her on a Friday, or at the weekend, instead of looking in. He told me that he was never in the house again until I called him on the day of the murder.'
Andy Martin shook his blond head. 'Think about it, Chief. One evening Bob's in that room, in her bed; next time he's there, he's looking at her raped, battered, strangled body. He said to me that holding it together was one of the most difficult things he's ever had to do.'
'I can imagine,' said Proud. 'Why didn't he tell you about this sooner, though, or tel me for that matter?'
'He didn't think we needed to know, Chief. It was only when he worked out how Arthur Dorward would conduct that investigation that he realised it would come out anyway.'
Sir James stood up, and walked to his window. 'It's a mess, Andy, a horrible mess. I never thought I'd see a day like this. What d'you think Cheshire will make of this development?'
'If we tell him,' said Martin. 'This is part of the McGrath investigation, not his.'
'Careful, son,' warned the Chief. 'You have to remember to think like a policeman here, not as a friend. This has to do with Bob; Cheshire's investigating Bob. We don't have any choice but to tell him. He won't think Bob's implicated in the murder, not for a second, but he'll be entitled to consider it to be evidence of moral instability.'
The Chief Constable shook his silver head, wearily.
'I mean, if we look at this thing dispassionately, if we just think in terms of Mr X and do our jobs, what have we got? A secret account for a hundred thousand for the benefit of Mr X. His signature lodged with the bank. The deposit receipt found, concealed, in his office.
Against al that, what is there? Alex's point, which you mentioned, about the Bank of England notes, and the fact that the courier may or may not have been Leona McGrath's killer, who may or may not have a grudge against Mr X. Not the strongest defence I've ever encountered.'
Proud Jimmy sighed. 'Let's face it, all we have is the fact that you and I can't believe that Bob Skinner could possibly be corrupt. Yet take your mind back twelve months, and ask yourself at that time whether it's possible that in a year, he'll be split from his wife and son and living with another woman.'
He looked back at Martin, who looked at the floor and shook his head, slowly.
'Anyway Andy,' the Chief Constable went on, 'none of that is either relevant nor proper. We are senior police officers, with a public duty.
If this was anyone else, he'd be charged by now, on the basis of those facts alone.
'See if Cheshire and Ericson are still in the building, will you. We have to tell them what we know.'
62
'It's grim, isn't it?' asked Alex.
'No, love,' Andy replied, sincerely. 'It's much worse than that.'
'What'l they do now?'
'They'll continue to look into every aspect of your dad's recent investigations to try to find a link with the bank account.'
'Okay, and they won't find it. So doesn't that make it a stalemate, at worst?'
He reached out and turned her face round towards his. 'Alex, this afternoon Proud Jimmy had to remind me to think like a policeman.
Now I've got to remind you to think like a lawyer.
'Al Cheshire doesn't need to find any more. There needn't be any link to a past enquiry. The Crown can argue that the money was a down payment for future services. Finding that receipt hidden in Bob's desk was a real kil er. They can go back to Lord Archibald any time they like and recommend prosecution.
'Cheshire said he'd let me know when they final y decided to do that. He said he'd keep me informed of anything else they turn up.'
'Anything else! Such as?'
'Who knows, after today?'
Tears of helplessness sprang into her eyes. 'Andy, this is a nightmare. I know Pops has had a terrible time over the last few months, but he hasn't changed that much. This is my dad and he's still one of the two best men in the world.'
He drew her to him, and hugged her, as they stood in the window of the Haymarket flat, looking up towards Princes Street, and the Castle. 'I know, sweetheart. The Chief may tell me to think like a policeman, but I just can't in this case. I don't give a bugger about the evidence, Bob didn't do it, and that's that.'
Alex was sobbing now, in his arms. 'But Andy, what if he's convicted?'
'Then I'll leave the force, if necessary, to prove his innocence.'
'You mean because he won't be able to, where he'll be?'
'Shh, Wee One. Don't imagine that even for a second.'
'I try not to, but… The thing you told me about last night, about Pops and Leona. How much harm can that do?'
'Probably none, injury terms. I doubt if it would be admissible in evidence. No, its damage is in the way that it makes Cheshire and Ericson see Bob: as being flawed, vulnerable. Open to offers, if you like.'
He squeezed her shoulders again. 'Listen, you're one of his team.
You have to keep fear at bay. You're seeing old Christabel tomorrow.
She should be good for morale.'
'I never asked you,' said Alex. 'D'you know her?'
Andy smiled. 'I don't know how to answer that. She isn't an acquaintance, yet I know the old witch al right. She cross-examined me once in the High Court. I was only a baby DC then, in some breaking-and-entering thing. I'd only been involved in interviewing the minor witnesses.
'The Advocate Depute took me through it, a bit casually, maybe, then it was her turn. She stood there over her papers, and by God did she put a spell on me. She started going on about Witness A, Witness B and Witness C, and by the time she was finished I hadn't a bloody clue who was who.
'Every question she asked, her voice got louder and louder, until she was bawling at me like an old cow across a field. My mother was there, too, to watch me give evidence in the High Court for the first time. So proud she'd been.' He laughed. 'Afterwards, outside in the corridor, I'd to stop her from tearing into Christabel, for bullying her boy.
'I tell you, with her on his side, Bob's got a chance, whatever the evidence that's been set up against him.'
63
The clock on the BMW showed 1.11 a.m. when Skinner pul ed into a vacant parking space outside Pam's converted warehouse. He had expected her to be in bed, asleep, but as he turned his key in the lock and opened the front door, he heard the sound of music, playing softly from the stereo.
There was no light in the living room, other than that of the city outside, diffused by the muslin drapes, but he could see her silhouette as she sat waiting for him in her armchair, her legs doubled beneath her.
She turned towards him as he entered the warm room. From the slope of her shoulders and the swell of her breasts, he could tell, even before his eyes grew accustomed to the dimness of the light, that she was naked.
She rose and came towards him, to wrap herself around him, to press her body against his. 'I was just beginning to worry,' she whispered, pulling his head gently down and kissing him.
'It's been a long day for you. Did you find Balliol? Did he tell you what you wanted to know?'
He swept her up in his arms and carried her through to the bedroom. 'The music…' she began.
