before that, as I know to my cost. After our bust-up on Sunday, Murtagh had him monitor my telephone calls. He knows I called you in Florida; he knows you leaked the story to the press. He's threatened to ruin you if you don't behave, and to boot me out of the Cabinet in disgrace if I don't fall into line and go along with his plans.'
'Has he now?' Skinner growled. 'Let's see him try. It doesn't take a genius to guess who was behind the story, but let him prove it. You could stick John Hunter in the High Court and have a judge order him to reveal a source on pain of jail, and he wouldn't. If Greg Jay tried to interrogate him, he'd laugh in his face.'
'Couldn't he check your phone calls from the hotel?'
'He'd need the FBI's help, and it's no cert he'd get it; but even if he did he'd come up dry. I used Sarah's American cell-phone to call John, and he knows nothing about that'
'Don't underestimate him. He knows a lot about us. That's why I came to pick you up this morning; it's why I wouldn't speak to you on the phone yesterday. I was afraid that someone would be listening.'
'What does he know, exactly?'
She repeated everything that Murtagh had told her about their meetings, about the Arts Club, her Edinburgh flat, the Open Arms Hotel. 'Jay must have been tailing us all along, or me at least.'
Bob took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. 'No,' he said, quietly. 'I'd have known if he was doing that. He didn't follow anyone unseen, not me at any rate; he's not that good, and I'd have known if he had used any serving officer for the job. Somebody told him about those meetings.'
'But who could have?'
'Work it out. It wasn't me, so that leaves only one person.'
Aileen's brow knitted into a frown. 'No, it couldn't be; she wouldn't.'
'Lena McElhone isn't your personal secretary, love. She's your private secretary and that's different. She's a civil servant: if she was leaned on by the First Minister or his stooge, she'd have a career choice to make. I wouldn't blame her, but I'd be careful what I let her know in future, other than your official business.'
'Those bastards!' She spat the words out. 'I can just see them doing it too. What's this man Jay like?'
'Disgruntled, is how I'd describe him. He didn't quite make it to the top, but he thought he should have. I transferred him recently, out of Leith to another division; he accepted it at the time, but I could tell that he didn't like it. I don't think he liked me either.'
'Why not?'
He chuckled. 'It's not compulsory. Greg might seem like a quiet, sober, middle-aged man, but inside that drab exterior there lurks an ego at least as big as mine.'
'How did he get the job? Murtagh said something about him having friends.'
'He does. He's got Masonic connections for a start. I guess the First Minister must have sent out scouts and his name came up. He's no security expert, but I guess that isn't the main requirement for the post any more.' He looked at her. 'This is not good. What are these plans of wee Tommy's that you mentioned?'
'He intends, and I quote, 'to take a lot tighter control over the police service'. He also wants me, as his Justice Minister, to go along with it. He wants you, as he put it, to 'lower your profile and stop interfering'. Or else.'
'He's threatening us?'
'Exactly. If we don't play ball he'll do some leaking of his own, about you and me.'
Skinner laughed. 'But he doesn't have anything to leak. Or didn't until now. Innocent we may be, but what would the tabloids do if they were tipped off that we've been together in your flat?'
'Murtagh and Jay didn't know we were coming here,' she protested.
'They didn't have to, not necessarily. Do you know how small they can make bugs and cameras these days?'
Aileen gasped. 'Jay might have bugged this place?'
He shook his head. 'Relax, I don't really think so, not for a moment. But just to be on the safe side give me a spare key and I'll have the Strathclyde Special Branch sweep it. And this…' He reached across her and switched on her bedside radio, pressing pre-set buttons until he found Clyde Two, then turning up the volume. 'Enjoy that, boys,' he growled.
'God,' she whispered, 'the very thought of it. Bob, I've been silly.'
'No dafter than me,' he replied. 'Besides, when you showed up at the airport this morning … it brightened my morning, that's all I'll say.'
'Mine too.'
They were silent for a while, avoiding eye contact, each thinking private thoughts.
'So you are going along with Murtagh's scheming?' he asked, eventually.
'It's going to happen, whether I do or not'
'What is, exactly?'
'The First Minister is legislating to give himself the right to confirm every appointment at assistant, deputy and chief constable rank; he will also have to approve all short-lists for interview. Beyond that, he will take added powers to intervene directly and fire those whom he decides are not performing properly, or are in dereliction of their duty.'
'He's taking command of the police?' Skinner was incredulous.
'Effectively, that's what it means. He showed me the enabling bill yesterday; he's had a team of civil servants and policy advisers working on it in secret. The draft's finished, the preliminaries are under way and it'll be ready for introduction to the Parliament next week.'
'Will he get it through?'
'I'd say so. He's persuaded the coalition partners to back it; he's promised them that approvals and confirmation will be virtually automatic, and that the firing power will only be invoked in extreme cases.'
'And they believed that?'
'They believed in the additional Cabinet post he's offered them. That'll be unveiled next Monday. But it's not just them. The SSP will support it as well, I'm sure, and probably the Greens. I wouldn't be surprised if the SNP do as well.'
'Don't tell me you believe his assurances?'
'No more than you do, but the majority of my party colleagues will; those that don't will obey the whip.'
'What if ACPOS, our chiefs' association, comes out and opposes it unanimously?'
'Then I'd guess that Tommy's spin machine will portray you as self-interested storm-troopers.'
'And you're going along with it?' he asked her. 'You really are?'
'If I don't, if I resign and try to drum up opposition to it, Tommy will use every means to discredit me, but first and foremost he'll come after you. As soon as the bill's signed into law, he'll find an excuse to remove you. I'm not going to allow that to happen.'
'Maybe I would, though!'
'Listen, love, two days ago you persuaded me to stay in government. Back me up now, please. Murtagh's a shrewd wee swine; he knows we care for each other, and he knows we're both ambitious. We've got to sit tight, stay well clear of each other if that's what it takes, and appear to play ball, even if it means letting him pass his bloody law. But I promise you one thing. You keep telling me I have it in me to be First Minister myself one day: if that ever happens, and I inherit that legislation, my very first act will be to repeal it. Trust me, Bob, please.
Tommy was right about one thing: I care about you, and I won't let you come to harm.'
He wrapped the duvet round himself and swung his legs off the bed, to sit beside her. 'I hope, Aileen,' he murmured, 'that I can make you the same promise and keep it. As long as you realise that keeping my head down under a threat from someone like your boss will be just about the most difficult thing that anyone's ever asked me to do.'
Sixteen
Mary Chambers took the folder from the envelope in which it had been delivered. She and Tarvil Singh had witnessed the autopsy on young George Regan, and so she knew that the pathologist's report she held in her hands was unsurprising.
