‘When was the last time you saw Sugar Dean?’ asked McGuire.
‘Two months ago.’
‘You did? Where?’
‘At the Gyle. I asked her to meet me there, so I could tell her about me and Mae getting married.’
‘How did she react?’
‘She said she was pleased for me and wished me all the best. She seemed really happy for me.’
‘When you saw her did you refer to the break-up of your relationship?’
‘I might have mentioned it, sir.’
‘Did you ask her to promise to keep the truth to herself?’
‘No, sir, I didn’t, honest.’
‘Were you worried that she might not?’
Weekes shifted his stance; his cap slipped from under his arm and fell to the floor. ‘Ah’ve been worried about that for the last two years, sir,’ he replied.
‘Do you remember Stacey Gavin?’ McIlhenney fired the question at him.
He frowned. ‘Who?’
‘Do better.’
The constable wrinkled his brow as if to give the impression of thought. ‘Was she the lass that was murdered in South Queensferry?’
‘That’s the girl. Were you on duty that day?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Were you at the scene?’
Weekes shook his head. ‘No, sir, I was baby-sitting a probationer that week, so the desk sergeant sent Taffy Jones and Meg Ritchie.’
‘Did you talk to them afterwards?’
‘I might have. They got the piss taken out of them when it turned out to be a murder. They came back saying it was an overdose.’
‘But that’s all?’
‘Yes, sir.’
McIlhenney leaned back, handing the floor to McGuire. ‘Back to attention, Weekes,’ said the head of CID. ‘I’m advising you that I’m recommending that the chief constable issues a formal reprimand to you because of your failure to offer information immediately on your relationship with Sugar Dean. That was a clear dereliction of duty, whatever the reason. I’m ordering you now to rectify that omission by going to the investigation team, and making a formal statement to Detective Inspector Stallings, who’s in charge. If she should ask you for details of your break-up, you may tell her for the record that you decided you didn’t want to marry her after all. That’s what her family believe, and it’s fine with me.’ He stood, for the first time since Weekes had entered the room. ‘Now get the fuck out of my sight, and don’t even dream of ever applying for CID.’
The two colleagues watched the door as it closed behind him. ‘Do you believe him?’ the superintendent asked.
‘Dunno,’ McGuire admitted. ‘You?’
‘I’m not ruling him out. I’m going to check Jock Varley’s record, to see if he had any sick leave a couple of years back.’
‘Do that, and go further. Tell Shannon to do a Special Branch vetting job on Varley; I want access to his medical records, and his wife’s. Plus, get her to check all the places in our area that offer advice on sexual matters. She’s to look for records of Sugar and the shit that just left here, and also to see if the Varleys were treated anywhere too.’ He looked at McIlhenney once more. ‘Could he have done it?’
‘You heard him, Mario. He’s been worried for two years that she might spill the beans. Maybe he decided to make sure she didn’t, and set her up to look like Stacey Gavin as cover.’
‘Is he that clever?’
‘Desperate people do desperate things. Let’s see if we can find out where he was when Sugar died. We didn’t put that to him, but I’ll make sure Stallings does, just to keep him on edge. If he satisfies her, fair enough; if not, we look further. Meanwhile, I’m going to have a talk with PC Mae Grey. Maybe the lass needs to know what she’s marrying.’
Twenty-eight
‘Thank God for satellite navigation,’ said Aileen, as they passed the sign that advised them they were entering the town of Collioure. ‘That was quite complicated after we left the motorway.’
‘No, it wasn’t,’ Bob protested. ‘I’m a police officer: I know how to follow traffic signs.’
‘Then why did you have the system installed in the car?’
‘I didn’t; Alex did, so she can go exploring when she’s out here. She uses the Spanish place more than I do now. She grabs cheap weekend flights whenever she can.’
‘Alone?’
‘I never ask. We had this deal, before Sarah, in her final school years, and when she was starting university. Information like that was never sought by either of us, only volunteered, if we chose.’
Aileen smiled. ‘And did you always stick to that?’
‘Sure, but she always told me what she was up to.’
‘Did you always approve of her boyfriends?’ she asked, teasing.
‘Sure, once I’d had them checked out.’
‘What? You had your daughter’s teenage boyfriends vetted?’
‘Too bloody right. So would you, in my situation.’
‘Did you ever veto anyone?’
Bob frowned. ‘There was one guy, when she was nineteen, who gave her trouble, very bad trouble.’
‘What did you do with him?’
He gave a quick, awkward smile. ‘I killed him. What else would a caring father do? Then there was Andy, of course,’ he said, moving on. ‘Now, I did not see that one coming. Christ, I even asked him once to chum her to a university dance, when she was stuck for a date. Alex has always been smarter than me; it took me a while to work out that she was only stuck because she wanted me to ask him to chum her!’
‘How did you handle it when you found out about them?’
‘Hasn’t Alex told you?’
‘Yes,’ she admitted, ‘but I want to hear your version.’
‘Very badly, I confess. I blew up at them both, told Andy he’d betrayed my trust. He transferred out of CID for a while, into uniform. Everybody thought I’d pushed him, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep him in post regardless, but he went to the chief and asked for a move.’
‘How did you get over it?’
‘Common sense kicked in. One day, I realised that my daughter had grown up. I worked out something else too: that if I was from another culture, one in which arranged marriages were the norm, Andy was probably the guy I’d have picked for her. So I was happy, and when they got engaged, I was well on-side.’ He sighed. ‘Then it all went pear-shaped.’
‘She got pregnant?’
‘She told you that too? Yes, she did, and had an abortion, without ever telling Andy about the kid. He’s Catholic, quietly devout, for all that he can be a tough boy when he has to. He took it very badly.’
‘I can understand that, but. .’
‘There was more, though, that maybe she didn’t tell you. Alex had a fling with a young guy, a cousin of her pal. The wee bastard got himself lifted on some drug-related thing, and he gave her as his alibi for the time in question. Very messy, and for Andy, very embarrassing. Not terminal, though, he’d have got over that: but the abortion, no.’
‘And you,’ Aileen asked, ‘how did you feel about it?’
‘I don’t know, to be honest. She was wrong on two counts. . no, three. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to get pregnant in the first place if she had any doubt about it. Also, she should have told him about it, and let him state his case at the very least. Plus, she was in a relationship that was supposed to be monogamous, so she shouldn’t have been shagging the boy. Mind you,’ he added, ‘that’s the one I’m least able to criticise her about. There were times when I wasn’t a great role model for her. Bottom line, though, she’s my kid and I will always support her, right or wrong. That outweighs any disappointment I might have felt.’
‘Disappointment that they didn’t marry?’
‘No, at the way she hurt Andy. That their engagement broke up? No. The truth was she was bored, or she wouldn’t have slept with the boy. The truth was she was more committed to her career than to getting married. The truth was, she was way too young to have been thinking about it.’
‘But now she isn’t too young any more. Her career is well on track, and before you know it she’s going to be a partner in that firm of hers. Do you suppose she ever thinks about Andy?’