Eye of the raven

FIFTEEN

Steven left hospital just after eleven, having been given the all-clear about head injuries and having arranged that the biochemistry report on his blood be e-mailed to him as soon as it became available, with a copy going to Peter McClintock at Fettes Police Headquarters. He took a taxi back to his hotel and saw that his car was not in the car park. He didn’t know if this was because the police had already removed it or whether it hadn’t been there when they’d come for it. He decided not to ask; he’d let them sort it out. He pulled up his collar to hide his facial injuries and looked to the side as he walked through the lobby before going directly to his room where he called down to make arrangements for another car. He called Sci-Med to tell John Macmillan what had been going on.

‘ Anything broken?’ asked Macmillan.

‘ Just my pride,’ replied Steven. ‘But there’s another problem. Chief Superintendent Santini, the man who’s been bending ears in your neck of the woods, sees this as a chance to get back at me for poking around in his dirty linen cupboard. He’s all for prosecuting me for assaulting the sauna girl.’

‘ Damnation,’ said Macmillan. ‘What the hell does he think he’s playing at?’

‘ Who said policemen aren’t human?’ said Steven dryly.

‘ I’ll do what I can to apply pressure from this end,’ said Macmillan.

Looking at his face in the bathroom mirror, Steven decided that he might need some cosmetic help to hide the worst of his bruising otherwise Santini might dig up an additional charge of frightening the horses. He had two black eyes, a stitched cut above one of them and severe swelling under his left cheekbone. His bottom lip was swollen where two of his teeth had gone clean through it. For the moment, he decided that a scarf worn around the lower part of his face — if he could lay hands on one — would suffice. He put on a pair of sunglasses before nipping down to the hotel shop where he found he was able to buy a navy blue scarf and a woollen hat — albeit with Scottish lion rampant motifs on them. Self-consciously wearing his new disguise, he made one other stop at a shop in the nearby Gyle shopping centre where he bought presents for Jenny and Sue’s kids — books on the sea and what lay beneath. The assistant on the till eyed him suspiciously; unable to decide whether he was a film star trying to avoid recognition or a shoplifter on a mission. She asked a series of auxiliary questions involving his postcode and mother’s maiden name before finally accepting his credit card.

Steven got into Glenvane just after seven. The pain he’d been in from his bruised ribs on the drive down had left him exhausted and it was good to get out of the car and stretch himself, albeit gingerly. Sue sensed that something was wrong when she saw him from the window and told the children to wait inside for a moment while she came out to the car. Steven took off his dark glasses and gave a smile his best shot.

‘ My God, Steven, you really shouldn’t have come,’ said Sue. ‘You must be hurting?’

‘ It looks worse than it is,’ said Steven. ‘Maybe your make-up box can help? I meant to get some stuff on the way but when it came down to it I wasn’t quite sure what to ask for…’

‘ We’ll see what we can do in the morning,’ laughed Sue. ‘What are you going to tell the kids?’

‘ That I had a bit of an accident,’ said Steven.

‘ Daddy, daddy,’ said Jenny as Steven walked up the path to find her standing in the doorway.

‘ Hello Nutkin,’ said Steven, who’d put his dark glasses back on. ‘How’s my girl?’

Jenny looked puzzled. ‘It’s not sunny,’ she said unsurely.

‘ Daddy had a bit of an accident yesterday,’ said Steven, squatting down in front of her. He took off his glasses and said, ‘I fell down some stairs.’

‘ Oh,’ said Jenny, putting her hands up to her cheeks. ‘You’re all sore.’

‘ I’ll be all right again in a few days, Nutkin; the main thing is I can take you guys swimming tomorrow just like I promised. Sorry it’s a day late.’

Later, with the children safely off to bed clutching their new books, Richard poured three large whiskies and put another log on the fire. ‘You know, I used to envy you the excitement in your job,’ he said. ‘Now I’m not so sure. Maybe property conveyancing has its good points after all.’

‘ An occasional quibble about the bill is about as rough as it gets,’ agreed Sue. ‘I think I like it that way.’

