A Rush of Blood

Six

‘This is a great day,’ said Bob, as he slid into his seat in the rooftop restaurant, and the waiter who had shown him to the table withdrew. ‘It’s barely ten years since we were sweating over your Highers results, and here you are with a partnership in one of the biggest law firms in Britain.’

‘Size matters, Pops,’ Alexis Skinner replied, with a grin. ‘In business law, at any rate. When I graduated, I seem to remember you wondering whether I might have been better joining a smaller practice. If I had I’d still be at least three years away from where I am now, and the money wouldn’t have been nearly as good.’

‘It was still a gamble, though.’

‘I was betting on myself. Yes, I might have stayed submerged in the talent pool, and never made it beyond senior assistant. Yes, I might have been a bigger fish in a smaller river, but if I’d settled for that, I’d always have been casting envious glances out to sea. Also, I’d have been doing broad-based work; I’d have been a general legal labourer, if you like, a bit of conveyancing, a bit of family law, a bit of litigation. In a big firm you can specialise, focus on what you’re best at. . and I’m best at corporate law.’ She picked up the menu, then looked up at him again. ‘I could argue that I’ve followed your example.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that you could have been a chief constable years ago, if you’d been prepared to go to Dumfries, or Inverness, or Penrith, or Portishead. But you didn’t; you stayed in Edinburgh, where you could specialise in crime and where you could eventually carry that specialism into the top job, as you have done. You didn’t just do that either; along the way you’ve trained a whole line of cops in your own image, people like Maggie, Mario, Neil. .’ She stopped short. ‘You know what I mean.’

‘I know what you mean, and I also noted the name you left off that list. . Andy Martin. Have you heard from him lately?’

‘No,’ said Alex, firmly. ‘I didn’t expect to, and I certainly won’t be in touch with him.’

‘Good; there would only be grief in it for you.’

‘I know it. Have you seen him since. . since he and I managed to embarrass you?’

‘Not once; his chief constable always turns up at our association meetings when I’m there. He only goes when it’s just deputies involved. However I did hear that Karen had her new baby.’

‘What is it?’

‘A boy.’ He seemed to wince. ‘They’ve called him Robert, would you believe.’

‘Yes, I’d believe it. Did you acknowledge the birth? I mean did you send them a card, or a gift for the wee one?’

‘I sent Karen exactly the same thing I gave Danielle when she was born, an investment bond. Why should one kid be deprived because his dad is an idiot?’

‘And why should you be deprived, Pops?’ she asked, while studying the menu.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Andy was your closest friend. To my knowledge, he has never in his life said a word against you, and yet you’ve shunned him, twice, because of me.’

‘True, and while I’ve been known to give people a second chance, a third is out of the question.’

She shook her head, but cut off her retort as the waiter returned, pad in hand. They gave their orders, and Alex chose a bottle of Martin Codax, a Spanish albarino that she knew her father liked.

‘Pops, you don’t need to be doing this,’ said Alex as the young man headed for the kitchen. ‘What happened was my fault rather than Andy’s. I was the one who left the curtains open and let those bloody photographs be taken. They never saw the light of day anyway; the court made sure of that.’

‘They were shown to me by a journalist, and that was enough. DCC Martin is a non-person for me, and for you, for that matter, since Karen’s let him off with a yellow card.’

‘Exactly, she has, but you’ve suspended him from your life, sine die.’ She smiled, to ease the tension that had developed between them. ‘Do you know what they call Andy in your force, Pops? Lord Voldemort. . he who cannot be named. Yet it needn’t be like that.’

He shrugged. ‘But it is. Am I a rational man, our kid?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘No, only mostly yes. If someone hurts you avoidably, I get all irrational. It’s the way I am, and it’s how it is with Andy and me. Now, please; let’s change the subject. How’s your new pad suiting you?’

‘Excellent. I miss my flat beside the Water of Leith, but I couldn’t refuse the offer I got for it, not in the current market, and the new place was a steal. I would say I’ve traded up; living next door to the Parliament can’t be bad. I’ve always fancied a penthouse, so a duplex. . that’s even better. I’m going to give Aileen a key, so she can nip in and have a quiet scream if things get too much for her.’

‘Do you miss the neighbours?’

‘Griff and Spring Montell?’ She wrinkled her nose in a gesture that was unmistakably dismissive. ‘Can’t say that I do. Detective Constable Montell: let’s say he had his uses, as an escort when I needed one, but he was bang out of order in not mentioning ever that he’d left an ex-wife and a couple of kids behind him in South Africa. She wasn’t even officially ex when we first. . met, so to speak. He’s definitely off the list. As for his sister, I never really got to know her; we’d nothing in common, you might say.’

‘I might indeed,’ he chuckled. ‘No snags since you moved in?’

‘None at all, and the view. . well, you’ve seen it; it’s fabulous, all across the Holyrood Park, and Salisbury Crags.’ She frowned, for an instant. ‘By the way, was something happening up there this morning? I couldn’t see very clearly because the fog was still hanging around, but there seemed to be screens up, right on the top of Arthur’s Seat. Have you heard anything?’

Bob nodded. ‘Suicide,’ he told her. ‘But it was very messy; not something we want to be talking about over lunch. . or at all, for that matter.’

As he spoke, the wine waiter arrived; he presented the bottle, then opened it and waited for Alex to give it her approval. She nodded, then watched as it was poured. ‘What would Mum say,’ she asked, ‘if she was still around to see this?’

Her father smiled, and his eyes went somewhere else, more than twenty years back in time. ‘I can tell you exactly,’ he whispered. ‘She’d have said, “I’d prefer red.” A woman with views that were never left unspoken; and d’you know what?’ He focused once more. ‘I’m looking at her image right now.’

‘Indeed?’ she challenged. ‘There are those, Andy first among them, who would say that you’re looking in a mirror, and so am I.’