‘When you say lunch, do you mean senior officers’ dining room?’ she asked, with the smile in her voice that always managed to put one on my face, even then.
My promotion had opened its door to me, although I hadn’t had time to take advantage of the privilege. ‘If that’s what you’d like,’ I replied. ‘But if you’d prefer it, I could get a takeaway from Pizza Hut.’
‘You’d be wearing it as a hat, my dear.’
I’d done it again. I’d begun my conversation with Alison fighting off guilt about my date with Mia, and ended it by inviting her to lunch. But the fact was, she’d lifted my spirits in those few minutes; she’d taken the last of my anger away. Instead of replacing the receiver, I pressed the button in the cradle to get the dial tone. I tried to dial Mia’s mobile number from memory so that I could call her to cancel, but I lost my way after half a dozen digits, so finally I did hang up and reached for my mobile, where it was in the memory. I was scrolling through my directory when the thing sounded; ‘Jean’, it told me.
‘How are you doing?’ I asked, before she could speak.
‘How did you know… oh, these bloody clever mobiles. I’m doing all right, thanks, Bob. I stop for a cry every now and again, but there are things to be done after a death. You just have to get on with them. The undertaker’s been to see me. The funeral’s arranged for Friday afternoon, two o’clock at Daldowie Crematorium.’
That’s good, I thought, instantly. We’ll still be able to go sailing. My face flushed as quickly as my reaction, at its selfishness.
‘You know how to get there?’ she continued.
‘My God, Jean, I haven’t lived in the east for that long,’ I reminded her. ‘My parents were sent off from there, remember, and your mother.’
‘Of course, I’m sorry, Bob. Will you be bringing Alexis?’ My sister-in-law never shortened her niece’s forename.
‘Of course, to that question as well.’
‘It won’t be too much for her?’
‘You’ve got some catching up to do, Auntie. She would drive cocktail sticks under your fingernails if you asked her that question. At her age, a day’s a week in maturity terms.’
‘Mmm,’ she sighed. ‘I keep forgetting. You’re right, I should see more of her, Bob, I know.’
‘I hope you will now that she’s your closest blood relative.’
‘God, you’re right there too,’ she exclaimed. ‘I hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Come and visit us,’ I said, ‘when we’re past all this. Bring the new man too.’
‘I’m not sure if he’s ready to meet you,’ she replied, cagily.
‘Why shouldn’t he be?’
‘Because he’s a policeman too; a sergeant, uniform, stationed in Hamilton. He’s heard of you.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘Lowell Payne.’
‘What’s he heard?’
‘That you’re a hard bastard. His words, not mine. I told him you’re very gentle, really.’
‘I’ll look out for him if I’m ever through in that direction and he can make his own mind up. But he’ll meet me on Friday, remember, whether he’s ready or not.’
‘True,’ she conceded. ‘Will you be bringing anyone, other than Alexis?’
The idea hadn’t occurred to me, but given the timing and the geography, we’d be heading for Inverkip Marina after the funeral so. .. ‘It’s possible,’ I told her. ‘But if I do,’ I warned, ‘don’t read anything into it.’
‘I’ll reserve judgement on that. You can read anything you want into Lowell. I like him. You will too.’
‘It won’t make any difference if I don’t; it didn’t the last time, when you married that arsehole.’
‘True,’ she admitted. ‘But Dad liked Lowell, and that’s enough for me. On second thoughts, Bob, you should come to Dad’s house on Friday; the cortege will be leaving from there at one twenty.’
I promised that I would. As soon as we had said our farewells, I rang a guy I knew in Strathclyde Special Branch and asked him if he’d do me one of those favours that he owed me, by checking up discreetly on Sergeant Lowell Payne, and his reputation within the force. Thornie had started off by liking Cameron, I recalled; he’d always given people the benefit of the doubt, until there was none. If there was anything on Payne’s file that I didn’t like, I didn’t want Jean to find out about it the hard way.
I went outside into the main office… yes, I’d forgotten about the call I’d been about to make when Jean had phoned. McGuire and Martin were both at their desks, making their way through files of continuing investigations that Fred Leggat had given them. I tasked them with picking up Wyllie. ‘Don’t smile,’ I warned. ‘DI Higgins has a feeling about this man, so I don’t want him brought in here full of confidence. If he wants to speak while he’s waiting for us, don’t let him. If he asks for tea or coffee, give him water. If he wants to pee, go with him.’
‘What if he wants to take a dump, boss?’ McGuire asked, cheerily.
‘Wait outside the cubicle door.’
‘Can I go back to St Leonards?’
I patted him on the back. ‘And to that nice tailored uniform?’
‘Mmm,’ he mused. ‘What’s a wee bit of methane against that? Maybe not.’
They’d been gone for around twenty minutes when Alison arrived. I hung her light raincoat… it had been drizzling slightly while I ran… in my room, and we headed for the Command Corridor, where the dining room is located.
‘On Friday,’ I said as we walked. ‘I’d been thinking that we’d all go in my car.’
‘Me too,’ she agreed, readily.
‘In that case…’ I told her about Thornton’s death.
She was shocked. ‘Bob, that’s awful. So sudden. How did Alex take it?’
‘Better than I did. I won’t go into detail just now, in case it makes me cry. That wouldn’t look good in here.’
She squeezed my arm. ‘I don’t know about that. It’s a new man thing, and new men are all the rage.’
‘I’ll stick to being an old one,’ I said, ‘or middle-aged… young middle-aged… approaching middle-age. Anyway, the funeral’s on Friday afternoon, in Lanarkshire. Will you come with Alex and me? We can head for the boat afterwards.’
She stopped walking, and whistled. ‘Are you sure about that, Bob? This is a family funeral after all.’
‘A very small family now.’
‘Still, I’m not part of it. What would Alex think?’
‘What should she think?’ I asked.
‘Well, that we were… more than we are.’
‘She knows how we are, and she’s happy with it. Ali, I’d like you to come.’ I realised that it was true; I wasn’t just saying it because her presence would have been convenient. I hadn’t gone to anything with a partner since Myra died. Indeed, I’d never gone to anything with a partner other than Myra.
‘If that’s what you want, I’ll come, depending of course on…’
‘I know, I know, I know: the fucking job. That goes for us both. If there’s a crisis, everything comes second.’
‘What would you be if you weren’t a cop, Bob?’
That was a question I’d put to myself, often. As I’ve said, a few years before I’d been close to becoming a lawyer, although I would have been miserable as the sort of general solicitor that my father was. Probably I’d have made my way to the Bar, with a criminal practice as my objective, or I’d have joined the Crown Office, to concentrate on prosecution. But that was then; my thinking had changed over the years, and journalism had become more attractive to me. I’d a journo friend called Xavi Aislado, a big, serious man, widely regarded as the best reporter in the country. I admired him and could have seen myself trying to fill his enormous shoes. But in truth each of those options would have been a bad second best. If I was snatched away from the job I loved, I’d have been…
‘Lost,’ I replied. ‘You?’
‘A lecturer in criminology,’ she replied without a moment’s hesitation. ‘If I couldn’t do it for any reason, I’d want to teach it.’
I opened the dining-room door and ushered her in. While I was a newcomer, in my own right, I’d been there often enough as a guest. I looked around. The chief constable was there, deep in discussion with his deputy. He waved an acknowledgement to me, and I nodded in return. I spotted Alf Stein too, sharing a table with Alastair Grant and big John McGrigor. John was head of CID in the Borders division. He was a massive bloke; he’d been a lock forward in his youth, and he was so much a part of his territory that he could never be moved out of it.