Skinner looked up and closed the lap-top. 'Jesus Christ!' he murmured. 'Old Alec must have been right round the twist.' He opened the computer again, but it had put itself to sleep. 'What was the date on the first of those files?' he asked Rose.
'About five years ago; the file on Lord Barnfather. It was compiled just after his son died.'
'Ahh, the poor guy. It must have hurt him incredibly for him to react like that. But he was so secretive; he just couldn't have been able to talk to him about it.'
He pressed a key to re-activate the lap-top and handed it to Martin. 'Look at some of the names on that list… especially number five.'
'No need,' said the Head of CID. 'I recognised him from the photographs. Assistant Chief Constable James Elder. Who'd have bloody thought it?'
'Not me, that's for sure.'
'So where does it take us?'
'In theory, it gives us twenty-six people with a reason to kill Alec. But in practice… I doubt if it takes us anywhere. There is a link to the Diddler, I'll grant you, but it's pretty tenuous; his partner, Ronald Johnston-White, is on the list.
'No, it doesn't help my pet theory, Andy, not a bit. Lawrence Scotland is still the man in the frame for Alec's killing. The guy Heard is still prime suspect for Diddler's murder. As for the attack on me; there's a small army of people would like to have done that; probably one of them did.'
'Do you think the report was ever actually submitted to Lord Murray, sir?' asked McGuire.
'No,' said the DCC. 'I'm certain that it wasn't. If that had been put into David's hands, the first thing he'd have done would have been to call me.'
'You don't think he might have called Sir John Govan?' Martin looked at Skinner, a suggestion in his eyes.
'Are you hinting that the First Minister's security adviser might have had Alec bumped off? If you are, you can forget it; I know the man. On the other hand, David Murray doesn't; he'd have called me, for sure.'
'So what are we going to do about this, if it doesn't impact on the murder investigation? Shouldn't we interview the people on the list, at least, just to eliminate them?'
'What? Interview a judge, two Scottish Cabinet Ministers, Marcia Topham and Jim Elder? To tell them all that they've been persecuted by a madman. I don't think so. There isn't a single piece of information here, or a single photograph, that could be used as evidence of a serious crime.
'Let me show you what I'm going to do with this lot. Mags, did you say something about copy disks?'
'Yes sir,' Rose replied. 'There are two.' She took them from the strongbox and handed them over.
Skinner reclaimed the computer from Martin, slid the two disks into the floppy drive, one after the other, and erased them. Finally, he selected the 'John' folder and dragged it to the waste-basket in the bottom corner of the screen.
'You sure?' asked the Head of CID quietly. 'What if one of them did kill Alec?'
'What if?' he murmured. 'I can live with it.' He pulled down a Command from the Apple menu and emptied the wastebasket, destroying Alec Smith's report for ever.
'Leave those photographs with me, Maggie,' he said. 'We're having a barbecue tonight.'
68
'So, what did you find out about the Lewis girl?' Dan Pringle asked.
'She's been working at the zoo full-time since she finished her Highers a few weeks back,' said McGurk. 'She was a pupil at Watson's. I did a quiet check-up there; she and Heard's daughter, Sophie, are best pals apparently.'
'Where's the Heard girl just now?'
'She's crewing a schooner around the Western Isles for her Duke of Edinburgh's Gold award.'
The Superintendent raised an eyebrow. 'She's doing what?'
'Crewing, sir.'
'Ahh. For a minute I thought you said something else. So do you reckon her pal's crewing her old man while she's away?'
'It's a thought, but it's barely relevant, is it?'
'Naw. Not a bit. But you know what I think? I think that Heard's been giving her one and now she's threatening to tell the girl Sophie and Mrs Heard. The way you described it, that could have been hush money he was handing her.'
'Still,' McGurk ventured. 'Do you think we should interview her, just to confirm it?'
'We've interviewed her already, son. A week last Saturday, after she spotted Shearer floating under the Belford Bridge. You were there, remember. She was still shaking like a leaf, terrified; poor lass got a hell of a fright. Andy Martin told me that after we were done he had to get the MO to give her a sedative.
'If Heard's been banging her, she's of age, so it's no crime. If she's been blackmailing him, that is, but there's been no complaint. If there is, we'll investigate; until then, we leave her alone.'
'Fair enough, Boss. So we keep up the tail on Heard, then?' 'Until further notice.'
'Do you think we could get a tap on his phone?' 'Not a fucking chance. You do it the hard way.' McGurk scowled. 'Great.'
The Superintendent chuckled. 'It's a hard old life, son. I'll give you some more bad news. The technical boys reported back on Shearer's electronic organiser. It's useless; it's been in the water too long. They can't get a bloody thing off it.
'Right. You get off and team up with Wilding again, so you can both follow Heard after he leaves work. And just in case you think I'm doing fuck-all on this investigation, I'm off up to Harry's Bar, in Randolph Place.
'I had another chat with the Bryant girl; she told me that Mr Shearer used to look in there sometimes, if he'd been working late.'
69
Martin swung the MGF into his driveway, smiling as he saw the raised garage door and Karen's car inside. 'We'll need to do something about that,' he chuckled to himself. 'The F-reg Nova lives outdoors.'
As he eased himself out of the sports car, a voice — a soft, familiar voice — called out behind him. 'How are you, Andy?' He had hoped to avoid the moment, but he knew in his heart that it was better faced sooner than later.
'Hello, Rhian,' he answered. 'I'm fine. How are you?'
'Okay.' He was relieved when she smiled. 'I can't help but notice, though, that you're a hell of a fast worker.'
He looked down, grinning himself. 'No. You're wrong there; it took me far too long to work out how I felt about Karen. I'd been taking her for granted, behaving towards her like an absolute shit. I wasn't much of a gentleman with you either; I'm sorry for that.'
'Don't be.' Her smile widened. 'I chased you like the strumpet I am. I'm sorry too, for letting you down like I did with Paul Blacklock.'
'Ahh, don't worry about that; I was no angel either.'
She gave him a long, meaningful look. 'I don't mean about fucking him; I mean about spilling the state secrets. That was a really stupid thing to do and it compromised you. Look, don't feel guilty about me or anything; it was just a fling for both of us. You concentrate on being happy; I haven't spoken to your lady yet, but she looks terrific.'
He sighed with a sort of relief, as she turned towards her front door. 'Thanks, Rhian,' he told her. 'Just don't go calling yourself a strumpet again; not around me at any rate. Hey, Juliet's not mad with me is she?'
'Only because you didn't give her a seeing-to,' the girl laughed. 'No. Mum's full of herself just now. She's making noises about going to live with Spike and leaving this place to us. I don't know if I fancy being chaperone to my kid sister, though.' He voice dropped until it became a confidential whisper. 'Between you and me, I fear she prefers girls to boys. She has this pal, Sophie Heard: I walked into her room one day and caught them doing something very naughty to each other. Tongues and things…