Quintin Jardine - Skinner's ghosts

The big policeman grinned. No-one had spoken to him in that tone since he was a detective constable.

'We can argue on both those points,' his counsel continued. 'But for me, the strongest card they have is the Crown's lack of information on who might have paid this money, and for what purpose.'

She looked at Skinner again. 'Now,' she said, 'I'l ask for your professional view. Would you be completely happy to be proceeding in a case with such an omission?'

The DCC considered her question, and as he did, he began to feel optimistic, for the first time in forty-eight hours. 'No,' he answered at last. 'I don't think that I would.' He grinned. 'I certainly wouldn't fancy having you cross-examine me in those circumstances.'

The old lady nodded her gracious thanks for his compliment. 'Very well then, gentlemen. Our best hope is that the donor of this hundred thousand pounds remains unidentified. Who knows, Mr Skinner?

Legally, you may even be able to keep it.'

Mitch Laidlaw smiled at the idea. 'What can we expect next. Miss Dawson?'he asked.

'A charge, I should think. The Secretary of State has really set up poor Archie Nelson with his damn investigation. Politics and justice aren't supposed to mix, but in these circumstances, I doubt if the new Lord Advocate can afford not to let this one go to trial.

'So you'd better brace yourself, young man…' She addressed Alex for the first time. '… and you, young lady. It will probably get worse, before it starts to get better.'

'Sir James,' said Cheshire, sitting not in the comfortable suite where callers were usually received, but in a straight-backed chair set in front of the Chief's big desk, 'you real y shouldn't be doing this, you know.

'My remit here is to investigate and report to the Lord Advocate, no-one else.'

Proud Jimmy nodded. 'So I've been told, and I've gone along with it for long enough.' He paused and tapped the heavy silver braid on the epaulettes of his uniform jacket. 'But the fact is, I won't have anyone operating as a police officer anywhere in this building, or even in this city, and imagining that I've no jurisdiction over what he does.

'I'm the Chief Constable here, you're out of your own area, and you will answer any question which I choose to put to you. I may have ordered Andy Martin not to see Bob Skinner informal y until this nonsense is over, but that's purely because I don't want to take the slightest chance of compromising his career. If you think I'm going to sit on my arse and just watch as my deputy, and one of my best friends to boot, is sent down the Swannee, then think again, sir.

'I know al about the declared and physical evidence that you have.

Now, I want to know what you've got on who might have set Bob up.'

'Or bribed him,' said Cheshire, coldly.

'Don't even think that in this office,' barked Proud, 'far less say it.

Now, I want to know what you've done to check into people he's put away in his time. You can, and no doubt wil, tell Archie Nelson al about this, but I've seen off a right few Lord Advocates in my time, so that doesn't worry me. I've given you an order, now obey it.'

Cheshire capitulated. 'Very good.

'The fact is,' he began, 'the list isn't a very long one. There are very few of Skinner's customers with the means to do something like this, and they're all inside. We've been to see the chap Plenderieith.'

'Mmm, Big Lenny. That was brave of you.'

Cheshire nodded. 'I thought so too. He's bit of a monster, isn't he? However, he does seem to hold Skinner in high regard. I'd 221 expected to find malice there, but when I put the suggestion to him that he might have set this thing up, he took real offence. In fact, he left Ronnie and me in no doubt about what he would do to anyone who was out to get Skinner.'

'You don't surprise me,' said the Chief. 'He was in no doubt about it being a set-up, then?'

'None at al, it seemed. He offered to help us in fact. I gather that Mr Plenderleith is a very important man in prisoner circles.'

'Yes. He's very rich, as well as being very dangerous.'

'I see,' said the Mancunian. 'We accepted his offer in any event, as long as he promised not to have anyone killed. He did. He's putting out feelers, to see if anyone knows anything about it.'

Proud nodded. 'That's unconventional, but go on.'

'Next, we looked at the chap who was arrested after the Witches Hil affair. He hadn't a clue what we were talking about. Apparently he lives in voluntary isolation. He refuses to do prison work, and he hasn't had a visitor, a letter, or received or made a phone call since the day of his sentence. So you can forget him.'

Cheshire went on. 'Finally we looked at the Jackie Charles case.

The chap who was arrested at its conclusion…'

'Yes, him,' growled Proud.

'You'll recall he hanged himself in his cell, before he could be brought to trial. But then there was Charles himself. We interviewed him.'

'And…'

'And, to be frank, Sir James, that is where my suspicions lie.

Charles agreed to see us without even asking why but when we got down to the substance of the enquiry, the al egations, he clammed up. He became positively evasive, wouldn't answer direct questions, and finally, he asked for a lawyer.'

Proud scowled across the desk. 'Jackie Charles has been evasive with police officers all his life. It's second nature to him. He knows also that there's no point in refusing to see us. He's always preferred to get it over with quickly.'

'Nevertheless, sir,' countered the Englishman. 'I have to be suspicious. He behaved almost coyly. It was as if he didn't want to incriminate himself, but he wanted us to nail Skinner.'

'Of course,' Proud bellowed. 'He hates Bob. It goes back almost twenty years. Bob arrested him in the end. Why the hell would he bribe him?'

Cheshire paused. 'Well, Sir James, I know you took an interest in the case, so I'll have to be diplomatic here. But didn't it occur to you that after al the time that it took to nail Charles, it was odd that the charges Skinner pressed against him should be limited to tax evasion?

Even in England, we were aware of the case. We expected many more serious charges, possibly murder or attempted murder.'

It was Proud's turn to be hesitant. 'There were circumstances,' he said, 'which led Bob to conclude – with the agreement of the Procurator Fiscal, I must stress – that we should accept a plea to the counts we were sure of.'

'Maybe there were, sir. But as dispassionate investigators, looking at the current set of circumstances, we have to look at the possibility that there may have been private considerations, of which you were not aware.'

'Aye, I suppose so,' the Chief agreed, reluctantly. 'So what's your next move?'

'It's being made right now, Sir James, by Ronnie Ericson. We've looked at that case in the most minute detail, and there's one thing we want to check.

'For everyone's sake,' said Cheshire, heavily. 'I really do hope that it draws a blank.'

'Maybe I'll be like Christabel in about sixty years,' said Alex.

'What,' cried her father, vehemently, 'a dried-up old dear with nothing in your life except the law? God forbid.

'I hope that in sixty years time you will be secure in the enjoyment of your children and grandchildren, and stil gaining pleasure from the care you lavish on your venerable husband.'

'And on my centenarian father, I hope.'

He grinned across the garden table of the Fairyhouse Avenue bungalow, having used his unaccustomed leisure time to shop at the nearby Sainsbury's for a salad-and-sandwich lunch for two. 'No bloody chance of that,' he chuckled. 'I'll be in Dirleton Cemetery by that time.'

'Beside Mum?' asked Alex quietly.