Stuart MacBride - Birthdays for the dead

Well, in the interests of interagency cooperation, I suppose we could come to some operational understanding.

Dickie didn t even bother trying to smile. Dr McDonald?

Gaze, twiddle.

Dr McDonald, do you have anything to add? Hello? Someone give her a poke, for Christ s sake.

I did and she jumped, eyes wide. Aagh. What was that for?

DCS Dickie wants to know if you ve got anything to add.

Oh, right, yes, well She scooted her chair forwards, closer to the laptop. Did Helen McMillan s parents say anything about where she got her books from?

On the little screen, Dickie opened his mouth, then shut it again. Frowning. Books?

Did they say where she got them, I mean did she have a rich relative who collected them, and then died and left them to Helen, or something?

OK, Dr McDonald had been on fairly shaky mental ground to begin with, but it looked as if that bash on the head yesterday had knocked something loose.

Books?

Weber sat back in his chair. Is this really relevant to

Do you still have that Family Liaison officer at her house, because if you do, can you get him to check the books in Helen s room? The ones on the shelf.

The frown got deeper. Dr McDonald Alice, I know this has all been very stressful for you, and you re doing your best, but maybe it d be better if we found someone more suited

I mean when we were in her room I remember thinking it was a strange collection for a twelve-year-old girl, and I think they were first editions. She turned to me. They were, weren t they, you looked at them too, and

No idea. They were just books.

Signed first editions. Do you have any idea how much they re worth? The Chamber of Secrets is about one and a half thousand, The Prisoner of Azkaban: two to three thousand, depending on which version it is, and God knows what a Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe or the Dickens would cost.

Dickie s face went an alarming magenta colour, but that might have been the screen. Ah I see.

Dr McDonald wrapped her arm back around herself again, the fingers of her other hand making tight little curls through her hair. What s a twelve-year-old girl doing with twenty or thirty thousand pounds worth of books?

If we don t go now we re going to be late. What if we can t get there in time and miss the ferry, what are we going to do then, you said we had to leave at half past four!

I pulled the next statement from the pile. You moaning about it doesn t make this go any faster. Read a magazine or something.

The room was jammed with a dozen tatty Formica desks and towers of paperwork. Magnolia walls, carpet tiles curling at the edges and covered in suspicious stains, bulging in-and-out trays, the bitter-leather fug of BO. Someone had patched the sagging ceiling tiles with diarrhoea-brown parcel tape.

A handful of uniform had clumped in the far corner by the kettle and fridge hammering data into ancient beige computers, everyone else was in plainclothes.

DS Smith marched up and down, hands behind his back, playing general. This simply isn t good enough! He turned to face the huge whiteboard that stretched the length of the CID office. Do I really have to tell you people how important the first twenty-four hours are in a murder enquiry?

As if this was the first time we d dealt with a body dumpsite.

Dr McDonald fidgeted with her leather satchel. I mean it s nearly half four now, what if we miss the ferry and have to stay in Aberdeen, what if we can t get a hotel at short notice, I had a friend who left it too late and had to sleep in her car, I don t want to sleep in a car, what if someone comes?

DS Smith pulled a marker pen from his pocket and scrawled something up on the whiteboard. Strips of black electrical tape divided the surface into columns headed with things like BODY RECOVERY, VICTIMOLOGY, LOCI OF OFFENCE, and PSYCHOLOGICAL INDICATORS, with bullet points listed underneath. The new boy, making his mark. Teaching the parochial thickies how Grampian Police did things.

He tapped the whiteboard with a marker pen. The question you need to be asking yourself is, Where were they held prior to being buried?

No shit.

Rhona looked up from her computer monitor and saw me. She curled her top lip, then nodded over her shoulder at DS Smith, mouthed the word wanker and made the accompany-ing hand gesture. Then stood and worked her way between the crowded desks, until she d reached mine. What a dickhead. Keeping her voice low. Lording it over the rest of us like he s God s bloody gift.

She settled on the edge of the desk, close enough to Dr McDonald to make the psychologist shuffle her chair back a good six inches.

We heard back from Tayside, Guv: the books in Helen McMillan s bedroom are all signed first editions. Soon as he found out they were worth something, the dad checked online. The older stuff isn t exactly mint, but all together you re looking at about thirty-two thousand quid s worth.

Thirty-two

Yeah, I know, Rhona s eyes widened, just sitting there on a kid s bookshelf.

If she d lived in Oldcastle, instead of Dundee, someone from CID would have lifted them by now. Like me. Thirty-two grand would make a whole load of shite go away.

Dr McDonald undid her seatbelt. We re going to be late

Not if you get your finger out.

The house on Fletcher Road was in semi-darkness. The wind had picked up, making the oak trees groan as their bony fingers scratched at the clouds. Fairy lights twinkling. Quarter to five plenty of time.

She pulled the woolly hat tight over her head and clambered out, scurrying across the gravel drive, the tails of her duffle coat billowing out behind her.

I waited until she was inside before digging out my phone and turning it back on again. It bleeped and chirped at me: text messages, missed calls, voicemail all from Mrs Kerrigan. All wanting to know why I hadn t turned up with three grand to save my kneecaps.

And I could have walked off with thirty-two thousand pounds worth of books

Fuck.

I scrolled through the contacts list, looking for Henry Forrester s number.

Thirty-two grand. What kind of man steals books from a dead girl?

Found it, pressed the button, and sat back listening to the phone ring.

Well, it wasn t as if she was going to miss them, was it?

Not as much as I was going to miss my legs.

Click. I m sorry: I m not answering the phone at the moment, but if you want to leave a message well, it s up to you.

Henry? It s Ash: Ash Henderson. Look, I wanted to tell you I m going to be up in Shetland tomorrow, so do you fancy getting a drink or something? Been too long I hung up.

Dr McDonald struggled her massive red suitcase out of the house and across the gravel her rock-chick aunty following with the two smaller ones. I got out and popped the hatchback.

Are you sure we ve got time to

I ll only be a minute. I hauled the Renault up to the kerb and killed the engine. We ll be fine.

She picked at the dashboard, staring out through the windscreen at Kingsmeath in all its grey, boxy, housing-estate glory. That prick from number fourteen had let his Alsatian loose to wander the streets again, its ribs clearly visible through its fur as it stopped beneath a streetlight to eat something from the gutter.

Dr McDonald licked her lips. I don t have to come in, do I? Only I don t do so well with

Unfamiliar enclosed spaces: I know. Stay here. Lock the doors if you like. I climbed out into the cold. Soon as I closed the driver s door she reached across and pressed down on the little locking nipple, then did the same on her side.

The Alsatian raised its head from the gutter and growled.

I stared at it. Fuck off.

It went quiet, dropped its head, then slunk away into the darkness.