‘It’s a fair comment on what Scotland got out of that World Cup,’ Eddie said. ‘Matchbox-holders at 50p a whip.’
‘Aye,’ Harkness said. ‘Some caper that. A B-picture remake of the Darien Scheme.’
‘Danny,’ Laidlaw said. ‘No offence. But are you going to tell us, before I melt in this place, what happened to-fucking-day?’
‘Oh aye, certainly. Certainly. Anyway. This big yin comes up to buy. He buys one o’ these, right? Gives me a quid for it, actually. Fair enough. He’s not the loser. But then. Aha. Then. He asks me about Eck Adamson.’
‘What did he say?’ Laidlaw asked.
‘He asks me how Eck’s gettin’ on.’
‘Not well,’ Eddie said.
‘And what else?’ Laidlaw said.
‘Well. Ah twig this could be bother. So Ah’ve just arrived, haven’t Ah? Ah’ve still got the hives. Ah don’t know what he’s talkin’ about, do Ah? But he follows me. Duffs me up a bit.’
‘So what did you tell him?’
‘As little as possible. About that lassie wi’ the shop. An’ Eck bein’ deid. But it’s whit Ah didny tell ’em. An’ Ah’m gonny tell you.’
‘Before you do, Danny,’ Laidlaw said. ‘Who was this man? Your visitor.’
‘Ah don’t know ’im. He’s Glasgow right enough. But not livin’ here any more. Up on a visit, he says.’
‘But what was he like?’
‘Big fella.’
‘That could be a coupla people, Danny. Nothing else?’
‘A bastard.’
‘Christ, you’ve widened the net. There must be three of them in Glasgow at least. Think, Danny. Think. Going baldy? Purple hair? Anything!’
‘He had a wee toatty birth-mark on his left cheek.’
Laidlaw put his memory on it like a scanner. There was a troublesome bleep somewhere but he couldn’t locate it.
‘He was at the Vicky on Friday night,’ Eddie said.
‘So who is he?’ Laidlaw asked.
‘I don’t know, Jack. A big man. Looks like Burt Lancaster with the flu. I didn’t know him. One of Cam’s barnacles. Panda Paterson was another one.’
‘Panda’s not one of Cam’s,’ Laidlaw said. ‘Sounds like a scrubbers’ reunion to see Paddy off. Mind you, who else would want to see Paddy off? If decency was food, Paddy would’ve died of malnutrition years ago.’
A boy of about two had stumbled stiff-legged towards them, like John Wayne running downhill. He was dressed in a way that only somebody who had no say in it would be dressed. He had those aggressive eyes of childhood, as if the world had just been waiting for him to look at it and, all right, he was doing it the favour. He stopped in front of Laidlaw and said something that sounded like Sanskrit passing through a scrambler. He seemed waiting for an answer. Laidlaw pointed his finger in the boy’s face.
‘Make your move any time,’ Laidlaw said. ‘I’m a killer. I’ll wipe you out in a oner.’
The boy started to slap Laidlaw’s legs ferociously, making high-pitched noises that seemed to imply pleasure.
‘Hell,’ Laidlaw muttered. ‘That’s supposed to work.’
Having made sure her son had had plenty of time to get out of hand, his mother timed her arrival. She wasn’t pretty but she didn’t have to be. She wasn’t touting anybody’s responses. She was deliciously full of her own life. She shook her head at her son for their benefit.
‘He’s an awfy handful,’ she said.
‘See that?’ Laidlaw said to her, smiling. ‘One word from me and they do as they like.’
Everybody except Danny watched her shepherd the boy away, wondering what it must be like, for a moment, to be the boy’s father.
‘Mammies is great,’ Laidlaw said. ‘She’ll have ten stories to tell about him by the time she gets him home. Danny. You were going to tell us something else.’
‘Ah saw Eck no’ long before he died,’ Danny said.
With one sentence Danny had effectively shifted the mood of their meeting. He no longer seemed such a comic figure. His air of self-importance was something they were taking seriously.
