Иэн Рэнкин: In a House of Lies

‘No comment, Laura,’ Rebus told her.

‘Strictly off the record, John, with you being a civilian and all...’

‘Go on then.’

‘Is there enough in the tank?’

‘To charge him?’ Rebus waited for her to nod. ‘Like you say, I’m a civilian.’

‘Yet you’re sticking to this case like glue. I hear you turned up here earlier not long after Fox and Siobhan.’

‘I’m impressed.’ Rebus was seeking out the young reporter who’d been acting as nightwatchman.

‘He’s on a well-earned break,’ Smith said. ‘He might be young, but he prides himself on knowing faces and the names that come with them.’ She paused. ‘If someone were to mention in print your involvement, that might jeopardise any eventual prosecution, no?’

‘What is it you want, Laura?’

‘A heads-up.’

‘Siobhan’s the one you should be asking.’

‘But I don’t seem to have any leverage over Siobhan.’

‘If you interfere and the case goes tits up, you might as well delete her from your contacts.’

‘I just need to be an hour ahead of the competition, John.’

‘Right now, I can’t help you.’ He gestured towards the paving slabs they were standing on. ‘I’m out in the cold, same as you.’

‘But...?’

‘Time’s almost up. If MIT don’t want to have to spring Hazard, they’re going to need a bit of help.’

‘Help from you, you mean?’

‘So maybe stick around another hour or two and see what happens.’

‘I’ve not got my car, though.’ She peered over his shoulder towards the Saab. ‘Any chance I can sit in the warm with you?’

‘No.’

‘Are you afraid my superbly honed skills would get the better of you and you’d end up letting something slip?’

‘Aye, right.’ Rebus’s mouth twitched.

‘Then why not put that confidence to the test? How else are you going to pass the time?’

‘I thought I might take up a foreign language.’

She nodded. ‘Conversation’s always the best way to learn. I can offer you French, German, a smattering of Italian...’

Rebus felt his resistance melt a little. ‘All right then, but tell me something first — and no lying.’

‘Sure.’

‘Are you really here without a car?’

‘Really, yes.’

‘And how many streets over did you leave it?’

She drew in her lips for a moment. ‘Two,’ she eventually confessed.

Rebus nodded and turned back to the Saab, knowing she was following. ‘Then be prepared for a numb posterior and no facilities.’

Graham Sutherland emerged from his toilet break to find Clarke in the corridor. She gestured towards the stairs, pausing halfway down and waiting for him.

‘Your face,’ she began, ‘tells me there’s been no breakthrough. Nothing from the lab or anywhere else. It’s still all hearsay, with no corroboration. We both know what the fiscal will say to that.’

‘This isn’t exactly balm to the soul, Siobhan — what’s your point?’

‘I think John knows something, something that could help.’

‘And what exactly does he know?’

‘He’ll only say it to Glenn Hazard’s face.’

‘Not possible.’

‘Why not? You’ll be there and so will Hazard’s lawyer. It’ll all be recorded. I don’t see that it necessarily blunts our case.’

‘You’ve no inkling what Rebus would say in there?’ He watched as she shook her head. ‘Then it’s too risky.’

‘I don’t think so, not when there are other bodies in the room who can call a halt if necessary.’ Clarke was holding out her phone. ‘Talk to him. What harm can it do to just listen? If we have to let Hazard go, who’s to say he won’t do another vanishing act?’

Sutherland hesitated, then snatched the phone from her, only to have to hand it back so she could find Rebus’s number and ring it. He took it from her again, more gently this time.

‘Rebus,’ the voice said.

‘It’s DCI Sutherland, John. Siobhan tells me you might have information that could help us with Glenn Hazard.’

‘I think so.’

‘Could you tell me what it is?’

‘I need to tell him myself.’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. His lawyer—’

‘I’m not fussed about his lawyer. But there might be things you don’t want to hear.’

‘A police officer needs to be present.’

‘So be it.’ Silence on the line. ‘Do you want me or not?’

‘I’ll need to clear it with Francis Dean first.’

‘He’s the lawyer?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’ll be there in two minutes. Make sure they let me past the front desk.’

Rebus ended the call. Sutherland handed the phone back to its owner.

‘I take it that’s a yes then?’ Clarke said.

‘It’s a maybe,’ Sutherland replied, starting back up the stairs.

When Rebus walked into the interview room, Callum Reid left with a glower he’d spent some time preparing. Hazard sat with arms folded, alongside his solicitor. The room was stuffy and Dean had removed his jacket but kept his waistcoat on. It boasted a fob watch on a gold chain, just when Rebus thought he couldn’t dislike lawyers more than he already did.

Sutherland was making sure he could work the recording equipment. Rebus took the chair next to him, still warm from Reid’s posterior. Hazard had demolished one mug of tea and been brought another.

‘Do you two know one another?’ the lawyer asked. Rebus looked to Hazard and shook his head.

‘Never met,’ he said.

‘We can put it on record that you’ve never met or spoken with my client until this day?’

‘We can,’ Rebus confirmed.

‘And can we also agree that this is highly unusual practice and that any conversation may be inadmissible in future proceedings?’

But Rebus’s focus was on Hazard now. ‘You should tell your lawyer to leave,’ he said.

‘That’s not going to happen,’ Dean stated. Rebus ignored him, locking eyes with Hazard.

‘We’re going to be talking about Rogues nightclub, almost exactly two months before Stuart Bloom died. But I want to do it without a stuffed shirt in the room.’

Hazard just stared, but Rebus had been in plenty of these contests before. He tried to look bored, folded his arms even, and arched his head as if the ceiling had suddenly become extraordinarily interesting to him.

‘Look, DCI Sutherland,’ Dean began, colour rising to his already ruddy cheeks, ‘I’m not sure what game you think you’re playing here, but this has stopped being highly irregular and entered the realm of the absurd.’

Sutherland was looking to Rebus for an explanation, but it was Hazard who spoke. ‘Does your guy leave too?’

‘I told him he should, but he’s adamant.’

Dean had turned towards his client. ‘In which case, it would be rash in the extreme for you to sit here without any counsel being present.’

Hazard nodded and leaned back a little in his chair. ‘Off you go, Francis, but not too far — just outside the door will do.’

‘I’ll only need five or ten minutes,’ Rebus said.

‘Glenn, I urge you to reconsider—’

‘Just fuck off, will you, Francis? Don’t worry, the money meter keeps ticking over.’ Hazard lifted his mug and drained it. The lawyer’s face was almost puce as he gathered his papers, grabbed his jacket and shouldered open the door. Once he was gone, Rebus leaned across Sutherland and stopped the recording.

‘Wait a moment,’ Sutherland began to complain.

‘You’re free to leave,’ Rebus said with a new steeliness, knowing the man wouldn’t budge. He met Hazard’s gaze again.

‘You were a dealer back then,’ Rebus began. ‘Small-time. You had to keep dodging and weaving, so as not to appear on the radar of the bigger players — people like Morris Gerald Cafferty.’ He paused. ‘You know the name?’