‘ At the moment you’re making it sound attractive to me too,’ agreed Steven with an attempt at a grin, which immediately changed to a grimace of pain.

‘ You really shouldn’t have come,’ said Sue. ‘The kids would have understood.’

‘ Promises are important,’ said Steven. ‘I’ll take them to the pool tomorrow and then we’ll all feel good.’

‘ If you’re sure’ said Sue.

‘ I won’t be able to get in the water with them: my ribs are strapped. Still, they can do the swimming and I’ll keep watch on them from the side.’

Richard got up and fetched the whisky bottle. ‘You need some more anaesthetic,’ he said, refilling Steven’s glass.

In the morning, Sue set out to disguise the worst of Steven’s bruises with make-up, something that caused much hilarity among the children, but when she’d finished, Steven had to admit that he was now much less likely to attract public attention although he still opted for the dark glasses. Sue and Richard set off on a shopping trip to Glasgow and he drove the children up to Dumfries, happy at hearing their excited chatter in the back of the car and grinning at their exaggerated claims about who could stay under water the longest. Although his ribs were aching, he was a world away from his other life and that felt therapeutic in itself.

Mary was putting the other two through their paces by insisting that they swim through her legs underwater and Steven was thinking how nice childish laughter sounded when his phone rang.

‘ It’s Peter McClintock; where are you?’

‘ Dumfries swimming pool.’

‘ There’s been a development,’ said McClintock.

Steven could tell from his tone it was nothing good. ‘Go on,’ he said.

‘ The bastards have come up with a video.’

‘ What kind of video?’ asked Steven.

‘ Let’s just say that you’re the star of the film in question. Well, you and Tracy Manson to be fair to your leading lady.’

‘ But I’ve never met the woman in my life,’ insisted Steven.

‘ You’re going to have a hard time making that stand up in court,’ said McClintock. ‘Mind you, everything else is going to, if you get my meaning.’

‘ Jesus,’ murmured Steven. ‘You’re telling me that I was drugged but I wasn’t unconscious?’

‘ Sounds more like you’re telling me that.’

‘ God, I can’t remember a thing.’

‘ If I had a quid for every time I’ve heard that in court…’ said McClintock. ‘I think you should get back here as soon as you can.’

‘ I’ll drive up tonight,’ said Steven. He clicked off the phone. The good feelings of the day had evaporated.

Steven was ready to leave when Sue and Richard arrived back from Glasgow.

‘ You really should be on sick leave,’ said Sue when Steven told her he’d have to get back to Edinburgh.

‘ I really don’t think that would help right now,’ said Steven. He hugged the kids and promised he would be back as soon as he could manage and that they’d all go swimming again.

‘ And you’ll come in the water next time,’ said Jenny.

‘ You bet,’ said Steven.

The weather was foul all the way back to the capital, with a westerly gale driving rain across the motorway and forcing drivers to constantly correct for the buffeting of the side-wind. Steven was glad to reach the city limits where he decided to go straight across town to Police Headquarters rather than call in first at his hotel. He had to find out what the police had on him.

Steven found Santini sitting in McClintock’s office. This put an immediate chill in the air.

‘ How are you feeling?’ asked McClintock, mainly to break the awkward silence.

‘ Like any other man who’s about to be framed by the police I should think,’ replied Steven, lowering the temperature still further.

Steven saw McClintock close his eyes when he said it.

Santini looked for a moment as if he were about to explode but he reined in his temper and simply said, ‘Show Doctor Dunbar the video, will you, Peter.’

McClintock made to get up from his chair but paused when his computer beeped him with incoming mail. He said, ‘It’s the biochemistry report on Dr Dunbar’s blood. His finger hit the print button.’

McClintock was about to hand the report to Santini when Steven intervened and took it from him, anxiously scanning the contents.

‘ God,’ he said. ‘It’s a wonder I didn’t end up with scrambled eggs for a brain.’ He handed the report back to the policemen who read it in turn.

