you give me an answer?'
A single tear dropped into the young woman's lap. She squeezed her eyes with thumb and forefinger, then blinked any further tears back. 'Somewhere off the Cowgate.'
'Doesn't sound to me,' Rebus said, 'as if you really know her all that well. So if the two of you aren't what you might call bosom buddies, why are you covering for her?'
Morgan said something he didn't catch. He asked her to repeat it. She glared at him, and this time the words were unmistakable.
