Ian Rankin - Doors Open

‘Was he after another snog?’

Laura gave a sad little smile and dropped her gaze to the contents of her cup. ‘That’s the wrong question, Mike. You should be asking me, who’s this Ransome chap? What’s he got to do with anything? But you already know, don’t you?’

‘I really haven’t a clue what you’re getting at…’

‘He works for Lothian and Borders Police, Mike, and he was asking about the professor.’ She sat back, as if finished talking but ready and willing to hear anything Mike might have to say.

‘No clue at all,’ he stressed.

Laura sighed and folded her arms, concentrating so hard on the cappuccino now that she might have been inviting it to levitate.

‘I mean…’ he blustered on. ‘Well, I’m not sure what I mean.’ The water was arriving on a silver salver, ice and lime in the tall, slender glass. The waiter began to pour, then asked if they needed anything else.

Yes, Mike felt like telling him, an escape hatch. But he just shook his head in time with Laura. They watched the young man leave. Laura unfolded her arms and rested her fingertips against the rim of the table. Such long fingers, the nails immaculate.

‘I knew Ransome pretty well, back in college days,’ she stated quietly. ‘He was a determined sod, even then. That night at the party, I had to knee him between the legs. I’m not sure that’ll work, as far as you’re concerned…’ She screwed shut her eyes and Mike feared she was about to start crying. He reached across the table and covered her hands with his own.

‘It’s really all right, Laura. He’s probably after some dirt on this guy Calloway. He sees us at the same auction and starts imagining all sorts of conspiracies. Nothing to worry about – Ransome’s not even part of the team looking at the heist…’ Realising that he was thinking aloud, he broke off, but not quickly enough. Laura’s eyes had reopened.

‘The botched heist, you mean.’

‘Sure… yes, of course.’

‘How could you possibly know?’

He knew what she was about to say and bit down on his bottom lip.

‘How could you know Ransome’s not part of the team?’ she duly obliged.

Mike fixed her with a look. He knew there were things he should be saying, reassurances he should be giving. Her eyes gleamed and intelligence shone from her face. So much more alive than Lady Monboddo. Mike knew that whatever he said, she’d see through it. There would be more questions on her part, more lies on his, all of it spiralling downwards. Things he couldn’t tell her, explanations and excuses he couldn’t give. Instead of which he slid out of the bench, reaching into his pocket for money to place beside his tumbler. Her head was bent over the table, staring hard at its surface. He leaned over to kiss her hair, pausing with his face there, breathing in her subtle perfume. Then he straightened up and walked towards the door.

‘Mike?’ she called to him. ‘Whatever it is, maybe I can help.’

He nodded slowly, hoping she would catch the gesture, even though he had his back to her now. The waiter was standing by the door. He held it open for Mike and said he hoped he’d have a nice day.

‘Thank you,’ Mike replied, heading out on to George Street. ‘I’m not at all sure that I will…’

Glenn Burns had been working for Chib Calloway these past four and a half years, and was certain of only two things: his boss was in trouble, and overall, in the scheme of things as it were, and with everything taken into account, he could do a far better job. Chib, no offence, had terrible people skills, lacked vision, and seemed to bounce from crisis to crisis. Glenn knew this because he’d been studying business textbooks in his spare time. One lesson he’d taken to heart was Always Sleep With The Enemy. Not that he’d actually climbed into bed with DI Ransome, but he’d whispered sweet nothings into the copper’s ear, hoping Chib’s decline and fall would prove both swift and bloodless. So far it hadn’t panned out, yet here he was, meeting Ransome again, and this time the man had photos to show him.

‘Yeah, I know them,’ Glenn admitted. ‘I mean, I don’t really know them, but Chib put the frighteners on them one time in a bar.’

‘The Shining Star?’

‘That’s the one. Then he insisted on going to that boring sodding auction and they were there, too. We went back to the Shining Star again and there they all were, seated in the selfsame booth as before. This one…’ Glenn tapped one of the photos. It was a cutting from a magazine. ‘He’s the one who went to school with Chib – or so Chib says.’

‘It’s true; I’ve checked.’

‘Anyway, that day at the Shining Star, once the other two have left, the school pal comes over and has a chat with Chib.’

‘What about?’ Ransome was gazing at something on the other side of his windshield. They were parked atop Calton Hill, just to the east of Princes Street. Great views of Edinburgh, if you could be bothered to look. So far all Glenn had done was climb out of his own car and into the detective’s. It smelt of leather. Nothing in the ashtray till Glenn deposited a wad of gum there, nicely souring the look on Ransome’s face.

‘They were gassing about the auction – who was going up and down in value, who wasn’t selling at all. I zoned out, to be honest – boring as all-get-out. Chib wanted to know about bidding and paying and did they take cash and this guy was telling him… Name’s Mike, right?’

‘Mike Mackenzie,’ Ransome confirmed. He might not have liked the gum in his ashtray, but when Glenn unwrapped a fresh stick and offered him one, he was quick enough to take it, chewing it like it was chateaubriand flavour. ‘The other two are called Gissing and Cruikshank,’ he continued. ‘One works at the art college, the other at First Caledonian Bank. But it’s Mike your boss seems to know best, right?’

‘Right. They met again another time – we picked Mike up in the Grassmarket, just outside the Last Drop pub. But Chib kicked me and Johnno out of the car, so Christ knows where they went or what they talked about… Who is he anyway, this Mike?’

‘Just some sod who got lucky and made a fortune from computers… lives in some swanky penthouse in Murrayfield.’

‘That’s a coincidence…’ Glenn furrowed his brow.

‘What is?’

‘We were out there first thing this morning. Some fancy address called Henderland Heights. Chib wouldn’t say why…’ Glenn broke off talking, stunned into silence by something he thought he would never see.

Detective Inspector Ransome trying to grin and whistle at the same time.

Ransome knew what he should do. He should take what he knew – his suspicions, evidence and conclusions – to the Chief. But then the Chief would say, ‘Why didn’t you tell Hendricks any of this? He’s the officer in charge of the case.’ And it would all filter back to Hendricks anyway. His collar. His glory. Wouldn’t matter that the donkey work had been done by Ransome.

He needed more.

Needed the proof that would lead to arrests for armed robbery. Mackenzie and the others, they’d conspired in some way to help Calloway pull off the heist – there was precious little doubt in Ransome’s mind that Chib was behind it. He’d been scouring the city for muscle to help him – Glenn had been clear on that. Or maybe it was this character Hate, leading a team of Hell’s Angels: the very people who’d have access to sawn-offs and the like. But it couldn’t have happened without inside info, which was where the ‘Three Musketeers’ came in. Rank amateurs, probably, cajoled or threatened until they were in way over their heads. It would be easy to break them – easier by far than confronting Chib himself. And when they broke, he would have the gangster where he wanted him.