‘ What’s this in English?’ asked Santini.

‘ The main player is LSD,’ said Steven. ‘With a full supporting cast of three other recreational drugs. They could have killed me.’

‘ This changes nothing,’ said Santini.

‘ What are you talking about, changes nothing?’ said Steven through gritted teeth.

‘ Finding LSD in your blood hardly exonerates you from anything,’ said Santini. ‘The fact that you were stoned out of your mind might well explain the whole episode and might well open the door to further charges in my book.’

‘ Are you for real Santini?’ exploded Steven. ‘Or do they wind you up in the morning with the other toy soldiers?

‘ That’s right, Dunbar, keep digging,’ fumed Santini who had gone bright red in the face. ‘You decide when the hole is deep enough.’ He turned to McClintock and said, ‘Play the video.’

Steven had to sit through an explicit video film of himself making love to a young blonde woman although, to be fair, she was making all the running. He thought the look in his own eyes made him look more like the village idiot — albeit a happy one — than James Bond claiming another conquest.

‘ The unconscious Doctor Dunbar,’ sneered Santini. ‘Or should I say, the narcotically challenged Dr Dunbar… for reasons we have yet to establish.’

Steven let the comment pass.

‘ Should I let it run?’ asked McClintock.

Santini shook his head but to McClintock’s surprise, Steven said, ‘Wait! Don’t stop it.’

Steven was recalling snatches of the dream he thought he’d been having before being beaten up by Verdi’s thugs. In the dream the girl had been almost indescribably beautiful with silken blonde hair and smooth olive skin. In reality the girl astride him in the film looked the part. Her features were coarse beyond her years, her hair was like dyed straw with dark roots and the colour of her skin had been decided by a UV lamp, which her naturally fair skin had not taken too kindly to. There were a couple of angry red patches on her neck and upper back. But there were several other marks on her back that Steven’s attention had been drawn to and these were the reason he’d asked for the film to continue.

‘ He’s about to tell us that it’s not really him in the film,’ said Santini to McClintock with a self-satisfied little smile.

‘ Can you wind it back a little?’ asked Steven.

McClintock did so.

‘ There! Stop there!’

The frame was frozen at a point where the camera was locked on Tracy Manson’s back.

‘ Well, well, well,’ murmured Steven. ‘I was wrong. I said that I’d never come across the woman before in my entire life but I was wrong. I have seen her before.’

McClintock and Santini exchanged glances. ‘I can’t wait,’ said Santini.

‘ She played a part in the Julie Summers case.’

McClintock closed his eyes as if expecting an explosion.

‘ What the hell are you talking about, Dunbar?’ asked Santini.

‘ At one point before the Julie Summers murder, you were called in to investigate pornographic material found on a computer used by David Little at the Western General Hospital. I recognise the scars on Tracy Manson’s back. She was the girl who was being whipped.’

Santini was speechless for a moment but only for a moment. ‘There’s just no stopping you, Dunbar, is there?’ he exclaimed. ‘It’s one damned fool assertion after another. You hardly pause for breath, do you?’

‘ I try to keep busy, Superintendent,’ replied Steven, still feeling good from his discovery.’

‘ You can tell from the scars on her back that this girl featured in pornographic material found on David Little’s computer nearly nine years ago? Do you know the video off by heart?’ asked McClintock.

‘ Never seen it in my life,’ replied Steven, deliberately being unhelpful because he felt like it.

‘ Then how could you possibly?…’

‘ Before I came up to Scotland, Sci-Med prepared a file for me on David Little. There were a couple of still photographs taken from the stuff they found on his computer in it. It’s the same girl.’

Santini’s shoulders sagged. He turned to McClintock and said, ‘You’d better check, will you?’

‘ A bit amazing, don’t you think?’ said Steven as McClintock left the room.

‘ And where is this supposed to lead us?’ asked Santini who was now wearing defeat like a cloak around his shoulders.

