Dead And Buried

Fifty-five

As McIlhenney drove inside the cordon that had been set up around the building, a plastic coffin was being slid into a dark blue mortuary wagon. The scene had been played out before in the Wild West; it never failed to draw a crowd. The superintendent looked around as he stepped out of his car, seeking out familiar faces, and seeing a few, older and more leathery, but probably no wiser for all the time that had passed since he and McGuire, in their uniform days, had forged their reputation as hard men by cracking their heads together.

‘Gary Starr’s board man?’ he asked Wilding, as he came towards him from the stairway door.

‘Yes, killed with a single shot to the head. There’s no exit wound, so Arthur Dorward reckons it was probably a hollow-point bullet.’

‘Initial thoughts?’

‘He knew his killer, and didn’t suspect him. There’s not much of a lock, but there’s a spy-hole in the door and a chain and a bolt on the inside. In this place, if you’ve got those you use them, so I reckon that Ming let the guy in.’

‘Neighbours?’

‘I’ve interviewed everybody on the stair, including the local cannabis supplier. Wise monkeys, the lot of them; saw nothing, heard nothing, couldn’t tell me anything.’

‘Who found the body?’

‘I did, with PC Drake. We came to pick him up. He called me this morning to tell me he could identify the bloke with the missing finger.’

‘Christ,’ McIlhenney exclaimed. ‘I wonder if he told anyone else?’

‘That’s been on my mind too, sir. Could the guy have found out somehow?’

‘Did he tell you anything about him when he called?’

‘He said that he’s involved in the management of a club. He was going to take me there.’ Wilding paused. ‘Sir,’ he asked, unable to hold back the question any longer, ‘why are you here and not DCI Mackenzie?’

‘Bandit’s on holiday; he’s taking ten days off.’ The sergeant looked at the ground. ‘He’s on holiday, Ray,’ McIlhenney repeated. ‘It was booked in before he was transferred. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir, I understand.’

‘Let’s go down to Queen Charlotte Street: I want to review where we are in this whole business.’

‘Are you setting up the mobile HQ?’

‘Here? We’d need to put a guard on it. We won’t get anything out of this place other than any forensic traces that Arthur’s lot turn up. Come on, I’ll give you a lift.’