A Rush of Blood

Eighty-eight

‘He wasn’t talking about himself and Regine, you know,’ said Martin as he drove on to the motorway from the slip road. ‘That bit about the city.’

‘Neither was I,’ Skinner snorted.

‘What did you think of him?’

The chief constable leaned back in the passenger seat and reflected on the question. ‘I think he’s one of the most dangerous men I’ve ever met in my life. It’s not so much his physical menace, although he has that in plenty. It’s his ruthlessness and his complete thoroughness that sets him apart. He’ll never feel your heavy hand on his shoulder again, or anyone else’s for that matter. He’s way, way too clever. I hope Murtagh never upsets him, though.’ He smiled. ‘What have I just said? Maybe I do. If I was him I’d steer clear of Goldie, though, given what happened to Grandpa’s last brother-in-law.’

‘What about your boy Haddock?’ Martin asked.

‘What would you do with him?’

‘I think if it was possible to pat his head and kick his arse at the same time. .’

‘It was. Becky Stallings did the kicking and I did the patting. The kid has learned. In fact the kid learns something new every day, and that’s what makes him so damn good. I don’t want his self-belief damaged by this. In fact, I won’t let that happen.’ He dipped his fingers into a bag of chocolate M amp;Ms that Martin kept in his central console, and took as many as he could grab. ‘What about you?’ he said. ‘What did you think of all that?’

‘Do you really want to know? Seeing you and Grandpa McCullough in the same room was the most surreal experience of my police career.’

‘Eh?’ he laughed. ‘Why?’

‘Bob, remember what I said about Alex and young Cameron ruling the world? Well, I understand where that came from now. You and he, you could be fucking clones. You’re two peas, if not from the same pod, then pods grown on the same branch. You know what McCullough’s dad was? He was a lawyer, like yours, only he worked for the council rather than in private practice. What was it you said? Physical menace, ruthlessness and complete thoroughness. You could have been describing yourself, man. I watched the two of you in there and I thought, thank God one of them’s on our side of the fence, otherwise we’d all be fucked.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Absolutely.’

Skinner picked up the bag of chocolate pills and emptied its remaining contents into his open hand. ‘In that case,’ he said, just before he swallowed them, ‘I’ll take it as a compliment.’