Ian Rankin - Mortal Causes

But as a phone call to Vanderhyde revealed, Sword and Shield had ceased to exist around the same time the Rolling Stones were putting out their first album. And at no time, anyway, had they been known as SaS.

'I do believe,' Vanderhyde said, and Rebus could see him in his darkened living room, its curtains shut, slumped in an armchair with his portable phone, 'there exists in the United States an organisation called Sword and Shield, or even Scottish Sword and Shield, but I don't know anything about them. I don't think they're connected to the Scottish Rites Temple, which is a sort of North American Freemasons, but I'm a bit vague.’

Rebus was busy writing it all down. 'No you're not,' he said, 'you're a bloody encyclopaedia.’

That was the problem with Vanderhyde: he seldom gave you just the one answer, leaving you more confused than before you'd asked your question.

'Is there anything I can read about Sword and Shield?’ Rebus asked.

'You mean histories? I wouldn't know, I shouldn't think they'd bother to issue any as braille editions or talking books.’

'I suppose not, but, there must have been something left when the organisation was wound up, papers, documents…?’

'Perhaps a local historian might know. Would you like me to do some sleuthing, Inspector?’

'I'd appreciate it,' said Rebus. 'Would Big Ger Cafferty have had anything to do with the group?’

'I shouldn't think so. Why do you ask?’

'Nothing, forget I said it.’

He terminated the call with promises of a visit, then scratched his nose, wondering who to take all this to: Kilpatrick or Lauderdale? He'd been seconded to SCS, but Lauderdale was in charge of the murder inquiry. He asked himself a question: would Lauderdale protect me from Kilpatrick? The answer was no. Then he changed the names around. The answer this time was yes. So he took what he had to Kilpatrick.

And then had to admit that it wasn't much.

Kilpatrick had brought Smylie into the office to join them. Sometimes Rebus wasn't sure who was in charge. Calumn Smylie would be back undercover, maybe drinking in The Dell.

'So,' said Kilpatrick, 'summing up, John, we've got the word Nemo, we've got a Latin phrase 'Much quoted by nationalists,' Smylie added, 'at least in its Scots form.’

'And we've got a shield on this coat of arms, all of which reminds you of a group called Sword and Shield who were wound up in the early '60s. You think they've sprung up again?’

Rebus visualised a spring suddenly appearing through the worn covering of an old mattress. He shrugged. 'I don't know, sir.’

'And then this source of yours mentions an organisation in the USA called Sword and Shield.’

'Sir, All I know is SaS must stand for something. Calumn Smylie's been hearing about an outfit called The Shield who might be in the market for arms. There's also a shield on the Scottish royal arms, as well as a phrase with the word Nemo. I know these are all pretty weak links, but all the same…’

Kilpatrick looked to Smylie, who gave a look indicating he was on Rebus's side.

'Maybe,' Smylie said in proof, 'we could ask our friends in the States to check for us. They'd be doing the work, there's nothing to lose, and with the back-up they've got they could probably give us an answer in a few days. As I say, we haven't lost anything.’

'I suppose not. All right then.’

Kilpatrick's hands were ready for prayer. 'John, we'll give it a go.’

'Also, sir,' Rebus added, just pushing his luck a bit, 'we might do some digging into the original Sword and Shield. If the name's been revived, it wasn't just plucked out of the air.’

'Fair point, John. I'll put Blackwood and Ormiston onto it.’

Blackwood and Ormiston: they'd thank him for this, they'd bring him flowers and chocolates.

`Thank you, sir,' said Rebus.

Ever since the riot, Father Leary had been trying to contact Rebus, leaving message after message at St Leonard's. So when he got to St Leonard's, Rebus relented and called the priest.

'It hasn't gone too well, father,' he said gamely.

'Then it's God's will.’

For a second, Rebus heard it as God swill. He stuck in his own apostrophe and said, 'I knew you'd say that.’

He was watching Siobhan Clarke striding towards him. She had her thumbs up and a big grin spread across her face.

'Got to go, father. Say one for me.’

'Don't I always?’

Rebus put down the receiver. 'What've you got?’

'Cafferty,' she said, throwing the file onto his desk. 'Buried way back.’

She produced a sheet of paper and handed it to him. Rebus read through it quickly.

Yes, buried, because it was only a suspicion, one of hundreds that the police had been unable to prove over the course of Cafferty's career.

'Handling dirty money,' he said.

'For the Ulster Volunteer Force.’

Cafferty had formed an unholy alliance with a Glasgow, villain called Jinky Johnson, and between them they'd offered a service, turning dirty money into clean at the behest of the UVF. Then Johnson disappeared. Rumour had it he'd either fled with the UVF's cash, or else he'd been skimming a bit and they'd found out and done away with him. Whatever, Cafferty broke his connection.

'What do you think?’

Clarke asked.

'It ties Cafferty to the Protestant paramilitaries.’

'And if they thought he knew about Johnson, it'd mean there was no love lost.’

But Rebus had doubts about the time scale. 'They wouldn't wait ten years for revenge. Then again, Cafferty did know what SaS stood for. He's heard of it.’

'A new terrorist group?’

'I think so, definitely. And they're here in Edinburgh.’

He looked up at Clarke. 'And if we're not careful, Cafferty's men are going to get to them first.’

Then he smiled.

'You don't sound overly concerned.’

'I'm so bothered by it all, I think I'll buy you a drink.’

'Deal,' said Siobhan Clarke.

As he drove home, he could smell the cigarettes and booze on his clothes. More ammo for Patience. Christ, there were those videos to take back too. She wouldn't do it, it was up to him. There'd be extra to pay, and he hadn't even watched the bloody things yet.

To defer the inevitable, he stopped at a pub. They didn't come much smaller than the Oxford Bar, but the Ox managed to be cosy too. Most nights there was a party atmosphere, or at the very least some entertaining patter. And there were quarter gills too, of course. He drank just the one, drove the rest of the way to Patience's, and parked in his usual spot near the sports Merc. Someone on Queensferry Road was trying to sing Tie a Yellow Ribbon. Overhead, the streetlighting's orange glow picked out the top of the tenements, their chimney pots bristling. The warm air smelt faintly of breweries.

'Rebus?’

It wasn't dark yet, not quite. Rebus had seen the man waiting across the road. Now the man was approaching, hands deep in jacket pockets. Rebus tensed. The man saw the change and brought his hands out to show he was unarmed.

'Just a word,' the man said.

'What about?’

'Mr Cafferty's wondering how things are going.’

Rebus studied the man more closely. He looked like a weasel with misshapen teeth, his mouth constantly open in something that was either a sneer or a medical problem. He breathed in and out through his mouth in a series of small gasps. There was a smell from him that Rebus didn't want to place.

'You want a trip down the station, pal?’

The man grinned, showing his teeth again. Close up, Rebus saw that they were stained so brown from nicotine they might have been made of wood.

'What are the charges?’ the weasel said.

Rebus looked him up and down. 'Offence against public decency for a start. They should have kept you in your cage, right at the back of the pet shop.’