stick you in front of an identity parade. The bit I can't understand is why? Why did you shop the girl? And Manson? He was your meal ticket. You don't have another significant client. Why set him up for the chop?' Skinner's voice was soft, but his eyes were hard as they stared across the old, scratched table-top at Richard Cocozza.
The lawyer sat with bowed head, still crouched forward on his chair, gripping it on either side, with his knees pressed together and his fingers under his thighs. When he looked up, there were tears in his eyes.
‘Plenderleith didn't know. He didn't know what Linda had been doing while he was inside!' he wailed plaintively. 'It wasn't like you said. Tony didn't force her into anything. When Lennie went inside, he offered her a job in my office, but she said she'd rather make real money. So he controlled her. He vetted all her punters. No one in the place knew her surname, not even the manager. She wasn't on the payroll, like the other girls are. They're employed, you see, so that no one can be nailed for living on the proceeds or anything like that. The theory is that what they make on their backs is pin-money.'
He looked across at Alison Higgins and nodded his head in a peculiar gesture, as if offering an apology for the crudeness of his phrase.
'Pin-money,' Skinner snorted. But they still kick back enough to the house to cover their pay-packets and a bit more too. Your Tony was a fucking pimp on a big scale!'
`I don't know anything about that,' Cocozza pleaded.
`Aye, sure you don't,' said Skinner with a chuckle. But we won't pursue that. No you're still in the frame, wee man. If Lennie was a poor; unsuspecting cuckold, what was the four grand for? Why was there a plane ticket for Linda? It still stacks up like they had her getaway arranged. Then you found out that he was getting out a day early, picked him up and dropped him off, primed and ready to do the dirty deeds, then vanish with Linda's hard-earned dough.'
Cocozza shook his head, violently from side to side. 'No! No! No! You've still got it wrong! The plane ticket and the money were for Lennie. Tony told me that, as soon as he was released, he was going to send him on a sort of working holiday to Spain. The idea was that Linda would fly over to join him in a week or two, once he was settled in. There was a place out there that Tony was thinking of buying into: a Country Club and timeshare resort. Lennie was to go out there right away and spend a couple of months looking the place over, without anyone knowing who he was. Then, if it seemed all right to him, Tony was going to put his cash in, and Lennie and Linda were going to stay there as his people on the ground.'
Skinner looked at him, grinning gently. 'You're thinking fast, Cocozza, but I've still got you by the balls. I prefer my version, and so will the Crown Office. You've still got some work to do.'
`Look, Tony visited him at Shotts just last week. He went out to see him, to tell him what he wanted. He came back and he said to me, 'That's fine about the Spanish thing. I've talked to the big fella and he's up for it.' He said that he would sort out his traveller's cheques through Linda's bank account. There was another ten thousand waiting for him in a bank account out there. It was the second part of his pay-off for.
Skinner's grin widened into a smile as Cocozza realised that he was about to implicate himself in the six- year-old Dalkeith assault, and choked off his sentence.
You can check on the visit. They keep records in prisons, don't they? It was only the second time that Tony had been to see him in all that time. I'm sure if there had been any argument they'd have noticed.
`I'll check, Cocozza. Don't you worry. But the prison office will be closed by now, so you'll be our guest at least until it opens in the morning. . and then you'll be theirs if they don't back up your story! Meantime, keep talking. The Spanish bank account. Which bank?'
`It's a convertible peseta account at Banco Central, in Alicante. Lennie signed an authorisation form when Tony went to see him, so that he could go in when he got there and draw cash whenever he liked, without fuss. The bankbook should have been at Linda's place too.' Cocozza had recovered some of his composure, but none of his insolence. There was still a plea in his eye. 'Is that enough for you, Skinner?'
`Enough for now, Cocozza. Enough for us to. check. But if just one wee piece turns out to be crap, you're for the jump. Even if you walk out of here, you're standing on the edge of being struck off by the Law Society. Who knows, maybe you could pick up a job managing a sauna. That's about your strength!'
Fourteen
Lucky lady, Maggie. You're going to get to do something that I've never done: you're going to Spain on the Company. And before you ask, no, you can't take McGuire!'
It was 8:27 a.m. on Wednesday 15 May. Skinner and his personal assistant had been at work for almost an hour. The remains of their breakfast, of bacon rolls from the canteen and coffee from Skinner's filter, lay on the rosewood desk.
`There's no doubt at all that Big Lennie's in Spain. Maybe he thinks we won't come after him; but if he reckons he can knock off two people and simply become just another anonymous hoodlum among the crowds of villains on the Costa Del Crime, well, he's got another think coming. I saw the mess he made of that woman. I can't get too worked up about Tony Manson, but wherever Lennie is, and whatever provocation he thought he had, I've — we've all got a duty to make sure that he can't do to another woman what he did to his wife. That's why I want you out there: to make sure that the Guardia Civil don't treat this as just another request for assistance from a foreign police force.'
Maggie Rose looked Skinner in the eye. 'Why me, boss? You could send Brian Mackie. After all, international liaison's part of his Special Branch brief now. You're not just giving me a perk, are you?'
`Hah!' Skinner laughed; a sudden, short, snorting laugh. `No, I am not! Since when did I hand out sweeties? Anyway, you haven't been in this post long enough to have earned a freebie. There's a good reason for your going, rather than Brian. Even though things have changed for the SB, he still has to be kept anonymous. And that's the last thing I want on this investigation. I want to generate as much publicity for this as I can. I've already told Alan Royston to call a press conference as soon as he can, for first thing this morning, and then I'm going to tell all. You'll be with me at the top table. I'm going to announce that we're anxious to interview the victim's husband, and that we know he's in Spain. Then I'm going to introduce you as the detective responsible for liaison with the Spanish bobbies — Skinner's personal emissary and all that stuff. Fancy being a media superstar, Maggie?'
Not a lot, sir. Much more up Mario's street. Why don't you send him?'
`Apart from the fact that he's not senior enough, he's a bull. You're a diplomat. This isn't just PR for home consumption. I want the story to follow you out there. I want the Spanish to realise that this isn't just another domestic murderer we're after. This is a man who has made a career out of violence. I want the Scottish media pressuring the Spanish for results, so that I know they're giving us their best efforts. Your job out there will be to brief the Guardia Civil, and to join them in pursuing certain lines of inquiry. You'll really be leading them, in that you'll be making sure that those lines of inquiry are followed up.'
He pointed to his desk. 'Take the picture book out with you, and all the reports: scene-of-crime, forensic, postmortem. Contact Edinburgh University this morning and arrange to
have them all translated into Spanish. How good is yours, by the way?'
`Quite good. I've been doing it at the Colegio Espanol for years. How did you know about that?'
`It's on your file.' Maggie raised her eyebrows in surprise. `You don't think you'd be where you are now without some vetting, do you?' said Skinner. 'That's yet another reason why I'm sending you rather than anyone else. I want you to be involved in this as actively as you can.
Rose nodded. 'What special lines of inquiry did you mean, sir?'
`Two really. I want you to check out that place Cocozza told us about, the one that Manson was thinking about putting his dough into. Check there for any sightings of the big man, but while you're at it, find out all you can about the place, and about the types who own it. The other thing you should do is check up on the bank account Cocozza told us about, in the Banco Central in Alicante. See whether it's been activated.'
`One thing, boss. You haven't mentioned Manson at all. Do I take the pics and reports of his murder too?'
Skinner shook his head. 'No. Leave that out.'
Will you be telling the press that we want to talk to Plenderleith about Manson as well?'
`No.'
