‘You get used to it after a while,’ Winter told him.
Monteith looked down at the covered body, shaking his head slowly.
‘How did he die?’ Winter asked again.
‘I told you. An accident.’
‘You accidentally broke his neck?’
‘He went for me. The crazy bastard leapt at me when I had the gun on him. I didn’t want to kill him, wouldn’t have shot him. Not dead anyway. I might even have…’
‘Let him carry on?’
‘No. Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. It didn’t come to that. He got both hands on the gun and it became him or me. He ended up in front of me with the rifle across his neck, both of us holding it, grappling for it. I tried to pull it into his throat just to choke him a bit but then I twisted it and… there was a crack and he slumped. I didn’t mean to kill him.’
‘So you took over where he left off?’
Monteith ignored him.
‘How many did you kill, Monteith? Eight? Oh and you shot an innocent cop too. That make you proud?’
‘Shut the fuck up, Winter.’
‘You said that McKendrick should have been proud of what he did so it should be the same with you. Are you proud? Are you?’
‘I told you to shut it.’
He was getting louder, angrier.
‘Come on, Monteith. It’s just you and me. You said McKendrick should have got a medal for what he did. He did something when everyone else did fuck all, that’s what you said. So you did it too, didn’t you?’
‘You’re talking yourself into the grave, you stupid bastard. And there was no innocent cop. Your arsehole mate Addison was guilty as sin. I’ve never taken a dirty fiver in all the years I’ve worked and the idea of cops working for these bastards makes me want to puke. They are no better than the scumbags that pay them.’
Winter tensed his wrists against the cabling ties, wishing they’d been loosened so he could punch him in the face.
‘Addy wasn’t dirty. You’ve got nothing to prove that because there isn’t anything. What about Forrest and McConachie?’
‘No doubt about it. They were up to their eyes in it. Those four scumbags in the warehouse at Dixon Blazes? They couldn’t wait to talk about the dirty cops. Full of it they were. Wanted to save their necks and gave chapter and verse about how Forrest had been taking backhanders for years and turned a blind eye any time he was told to. He was well known in the saunas that Caldwell owned, got freebies from the girls in there. I’d heard that about him so it all fitted. They said that bitch McConachie had been tipping off Gilmartin whenever we tried to move against them and she had a pile of cash in her bank account.’
‘And Addy?’
‘Your mate’s number was in Sturrock’s phone. Why the fuck do you think that was there?’
‘That’s it? That’s all you had?’
‘It’s all I needed.’
‘Bollocks it is.’
Winter swallowed hard before what he was going to say next.
‘And what about Rachel? Rachel Narey.’
Monteith looked at him hard.
‘What about her? How did you know about her?’
‘I saw the photograph you’d taken. The one outside her flat.’
‘I’d have to wonder how you knew that was her flat but yeah, I took that. She was on the short list.’
Winter tried to keep a lid on his temper but it was becoming impossible.
‘McKendrick’s list?’
‘No, mine. I found her name listed in Sturrock’s phone as well. I’ve been keeping my eye on her. Not a hard thing to do, she’s tasty. If she wasn’t shagging drug dealers, I wouldn’t mind giving her one myself.’
That did it.
Winter got to his feet. Ignoring Monteith’s warning shout, he pulled one leg under the other and let his weight fall to the side till he was able to push himself up. Unsteady but upright, he was facing Monteith eye to eye for the first time and the cop didn’t like it.
He took half a step back. It wasn’t much but it was the first sign of a defensive move on his part, the first time that he’d displayed anything other than full confidence in what he was doing. Maybe he realized that too because he immediately came forward again to where he’d been.
‘Get back on the floor. Get back on the fucking floor.’
Winter stood his ground.
‘Fuck you, Monteith.’
‘What makes you so sure I won’t just put a bullet between your eyes, Winter? It is a hell of a lot closer than this thing is designed for but you shouldn’t be in any doubt that it can do the job. From here it would blow your head off.’
‘And you can do the job, right? Maybe you will. But the ones you killed deserved it, didn’t they?’
Winter took a couple of steps towards Monteith and was pleased to see him backing away towards the open door.
‘Stop right there, Winter. Stop now. You stop or I will fucking kill you here and now.’
‘I don’t think you’ve got the balls for it, Monteith.’
‘You know nothing, Winter. Nothing. Not about what I’m capable of or what the fuck happens in the real world. Talking about whether I’m proud when you don’t have the first clue about what needed to be done.’
‘So tell me.’
‘I’m going to kill you right now.’
‘I told you. I’ll take my chances.’
‘You’re an arsehole. Yeah I’m proud. I’ve got every fucking right to be proud. I’ve done more in the last week than in fifteen years in this job. Glasgow’s a better place for it and that’s what I’m paid to do.’
‘You’re not paid to kill.’
He aimed straight at Winter’s head, his eyes blazing with anger.
‘Don’t you dare fucking tell me what I’m paid for. Faichney, Houston, Riddle, Honeyman. Those cunts had bled this town dry for years.’
‘So how did you get them into the warehouse?’
‘Easy. I’m a cop, remember. I rounded them up and had some fun with them. Suddenly I had what every cop in the city wanted. A licence to take out these bastards with no comeback. However many of them I removed, they’d all be chalked up to McKendrick’s slate. Turned out these guys weren’t so untouchable after all.’
‘So you killed them.’
‘Yes, I killed them. I took his list and I followed it through. I did what I could do, what I had to do. Those scumbags had to go. Every one of them has to go to give people a chance to get out from under. It’s like cutting the heads off the hydra but that’s the way it’s got to be. You cut off as many fucking heads as you can then one day the new heads will stop popping up.’
‘So who does that make you? Hercules or was it Jason and his fucking Argonauts? Who appointed you the head cutter?’
‘Opportunity, that’s who. McKendrick set it all up, put it on a plate for me. You’ve seen what they do, the misery they cause. It was my job. You understand, right?’
‘No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how someone whose job is to uphold the law can take it into his own hands and kill people. Murder people. It makes you as bad as Caldwell, Quinn, Riddle, the lot of them.’
‘I didn’t kill Riddle. I’m sure that was Terry Gilmartin. He shot him for firebombing his place and killing his son. He just did it before I could. But you’re wrong, it’s not the same at all. They deserved everything they got.’
‘You’re a murderer, Monteith.’
Winter took another step towards him and Monteith edged further back.
