‘She’s better at her mother’s. Besides. .’
‘Besides what?’
‘Nothing. How’s the baby?’
‘She kept me awake half the night, but other than that she’s perfect. Ethel’s here now.’
‘Ethel?’
‘Ethel Reid, the new nanny; she arrived at nine sharp, and she’s taken over already.’
‘Ah, but can she breastfeed?’
‘I shouldn’t think so; she’s about fifty. But we’re going to get Janet on to the bottle quite soon.’
‘Have you thought that through?’
‘Absolutely. I’m going back to work, remember. I’m a builder, Oz; that’s what I do, it’s the world I live in, and I am not, repeat not, whipping out a tit halfway through a meeting with my site managers.’
‘No,’ I conceded. ‘I can see that might distract them. You might have houses being built in inches rather than centimetres.’
‘Was than an oblique reference to the size of my bosom?’
‘Not so oblique; they’re pretty spectacular just now, you have to admit.’
‘Enjoy while you can.’
I paused. ‘If that’s an invitation, I thought I might come through tonight.’
‘Why?’
‘I have to see Greg McPhillips, about the divorce arrangements, so I thought I’d fit it in this afternoon.’ I paused. ‘Also. . am I allowed to say I’m missing you?’
‘You are. . since I feel a bit that way myself.’
‘See you later then.’
‘Okay. You can take me out to dinner; I’ve got a sudden urge to get dolled up in normal-sized clothes. I haven’t been able to do that for months.’
I hung up, swung myself out of bed and lurched into the shower. Half an hour later, after finishing off the Lorne sausage and the last couple of rolls, I began to feel human again.
I was looking out over the city, getting ready to go to the Edinburgh Club, when the phone rang once more. It was Alison; she sounded sad, but together. ‘I want to thank you for last night,’ she said. ‘If I had gone in there on my own. .’
‘It’s okay. You don’t have to thank me.’
‘You surprised me, you know,’ she murmured. ‘The way you handled it. There’s more to you than I ever realised.’
I didn’t tell her, but I’ve seen things that were a hell of a lot more grisly than her late fiance. For some reason, I found myself thinking of a man called Ramon Fortunato.
‘I suppose losing your wife must have had an effect on you. I understand that now, being in the same boat myself.’
I felt my forehead bunch into a savage frown. Brain first, mouth second, Blackstone, I tried to tell myself, but I was too late. ‘What?’ I said; actually it was more of a snarl. ‘Was David pregnant too?
‘You’re not even on the same fucking ocean as me, never mind in the same boat. You were ready to screw me last night, remember. If I’d said the word we’d have been at my place, not his.’
‘Don’t, Oz,’ she pleaded, and the wail in her voice got to me at once. ‘I’ve been torturing myself about that all night.’
‘Okay, okay, I’m sorry. That was brutal of me, but I still can’t talk about that. I never will.’
‘I understand. That’s all; I understand.’
‘Yeah. Truce.’
‘Good.’ She paused. ‘About that thing we discussed last night?’
She was back to business already; she took my breath away. ‘Torrent?’
‘Yes. Will you still do what you said?’
‘Of course I will. Ewan might feel a bit guilty now. He’ll probably be a soft touch.’
‘Maybe we should forget him and just go with Miles Grayson. You’re right; Mr Torrent would love that.’
‘No,’ I told her. ‘Miles is fall-back. You stick with Ewan Capperauld, if you can get him.’
‘All right. When’ll you do it?’
‘This week, I hope. I expect to meet him on Thursday. I’ll call you at your office when I’ve got something to tell you. I take it you’ll be going to work regardless?’
‘I have to; there’s no choice.’
‘Suppose not. I’ll call.’
‘Thanks. Goodbye.’
She hung up and left me shaking my head. I hadn’t understood Alison before, and I sure as hell didn’t now.
Her call had left me keener than ever to get into a gym, so I caught a taxi on the Mound and went straight to the Club. I signed up for a short-term membership and let the instructor show me round the equipment, although there was nothing there I hadn’t used many times before.
I had a lot to get out of my system, so once I had warmed up with a few hundred sit-ups, I bench-pressed a shitload of weight, first legs, then arms, in increasingly large lumps. Once I was through with that, I worked my way around the rest of the machinery in my usual pattern, and finished off with a tough twenty minutes on the exercise bike.
‘If Ali the Grocer could see me now,’ I gasped as, finally, I swung off. I hadn’t been a total stranger to physical exercise on my last sojourn in Edinburgh, but we hadn’t been the best of pals either.
Once I had showered, for the second time that morning, I walked back up to Princes Street, picked up some lunch in Marks amp; Spencer’s food hall, and made my way home, via the National Gallery, which stands at the foot of the Mound. It isn’t the biggest in Britain, but it’s one of the best, and it’s always been one of my favourite places to chill out.
After I’d eaten, I decided to do some more work on my script; Thursday was looming up. I didn’t know it, but so was something else.
I worked for nearly an hour, looking at my scenes, and going through them in my head at first, then aloud, my own very early rehearsal process. Eventually I decreed a coffee break and headed for the kitchen.
When the door buzzer sounded, it took me a second or two to figure out what it was, then another few to figure out where. I was puzzled as I reached out for it, too late to stop it from buzzing again. Apart from Susie and Miles, and neither of them were in town, nobody knew I was there. I guessed it had to be Luke Edgar.
I picked up the instrument. ‘Hello,’ I said, tentatively.
‘Hello, Blackstone,’ a deep voice boomed in my ear. ‘Guess what; it’s a blast from your past.’
It sure was, and one that I had hoped with all my heart, would stay there.
Chapter 16
I could have left the bastard stood there in the street, but if he was determined I’d only have been postponing the moment, so I let him in and told him to take the lift all the way up to the top.
I left the front door open for him; he strolled into my living room, all swagger and menacing smile, came up to me and, without a word, threw a right-hander straight at my nose.
It stopped about an inch short; I’ll never know whether he’d have pulled it, because I caught his wrist in mid-swing and held it steady. I squeezed the bones together until the grin left his face and he winced, then I threw him his arm back.
‘Hello, Ricky,’ I said, evenly. ‘You’re still underestimating me. I thought you’d have learned by now.’
‘Only kidding, Blackstone, only kidding.’ He rubbed his wrist. ‘When did you get tough?’
‘It happened along the way.’
I looked him up and down. Ex-Detective Superintendent Richard Ross looked older than before, and by more than the three years or so that had passed since our last meeting. He was a bit slimmer, too, but he was still a pretty formidable specimen for a guy in his mid-forties.
He and I had enjoyed. . no, that’s the wrong word; we hadn’t. . only a brief acquaintanceship, but it hadn’t worked out too well for him. He had ended up in a very embarrassing position, after his piece on the side was charged with murdering her husband, and his shiny career had come to a tawdry end.
Serve the bastard right, though. He’d been keen to do me for said murder at one point, and had even broken into my flat in the process of trying to nail me for it.
Then the obvious hit me, and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place all at once. ‘Let me guess,’ I said to him. ‘You’re our technical adviser for the movie. Miles hired you; he gave you this address. I might have bloody known.’