Ruth's arrangement, it was the Scotsman. His heart sank as he looked at the lower part of the front page, from which his likeness gazed out at him: at once he knew what the tone of the coverage would be.
Rather than recycle the Spotlights sensational scoop, the responsible Scotsman had taken as its front-page lead the announcement by five members of the Police Supervisory Board that they intended to raise the Deputy Chief Constable's conduct at the next meeting of the Board on the fol owing Wednesday. The Chair of the Board had agreed to accept an emergency motion of censure for debate.
Skinner scanned the rest of the story. In careful terms, clearly legally approved, it sketched out the allegations about his private life, naming Pamela Masters, and carrying the statements released by his solicitor and the Chief Constable's office. It closed with a footnote directing readers to Page Sixteen.
He leafed through the pages until he arrived at the Editorial column. There were two leader articles. The second was headed
'Morality and the Media'.
The detective scanned it through then read it aloud.
'If it is to be of true value to society, and ultimately to protect its freedom, the media as a collective entity must never be afraid or reluctant to comment critically on one of its own. when condemnation is justified.
'It is with that in mind that we deprecate the conduct of Spotlight magazine in its invasion of the private life of Deputy
Chief Constable Bob Skinner, and in particular the methods which it chose to adopt. This newspaper disapproves thoroughly of the surreptitious photographing of honest citizens within their own homes. That is why we wil not reproduce the photographs which appeared yesterday, although we were offered publication rights, at a price.
'Spotlight is a publication without any perceptible moral standards, driven only by the greed of its owners, and restrained only by the civil law of defamation. Your publishers find it distasteful whenever this newspaper occupies the same shelves in the relatively few outlets where they are sold together.
'Nevertheless, when questionable behaviour comes to light, the fact that its exposers are beneath contempt themselves does not make it any less questionable. Mr Skinner occupies a high-profile position which demands exemplary standards of personal behaviour. We wil not pass judgement on the motion which will be put before the Joint Police Board on Wednesday.
All we will say is that the Deputy Chief Constable, despite his great service to the city, is not above personal censure. On this 81 occasion, if his professional and moral conduct is cal ed into question, then in the circumstances, it seems that he cannot blame the Spotlight, however unprofessional and immoral a rag it might be. He can blame only himself
He folded the paper and laid it aside. 'I can't disagree with much of that,' he said. 'Who could, given that it's so circumspectly written?'
He gave a wry smile. 'Mind you, for all its position on the high moral ground, I can't help noticing that the Scotsman still manages to put my private life on its own front page.
'Is all the rest of it like this?' he asked.
'Yes,' Ruth replied. 'There are no other leaders, and no-one else has used the photos, but al the stories lead on the censure motion.
Everyone's used it. Even the Telegraph.'
'Let me guess. On Page Three?'
'Right first time.'
Skinner picked up the Daily Record and turned to page seven, as Ruth's red number indicated. 'Five Hunt Top Cop!' he read. He waved the newspaper in the air, indicating a row of head-and-shoulder photographs.
'There they are, the Famous Five. Unreconstructed Lefties, all of them; every one of them keen to take any opportunity to put their own party on the spot.'
His secretary looked across at him. 'Wil you go to the meeting on Wednesday?'
'I've thought about that. I'll go only if the Chair guarantees me the right to a personal statement, after the discussion but before the vote.'
'Do you think she will?'
'It won't be her choice. It'l be a group decision. My bet is that she won't be allowed to.'
He rearranged the newspapers into a pile.
'Will you issue any more statements before the meeting?'
Skinner shook his head. 'No. Pam might, though. She's been advised that she has a case for defamation against the Spotlight, since they suggested that she slept with me to get on in the Force. I'm telling her to sue.'
He saw Ruth wince. 'You don't agree?'
'If she was sure they'd settle out of court,' she said, 'yes, I'd agree.
But if it goes to trial, she could be hammered in the witness box. I wouldn't fancy being cross-examined about my sex life.'
'They'l settle, Ruth. Sooner rather than later too. That rag's used to paying off libel suitors.'
He slapped the papers on his desk, in a typical gesture. 'But enough of that,' he said, suddenly grim again. 'Let's see what the press say V about the McGrath case. That's my priority, and the thing that makes me most angry about the Spotlight is the fact that they deflected me from it!'
23
Martin and Mcllhenney had barely left Skinner's office before he picked up his secure telephone and dial ed a London number.
'This is Skinner, in Scotland,' he said, curtly, to the man who answered his cal with a simple 'Yes?'. 'The technical people are analysing a tape for me. Have them cal me back with a progress report, within ten minutes.'
Six minutes and four seconds later, the direct line rang. He picked it up quickly, laying down the file he was reading. 'Skinner.'
The voice on the other end of the line answered in a middle-American drawl. Skinner knew that the special relationship which had sprung up between the new Prime Minister and the US President had led to promises of greater co-operation between the security services for which each was responsible. He wondered if the caller was early evidence of their sincerity.
'Good morning, sir,' said the woman. 'My name is Caroline Farmer. I've been working on your tape.'
'Good to hear from you, Ms Farmer. Been with us long?'
'Three weeks, sir, on secondment from Langley.'The Scot smiled, his supposition answered. 'What's your background?' he asked.
'I'm a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, been with the Company for four years. I'm over on the new information exchange programme.'
'That's good. How about my mystery voice, then? You got anything for me?'
Caroline Farmer hesitated. 'Yeah, we've got something,' she began.
'I'll start with the accent. We have people here who reckon they can place the origin of UK citizens by the nature of their speech.'
'Yes, I know. What are they saying?'
'They believe that your caller is Scottish, sir.'
'Hah,' laughed Skinner, 'that's very good. Now carry on please: Scotland's quite a big place.'
'That's it, sir,' said the American. 'They can't do any better than that. They say that the basic cast of the voice indicates that the caller is Scottish. But his speech is absolutely flat, other than that. Listening to you, sir, I can detect a pronounced accent which I assume is regional Edinburgh.'
'Mostly Lanarkshire, actually,' the DCC grunted.
'Okay, but distinctive none the less. This guy is either disguising his voice, or he's been subject to so many influences that he cannot be pinned down. They did say, though, that he could have spent some time outside
