Gallery Whispers

3

James Andrew Skinner had always been, by any reasonable measurement, a considerate child. But cutting back teeth can upset the calmest temperament, so Sarah and Bob had shared floor-walking duties until finally, at around five am, their younger son had settled down.

They had been asleep themselves for little more than an hour when Brian Mackie had called, to ask Sarah if she could attend the scene of the Whitekirk death.

Bob sat at the kitchen table, nursing his first coffee of the day, watching his wife as she fed frozen bread into the four-slice toaster.

He grinned at her. 'I never fail to be impressed by the way you can eat breakfast before you go out to look at a body.'

She turned towards him, returning his smile. 'Ah, but it doesn't always stay down,' she countered. 'Remember that one in Advocates'

Close, before we were married?'

Skinner shuddered as the vision of that wet November morning reprinted itself in his mind's eye, for the thousandth time. 'How could I ever forget it? I was perfectly okay at murder scenes up until then, but from that moment on I haven't looked at a victim without feeling queasy.' ''

'Think yourself lucky then. Now you're Deputy Chief Constable … acting Chief, even… you don't have to do that any more.'

He knew that her remark was bait, but he rose to it nonetheless.

'Not so. I'll always lead from the front as long as I'm in this job, you know that. I might be past my sell-by date when it comes to looking at people who've been burned to a crisp or had their brains blown all over the walls, but it doesn't mean I'll run away from the duty if I think that it's required of me.

'It doesn't matter what office I'm in, if I think it'll help the effort or if I feel that it's expected of me, I'll be there.'

Her eyes narrowed, very slightly. 'What? "It doesn't matter what office I'm in",' she threw back at him. 'Hey, what happened to all that stuff about you not wanting to be a Chief Constable? Are you getting to enjoy sitting in Jimmy's chair?'

He smiled again, this time at her sharpness in leading him onto her hook. He accepted the slice of buttered toast which she offered him, and took a bite. 'I'll never enjoy sitting in Jimmy's chair,' he said finally. 'Precisely because it is his chair. I want to see him make a full recovery from this heart scare, and come back to work. Then I want him to stay in post… health permitting.-.. right up to retirement age.

'When it is time for him to go, I'll think seriously about my own ambitions; and my obligations even, to my force and my family. But just between you and me, over the last couple of weeks, I've been asking myself how I'd feel about someone else doing the job.'

'And how would you?' Sarah asked.

'Well,' he answered. 'I've been thinking through the likely candidates.

There's not one of them couldn't get both feet into one of Sir James's shoes, far from filling them both. It would be very difficult for me to work with anyone else, apart maybe, from Willie Haggerty in Strathclyde… and there isn't a cat's chance of him getting it.'

'So you will go for the job when Jimmy retires?'

'Unless I decide to quit at the same time as him.'

She was rarely surprised by him, not any more, but as she looked at him astonishment shone in her big hazel eyes. 'You wouldn't do that.

You're wedded to the force.'

He stood up, laughing lightly and took her in his arms. 'Wrong, Doctor Sarah Grace Skinner. I am wedded to you and no one else, and from now on I will do what's best for us and not me. For all I might chunter on to big Neil about being tied to a desk, I have never been as happy with my life as I am right now. That's because of the rock it's built on, namely you and the kids.'

'Mcllhenney, eh,' she mused. 'I'll bet you're giving him a hard time just now. How's he doing? I haven't seen him for a few weeks.'

'I'm not giving him a hard time at all. Mind you, he has been a bit quiet lately; probably feeling as desk-bound as me. I'll cure that, though; I've got a job lined up for him.'

'What, out of your office?'

'No. Representing my office. It'll mean guaranteed nine-to-five working for a while so Olive will like it too.'

'Sounds like a departure for Neil. You'll have him carrying a briefcase next. What is it?'

'Just something I've cooked up with the other chiefs. It's a national problem but it's been agreed that we'll co-ordinate it. I'm going to talk to him and Andy about it today.' He squeezed her bottom, then turned her towards the door. 'That's all I can tell you about it: it's cloak and dagger stuff. So now, you'd better take your wee bag and get off to certify Mackie's stiff.

'If Andy turns up at the scene, tell him I want to see him this morning; ask him to tie up a time for a meeting with Gerry.'

'I'll do that,' she said, nodding as she spoke. 'Are you sure you're okay to stay here until the nanny arrives?'

'Yeah, that's fine.'

'Good, because if the guys want a quick postmortem, I might just go straight on into Edinburgh and do it myself.'