Skinner's ghosts

'She's formidable still, isn't she just?' saidAlex. 'She seems to be as sharp as a tack, stil. Mr Laidlaw was certainly impressed by her.

I liked her analysis too. Things aren't nearly as black when you look at it from her angle.'

He smiled. 'Sure, but Christabel would be the first to remind you that optimism alone won't make the jury see it her way. Sure, there are holes in the Crown case, but it's still strong. The old dear made me admit that I wouldn't choose to take it to court myself, but if I was forced to it I stil reckon I'd have at least an even chance of a conviction.

'Mind you, when you add in the Christabel factor the odds might tilt a bit.' His smile turned into soft laugh. 'I will never in my life forget the doing she gave that fiance of yours in the witness box.

After ten minutes of it, he more or less swore on the Bible that he didn't know his arse from his elbow.'

'Well,' she said, loyally, 'he was only young at the time. What about you? How did you do against her?'

'I think the referee's decision was a draw. She kept trying to get me to say that black might have been a bit grey, if not completely white, but I stuck to the script.'

'How do you think she'll do with Cheshire?'

'She might rattle his cage a bit, but he's a cool one, is Algernon.

He'l survive. Anyway, most of what he'll have to say won't be subject to chal enge. The question wil be what weight the jury gives to old Chrissie's interpretation.'

He frowned. 'No, I'm more worried about what she'l do to Jimmy.'

'Will she call him?'

'Absolutely for certain, she'l cal him, unless I forbid it. She'l want him as a character witness, but she'l attack him too.'

'Why should she do that?'

Bob smiled. 'Come on, girl, are you on the team or not? Work it out.'

Alex bit into her last sandwich as she thought the question through.

As she chewed she began to nod. 'Yes,' she offered at last. 'She'll have to rubbish the security of the police headquarters building. She'l have to convince the jury that someone could have walked in there and planted that receipt in your desk.'

She looked at him sharply 'Could they?'

'That's what happened, isn't it?'

'In that case, you're right. To demonstrate that, she'll need the Chief Constable himself to admit it, under oath.'

'Spot on.'

'And wil he?' she asked.

'I honestly don't know, my darling.'

Alex slapped the table, wrinkling her forehead in a huge frown.

'None of this should be happening,' she cried out. 'It's just not fair.'

Her father reached across and ruffled her hair. 'Whoever said life was, my angel? Whoever said it was? You go into the house and check your birth certificate. I'm pretty certain that you'l find that it doesn't include any warranties or guarantees.'

'No, I don't recal that it does,' she said, rising from the table, and glancing at her watch. 'Time I was off.'

She helped him carry the plates and mugs into the kitchen. He was walking with her to the door, when the telephone rang. Closest to it, she picked it up.

'Hello,' she said, as if to a familiar voice. 'Yes, he's here.' She handed over the phone, kissed him on the cheek, and disappeared through the front door, with a wave.

'Yes,' grunted Skinner, watching the door close with a surge of pleasure at the woman his daughter had become.

'Hello, boss,' Neil Mcllhenney replied. 'How're you doing?'

'Fine, Big Fel a, fine.' He paused. 'Well no, I'm not. I'm very, very deeply pissed off, if the truth be told. Is this a social call, seeing as how I'm a non-polisman at the moment?'

'Of course it is, boss. I just wanted to make sure that you're hanging in there.' At the other end of the line, Skinner heard a soft rumbling chuckle. 'Mr Martin specifically didn't tell me to call you. He also told me not to let slip that the McGrath-Anderson team have just had a tip from a woman out in Howgate about a man taking a wee lass into a cottage out there this morning. She was struggling, so the woman said.'

Skinner stood bolt upright. 'Did she know the man?'

'No.'

'Did she give a description?'

'Tal, fair, slim. He took the kid out of the back of a grey Toyota van. With a tow-bar.'

'Who owns the cottage? Anyone checked yet?'

'Sammy just did. It belongs to a Mr George. He gets a Council Tax discount as a sole occupant. But the witness says it's not usually occupied. It's a holiday place, and she hasn't a clue whether the man she saw is the owner or not.'

Skinner took a deep breath. 'When?'

'We're just leaving now. Mr Martin, the boy Pye, Pam and me.

We're using two unmarked cars. There's an armed team on the way up now to deploy out of sight.'

'Pam?' said the DCC sharply 'Why Pam?'

'Don't worry, boss,' the Sergeant reassured him, quickly. 'She'l be well back. Mr Martin wants a woman there to look after the kids if we recover them.'

'Who's carrying?'

'Mr Martin and me.'

'Where's the cottage?'

'You know where the old Inn was?'

'Yes.'

'At the end of a track, just beyond it.'

'And where does the witness live?'

'In a converted steading across the field. There are four houses there. The uniform team has orders to empty them.'

'Very good, Neil,' said Skinner. 'Everything sounds fine. I'm glad the situation's in such good hands. Best of luck.'

'Thanks boss,' said Mcl henney, sounding a touch bewildered.

67

'Fancy seeing you here,' Mcl henney grinned, as he stepped out of the passenger seat of Martin's car, opposite what had once been the Howgate Inn, a popular Midlothian watering place. 'Just for a minute there, I…'

'I thought I'd go for a drive,' replied Skinner, casual y forestal ing him. 'Something going on here?'

An attractive blonde woman, in her mid-forties, stood beside him.

Three other people, two more women and an elderly man, residents of the steading, the Sergeant guessed, were gathered a few yards away, with a uniformed constable. 'This is Mrs Christopher,' said the DCC as Martin approached, followed by Pam and Sammy Pye, from a second car. 'Your witness.'

'That's good,' nodded the Chief Superintendent. 'There are a few other questions I wanted to ask.'7

Skinner smiled. 'Mrs Christy The grey van's been around h Here for a couple of days, th it last on Friday night, sho

'"ye had a chat already. '1 or three weeks. hack. She saw e?'

Andy Martin frowned

'Mrs Christopher's Thursday morning to

The younger detfrom his pocket, and the photofitd the print. 'Cou

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'Fa

'somplice?' the solicitor suggested., is1iead, firmly, pursing his lips. 'The only three She pointed to Skinner. 'This gentleman's already asked me that.

The answer's stil no, though. I haven't.'

'Thanks anyway,' said the Head ofCID. 'Would you join the others now, please.'

As Mrs Christopher retreated he turned back to Skinner. 'How d'you think we should play this, sir?'

'It's your show, Andy,' the DCC replied.

'Not so as I'd noticed.'

Skinner grinned. 'Well. I did have a quick scout around.' He pointed along the twisting road which led out of the vil age. 'The track to the cottage is over there, but you're out of its sight until you're almost at the front door. The van's tucked away beyond it, but it's angled so that you can't make out its number, dammit.

'Behind the house there's a wee patch of woodland. The place backs right on to it, with hardly any garden. Some of the armed support is in there already. The rest are in the steading.'