Blind Eye

24

The sign on the door said, 'ABERDEEN BUREAU ~ SCOTTISH FINGERPRINT SERVICE', which was pretty grandiose, given it was just a couple of rooms at the end of the third-floor corridor. One wall was dominated by a huge rack of pine drawers, each one stuffed with hundreds of old-fashioned fingerprint files, the rest of the space taken up with cubicles and light-boxes.

Logan found someone in the computer room — little more than an alcove with a scanner, a desktop machine, and a laser printer. The fingerprint technician sagged in his typist's chair, groaned, rubbed at his eyes, then pulled a sheet of acetate from the scanner, replacing it with another one from the pile.

He clicked the mouse a couple of times then glanced at Logan. 'Whatever you want, the answer's no. I'm swamped.'

'Who says I want anything? Maybe I just popped up to say hello.'

'Yeah? Then how come you're holding a fingerprint sheet?'

Logan slipped it onto the top of the pile. 'Oh, come on, Bill. I only need-'

'No! I've got three million prints to run for Finnie as it is. Supposed to be home having a romantic dinner with my wife…' All the time he was talking, the mouse was moving on the screen, clicking and dragging things.

Logan perched on the edge of the desk. 'Can't believe they left you here on your own to do all this. It's just not fair, is it?'

'Don't even try with the fake sympathy.' He clicked the button again, sending the print off to be evaluated against the database.

'Not even if I say "pretty please"?'

Bill gave an elaborate sigh, emptied the scanner, then started again with a new set of fingerprints. 'When I finish this one I'm going for a cup of coffee. While I'm away you can play on the machine to your heart's content. As long as you don't break anything.'

'But-'

'Final offer.'

'Done.'

How hard could it be? It turned out to be a lot harder than it looked. Scanning the print in had been easy enough, but getting the contrast up without losing detail on the whorls, loops and deltas wasn't. After five minutes of fiddling, Logan finally had something that looked like it would do. Then he tried to follow the hastily-scrawled instructions Bill had left him: rotating the fingerprint so it was the right way up, then taking the mouse and marking up the distinguishing features. Find the end of a ridge, mark the tail with a pointer, then drag the mouse back along the line, then do it again, and again, and again.

Finally, when the screen was covered in little red circles and blue lines, Logan tried to get the machine to search for a match. Then did a lot of swearing when it wouldn't. He was poking away at random buttons when Bill reappeared with a huge wax-paper cup of coffee from the canteen.

'You not finished yet?'

Logan jabbed with the mouse again. 'Bloody thing doesn't work…'

'You didn't follow the instructions, did you?' Bill shouldered him out of the way, clicked twice, punched a couple of numbers into the keyboard, then hit 'PROCESS RESULTS'. 'See, piece of cake.'

'How long?'

'Depends. The machine doesn't actually compare prints, it compares the relative distance between points and the direction of the tails. Hundreds of different permutations analysed against every fingerprint we have in the database.' He pulled Logan's sheet out of the scanner and swapped it for the next one in line. 'Anything up to an hour.'

'I'll come back in the morning.' Logan stopped past the lab to say a final good night to Samantha — no tongues — and then wandered down to DI Steel's office.

She was sitting in one of the visitor's chairs, squinting her way through a stack of crime reports, scribbling indecipherable notes on them in red biro.

Logan dumped the DNA file Samantha had given him on the inspector's desk. 'You got a DNA match.'

'Eh?' She looked up from her forms. 'Oh… who is it?'

He flipped through the pages till he got to the conclusions at the back. 'Someone called Derek Allan?'

'Oh bloody hell, that's all I need.' Then she went rummaging in her trouser pocket and pulled out a fifty-pence piece. 'Here, stick that in the swear box. Bottom desk drawer.'

Logan popped the inspector's money into the Quality Street tin. 'Thought you said you were giving up on the whole "new you" thing?'

'Aye, well…' She sniffed, and buried her head in the reports again. 'You thought any more about… what we talked about?'

'Ah, about that: maybe you'd be better off with Rennie?'

'Rennie? No' exactly grade-A genetic material, is he?'

'I just think it'd be…' Horrifying was the first word that sprang to mind. 'It'd be awkward, you and me working together if you were the… mother of my child?'

