Alex Gray - Sleep like the dead

'We haven't had the pleasure of working together before,'

Kirsty said, her husky voice still holding a trace of her Scottish roots. 'But I believe you did a programme when Nick was here?

And of course you know Alex Loughran,' she added as the programme's editor passed with a wave of her hand.

"l'hat's right,' Lorimer replied, taking a seat beside her as she motioned towards the end of a row.

'A couple of soft drinks, Pamela,' the presenter asked the tiny girl with the bright scarlet hair. 'That all right with you, Chief Inspector?'

'Fine,' Lorimer replied. 'We had a series of young girls found strangled and left in a Glasgow park,' he went on, picking up the thread of their conversation. 'Your programme was hugely instrumental in finding the killer,' he said approvingly.

'But this is quite a different sort of case, isn't it?' Kirsty asked, crossing one leg over the other, her navy linen trousers draping in loose folds as she clasped her hands over her knees.

'You're right. This is altogether trickier. We want to see if we can locate a woman, Marianne Scott. Her brother, Billy Brogan, is somewhere overseas and we have reason to believe he's involved somehow in the murder of Marianne's former husband.' Lorimer stopped, biting his lip. 'It's a bit complicated. Brogan was thought to be a small-time drug dealer but our current intelligence suggests that he was involved in the drug scene in a much deeper way altogether.'

'Go on,' Kirsty nodded, her eyes still holding his own, showing that she was genuinely interested.

'We think the ex-husband, Kenneth Scott, had been stalking his former wife. He was found shot in his own home, he's got no record nor has he any known association with criminals other than the fact that Brogan was his brother-in-law.' Lorimer took a deep breath. 'Then a couple of other Glasgow dealers are found shot dead in Brogan's home and we get the nod that Brogan has skipped to Spain.'

'You think Brogan killed all three men?' Kirsty asked.

Lorimer gave a mirthless laugh. 'That's just it. We did at first, but we don't think that now. Timing for the second two is all wrong and we've got ballistics evidence to suggest that all three were killed by the same weapon.'

Kirsty re-crossed her legs and frowned at him. 'So why are you putting out an appeal for the sister? I don't quite understand.'

'She's deliberately gone into hiding. Even made sure her name was taken off Glasgow University's registry database while she was a student there. Something's wrong,' he said, leaning forward. She may even be dead, he almost told her, but stopped himself in time. Had Marianne Scott been tatgeted by the same hit man? This was a question that Lorimer did not yet want to utter aloud, his mind full of so many doubts and possibilities. But what if she were still alive? 'If we can find her and question her, or anyone who knows her or has seen her, we may be able to locate the brother.'

'How will that help to find the killer, though?'

'Brogan owed a lot of money to some very dangerous people.

And only he can give us their names. That isn't the whole story, though, I'm afraid,' he continued. 'A man called Sahid Jaffrey was brutally killed on the south side of the city recently.'

Lorimer looked hard at the woman across the table. 'He was the police informant who let us know that Brogan was in Spain.'

'This gets more and more complicated,' Kirsty said. 'How do you suggest we put such a lot of information across to our viewers?'

'We don't,' said Lorimer shortly. 'What I want to do is to appeal for information for any sighting of this woman whose ex-husband was found dead. If we can slant the appeal to that sort of angle, suggest without actually saying that she may be a suspect, then perhaps we will have some response.'

'And you don't think she actually had anything to do with these killings?' Kirsty asked, slowly.

'They were done by a professional,' Lorimer replied. 'Brogan's ex-army and we thought at first it might have been him.'

'But the timings were wrong,' Kirsty said, echoing Lorimer's earlier statement. `So what do you actually know about this woman, Marianne Scott?'

'She was a mature student at the University of Glasgow. That's why we asked the editors to have footage of the campus as part of the appeal,' he said. 'Anyone who knew her in that context might want to give us a ring.'

'How odd that she was able to have her name taken off the registry,'

Kirsty remarked.

'Aye,' Lorimer replied. 'We're looking into that as well. And we'll find out just how she managed it, believe me.'

'Well, Chief Inspector, this is certainly going to be a little bit different from our usual appeals. Still,' her eyes twinkled at him, 'we are accustomed to senior officers giving out only part of their case histories. Wouldn't do to give too much information to the criminals, after all. That's not what we're about.'

'Indeed,' Lorimer nodded. `So, this is what I have drawn up.'

He handed over a slim sheaf of notes from the folder that was on his knee.

Maggie set down her empty coffee mug on a coaster and tapped in the numbers she knew off by heart. Almost immediately she heard her friend's voice. Rosie sounded tired, Maggie thought guiltily. 'Hi, it's me. Hope you weren't lying down or anything,' she added lamely.

'Don't worry, the phone's beside the sofa,' Rosie replied. 'Nice to hear from you. It's been a while. Busy as always?' she chuckled.

'Yes, you know what it's like,' Maggie said vaguely, twisting a dark curled strand of hair through her fingers. 'Sorry I haven't been in touch,' she said. 'Anyway, just wanted you and SoIly to know that Bill's on Crimewatch tonight. It's not a reconstruction, just an appeal,' she said.

'Oh, right. That wouldn't be anything to do with these three chaps whose PMs I did recently, would it?'

'Yes, same case. The one that involves a man called Brogan, I think. Bill hasn't told me too much about it,' she replied.

'Great,' Rosie said. 'Well, thanks for letting us know. If I'm off to bed before it's on I'll get SoIly to record it. He's up at the uni just now,' she added. `Oh,' Maggie replied. There was a silence between the two women as Maggie struggled to put her thoughts into words. She couldn't tell Rosie why she hadn't been in touch, she simply couldn't.

'Well,' Rosie said at last in a tone that Maggie realised was forced brightness. 'Maybe we'll see you pair up here one of these days when life's calmed down, eh?' `Mm. That would be nice. Maybe once Bill's less busy with this horrible case,' she added.

'You're welcome to come up on your own, you know,' Rosie said briskly, 'if you have the time.'

'Thanks,' Maggie replied. 'I'll do my best, honest. But, listen I've got to go, someone's at the door. Bye.'

Clicking the phone shut, Maggie Lorimer bit her lip at the sudden deception. It wasn't in her nature to tell such lies, especially to a friend like Rosie. There was no knock at the front door, no sound at all, only Chancer who had somehow found her lap when she wasn't looking and was now purring happily. Maggie stroked his soft fur absently, feeling more wretched than before. If only she could tell someone how she felt: how the prospect of this operation was making her feel that she would be diminished as a woman. It was bad enough to be barren, but to lose that part of her…

At any other time Maggie would have sought comfort and advice from Rosie, but not now. Not when the pathologist was about to give birth to a child of her own.

Amit turned on the television and flicked through the channels.

There was nothing much on that he really wanted to see. Maybe the radio would be a better option, with some music to soothe his troubled spirits. He flicked back to BBC1, intending to switch off but then something stopped him.