Quintin Jardine - Lethal Intent

He picked up the tall glass gratefully, and drained almost half of it in one gulp.

'That sort of day?' his daughter asked.

'Since about four o'clock.'

'What was that about Neil?'

'Someone tried to snatch Spencer, his boy, at the top of the Hillend ski slope.'

'My God,' she gasped. 'You mean a perv, a paedophile?'

'I don't think so. Did you read about George Regan's son being killed, and Ross Pringle being gassed in her room on the campus?'

'Yes.'

'Well, this may have been the third in a series… in fact, I'm bloody sure it was.' He stopped as the waiter approached. 'I'll have the black-pudding starter, then venison,' he said, then turned back to Alex. 'A year ago, kid, I would have made that assumption on day one. I don't care how clearly accidental they looked, I would not have bought that coincidence.'

'Pops,' she told him, 'you can't do the thinking for the entire force.'

'Why not?' he shot back at her. 'I'm the highest-ranking CID officer. I'm not supposed to make mistakes, especially not one that put a kid's life at risk. I have not had my mind on the job, daughter. I have been so bloody preoccupied with my domestic life that my performance is suffering. I wouldn't take that from a junior officer, so I sure as hell won't take it from myself. I have to get my eye back on the ball, or kick the damn thing into touch.'

'Shape up or ship out, you mean?'

'That's about it.'

'And which will it be? No, forget that: it was a damn silly question.'

He forced a grin. 'I had a moment of weakness this afternoon,' he confessed, 'but that's gone. My decision's made: it's not a matter of choosing job or family. How many men have to do that? No, it's a matter of finding the proper time for both and giving both my total attention.'

'And what about this woman you told me about? Is there room for her too?'

'She's as committed to her job as I am. We have common interests and we like each other; that's all there is to it. Aileen's not an issue; Sarah is, and the future of our marriage.'

'Well, sort it out, Pops, please, for I do not like to see you like this. I'm going to have serious words with my stepmother when she gets back.'

'You will not. Don't get involved, and don't take sides.'

'I'm promising nothing; I'm on your side, damn it, and that won't change.' She rapped the table. 'Now, enough of that and tell me what happened to Neil's son. You said "tried to snatch him", from which I take it that he's okay.'

'He's got some cuts and bruises, and he's shaken up, but he's all right. Mario McGuire's not so good, though. He's in the Western.'

'Mario?'

'He took the kids skiing. At the moment the best guess is that the kidnapper was watching the house, and tracked them to the centre. We know that he hired skis and boots there, and bought a snowsuit and goggles… paid cash, God damn it, so there's no card to trace. He grabbed Spencer when he was isolated from Mario, and Lauren was on her way down the slope, The big fellow worked out what had happened and set off after them, but the guy lay in wait for him and whacked him with a rock in a sock: they found it at the scene.'

'How bad is he?'

'He'll live. The doctor who examined him at the scene reckoned concussion and maybe a hairline skull fracture. They're keeping him under observation to make sure there's no inter-cranial bleeding. He was hit pretty hard, but not hard enough to stop him picking himself up and heading back up the slope to where he and Spence found each other. When our officers got there, he was standing guard over the kid and ready to slaughter anyone who touched him. He decked two constables before they calmed him down.'

Alex gazed at him in horror. 'That's awful,' she exclaimed. 'What about Lauren? She must have been hysterical.'

He surprised her by laughing. 'The words "hysterical" and "Lauren McIlhenney" do not go together. Neil was in a far worse state than she was when I told him what had happened.'

Detective Inspector Arthur Dorward was used to out-of-office calls, but Stevie Steele's Sunday-morning visit took him by surprise. He and his wife had only just finished breakfast when he arrived.

Dorward, who ran the scene-of-crime unit, was universally regarded as one of the most competent men on the force. When he heard the story, he needed very little guidance on what was required. 'I'll pull my best team together,' he said. 'We'll get back out to the campus and go over that room again, and again, and again, until we can prove someone sabotaged that gas fire. I can only hope that it hasn't been compromised since we were there.'

'I called the university last night. I told the security staff to seal the room, but they said they were pretty sure that nobody's been in it since your lot left.'

'That'll be a break if it's true. Don't worry: if there's anything there we'll find it, now we're treating it as murder and not a simple accident investigation.'

'There's something else,' his colleague told him. 'When you get to the lab, you'll find a sock with a rock in it waiting for you. Right now, it's being shown to the pathologist who's being asked to say whether it could have caused young George Regan's fatal injury. When you get it, I want you to go over the boy's clothing to see if you can find any fibres that match it'

Dorward smiled. 'This sounds like a fun day.'

'It would be, if it wasn't so bloody serious.'

Steele left him on his doorstep, and drove for twenty minutes until he reached Neil McIlhenney's house. The chief inspector opened the door for him before he had time to ring the bell. He still looked grim and shaken.

From the kitchen, they could hear the children. 'How are they?' Stevie asked.

'Fine, thanks, all things considered. Spence has got an eye on him like he's been in with George Foreman, but otherwise he's okay. He's quite proud of the shiner, actually. Lauren's her usual controlled self. They're both more worried about Mario than they are about each other.'

'How is he?'

'He's okay. I called the Western this morning and they let me speak to him. He's still a bit woozy, but he's sounded like that on many a Sunday morning.'

'You don't blame him for taking the kids up there?'

McIlhenney looked at him as if he had suddenly grown a second head. 'Why the hell should I?' he exclaimed. 'If this guy was going to follow them, I'd rather he did it when Mario was there than when he wasn't. McGuire's Rambo act is something to be feared; it's as well for you he's on-side about you and Maggie.'

'So I've been told,' Stevie conceded. 'Can we sit down?' They were still in the hall.

McIlhenney looked contrite at once. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm forgetting my manners.' He led the way into the living room. 'Would you like a coffee? A croissant?' He grinned. 'Christ, man, would you like breakfast? Lou's feeding the bears, I'm sure she could knock something up.'

'That's very kind of you, sir, but I'm fine.'

'Sir, is it? This is starting to sound formal… which, I suppose, it is. The boss called to tell me you were carrying the ball on this investigation.'

'Plural.'

'Pardon?'

'Investigations: we're linking the attack on your son with the deaths of George Regan junior, and Ross Pringle.'

McIlhenney nodded, to himself rather than to his colleague. 'Of course you are.'

'There's a witness in the Regan case; someone who reported seeing a running man.'

'He'd better keep on running.'

'Let's hope he does, but we'll still have to catch up with him. Sir…'

'Neil, for God's sake.'

'Neil, then; I'm starting by looking for links, between the three attacks and between the victims.'

'You mean between their fathers?'

'Exactly. I need to know about every investigation where DCS Pringle, DS Regan and you all worked together. I'm going to ask all of you for your recollections. You can see why it's important; we've got to find out if other officers' families might be at risk.'