'Susan would be the mother.'

'So what would you be, the father?'

'The… I don't know, do I? All I'm asking for is a turkeybaster's worth of sperm. You probably wasted that much up in the storeroom-'

Logan's phone started ringing and he grabbed at the excuse. 'McRae.' He listened in silence for a minute, a smile slowly spreading across his face. Then he thanked the man on the other end and hung up. 'That was Bill from fingerprints. We've got a match on the petrol bomb. Kevin Murray — he got slashed last Friday night, four hoodies nearly cut his nose off.'

Steel grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair. 'Right, get a car and we'll go see what he's got to say for himself.'

Logan backed away. 'Oh no you don't: my shift finished two and a half hours ago. I'm going home.'

'Oh, don't be such a wimp. Don't see me sneaking off when there's work to be done, do you?'

'You spent all day snoring off a hangover! At least I've done some work today.'

She squinted at him, and Logan could almost hear the evil little cogs working in her brain. 'Be a shame,' she said at last, 'if anyone found out you and our friendly neighbourhood Goth were going at it in the IB lab like a couple of horny teenagers.'

'Not going to work.'

'All that forensic evidence compromised by your dirty little urges…'

'Even you're not that much of a bitch. And everything was in evidence bags, thank you very much.'

Steel drummed her fingers against the desktop. 'I'll sign off on your overtime?' 'Still say we should've got a warrant.' Logan looked up at the two-bedroom semi and locked the car door.

'Wah, wah, wah; I want a warrant; I want backup; my shift's over — I want to go home; boo-hoo.' Steel lit a cigarette and blew a small plume of smoke into the evening sky. 'If we'd sodded about waiting for a warrant we'd still be here at midnight.' She started up the short path to the front door. 'Well, come on then, don't want to keep you from your red-haired semen thief.'

'Will you stop that?'

'No' as if you're using the bloody stuff, is it?'

Logan leant on the doorbell. 'This is sexual harassment.'

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring…

A muffled voice came from inside, 'Just a minute.' And then the door opened, revealing a short, older woman with a wide face and an ugly haircut. But she had a lovely smile. 'Can I help you?'

The inspector nodded, 'Aye, Kevin Murray about?'

The woman ran an eye over Steel, then did the same with Logan. 'What's he done now?'

'He's won the National Lottery,' said Steel, 'we're here to give him his big cardboard cheque.' She sooked the last gasp from her fag, then pinged the stub away into the gutter. 'He in?'

The woman's face hardened — eyes thin slits, mouth turned down at the edges. She walked back into the house, motioning for them to follow. The sound of something sickeningly cheerful blared out from the lounge. A little girl and boy sat on the rug in front of the television, gazing with rapt attention at a singing warthog and meerkat.

Kevin Murray was slumped on the settee, a tin of lager dangling from the fingers of one hand.

The woman stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the TV. 'Kevin, it's the police.'

Kevin looked up, frowned, tried to focus, then gave up and had another swig from his can. His nose was hidden behind a wodge of bandages, a gauze pad held in place over his nostrils by a couple of ties that went all the way around his emaciated head. Another clump of gauze had been taped over his cheek, the white fabric stained with yellow and dark red blobs. 'Told you no' to open the door, Ma.' It sounded as if he had a heavy cold. 'Could be anyone, like.'

'We had a deal, Kevin: you could stay here if you kept out of trouble.'

He shrugged. 'No trouble, Ma, no trouble at all. Keepin' myself to myself, like. You know?'

Steel looked at the little kids watching the television for a moment. Then said, 'Can we have a word in the kitchen, Kevin?'

Kevin drained the last of his lager and belched. 'I'm comfy here.'

'Let's no' do this in front of the kids, eh?'

'Hey, no one's forcin' you to do anythin'. I've got no secrets from my wee angels. You wanna arrest me? You do it right here.'

His mother slapped him on the shoulder. 'Kevin, you promised me!'

'I never did nothin'.'

Steel stuck her hands in her pockets. 'What do you think's going to screw your kids up more: the fact you got arrested, or the fact you made the poor little sods watch?'

Kevin's mum hit him again. 'What did he do this time?'

