I picked up a pumice stone — that would do a fair chunk of damage at high velocity. ‘What did she ask you?’
‘I don’t... I think it was... mostly stuff about Toby Macmillan and did... did he have any friends and... what was his family really like... Because they all pretend they love him when the cameras are on, don’t they? But his stepdad liked to... to use the top of his head as an... ashtray, didn’t he? And they broke... broke his arm when... when he was three. And... and his mum’s... doing eighteen months... for neglect.’
Poor wee sod.
‘What else?’
McHale blinked at me, tears and snot mingling with the water running from his flattened quiff. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Time for another dunk?’ Shifty tightened his grip. ‘In you—’
‘No! I...’ Biting his lip. ‘I don’t... She went really weird and quiet... towards the end. Kept flipping back through her notes and staring at something. Underlining bits.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know! Please, I promise you, I don’t. I was telling her about Toby’s mum appealing against her sentence, and that’s when she stopped paying attention. Said she had to go walk her dog. Then she left. I swear that’s all that happened!’
Shifty raised the eyebrow above his eyepatch. ‘Once more for luck?’
Shook my head. ‘No. I think he’s telling the truth.’
‘Oh, thank God...’ It was as if all the bones had been removed from McHale’s body, leaving nothing but a soggy limp slough of skin behind. ‘I never touched her.’
‘Now then,’ Shifty’s massive paw wrapped itself around McHale’s face, thumb and fingers digging into the cheeks, forcing the lips out into a chicken’s-bum pout, ‘just so we’re clear, I ever hear that you’ve been looking funny at a wee girl you’re supposed to be mentoring? I’m going to come back here and they’re going to find what’s left of you floating in this bathtub. Am I clear?’
McHale nodded — not easy with his face in the vice of Shifty’s grip, but he did it.
‘And see if you think you’ll get any help from the police about our wee visit tonight?’ Shifty reached his free hand into his jacket and produced his warrant card. Shoved it against McHale’s eye. ‘I am the police. And we’re gonna be watching you.’
‘Got you a present.’ Shifty tossed a black leather jacket at me as we marched out the main door and back onto the street. ‘Chris McHale decided he didn’t need it any more.’
Bit old-fashioned, but had to admit: it smelled a lot better than Albert’s stinky denim job.
I transferred the contents of my pockets and climbed back into the pool car. Clicked the seatbelt on as Helen’s phone ding-buzzed at me.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
Salutations, Mr Henderson. I am pleased
to confirm that your appointment has been
arranged for 23:00 at Rushworth House, in
Camburn Woods.
Damn it.
According to my watch, that was only ten minutes from now, and while it wasn’t impossible to make it all the way across the river and through town to Camburn Woods in time, we’d need lights and music on to do it. Which wasn’t exactly low-profile when it came to buying a black-market handgun.
Shifty started the engine. ‘Where to?’
And I still hadn’t got my hands on Joseph’s thousand pounds.
‘How much cash have you got on you?’
‘Dunno.’ He pulled out his wallet and checked. ‘Sixty-two quid and some smush. Why?’
Mine held the twenty I’d taken off Helen’s body, three ten-pound notes of my own, and that fifteen-quid gift voucher from Winslow’s. Doubt Joseph would accept it, though.
‘We need to stop at the nearest cash machine.’
Shifty did a three-point turn, then took a right at the roundabout — up over the bridge that crossed the railway line, Saint Damon of the Green Wood lurking in the darkness below. ‘What are we buying?’
‘Gun.’
‘Ah...’ Silence as we headed up Banks Road. ‘Only — and don’t take this the wrong way — your luck with guns is not great.’
‘If I take the maximum cash out on my debit card, and you do the same, and we use Alice’s too, plus all the cash we’ve got on us, that’ll cover it.’
‘You sure we wouldn’t be better off with something like a machete, or a baseball bat? Something cheaper and less... disastrous?’
‘I’ve got three people to kill, Shifty. Maybe four.’ Because Wee Free McFee wasn’t likely to stand back and let me go rummaging through his scrapyard, looking for a buried security van full of stolen jewellery and artwork.
‘OK. Four people?’ Shifty puffed out his cheeks. ‘That’s a lot of people.’
The streets of Kingsmeath drifted by the car windows. Dark and miserable.
I picked out a reply to Joseph:
Change of plans. I need you to meet me
at the Burgh Library. Make it quarter past.
I have business here I can’t put off.
SEND.
They probably wouldn’t like that, but tough.
The phone went back in my new jacket’s inside pocket. ‘Where’s her notebook? McHale said she was making notes and looking back at them. It wasn’t with her things at the hospital.’
‘You sure these four people have to die? We couldn’t, you know, rough them up instead?’
‘One of them’s the bastard who put Alice in Intensive Care.’
‘Assuming we can catch him.’ Shifty parked outside the Post Office on Greenhorn Place. ‘Cash machine.’
I sat there, looking out of the passenger window, but barely registering the small row of rundown shops. ‘McHale said Alice told him she had to walk Henry. On her way to the library, she sees that chunk of parkland on Glensheilth Crescent, pulls in, gets out of the car, and this Gòrach bastard runs her over. Which means he was following her.’
Wind scrabbled at my back as I climbed out of the car, stuffed Albert’s stinking denim jacket into the nearest bin, then limped over to the cash machine. Took out the maximum daily allowance, then did the same with Alice’s card — easy enough as she used the same pin number on everything, including the TV’s parental lock at home: 3825, which, apparently, spelled a very rude word in predictive text on the old flip phones.
‘Bloody freezing out here.’ Shifty shuffled past as I stepped away to count my cash. Then he swore, nearly dropping his debit card as his phone launched into the Mastermind theme again. Pinning the thing between his ear and shoulder as he slipped the card into the machine and punched in his pin. ‘Rhona?... Uh-huh... Uh-huh... They did? Where?’ Turning to me. ‘They’ve found Alice’s jeep.’ Then back to the phone. ‘Yeah... OK... Uh-huh... OK, look, is the dog there?... Damn it.’
No Henry.
‘Where’s the car?’
He took his banknotes from the machine and handed them over. ‘Halfway through the front window of that Cash Converters on Brokemere Street. Pair of wee scroats used it as a battering ram. Made off with a bunch of crap jewellery and some electric guitars. Last seen legging it down McLaren Avenue, heading for Camburn Woods.’
‘Get them to search the car for Alice’s notebook. See if we can figure out what she saw that tipped her off.’
‘Rhona? I want that vehicle searched. We’re looking for a notebook... Uh-huh... Uh-huh...’
Shifty’s cash went on the pile, bringing our grand total to one thousand and ten pounds.
‘Well get them to look again!... Uh-huh... You’re sure?... Bugger... No, if it’s not there, it’s not there... Yeah, thanks, Rhona.’ Shifty put his phone away. ‘Take it you got the gist?’