Conversely, Steven was feeling confident again. He said, ‘Paul Verdi owns the sauna where this girl works. Paul Verdi was responsible for handling David Little’s defence. You tell me, Superintendent?’ He left out the ‘you are the fucking policeman after all.’

McClintock returned after a few minutes and said to Santini with an almost apologetic shrug of the shoulders, ‘He could be right, sir.’

McClintock showed Santini a series of photographs that he had already put into matched pairs. ‘The girl looks about eighteen in the Little film: she looks more like thirty-five in the sauna video but she could be around twenty-seven and the scars on her back do match up pretty well.’

‘ So where the hell do we go from here,’ murmured Santini, causing Steven to stifle another comment about it being his job to decide that.

‘ It would be too much of a coincidence for this girl to have been on Little’s computer by chance,’ said Steven. ‘It’s my guess that Verdi is behind the website that put it on the net in the first place. That’s probably why they had a video camera conveniently to hand when I was abducted.’

‘ That hasn’t been established yet,’ said Santini but it sounded like sour grapes and this showed in McClintock’s eyes when he glanced at Steven.

‘ We could raid the Cuddles saunas, sir?’ suggested McClintock.

‘ Santini looked doubtful. ‘I don’t want any suggestions of police harassment coming from that mob just because they happened to catch one of our lot in flagrante so to speak.’

Steven shook his head slightly in protest at what he saw as Santini’s stubbornness. ‘A raid sounds good to me,’ he said.

McClintock’s phone rang and he answered it. He was about to say that he was busy but found it important enough to continue listening. He made a series of jotted notes on his desk pad and thanked the caller. ‘Forensics, sir,’ he said. ‘The report on Dr Dunbar’s car. They didn’t find any sign of a chloroform soaked rag, I’m afraid.’

Santini looked pleased. Steven felt dejected.

‘ But they did find an empty plastic box that looked as if it might have contained computer disks at some time.’

‘ That’s mine,’ said Steven.

‘ Well, apparently one corner of the box was deformed; melted was the term they used,’ continued McClintock. ‘Some plastics are soluble in chloroform according to the lab and this box was made out of one of them. They reckon that someone hiding in the back of the car could have dripped chloroform on to it.’

Steven looked upwards and offered silent thanks.

‘ I see,’ said Santini thoughtfully. ‘Taking a broad overall view

…’ Santini paused as if the words were paining him. ‘It would appear that you are off the hook for the time being, Doctor.’

‘ Innocent is the word you’re looking for,’ said Steven.

‘ Yes well, all’s well that ends well, eh?’

‘ About the raid on Verdi’s saunas, sir,’ said McClintock.

‘ I think we’re on safer ground now,’ said Santini with a weak attempt at a smile of reconciliation. Have a word with Vice, will you, Peter? We don’t want to be treading on anyone’s toes.’ With that, Santini got up and left the room.

‘ Well, that all went splendidly, I thought,’ said McClintock, tongue in cheek.

‘ Are you going to hang around for the hit on the saunas?’

‘ Wouldn’t miss it for the world,’ replied Steven.

‘ It’ll give you another chance to get up Santini’s nose if nothing else.’

‘ I still think there’s a link to the Julie Summers case,’ said Steven.

‘ So what’s your new tack? That Verdi set up Little over the computer download?’

‘ I suppose,’ said Steven.

‘ But the computer business was before Verdi even knew Little,’ said McClintock. ‘Come to think of it, it was before Verdi was even in the sauna business. He was still with Seymour and Nicholson at the time.’

Steven nodded and said, ‘And his secretary was?’

‘ Shit! Little’s wife,’ said McClintock.

‘ The very lady,’ said Steven. ‘I think maybe this calls for a trip to Norfolk to have a chat with Mrs Little.’

‘ You think she could have been in on it?’

‘ It’s possible. But as to why she should have wanted her husband involved in a scandal like that — your guess is as good as mine.’

‘ When will you go?’

‘ When will you raid the saunas?’

‘ It’ll take a couple of days to set up. Say Wednesday.’

‘ I’ll go Tuesday if I can clear it with Sci-Med.