'Ow! I told you, I never did-'

'We've got a petrol bomb with his fingerprints all over it. Found it in the burnt-out remains of a betting shop.'

'Kevin!' His mother belted him across the back of the head, then dragged him out of the armchair by the ear.

'Aaagh! Let go! Ma, you're hurting-'

'Kevin Murray, you swore on your father's grave you'd behave if I took you in! What sort of example are you setting for Britney and Justin?'

Britney and Justin didn't even turn around as their grandmother hauled their father out into the hall and started battering the living hell out of him: raining slaps down on his head as he cowered in the corner by the front door. 'What — ' slap '- did — ' slap '- I — ' slap '- tell — ' slap '- you?'

Steel closed the lounge door, shutting out the singing animal noises. 'Actually, Mrs Murray, we kind of like to beat up our own suspects. So if you don't mind…?'

Kevin's mother delivered one last ringing slap. 'Go on, tell them what happened. The truth, or so help me I'll swing for you!'

'But I didnae-'

His mother raised her hand again.

'OK, OK! I did it.' He glanced up at Logan and Steel, then back to the floor. 'It wasnae… I didnae want to. But they said they knew where I lived and they'd come round and cut my kids and my Ma if I didn't torch the place.'

Logan pulled out his notebook. 'Who were they?'

Kevin kept his eyes on the carpet. 'Don't remember, do I.'

His mother hit him again.

'Stop it! It was the guys what did this…' He pointed at the mass of bandages covering his slashed nose. 'So yeah, I chucked a petrol bomb into the bookies.'

Steel whistled. 'They'd have to be pretty damn scary people, Kevin. Firebombing the Turf 'n Track? Did you no' think the McLeods would be a wee bit annoyed when they found out?'

'Aye, but the McLeods are old school. I do somethin' to them: they come after me, no' my kids. Or my Ma. What choice did I have? Eh?' He stood tall as his mother patted him on the arm. 'If you had kids, you'd understand.' While DI Steel wrestled Kevin Murray into the back of the car, Logan phoned Finnie, telling him that they'd arrested the man responsible for firebombing the Turf 'n Track.

'Excellent.' The DCI demanded a blow-by-blow account then asked the big question: 'Is he going to give us the Manchester Muppets who put him up to it?'

Logan watched Kevin Murray arguing with Steel.

'Probably not.'

There was a pause that went on and on and on and…

'Sir?'

'I want you to call me as soon as you get him back to FHQ. Understand? The minute you get him back here, you let me know.'

'OK, I'll-'

Steel stuck her head out of the car window. 'We haven't got all sodding day, Sergeant — move it!'

'I'll call you back.' Logan parked the CID pool by the back doors to FHQ. The rear podium lay beneath a veil of blue shadows, the security lights already on, even though it was only half past eight. Up above, the sky was the colour of varnished duck eggs, and down below, DI Steel was still arguing with Kevin Murray as she dragged him out of the back seat:

'Yes you bloody well will!'

Kevin shook his head. 'No. Nu-huh. No way. I'm no' sayin' nothin'. I arsoned that place on my own. No one else involved.'

Logan pulled out his phone and called Finnie — as instructed — letting him know they were back.

'OK,' said Finnie, 'give me five minutes, then get him to number three.'

Steel poked Kevin in the ribs as Logan hung up. 'Don't be such a moron. They'll throw the book at you. And when you get out… in about four years, the McLeods'll hammer your kneecaps into the middle of next week.'

'You deaf? I'm no' sayin' nothin'! The bastards'll come after my kids if I grass them up.'

'Don't be so melodramatic.' Steel gave him a shove towards the battered back doors, where a couple of support staff were eating crisps and smoking cigarettes.

'No! It never happened! I was lying, OK?' His voice was getting louder and louder. 'I burned the place down coz I was pissed at Creepy. You can't prove nothin'…'

'You really don't know me very well, do you?'

'I'm no' grassin' them up!'

He kept it up all the way through processing: while his photo was being taken, and his fingerprints — the only time he shut up was when Steel stuck the DNA swab in his mouth. Kevin was still complaining as Logan hauled him along the corridor to interview room three.

'I told you, I did it. Me. On me own. No one forced me to do bugger all.'

The inspector had another go. 'Protective custody: you, your mum and the kids. No one could touch you.'

