That left personal. George rarely speaks of his home life, and I never ask, but I know that it isn’t happy. There was one time, a few months ago, when I thought that he was working up to unburdening himself to me, and possibly angling to take it further than that. I headed him off, politely, and as gently as I could. My guess had been spot on, but he took it well, and I came to believe that it had strengthened our relationship rather than weakening it.
Still, as he closed the door behind him, that was all I could think of, and I decided to deal with it in the same way, full on.
‘Things bad with Jen?’ I asked.
His eyes widened, very slightly; then he sighed. ‘It’s the same old story, Lisa; same old story. She’ll never get over it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘sorry for you both. George, I wish there was something I could do to make your life better, but honestly, that wouldn’t. If it’s still preying on your mind, then please understand that it’s not that I don’t find you attractive, I just know that sleeping with me wouldn’t make you any happier.’ His mouth seemed to quiver, very slightly. ‘Hey, don’t get me wrong,’ I added. ‘I’m not saying I’m lousy in bed, and I’m sure you’re great. It’s how we’d be the morning after, not the night before.’
He grinned. I hadn’t seen him smile as broadly as that in all the time I’d known him. ‘I can only speak for myself, Lisa,’ he chuckled, ‘but I’m sure I’d feel fucking magic, for an hour or two at least. I’m just as sure it wouldn’t bother Jen at all, not even if we filmed it and I showed her a video. But can we discuss that later,’ he paused, ‘because there’s something work-related that I’ve got to ask you first. I’m being moved to a new job, and I’ve been given clearance to take you with me. . if you want to come, that is.’
It takes a lot to make me blush but I did then; I even felt my chest go pink beneath my shirt. ‘George, boss,’ I spluttered. ‘I’m sorry, I thought. .’
‘I know, and to be honest I’m flattered. I like you, lass, and I’d be lying if I said that the thought doesn’t cross my mind any more,’ he grinned again, ‘but you’re right in what you say, so I don’t come to work every morning consumed by lust. Now. .’
‘Yes,’ I said, grateful for the chance to move on. ‘Your new job, what is it?’
‘Special Branch.’
‘Jesus,’ I gasped. I had not expected that, not in a month of those Sunday morning hangovers. ‘SB? And I can come with you?’
‘Yup. Fancy it?’
I was ready to bite his hand off but I made myself consider some practicalities. ‘Where’s it based?’ I asked him.
‘HQ. Fettes building.’
That sounded good; I’d always wanted to work there, but never thought it would happen. But it did mean. .
‘What’s the chain of command? Do you report to DCS McGuire?’
He shook his head, and his expression returned to the norm; serious. ‘No. Direct to the chief constable.’
‘I see,’ I murmured.
He caught on. ‘Look, Lisa, I know he scares you, but. .’
‘He doesn’t scare me,’ I retorted. ‘I just don’t like the man, that’s all.’
‘Well I promise, he’s got nothing against you,’ he replied, ‘because he approved your transfer without question. Look, we don’t have to like our colleagues. I could list a few that I can’t stand. But we do have to respect the system that put them where they are and work within it. . especially when they’re the chief bloody constable. Anyway, you’ll be reporting to me, not to him; I’ll be your buffer.’
There’s something reassuring about George; when he said that, I felt all right. ‘When do we start?’ I asked.
‘Clear your desk,’ he replied. ‘Report there first thing in the morning.’
He wasn’t kidding either; I said my goodbyes, with no mention of our destination and turned up at Fettes next morning as instructed. George’s predecessor had gone. . I didn’t learn until a few days later that they’d done a straight swap. . and I found myself at a desk facing an enormous Sikh DC called Tarvil Singh. He was being moved out too, but not until the following Monday, so he gave me a briefing on the practical work of the Branch and on what was hot and what was not.
Naturally, there was also the obligatory welcome by the chief constable, barely fifteen minutes after I’d arrived. To my surprise, he came to me. I must admit that he was very pleasant, very polite and very proper, no question of that, but I had a mental picture of arriving at an old-fashioned boarding school and being greeted by the smiling headmaster, knowing that the next time you saw him would be in his study and he’d be standing there with cane in hand, ready to leave stripes on your arse.
In this life there are some people to whom we will never take, and for me Bob Skinner is one of those. He reminds me of the Robert Duvall character, Colonel Kilgore, in that old seventies movie Apocalypse Now: I guess I must hate the smell of testosterone in the morning.
Once he was gone, I spent a couple of instructive hours with Tarvil. . I really did take to him. . before George, the boss once more, as if our strange cross-purposes discussion had never happened, called me into his new office and gave me my first real SB task.
He handed me a folder. ‘That tells you all there is to know at the moment about a man called Freddy Welsh,’ he said. ‘I want you to find out everything else. There isn’t very much there, just his business details, home address and that’s all. What it certainly doesn’t tell you is that Welsh is related by marriage to Inspector John Varley, who’s just been charged with perverting the course of justice. Varley’s niece is DC Alice Cowan, who used to work in this place.’
‘I know that,’ I told him. ‘Alice is a friend of mine, from her days in East Lothian. She called me last night to tell me she was in the shit. Her boyfriend told her something and she passed it on to her uncle. He went and did something crazy and tipped off a guy involved. She’s scared she’ll lose her job.’
George frowned. ‘It’s gone beyond that. She resigned this morning. What did you say to her?’
‘Apart from telling her that I think her uncle’s an arsehole? I told her she should do what’s best for her in the circumstances.’
‘Do you feel compromised?’
I wasn’t sure that I understood his question so I made him spell it out.
‘Will your friendship with Alice make you less than objective in investigating Welsh?’ he asked.
I was almost offended by that. ‘No, why should it?’ I retorted. Then the penny dropped and I saw the wider picture. ‘It was Welsh who was tipped off?’
‘That’s right.’
I shrugged. ‘I’ll be objective,’ I promised, ‘don’t you worry. I’ll also be well motivated.’
‘Good. Now here’s what I want you to do. First, run a check on Companies House for every company of which Freddy Welsh is a director. Find out who the other directors are; you never know, maybe Varley’s name will be among them.’
‘What’s his business?’ I asked. ‘What does he do?’
He tapped the folder. ‘That much is in there,’ he said, ‘from what Tarvil tells me. I haven’t had time to read it. He’s a builder, incorporated under the name Anglesey Construction PLC. I want you to access his company records, preferably without him knowing about it.’
‘All of them? That might not be easy.’
‘I know. It may be we’ll have to go in with a full search warrant for his home and office premises, but our brief is to try and avoid that. His company will have auditors; they will have signed off on his annual accounts. Find out who they are and then go see them, armed with a court order to access information.’
‘Won’t it be difficult to get one?’