‘How soon before he died?’ Harkness asked.
‘Well, we don’t know, do we? But Ah’d say it musta been one o’ the last times he wis out an’ about. He wis doon at the Market. See, Ah’d given ’im a message before that. Fae Paddy Collins.’
‘You knew Paddy Collins?’ Laidlaw said.
‘Well, Ah knew who he wis, all right. An’ a lot o’ people knew Eck an’ me wis friends. An’ Paddy Collins asked me tae tell Eck somethin’.’
Danny paused. Attention is a drug. The only point of it is to savour the high, for the withdrawal symptoms are on their way.
‘What was that?’ Laidlaw asked.
‘Well. Ah’ll tell ye. Ah’m at the Paddy’s, right? Okey dokey. Paddy Collins comes up. He knows that Ah know Eck. So he wants me to pass on a message. He wants tae meet Eck an’ talk about somethin’.’
‘Did he say what?’ Even Eddie was involved.
‘Did he say what?’ Danny said it as if he didn’t know the answer himself. He was enjoying the suspense so much he was identifying with it. ‘Well. No. He never said. But he wis one keen fella. As anxious as a cloakin’ hen. Ah don’t know whit he wis hatchin’ out. But he wis sittin’ on eggs. Ah know that. Ah know people. See that Sigmund Fraud? Ah coulda learned him about people. Anyway. So Ah give Eck the message. An’ the next thing. .’
‘Danny,’ Laidlaw said. ‘Where did Paddy Collins ask to meet Eck?’
‘Well. He asked me tae help him there. Well, Ah know Eck, don’t Ah? Whit wid be a good place to meet Eck. That’s what he’s askin’ me. Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Eck wis a South Side man. For years. He’d come over the river at times. Of course, he would. Like, his sister’s north o’ the river. And. .’
‘His sister?’ Laidlaw looked like a small boy who has discovered yet another wondrous fact about the world, like the existence of giraffe-necked ladies. ‘Eck’s got a sister alive? He never mentioned her to me.’
‘He wouldn’t, would he? Eck wis a decent man, ye know. He knew he wis an affront to his sister. So he never talked about her. Out of respect. But we wis close. So he’s mentioned her tae me. Eck loved his sister.’
‘D’you know where she lives?’
‘It’s Anderston. The new buildin’s. That’s all Ah know.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Jinty.’
‘But her second name.’
‘Well. She never married. Must be Adamson.’
Laidlaw looked at Harkness, shook his head and smiled.
‘That’s great. We’ll find her. Danny. You’re like an albatross on land. Beauty in the mask of the commonplace. Oh, pray continue.’
‘Aye. Fair enough. Well, anyway. Ye know?’ Danny was fumbling slightly for a road out of his embarrassment. ‘Well. He arranges to meet Eck in the park. The Queen’s Park. So Ah tells Eck. But in the evenin’. He’s gonny meet ’im.’
‘The Vicky,’ Eddie said. ‘That’s the obvious place to be taken to from there.’
‘That’s right,’ Harkness said. ‘Paddy Collins was found outside the park. Don’t tell me Eck did him in.’
‘But that was the second last meeting you had with Eck?’ Laidlaw expressed it as a question but he didn’t wait for an answer. ‘You saw him after that. Wait a minute. What did Eck say about that meeting? Before he went, I mean. When you told him about Paddy’s offer. Can you remember?’
‘Eck wis worried. Who wouldn’t be? Paddy Collins? Who wants a date wi’ a disease? An’ Eck says to me. He’s gonny take out insurance. That’s what he says. Ah remember it. He’s gonny take out insurance. That’s all he says.’
‘But with what company?’ Laidlaw said. ‘That’s all we need to know. Who Eck’s company was that night. What about the last time you saw Eck, Danny?’
‘Happy as Larry. As if he’d come into a fortune. Money on ’im an’ more to come, he said. He gave me two quid. The boat wis in.’