Иэн Рэнкин - In a House of Lies

‘You like living with your dad?’ Rebus tried not to sound too breathless.

‘Yeah.’

She was fourteen, her hair a mass of brown curls, falling over her forehead, half covering her eyes. Gawkiness would leave her soon, as would the puppy fat. She was already thinking of college, thinking of joining those students she had paused to study.

The flat was minimally furnished, not enough books to fill the single bookcase in the hall, the seating in the living room angled so that the vast flat-screen TV was the focus of attention.

‘He’ll be home soon,’ she said.

‘I’m happy to wait. Do you see much of your brother?’

Her cheeks reddened. ‘Just the weekly visit.’ She was shedding her outer coat and blazer, the backpack hitting the floor with a thump.

‘I saw him yesterday,’ Rebus told her. ‘I’m fixing for him to have an easier time of it inside.’

She seemed uncertain what he meant but thanked him anyway. ‘Do you want a coffee?’

‘I’m fine,’ Rebus said, settling on one of the chairs. ‘You got homework to be getting on with?’

‘Always.’ She had hoisted the backpack onto the small round dining table and was emptying it. ‘Maths, biology, geography, English...’

‘Can’t help you with any of those.’

She pretended an interest in a textbook while asking her next question: ‘How was he?’

‘Your brother’s doing okay.’

‘He doesn’t like that he’s in with... with people who...’

‘That’s one of the things I’m trying to change.’

‘Why?’ Now she looked at him, keen for knowledge.

‘Because it’s not right, I suppose.’

She considered this and nodded slowly in agreement.

‘You visited your mum that day, didn’t you? Did Ellis seem his usual self?’

‘He was on his computer mostly. He had a couple of mates round.’

‘But you popped into his room to say hello?’

‘He didn’t even take his headphones off — just a grunt and a wave.’

‘And you hadn’t heard anything about him and Kristen? Maybe breaking up or having a row?’ Rebus watched her shake her head. ‘Kristen was at your school, wasn’t she — your old school, I mean?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you know her? To hang out with?’

‘She was three years above me.’

‘I suppose at your age that seems quite a gap.’

‘She had her own friends.’

‘Did she ever visit here?’

Billie shook her head.

‘Not even when Ellis was visiting?’

Another shake.

‘So your dad didn’t really know her, then?’

She spun towards him. ‘What have they been saying?’

‘Who’s they?’

‘All of them!’

‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’ She had turned her face away from him again and was sifting through her books. ‘You’re right, though — I’ve been hearing that Kristen might have had a thing for your dad.’

‘He wouldn’t give her the time of day.’

‘Just rumours, then.’

‘It’s revolting, you know — the stuff out there. The stuff in here.’ She was holding up her mobile phone.

‘World’s always been full of idiots, Billie, bullies and racists and the like. You just have to remember, a phone can’t really hurt you.’

‘Yes it can,’ she replied quietly.

‘Did you get messages about Kristen? About her and your dad?’

The sound of a lock turning, the front door opening.

‘You home, duchess?’ Charles Meikle called out.

‘In here!’

The grin on Meikle’s face disappeared when he saw there was a visitor.

‘He’s with the police,’ Billie told him.

‘Oh aye?’ Meikle removed his blue parka. He wore overalls underneath. ‘So can I see some identification?’

‘I’m not actually a police officer,’ Rebus explained. ‘What I told Billie is that I’m working with them.’

‘What on?’

‘Your son’s case.’

‘He’s in jail, if you hadn’t noticed. Trying to pin something else on him, are you? Help massage your clear-up rate?’

Meikle’s looks were almost worthy of Hollywood — chiselled face, brooding eyes, mop of black hair swept to one side, just the right amount of stubble. He’d had a few run-ins with the police in the past, but not since breaking up with his wife. According to the files, he’d been a car mechanic half his life, and, from what Rebus had seen of the flat, was doing his best as a single parent.

‘Just a few niggles that we’d like taken care of.’

‘You don’t think you’ve done enough damage?’

‘He visited Ellis,’ Billie interrupted. ‘He’s helping him.’

‘What you have to remember, duchess, is that the police will lie to your face and then lie some more.’

‘Billie’s right, though,’ Rebus said quietly.

Meikle just shook his head and disappeared across the hallway into the kitchen. Rebus followed and watched him fill the kettle from the tap. The place was immaculate, draining board and sink empty, surfaces wiped clean. He wondered: Billie’s work or her father’s?

‘You still here?’ Meikle asked.

‘I know you and Ellis had a few differences down the years,’ Rebus said, ‘but did you get on okay with Kristen?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Just wondering how well you knew her.’

Meikle stabbed a finger towards him. ‘Shouldn’t go listening to gossip, should you?’

‘Billie says she never came round here.’

‘That’s right.’

‘But you had met her?’

‘When she was with Ellis, aye. At his mum’s.’

‘Things were okay between you and your ex-wife?’

‘Yes.’

‘Your brother wasn’t an issue?’

‘There’s nothing going on between them.’

‘And nothing between Dallas and Kristen?’

‘More fucking lies,’ Meikle muttered, shaking his head as he dropped a tea bag into a mug. ‘Don’t you sometimes think there’s more shite out there than anything else?’

‘Billie said much the same.’

‘I told her she should ditch that phone, but she can’t do it. They have to have them these days.’ Meikle rested his knuckles against the worktop as he waited for the kettle to boil. ‘Best thing I ever did was ask if she wanted to come live with me. Her old school was rubbish, grades dropping.’ He paused. ‘I’m doing everything I can, really I am.’

‘I’ve seen no evidence to the contrary.’

‘I’ve not always been a good dad — you’re right that me and Ellis used to have a fair few ding-dongs. He’s not a bad kid, though.’

‘So what drove him to do it, Charles?’

‘Did you try asking him?’ Meikle watched Rebus give a slow nod. ‘Aye, me too. But I don’t think even he knows. At the trial, his lawyer tried putting the blame on us — Seona and me. Bad upbringing, bad parents...’

‘She was doing her job, trying to get him a lesser sentence.’

‘I know that. It still hurt, though.’ He stared at Rebus. ‘Is that all you’ve got, then? I was leching after my own son’s girlfriend so he decides to top her?’ He shook his head again. ‘Jesus...’

‘You don’t visit Ellis, Mr Meikle — why is that?’

‘He won’t let me — don’t think I haven’t tried. I’ve had Billie practically beg him.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed shut his eyes for a moment. ‘After the split, he took his mum’s side, reckoned it was all my fault — maybe that was payback for all the rows I’d had with him. He’s still my son, though; I still love him. I’d do anything for him, if he’d let me.’

Billie had been listening from the hall. She burst in and gave her father a hug. His eyes stayed closed as he stroked her hair. Father and daughter seemed close to tears, and Rebus suspected it was a regular occurrence. He retreated as quietly as he could and let himself out, standing on the landing for a minute or two while he considered what he had heard and seen.