Fallen Gods

Twenty-Three

"What do we know about this fire-raising thing?" asked Stevie Steele.

"It's in our records, right enough," DS George Regan replied. "And so is the girl's photograph, full face and profile, Strachan, Andrea. I pulled it, and it pretty much matches the face on the video. Her address is listed as If4, 43 Albany Terrace; I checked with the probation service. She's still there."

"So what happened? What did she do? How come it means nothing to me?"

"It wasn't in our division, Stevie. It happened down in Joppa, at the back end of last October. They called it a church, but it was more of a gospel hall, one of these Baptist hand-clapping, hallelujah places; it was near the offices of the charity where she worked, and it got to her then. The Strachan girl seems to be a bit of a Christian fundamentalist; to her it was Sodom and Gomorrah all rolled into one big party. Eventually, God talked to her, didn't he, and he told her that he had chosen her to destroy it."

"Schizophrenic?" asked Alice Cowan.

"That's what they said afterwards. As far as she was concerned, though, it was the Man Upstairs all the way, giving her His battle orders. So, her with a chemistry degree and all, she made up what would have been a pretty effective incendiary bomb, went to one of their services, and tried to tape it under one of the pews at the back."

Steele held up a hand. "Did it have a timer?"

"Aye, a wee alarm clock thing. It would have worked too."

"Why didn't it?"

"She might be a clever girl, but she's still not all that bright.

Somebody came into the church behind her as she was planting it, and saw her. She ran for it, but they caught her just down the road, and called the police."

"Court?"

"Nah. The fiscal was persuaded not to proceed on the basis that the lass was clearly disturbed, and she hadn't done any damage. So she was sectioned for six months under the Mental Health Act, and went into the

Royal Edinburgh. Her probation officer says that she's still going back as an out-patient."

"Have you spoken to anyone there?" asked Maggie Rose.

Regan shook his head. "Not yet, ma'am. I thought I'd speak to you and

Inspector Steele before I did that."

"Just as well; we'll need to play it carefully there. The girl may have been committed, but she's as entitled to medical confidentiality as the rest of us."

"What else did the probation officer tell you?"

"That she's responding to her treatment; the medication's continuing and there have been no signs of a relapse, so far. She's doing her best to change, the woman said. She's wearing contacts now, and her wardrobe's a lot less like a nun on a weekend pass."

"Has she got a job?"

"Aye she has, ma'am. The probation service found her a placement with the Church of Scotland, in George Street. They had hoped she might have another go at teaching eventually, but the medical advice was against that."

"The Church of Scotland, eh. The Moderator and his wife were guests yesterday, weren't they?"

"Aye, and the new archbishop, but I don't think that any of them are in the frame, eh?"

Steele frowned. "Let's stay serious. George, okay?"

"Right, inspector, I'll get serious. Why are we sitting about here?

Why don't we just pick her up, then?"

"What for?" asked Rose. "The girl might have a genuine interest in religious art. It isn't an offence to gate crash a private function.

No, George; since you're so keen for action, you can get back into those tapes. Forget everyone else, just concentrate on Andrea

Strachan. Let's see whether we can catch her in the vicinity of the

Vargas Trinity at any time. Then let's see if we have a shot of her at the moment of the detonation of the device. You never know; we might get lucky and find a shot of her pulling the trigger."

"And if we don't?" the sergeant countered.

"Then we, that's to say you and DI Steele, will make further enquiries tomorrow, at the Church of Scotland, to see if the girl might have been there legitimately, through them, and at Candela and Finch, to check whether they issued informal invitations to anyone else.

"We'll keep her under surveillance, but I'm only going to move against this girl when all these avenues have been explored. She's a schizophrenic arsonist, George. If they hadn't done the probation deal over the church thing, she'd probably have gone to the state mental hospital at Carstairs. If she did torch that painting, that's where she's bound this time, for sure. She could wind up there for a good chunk of the rest of her life, so we cannot afford to make any mistakes."