‘Couldn’t they trace the car from the plates?’
‘They did, but Starr wasn’t stupid. They belonged on a BMW owned by an insurance broker in Hampshire.’
‘Couldn’t they have followed him back to Scotland?’
‘They didn’t appreciate what was going on then.’
‘What did they find when they raided the garage?’
‘Thin air. And traces of decent-quality cocaine. What did you do with the stuff you found in Starr’s safe?’
‘It’s here, locked up in ours, along with the money.’
‘Jesus! At the very least Bandit should have reported it to our own Drugs Squad, and given it into their custody.’ McIlhenney looked at the sergeant. ‘Ray, I know it’s only been a few days, but what’s it been like working with him? Off the record; nothing will get quoted to anyone.’
Wilding thought for a little, framing his answer. ‘Let’s say it’s been a learning curve, sir. He has his methods, and they’re a bit unorthodox, but that doesn’t make him a bad cop.’
‘If they work it might make him a good one.’
‘Granted. The thing I’ve found difficult is his unpredictability. Just when I think we’re starting to get along, he’ll flare up. Like this morning: we were interviewing Starr’s ex. She’s forthright, but no ogre, and she was co-operating, when out of the blue, the Bandit tore into her. When I asked him why the hell he’d done that, he tore into me. Wee things seem to set him off: today I reckon it was the fact that you’re moving Stevie Steele down to Leith.’
‘What does your gut tell you about him, Ray?’
Wilding frowned. ‘When I was a kid, I had an uncle with a drink problem, although I didn’t know about it till I was a bit older. He acted just like DCI Mackenzie.’
‘What time did he leave you at Queen Charlotte Street this morning?’
‘Eleven forty.’
‘He didn’t get to me until twelve thirty. I didn’t raise it with him, for I was too concerned with other things, but I copped a whiff of his breath when I was showing him into my office. I reckon he might have stopped off somewhere on the way. By the way, that is also just between you and me.’
‘Absolutely.’
McIlhenney nodded. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘let’s get on with business. Where are we in this chaotic investigation? By that I mean the murder of Gareth Starr, since that’s where it all started out. Take me through it.’
Wilding put a hand on the case folder on the desk. ‘With respect, sir, that isn’t where it started. The chain of events began when we were called to Starr’s betting shop, following his report of an attempted robbery, in the course of which he severed the so-called robber’s finger.’
‘So-called?’
‘Yes. We now know that it wasn’t Starr who called the police, but Big Ming, when he arrived back early from the corner shop and collided with the guy as he was running off. There was no hold-up; according to Eddie Charnwood, the clerk, the plastic gun we found belonged to Starr himself. Another thing: Starr told us he kept the bayonet in his safe, but according to Charnwood he kept it under the counter. The man faked the crime scene, sir.’
‘So Starr attacked the man, not the other way round?’
The sergeant nodded. ‘That’s how I see it. He said that the bloke came in, pointed the fake gun at him and demanded money. We know that didn’t happen. We know from Smith that the man was hanging about outside the shop when he left, as he did at eleven every morning, to go up to the corner shop. That suggests to me that the man went in there to talk to Starr, not to rob him.’
‘Or to collect on a bet? Could there have been a dispute about money owed?’
‘That’s possible: there was money on the counter, nailed down by the bayonet. But I don’t think it’s as simple as that. In his statement, Starr was at pains to describe the man as drugged up to his ears, but Smith’s version doesn’t bear that out. There’s also a big disparity in the two stories when it comes to age. Big Ming put him early twenties, much younger than his boss did, and he was quite certain about that. No, my belief is that Starr knew the man, but we’ll have to find him to prove that.’
‘Okay, go back to the sequence of events. An investigation into the faked robbery begins, but there’s no trace of the perpetrator slash victim. It’s hardly under way before Starr is found, trussed up, tortured and murdered. You and Bandit are now in charge of both investigations.’
‘Yes.’
McIlhenney leaned back in his chair until it creaked. ‘Why did you walk away from the idea that Nine-fingered Jack might have done it?’
‘For a variety of reasons. We had medical advice that someone with such a severe wound couldn’t have begun to do what was done to Starr. We considered that he might have enlisted help, but there were problems with that too. Just as Smith did, Starr appears to have admitted his killers to the house, and then to have been rendered helpless without a struggle. He wasn’t a soft touch: there was another bayonet in the house, and a shotgun. If a gang had turned up, he’d have gone down fighting. On top of all that, there’s the drugs that were used to subdue him. They weren’t over-the-counter stuff.’
‘So what’s the premise of your investigation, on the basis of what you know?’
‘I. . we, DCI Mackenzie and I, believe that the murder is related to Starr’s apparent drug-dealing, rather than the incident in the shop.’
‘Turf wars?’
‘Who knows?’ Wilding replied. ‘New team in town, maybe? Sending out a message?’
‘If that’s so, we’ll hear more from them. But from what we’ve learned so far, Starr was the new team himself, or relatively so. I’d be more inclined to look among the old players. The trouble is, the way he was killed doesn’t fit any of them, or any of the boys through in the west. They’d just have shot him and dumped the body in a field somewhere. No, Ray, I think we know who did this already; that is, I reckon he’s within, or relates to, the circle you’ve encountered in your investigation.’
‘Did we get anything out of Spain, sir?’
‘Eventually. The SDEA were a bit sniffy about sharing the information, but Mario threatened to ask the Crown Office to order them to release it. They backed down at that. It’s pretty clear that the garage in Pamplona was a staging point for cocaine coming into Europe through North Africa. It was owned and operated by two Egyptian brothers, Darius and Garai Goma. They were gone when the place was raided. The Guardia Civil are pretty certain that they had a warning from a contact in the local police force.’
‘That doesn’t take us much further.’
‘On the face of it, it doesn’t,’ McIlhenney conceded. ‘It’s shut off the supply route, but that doesn’t help our investigation. So come on, let’s look at the cast of characters again. Starr, deceased. James Smith, alias Big Ming, deceased. Oliver Poole, solicitor? I’ve known Ollie Poole for years: he’s respected on both sides of the court, he’s a member of the Law Society council, and he’s making a bloody fortune. I’ll interview him again if necessary but I don’t regard him as a suspect. Mrs Kitty Philips?’
‘She’s got a whole bingo hall for an alibi, plus she’s got no motive. She took plenty from Starr in the divorce.’
‘The girlfriend?’
‘Can’t see it: the relationship was very casual.’
‘That just leaves Charnwood, the clerk. What do you know about him?’
‘DCI Mackenzie dealt with him, sir. His view was that he is what he seems, an employee who was trusted because he’s good at his job.’
‘Any previous?’
‘None at alclass="underline" he’s an upright citizen, family man, with a wife named Sorry, and a young son.’
McIlhenney looked up. ‘What did you say the wife’s name is?’
‘Sorry, or so Kitty Philips told us.’
‘Is that right?’
‘Unusual, isn’t it?’
‘Mmm. Eddie Charnwood was with Bandit when he discovered the drugs and the money, wasn’t he?’
‘That’s right. DCI Mackenzie said he nearly fainted when he saw them.’