'Aye, like I'd trust you lot. Protective custody? I seen what happened to Big Rob Barkley, and it's no' happenin' to me.'

Steel poked him in the arm. 'That was an accident.'

'Gets talked into grassin' up Malk the Knife and the next thing you know: splat, he's under an articulated lorry.' Kevin glanced up and down the corridor, and the next time he spoke it was in a whisper. 'Look, most of you bastards are on the take, right? I mean, everyone knows it. So how about you make this go away and I'll give you two… no, three grand. Eh?'

This time Steel did more than poke him in the arm, she shoved him up against the wall. 'I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, Kevin. Because no' even you could be thick enough to think you can buy me for three-' She bounced him off the wall. 'Lousy-' Again. 'Grand!'

'I was only saying.'

'I'm no' for sale, you manky sack of crap!'

The interview room door opened and there was DS Pirie, dragging a handcuffed man out into the corridor. Short spiky haircut, designer stubble goatee, eyebrow ring, a gauze pad taped over one ear, a dark red stain on the shoulder of his white T-shirt, broad Mancunian accent: 'Let go of us! You Fookin' haggis-munchin' bastards is all the same…'

The man trailed off into silence, staring at Kevin Murray. 'You! You dirty fooker!'

Kevin scrambled backwards. 'No-no-no-no-no…'

The guy in the T-shirt lunged, but Pirie stopped him short.

'You Fookin' told, didn't yez? You grassed us up.'

'I never said nothin', I promise! It-'

T-Shirt's left foot lashed out, probably aiming for Kevin's balls, but the trainer slammed into his thigh instead. 'Yer Fookin' dead, you hear me? Dead. You and your whole Fookin' family! Yer-'

DS Pirie twisted him round, and sent him crashing to the floor. Accidentally bouncing his head off the green terrazzo.

'Aaagh… dirty bastard…' And then Pirie was on top of him, knee pressed into the small of his back. 'Gerroff!'

'Shut up and hold still, you ugly wee shite.' Pirie grinned up at Logan and Steel. 'We caught this one battering the living hell out of a doorman on Bon Accord Street. Didn't take kindly to being chucked out.' He leant harder, getting a squeal of protest in return. 'Trying to flog heroin to a bunch of drunk girlies on a hen night, weren't you?'

Logan couldn't make out T-Shirt's response, but it sounded filthy. Kevin Murray's interview didn't go very well. After running into the thug from Manchester, it was all he could do to confirm his name and address for the tape. After that it was nearly impossible to get anything out of him.

DI Steel gave it an hour before giving up, then told Logan to get him out of her sight.

Down in cell number six, Kevin Murray limped up and down the side of the bed — little more than a thin plastic mattress slapped down on a concrete platform built into the wall. 'You have to tell him,' he said as Logan pocketed the handcuffs, 'I didn't grass them up, yeah? You'll tell him?'

'Don't know if it'll do any good. Would you believe me, if you were him?'

Kevin collapsed onto the mattress, buried his head in his hands. 'They're gonnae kill my kids…'

Logan sat next to him. 'Tell me who they are and maybe I can help, OK?'

The thin man rolled onto his side, face to the wall, knees drawn up against his chest. 'I'm no' a clype.'

There was a knock on the cell door and Kevin flinched. 'It's them!'

'Don't be ridiculous. You're in a police station.'

Kevin backed away from the door. 'I know how it works! You're in on it — you're all in on it!'

The door opened and DCI Finnie was framed in the glow of a fluorescent tube. He clasped his hands together and nodded at Kevin. 'Just checking everything's in order with your room, Mr Murray. Bed comfortable? Enjoying the view?' There wasn't one. The room's single window was three rows of rippled-glass bricks, six foot off the floor. 'Would you like a newspaper, or an early morning wakeup call?'

Kevin just sat on the thin blue mattress. 'I never grassed them up.'

Finnie stepped into the cell. 'I've got this from here, Sergeant. Why don't you knock off? I understand DI Steel is organizing a trip to the pub, maybe you could have one for Kevin here. Would you like that Kevin?'

The thin man scowled, face all puckered up around his gauze-covered nose. 'You're a right bastard.'

Finnie loomed over him. 'Oh, you have no idea.'