the boy. I think this guy lives in our city, Andy. Do you agree?'
'Yes,' said the Head ofCID, 'I do. I think that's more than likely.
'But Bob, there's one thing that's stil eating at me. Clearly this guy knows you, and knows of your bond with Mark. He's targeting you, somehow, through this crime. But to come to Gul ane to make that cal. Why would he do that?'
'Because he's crazy, Andy, that's why, and he's a gamester. This guy is as mad as a rucking hatter, and he thinks that he can play with the stupid policeman.'
Skinner went on. 'Let's consider something else. He only planned to stay in the van for a couple of days. Why?'
'He wouldn't want to outstay his welcome with Carr, I guess,'
Martin offered.
'Right. So where did he go, when he left on Sunday, after he and Mark had finished their food supply?'
'If I knew that,' said the younger man, 'I'd go and get him.'
'If I knew where he lived,' said Skinner, 'so would I. If he guessed that we only have the manpower to keep the real pressure on for a short period, what was to keep him from just going home?'
The Chief Superintendent looked at the Deputy Chief, and simply nodded his silent agreement.
'Are you seeing the press today?' Skinner asked.
'Whenever Carr finishes the photofit.'
'Right, why don't you tell them that we've found the caravan on the moors, that it's empty, and that we believe that the kidnapper, and Mark, may be back in the city? Let's heat the place up again, with a vengeance. If he is here, maybe we'l panic him into making a break for it.'
Martin looked suddenly doubtful. 'Isn't there a danger that if he panics he'll kill the child?'
The DCC looked him in the eye. 'Yes, there's bound to be: yet this man wants Mark, Andy. He needs him for something. That risk has existed since the kidnap, but he hasn't done it yet, or I'm pretty sure you'd have found the kid dead in the caravan.
'Look, our man has been setting the agenda all along. Let's make some moves of our own, and show him that we've got some brains after all.'
'Okay,' said the Head ofCID. 'I'l play it that way. Now, since you seem to have recovered your powers of deduction and are back in the detecting game, is there anything else that we could be doing that we're not?'
Skinner smiled. 'Since you ask…' he said. 'That caravan. It had a phoney number plate, didn't it?'
'Yes. I wonder why the guy didn't take it off. He's blown his cover in a way by leaving it there.'
'Sure but if he'd removed it he'd have drawn early attention to the van, which he did not want to do. Anyway it doesn't matter. Since we don't know who he is, our man will be using his legal number again.' The DCC paused.
'But stil, the phoneys are a potential lead: how about taking the city apart to see if you can find out who made them?'
43
'This is getting to be a habit,' said Skinner, hanging up the phone and turning to choose a tie from the half- dozen or so that he kept in Pamela's wardrobe. 'Telephone calls from David Hewlett two mornings on the trot.'
She stopped in the act of fastening her skirt, and looked across at him. 'That was the Secretary of State's office? D'you think he's changed his mind about…' She paused.
'About giving me the bul et, you were going to say? No chance of that. He's already made the announcement, although he may have to find another replacement for me, even after my chat with Jock Govan.'
'He wouldn't offer it to the Chief would he?' asked Pam.
Bob laughed. 'Do not be daft, my dear. Jimmy's a career administrator; never served in CID in his life. He's a better politician than Anderson, but he knows bugger all about security. Anyway, not even our Secretary of State would be crude enough to offer my Chief a job that I'd been fired from. A refusal often offends, as they say: he wouldn't invite it.
'No, if he'd asked my advice, I'd have told him to recruit my pal Haggerty from Strathclyde. Wil ie's a bit of a hairyback, but he's a bloody good copper, and he knows everything that's going on through in the West, where you'll find most of the organised crime and terrorism in Scotland.'
'What did Hewlett want, then?'
'Anderson wants to see me again, apparently. Ten o'clock this morning, St Andrew's House.'
He looked in the mirror, to straighten his tie, then picked up his jacket from the bedroom chair, over which he had draped it the night before. He was frowning as he fol owed Pam through to the kitchen. 'Wonder what the hell it could be about?' he asked himself aloud.
'Didn't Hewlett say?'
'He said that he didn't know.'
'And you believed him, after what happened yesterday?'
Skinner nodded, as he poured cornflakes into two bowls, and reached into the fridge for milk. 'David's one of the good guys. He wouldn't tell me an outright lie. He said 'I don't know what it's 140 about', not 'I can't tel you', and I take him at his word. Anyway,' he said, 'I can usually tell when someone's telling me porkies.'
'So what do you think it might be about?'
'Could be one or two things. A terrorist whisper from down South, although I'd probably have heard about that too. An attack of nerves over arrangements for his Party's conference in Glasgow this autumn, although Haggerty's well in control there.'
Skinner shook his head. 'I could guess al morning and stil get it wrong.
'Anyway, enough about me.' He spooned up some cornflakes. 'I've got some news for you. I spoke to Scott Rol and yesterday afternoon, the chief in Central. He has a pregnant detective sergeant in his drugs squad, based in Falkirk. She goes off on maternity leave in eight weeks, and her job's yours if you want it.
'It'd be a secondment at first, but the woman's told him that if everything's al right with the baby, then she'l be resigning. What d'you think?'
She stared at him. 'Why didn't you tell me this last night?' she asked.
'I was too steamed up over Anderson. Also, I thought you looked tired. Didn't want to put you off your sleep.'
She smiled. 'I suppose I was. Probably something to do with the way the'day began.' She hesitated. 'It sounds good. But do you think I'm right for drugs work?'
'You want to make a difference, don't you?'
'Yes.'
'Then, you're right for it. Look, this job isn't about going after Colombian cartels. They don't stretch as far as Falkirk. There wil be sharp-end stuff, but it is educational too: police-community liaison, schools visits, that sort of activity.'
She pushed her cornflakes to one side, stepped up to him and slipped her arms round his waist. 'What do you think I should do?'
'Not what I think,' he said firmly, 'what you want.'
'But it'd make life easier, long-term, for us both?'
'Yes, but stil, the only factor is whether you'd be happy in the job.'
'When do you have to tell Mr Rolland?'
'Today, if possible, but I can stretch it to next week.'
Pam shook her head. 'No. Tell him, 'Yes please, thank you very much'. And thank you very much too.'
He smiled. 'De nada,' he said.
'No,' she contradicted him. 'It's not nothing. It's a lot.' She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly very serious. 'Bob, I want to be legit, as far as you're concerned… as far as we're concerned. The companionship principle only
