'Who is he?' asked Lloyd-Davies. 'Family?'
'He's the cop who took me to Glasgow,' said Shepherd. 'Said he might have something to help with my case.'
As Shepherd walked away from the bubble, Lee came over to him, his hands in his pockets. 'How did it go, Bob?' he asked.
'Blind as a bat, she was,' said Shepherd.
'Couldn't identify you?'
'I doubt she'd recognise herself in the mirror,' he said. 'Much happen while I was away?'
'You weren't away long.'
'What do you mean?'
'Traffic must have been good to get to Glasgow and back so quick.'
Shepherd frowned. 'We drove to King's Cross and got the train from there. Bastards wouldn't even let me have a hot meal on the journey.'
'Where did they take you?'
'Some hospital.'
'What about the cop shop?'
Shepherd frowned, not understanding the question.
'They must have taken you to a cop shop for questioning, right? Craigie Street, was it?'
'Not much to question me about. It was a waste of time. She said it wasn't me. Not by a mile.'
'Still, you got a day out, didn't you? Raining, was it?'
'What?'
'Raining in Glasgow, was it? Always rains in Glasgow, it does.'
Shepherd's eyes narrowed. 'Why the sudden interest in the weather, Jason?'
'Just making conversation.'
'Sounds more like the third degree. What's going on? You planning on writing my biography?'
Lee put his hands up and took a step backwards. 'Fine, I'll keep my gob shut,' he said. He pushed past Shepherd. 'It's teatime, anyway.' He joined the queue at the hotplate.
Shepherd hadn't selected his meal so he was given the vegetarian option - mushroom pizza. When he got back to the cell, Lee was sitting at the table. Shepherd apologised for snapping at him. 'It's been a shitty couple of days,' he said.
'Gave you a lot of grief, did they?'
'You know what cops are like.'
'Was your brief there?'
'Phoned him to put him in the picture, but I'm a big boy, Jason.'
Lee chuckled. 'Good to have you back, anyway. It was too quiet without you. Nobody got their legs broken.'
Carpenter waited until one o'clock in the morning before he got out of bed and took the Nokia phone and battery from their hiding places. He slotted the battery into the phone and switched it on. About a quarter of the power had already gone.
He went over to the door and listened. There'd been a check at a quarter to one so there shouldn't be another for at least forty-five minutes. He tapped out a number. Fletcher answered on the second ring.
'How's it going, Kim?'
'He's there,' said Fletcher. 'We've eyeballed Roper.'
'Much in the way of security?'
'A couple of Cussies. No guns, as far as we can see.'
'I need him taken care of, Kim.'
'I'm on it, boss.'
Carpenter massaged the bridge of his nose with his fingertips. He had a headache. 'Wait a minute. Kim.'
'What's up, boss?'
Carpenter took a deep breath. He had a bad feeling about Roper, but couldn't put his finger on what was troubling him. 'Get in a couple of freelancers,' he said.
'I can take care of it myself,' said Fletcher.
'I don't doubt that. But just in case, yeah? Get blacks. Muddy the waters.'
'Okay, boss.'
'Soon as you can. If there's a grass inside, I could get turned over at any moment. And if I lose this phone, we're back to passing messages.'
'Tomorrow night, boss. On my life.'
'We've given him plenty of chances to back out, anything that happens from now on is his own bloody fault.'
'What about the wife and kids?'
'Unless they get in the way, leave them be,' said Carpenter. He had no wish to hurt the man's family. In fact, he had no wish to hurt the man. He wasn't killing Roper out of anger or hatred, simply removing the last remaining obstacle to his freedom.
Hal Healey opened the cell door at a quarter to eight. Shepherd had put in an application to shower and he was on the way out when Healey stopped him and handed him a plastic bag. It contained a Walkman and a set of headphones. 'Your lawyer sent this in,' said Healey. He thrust a clipboard at Shepherd. 'Sign for it.'
Shepherd did so and put the bag on his bunk.
He went along to the shower room, and after he'd changed into a clean polo shirt and jeans, he waited until Lee had left for labour before checking the Walkman. It was a device he'd used before. It functioned as a cassette- player and radio, but the pause button activated a separate recording system that could store up to twelve hours of audio on a hidden chip.
He clipped it to his belt and hung the earphones round his neck. All he had to do now was to get Carpenter talking and activate the recorder.
He went downstairs to collect his cleaning equipment. Weston and Ginger were already cleaning the ones. Amelia Heartfield was standing by the supplies cupboard. 'Come on, Bob, the early bird . . .'
'Sorry, Amelia,' said Shepherd. She grinned at him and winked.
Shepherd took out a mop and a bucket, which he filled from the tap by the boiler. He looked up at the threes. Carpenter was at the head of the stairs, working with his mop. Shepherd pressed the pause button, activating the recorder, then headed up the stairs. He nodded at Carpenter and began to swab the floor. 'Never thought I'd be grateful to have a mop in my hand,' he said.
'Beats being in the workshops with the muppets,' said Carpenter.
Shepherd moved closer to Carpenter. 'What you said about getting a message out for me . . .'
'I'm a bit pushed at the moment,' said Carpenter.
'But you can do it, right?'
'I've got a few problems need sorting.'
Carpenter moved away and Shepherd followed him. 'Are you okay?'
Carpenter leaned on his mop. 'Look, Bob, I'm not your nursemaid, right?'
'Yeah, but you said you'd help me out, right, get a message out for me?'
'I said I'll think about it. And I'm thinking about it.' Carpenter looked around, but there were no prison officers within earshot. 'Let me take care of my business, then I'll help you with yours, okay?'
'Anything I can do?'
'I've someone taking care of it for me as we speak.'
'On the out?'
Carpenter nodded. 'Until that's done, I'm keeping my head down.'
'Getting rid of witnesses, yeah?' Carpenter frowned, and Shepherd realised he'd pushed him too far. 'None of my business,' he added.
'That's right,' said Carpenter.
'Best of luck with it, anyway,' said Shepherd. 'Just don't forget the shit I'm in, that's all.'
Shepherd moved away. Carpenter had said nothing that could be used to build a case against him, but the
