‘I’ll need to clear it with Francis Dean first.’
‘He’s the lawyer?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ll be there in two minutes. Make sure they let me past the front desk.’
Rebus ended the call. Sutherland handed the phone back to its owner.
‘I take it that’s a yes then?’ Clarke said.
‘It’s a maybe,’ Sutherland replied, starting back up the stairs.
When Rebus walked into the interview room, Callum Reid left with a glower he’d spent some time preparing. Hazard sat with arms folded, alongside his solicitor. The room was stuffy and Dean had removed his jacket but kept his waistcoat on. It boasted a fob watch on a gold chain, just when Rebus thought he couldn’t dislike lawyers more than he already did.
Sutherland was making sure he could work the recording equipment. Rebus took the chair next to him, still warm from Reid’s posterior. Hazard had demolished one mug of tea and been brought another.
‘Do you two know one another?’ the lawyer asked. Rebus looked to Hazard and shook his head.
‘Never met,’ he said.
‘We can put it on record that you’ve never met or spoken with my client until this day?’
‘We can,’ Rebus confirmed.
‘And can we also agree that this is highly unusual practice and that any conversation may be inadmissible in future proceedings?’
But Rebus’s focus was on Hazard now. ‘You should tell your lawyer to leave,’ he said.
‘That’s not going to happen,’ Dean stated. Rebus ignored him, locking eyes with Hazard.
‘We’re going to be talking about Rogues nightclub, almost exactly two months before Stuart Bloom died. But I want to do it without a stuffed shirt in the room.’
Hazard just stared, but Rebus had been in plenty of these contests before. He tried to look bored, folded his arms even, and arched his head as if the ceiling had suddenly become extraordinarily interesting to him.
‘Look, DCI Sutherland,’ Dean began, colour rising to his already ruddy cheeks, ‘I’m not sure what game you think you’re playing here, but this has stopped being highly irregular and entered the realm of the absurd.’
Sutherland was looking to Rebus for an explanation, but it was Hazard who spoke. ‘Does your guy leave too?’
‘I told him he should, but he’s adamant.’
Dean had turned towards his client. ‘In which case, it would be rash in the extreme for you to sit here without any counsel being present.’
Hazard nodded and leaned back a little in his chair. ‘Off you go, Francis, but not too far — just outside the door will do.’
‘I’ll only need five or ten minutes,’ Rebus said.
‘Glenn, I urge you to reconsider—’
‘Just fuck off, will you, Francis? Don’t worry, the money meter keeps ticking over.’ Hazard lifted his mug and drained it. The lawyer’s face was almost puce as he gathered his papers, grabbed his jacket and shouldered open the door. Once he was gone, Rebus leaned across Sutherland and stopped the recording.
‘Wait a moment,’ Sutherland began to complain.
‘You’re free to leave,’ Rebus said with a new steeliness, knowing the man wouldn’t budge. He met Hazard’s gaze again.
‘You were a dealer back then,’ Rebus began. ‘Small-time. You had to keep dodging and weaving, so as not to appear on the radar of the bigger players — people like Morris Gerald Cafferty.’ He paused. ‘You know the name?’
Hazard nodded.
‘Cafferty even came to the film set,’ Rebus went on. ‘I’m guessing you made yourself scarce that day.’
‘Can I just ask,’ Hazard interrupted, ‘what proof you have of any of this?’
‘Precious little,’ Rebus admitted. ‘But I know you were dealing and I know you sold the dope that put six kids in hospital. I was a cop at the time and I remember it well. Cafferty was the only dealer we knew; even so, we were shocked. His stuff had never been tainted before. Suddenly there are six overdoses in a single night, six admissions to Accident and Emergency. And only five survived — Jamie Spowart didn’t make it. Don’t suppose it meant much to you, but his parents were devastated and probably still are.
‘After that, you had to make yourself scarce. You left Edinburgh, but you kept dealing — on film sets and probably in the towns and villages south of the city. I’m guessing you changed supplier — you didn’t want anyone else snuffing it on your watch. But meantime, we were all over Cafferty like a rash. Which put a dent in his business for a while and also put a black mark beside his name as far as other men of his persuasion were concerned. He’d been wooing an Irish thug called Conor Maloney — name mean anything to you?’ Rebus received a shrug by way of response. ‘I’m pretty sure you knew Stuart Bloom’s name, though. He was a regular at Rogues, maybe even bought a bit from you. Then the kid dies and suddenly you’re off the scene. Few months later, he’s an extra in one of Jackie Ness’s films and spots you, remembers you. So now you have a problem. What happens next, I can only guess. He tried blackmailing you? He was going to go to the police? Maybe you only feared he would do one or the other. So you met up with him, killed him, and dumped the body on your pal’s farm.’ He paused. ‘How does that sound so far, Mr Hazard?’
‘I’m still waiting to hear anything that isn’t a theory.’
‘Theory’s all I have.’
‘And you think I’m suddenly going to throw up my arms and confess?’ Hazard’s eyes had widened.
Rebus was slowly shaking his head. ‘What I think is this: I’m going to leave this room, your lawyer’s going to come back in, DCI Sutherland’s going to fire the apparatus back up, and you’re going to offer him your full and frank admission of guilt.’
‘Is that right?’
‘See, you’re absolutely correct when you say I’ve no proof, and that’s a problem.’
‘You better believe it.’
‘You misunderstand.’ Rebus leaned across the table. ‘It’s not a problem for me, it’s a problem for you.’
Hazard laughed and gestured towards Sutherland. ‘Are you hearing this? You’ve brought a certified nutjob in here.’
Sutherland seemed about to say something, but Rebus waved a hand to stop him. His attention was still on Hazard.
‘In about half an hour from now, we’re letting you go, as is required by law. But I’ll have been on the blower well before then, giving the story to Cafferty. See, Cafferty has a long memory, especially when it comes to vendettas. You cost him a lot of money and a big chunk of his reputation, which it took him years to recover. He’s wanted you since 2006, Glenn. Twelve years he’s festered.’ Rebus paused. ‘But now he’s going to get you. From the moment you walk out of here, you’re a marked man.’
‘Are you hearing this?’ Hazard told Sutherland, a slight but noticeable quaver entering his voice. ‘Your man’s threatening to feed me to the wolves.’
‘Wolves are doubtful,’ Rebus said, ‘though Cafferty does own a pig farm in Fife. We can show you evidence of all the men he’s tortured and murdered down the years. We only put him behind bars once or twice — that’s because he’s good at getting away with it. A lot of those victims vanished into thin air, just like Stuart Bloom. But you’re not quite as capable as Cafferty; Bloom popped up again.’
‘Say I didn’t kill anyone, you’d be sending an innocent man to—’
‘Oh, but we know you did. And that’s what you’ll confess to, so as not to become one of Cafferty’s victims. And in exchange, we can offer you a deal.’
Hazard seemed to calm a little. ‘What sort of deal?’
‘Better than you deserve. After your trial, we’ll ensure you go to HMP Saughton. Why? Because there’s a guy called Darryl Christie in there, a powerful guy who hates Cafferty as much as Cafferty hates the person who sold that overdose. Christie won’t want Cafferty getting to you. In point of fact, he’ll make damned sure he doesn’t. You staying alive will be a thorn in Cafferty’s paw, an irritant that’ll always be there. That’s worth a lot to Darryl Christie, trust me.’