Quintin Jardine - Pray for the Dying

‘Yes, of course,’ Hanlon said, patting him on the sleeve as if to mollify him. ‘Surely, the chances are it wasn’t Toni they were after. Everybody outside is saying it’s Aileen that’s been shot. . our Aileen, we call her in Glasgow. There’s folk in tears out there.

‘I thought it was her myself until the First Minister told me otherwise. Only the people in the front row could possibly know what’s really happened and I doubt if any of them do. They all think it’s Aileen because that’s the natural assumption. I think these people made a mistake, and shot the wrong woman.’

‘For God’s sake, man!’ Graham barked, beside him. ‘This is Aileen’s husband, don’t you realise that?’

‘Yes, of course! Sorry.’ The councillor seemed to collapse into his own confusion.

Skinner held up a hand. ‘Stop!’ he boomed. ‘Enough. We’ll get to that, and to Dominic’s theory. First things first.’ He turned to McGuire. ‘Mario, did you come through here alone?’

‘No, boss,’ the massive DCS answered. ‘Lowell Payne, DCI Payne, our Strathclyde secondee, he’s with me. He’s outside in the foyer; it was sheer chaos when we arrived, with no sign of anybody in command, so I told him to take control out there, calm people down as best he could, and move them out the other exit, so they wouldn’t go past bodies outside.’

The chief nodded. ‘Well done, mate. My priority was in here when I arrived. With Max Allan not making any sense, all I could do was get hold of a uniformed inspector and tell him to contain the audience within the hall, until we could be sure that there was no further threat outside. Where is everyone?’

‘Payne said he would gather them in the foyer and in the smaller theatre. There’s enough back-up lighting for that to be managed safely.’

‘Okay, that sounds fine. Now, you shouldn’t really be here at all, but you charged through here like a red-taunted bull as soon as you heard your wife might be in danger. Whatever, your priority will always be her. Get yourself off to the Govan police station, pick her up from there and take her home.’

‘What about Aileen?’ McGuire asked.

‘She stays there, till someone in authority says otherwise. Find Clyde Houseman and tell him from me that he takes no instructions from anyone below chief officer rank. On your way, now.’

He turned back to the politicians. ‘Now. You two were working up to say something before Dominic here put his foot in it. What was it?’

‘We’ve got a crisis, Bob,’ Graham replied. ‘Strathclyde is in trouble, and that’s putting it mildly. The chief constable is dead, the deputy chief took early retirement a fortnight ago, Max Allan, the senior ACC, has just been taken away in an ambulance with severe chest pains, and the two other ACCs are far too new and inexperienced in post to move into the top job, even on a temporary basis. . and even without the force facing one of the highest-profile murder investigations it’s ever known, as this will become.’

Hanlon nodded, vigorously. ‘As you’ve just pointed out to me, Mr Skinner, graphically, this is a major crime, and even if Toni’s killers. . and the killers of one, maybe two police officers. . are lying dead in the street outside, the matter isn’t closed.’

‘Maybe three, maybe four,’ Skinner murmured.

The Police Authority chairman blinked. ‘Eh?’

‘How did they get the uniforms? We don’t know that. Did they bring them, or did they take them from two other cops we haven’t found yet?’

‘My God,’ Hanlon gasped. ‘I hadn’t thought about that.’

‘Bob,’ the First Minister intervened. ‘This investigation needs a leader. This whole force needs a leader and it needs him now. We don’t have time for niceties here. I want to appoint you acting chief constable of Strathclyde, pending confirmation by an emergency meeting of Dominic’s authority. That will take place tomorrow morning.’

‘Me?’ Skinner gasped. ‘Strathclyde? The force whose very existence I’ve opposed for years? Is there nobody else? What about Andy Martin? He’s head of the Serious Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. He could do the job.’

Graham shook his head. ‘He could, I agree, but everybody knows he’s your protégé, not to mention him being your daughter’s partner. He’d be seen as second choice, and I can’t have that. I need the best man available, and that is you. Please, help me. Your deputy in Edinburgh is more than capable; she can stand in there. Please take the job; in the public interest, Bob, even if it does go against your own beliefs.’

Skinner stared at him. ‘You’ve really boxed me in, man, haven’t you?’

‘It’s not something I’d have chosen to do.’

‘No, I believe you. That’s the way it is, nonetheless.’ He sighed. ‘Fuck it!’ he shouted, into the darkness of the empty hall.

‘Can I take that as a yes?’ the First Minister whispered.

‘And you’ve agreed?’

‘What else could I do, Andy? The Police Authority meets tomorrow to confirm it formally, and it’ll be announced on Monday. But it’s for three months, that’s all. I’ve made that clear.’

There was a silence on Andy Martin’s end of the line, until he broke it with a soft chuckle. ‘Would that be as clear as you’ve made it to anyone who would listen that you would never take the job under any circumstances?’

‘Yes, okay, I have said that,’ Skinner conceded. ‘But,’ he protested, ‘who could have predicted these particular circumstances?’

‘Nobody,’ his best friend conceded. ‘That’s why the “any” part of it was a mistake. Now let me make a prediction. However hard it was for you to get into the job, it will be harder for you to get out.’

‘Nonsense! I said three months and I meant it. They’ll be glad to see me go, Andy. The politicians will hate me here; remember, most of them are followers of my soon to be ex-wife.’

‘Your what?’ Martin exclaimed. ‘Come on, Bob. Alex told me you’d had a row over police unification, but I’d no idea it was that serious. You’ll get over it, surely.’

‘No, we won’t. Too much was said, too much truth told. This isn’t like when Sarah and I broke up, or you and Karen. We haven’t drifted away from each other like then, we’ve torn the thing apart. Besides. .’ He stopped in mid-sentence. ‘No, that’s for another time. I have things to do here. First and foremost, I’ve got a very messy crime scene to manage. Second, I’ve got to face the press.’

‘Where are you going to do that?’

‘I’ve told the press office to use the City Chambers. Hanlon, the Police Authority chair, is going to fix it. I could have done it on the front steps of the concert hall, but I want to move the media, or as many as I can, away from there, so the people who were in the auditorium can leave as easily as we can manage. They’re having to go that way, into Buchanan Street, since there are still three bodies lying in Killermont Street.’

‘I know Hanlon; he’ll want to sit alongside you.’

‘You’re right. He’s asked if he could, and not only him. Clive Graham tried it before him. I’ve told them both that they’re not on. This is the assassination of a high-profile public figure we’re dealing with and I’m damned if I’m having anything that sniffs of political posturing alongside it.’

‘Hah!’ Martin exclaimed. ‘That’s already happened. I’ve just seen that Joey Morocco guy vox-popped on telly, outside in Buchanan Street. The way he tells the story, the First Minister’s something of a hero, standing up in the line of fire when the emergency lights came back on. Graham’s going to have to give himself a gallantry medal.’