Stuart MacBride - A Song for the Dying

‘I wasn’t trying to run away . I was stopping Ness’s morons from getting themselves killed!’

Ness bristled. ‘My officers are not morons.’

‘Really?’ I grabbed my walking stick. ‘Well, if they’d been bright enough to treat Wee Free like a victim instead of a villain, I wouldn’t have had to break my hundred-yard tether. Cowering in the corridor like wee kids when they should’ve been talking him down!’

She rolled her shoulders. Then sighed. ‘I will admit to being somewhat disappointed by the conduct of certain officers. Perhaps, as you have a rapport with Mr McFee, you should act as Family Liaison?’

‘No chance.’

‘I see. So it’s all right to shout the odds when it’s my team, but-’

‘One: I’m not a police officer any more. Two: I’m not on the main investigation so I don’t have all the facts. Three: I’m not qualified. It’s not just making tea and handing out chocolate biscuits, it’s-’

‘I can assure you that I’m well aware of a FLO’s duties.’ She frowned at me. ‘I understand you think the Inside Man might be one of us.’

Not like Rhona to blab. ‘Do you now?’

‘That you think they’ve been tampering with evidence and screwing up the HOLMES data to protect themselves.’

The smile disappeared from Jacobson’s face, eyes narrowing as he stared at me. ‘That’s one possibility the LIRU team is investigating.’

Ness ignored him. Tilted her head to one side. ‘The way I hear it: back in the day, you were the organ grinder around here. Was one of your monkeys the Inside Man?’

‘They’re your monkeys now, remember?’ I stretched out my right leg, tested my weight on it. ‘Anything else gone missing?’

Jacobson folded his arms, leaned against the wall. ‘Well?’

She pulled out her notebook and flipped it open at the marker. ‘The lace trim from the bottom of the nightdress Laura Strachan was found in. A heart-shaped locket necklace from Holly Drummond. A sample vial containing the stitches removed from Marie Jordan in the operating theatre. The little doll key ring recovered from Natalie May’s abduction site.’ Ness put the notebook down. ‘In fact, there’s something missing from every Inside Man victim. Do you have anything to say about that?’

I looked at Jacobson, kept my mouth shut.

He bared his teeth. ‘Go ahead, Mr Henderson, we’re all on the same side.’

OK: ‘He’s got access and he’s taking trophies.’

Ness slipped the notebook into her pocket. ‘Mr McFee assaulted eight people today, six of them police officers. If they’re prepared to drop the charges, I’ll let him off with a caution. Otherwise he’s up before the Sheriff tomorrow morning.’ She turned on her heel. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a considerable amount of paperwork to sort out.’

As soon as she was gone, Jacobson moved so he was blocking the door. He picked at his nails for a second. Then, ‘Was I being obtuse, in the car when I picked you up, Ash? Was I vague, or unclear in my meaning?’

Here we go.

‘You see, I distinctly remember telling you that you reported to me. Not Oldcastle, not the Specialist Crime Division, not Santa Bloody Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the sodding Tooth Fairy!’ He thumped his hand on the desk. ‘What the hell did you-’

‘I didn’t report anything to anyone, OK? I’ve been digging through the archives. I’ve been trying to find out who was on the original HOLMES team. Someone must’ve noticed and told Ness.’

He scowled at me in silence.

‘Look, do you think I want to go back to prison? The only reason I didn’t tell you about the missing stuff is there wasn’t time. I had to rush off and rescue Ness’s morons from Wee Free McFee. Then your morons tasered me!’

Silence.

Jacobson stepped away from the door. ‘You need to stay within a hundred yards of Dr McDonald for a reason, Ash. She keeps you out of trouble. She’s your guardian angel.’ He described a lazy circle with one hand. ‘You know, it might be a good idea for you to make yourself scarce for a bit. Let things calm down here. Maybe even stop rubbing people up the wrong way?’

I scrubbed a hand across my face. Let my head fall back, till I was staring at the ceiling tiles. ‘We need to get Sabir to check who’d have access to hospital records and police evidence.’

That little smile had returned. ‘Did you enjoy being tasered, by the way?

‘Funny. I’m laughing right now, can you hear me? Bastards didn’t even issue a warning.’

‘Look on it as a learning experience, Ash: this is what happens if you stray off your leash.’

I poked my head around the door — no one there. Good. Meant I didn’t have to explain what I was up to.

The traffic office was a small room on the third floor, lined with desks and filing cabinets, ‘SPEED KILLS!’ and ‘THINK BIKE!’ posters on the walls. The ‘BOX O’ STUFF’ sat where it always had: in the corner by the large steel locker where they kept the warning triangles and spare body-bags. I rummaged through the odds and sods that cycled their way between the various traffic cars and panniers. Helped myself to a couple of stickers and pair of biker gloves. Then headed upstairs to the conference room.

The place smelled like a distillery. Alice sat at the far end of the table, folded over her Inside Man letters.

No sign of Dr Docherty.

I knocked on the table and Alice jerked up. Blinked at me.

The words came out slow and careful, as if she didn’t trust them. ‘Why did you try to run away?’ Not quite drunk, but not far off it. ‘I don’t want to be left behind…’

‘How much whisky have you had?’

‘Spilled some when the alarm went off. It was loud, wasn’t it loud? I think it was really, really loud, then there was whisky everywhere, and it wouldn’t stop, and the door battered in, and these guys were there and they had guns and they were all, “Where’s Ash Henderson?” And I didn’t know…’ She made little wet smacking noises with her mouth. Frowned. ‘Do I feel hungry, or a little bit sick?’

Had to admit, whoever was monitoring the ankle bracelets for Jacobson, they were keen. Prompt too. Which wasn’t good.

Of course, the fact that we were in a police station when it happened probably helped the response time, but still…

‘How long was it? Between the alarm going off and them turning up?’

Alice narrowed her eyes. ‘I think it’s a little bit of both.’

‘Alice: how long?’

‘Four, five minutes?’

Sodding hell, that was quick. They must’ve been already geared up, ready to head out to make someone’s day special. No wonder Ness wasn’t happy about them being diverted.

Still, as long as Alice and I stayed within a hundred yards of each other we would be fine. Unless they were recording all the GPS data — and they would be — which made abducting and murdering a mob accountant a bit more risky. But it was too late to worry about that.

‘Ash?’

I blinked. Turned. ‘Sorry, miles away.’

She pointed at her photocopies. ‘I said, these are hopeless. Did you get the originals?’

‘No. But I know who’s got the next best thing.’

A life-sized oil painting of an old man glared down from the wall of the news room, dominating the rows of cubicles and their occupants. The words ‘ Castle News and Post ’ were picked out in large silver and bronze letters along the opposite wall, above a row of clocks all set to different time zones.

Micky Slosser didn’t look up from his monitor, fingers barely pausing as they clicked and clattered across the keyboard. A big man with wide shoulders, thick sideburns, and frameless glasses. Dundas Grammar School tie at half-mast, the top two buttons open, exposing one end of a thick pink scar. ‘Bugger off.’