Murmuring the Judges

36

‘You never told me you were going to pick up Malenko,’ said Andy Martin.

Skinner smiled across the table in the senior officers’ dining room. ‘I had an hour free, so I thought I’d go along and lend a hand.’

‘You might have told Pringle, though. He said to me that he had trouble keeping his face straight when he came out of the back shop to arrest the Russians and saw you sitting there, looking for all the world like a punter in for a present for the wife.’

‘I was. Sarah’s got a birthday coming up soon.’

The Head of CID frowned. ‘From what Pringle told me, it was just as well you were there. Who’d have thought that a Russian would have been armed in this country?’

‘We should have thought of that, mate,’ Skinner growled quietly. ‘You and I should have, as line commanders. We put two officers’ lives in danger. Firearms Act or not, the world’s changing, Andy; every bugger seems to be going armed these days. We won’t make a policy announcement, but from now on, whenever we go on an operation like this morning, we’re going to have armed men on the team.’

He paused as a waitress stepped up behind him to clear his soup bowl. ‘As I promised Pringle,’ he continued after she had gone, ‘I’ve been on to the Customs people, at the top level. There are cages being rattled in London, and in France even as we speak. It’s fucking ridiculous that two Russian hoodlums got through our security with four million dollars and a firearm.’

He grinned, unexpectedly. ‘That’s one advantage of Jimmy’s office. Even as a DCC you only get a certain level of attention from these characters in London, but when you’re announced as acting Chief Constable Skinner, and you come on the line breathing fire, that’s a different matter altogether.’

‘Excuse me, gentlemen. Two ham salads, was it?’

‘Yes thanks, Maisie,’ said Skinner. The rosy-cheeked bustling woman set large, well-filled plates before them and withdrew with a smile.

‘How did Dan get on at his press conference?’ he continued.

‘Fine,’ Martin replied. ‘I didn’t stay all the way through, but he and Royston were well in control when I left. The hacks lapped up the Russian story all right, especially when Dan threw in the bit about the gun.’

‘He didn’t mention me, did he?’

‘No. He said that Malenko’s bodyguard. . He’s called Fydor Ostrakov, incidentally. . had been disarmed by police officers, that one shot had been fired, but that no one had been injured.’

Skinner almost choked on a piece of ham. ‘What? Pringle sat there with stitches in his eyebrow and said that no one had been hurt?’

‘That’s right,’ the Head of CID confirmed, laughing. ‘The woman from Scot FM asked him about it, of course. Big Dan just puts a hand up to his embroidery, touches it and says, “That? Oh that’s nothing at all, my dear.” There’ll be “Hero Cop Tackles Russian Hit Man” headlines all over tomorrow’s papers.’

‘Good. People need to be reminded that our job can be dangerous as well as difficult. Plus, in the middle of the most concentrated crime wave that we’ve ever experienced, we needed a good arrest. It gives me something to throw at Councillor Bloody Topham this afternoon too.’

‘You don’t like that woman, do you?’

‘Don’t trust, Andy. I don’t trust her. She’s got no backbone, and she doesn’t have an opinion to call her own either. Jimmy gets on fine with her, because he can manipulate her. I haven’t the patience for that crap.’

Martin finished his salad and leaned back from the table. ‘Coffee?’

‘No, I’ll have some with the Lady Chair.’ Skinner glanced up at the clock on the wall. ‘I’d better get across, in fact, she’s due in five minutes.’ He stood up. ‘Listen, can you get hold of Mackie and McGuire? I want a briefing on the judges at close of play today. It doesn’t need to be here. I’ll go wherever is easiest for them, but I want a progress report.’

The Head of CID nodded. ‘I’ll tell Gerry where and when.’

Skinner turned and left the dining room. To his instant annoyance, he found Councillor Marcia Topham pacing the corridor outside. ‘Ah, there you are,’ said the Chair of the Police Board. ‘I’ve been waiting for ten minutes, and no sign of either you or that secretary chap. I thought you’d forgotten about me.’

‘How could I, Councillor?’ he replied with a forced smile. ‘But you are a bit early.’ As he spoke, Gerry Crossley appeared at the end of the corridor, returning from lunch. Skinner showed the woman into the Chief’s office through the side entrance, signalling behind her back for coffee to be brought in.

Inside, he directed her to one of the comfortable armchairs and sat down facing her. ‘I’ll come straight to the point, Mr Skinner,’ she burst out. ‘I’m not happy.’

Instantly the DCC felt his temper beginning to strain at the leash, but he kept his smile in place. ‘I’m sorry to hear that, Councillor,’ he replied. ‘A domestic problem?’

‘No, it is not,’ she snapped. ‘I’m having to put up with a lot of comments from constituents, friends, and just ordinary people in the street, about these terrible robberies. When are we going to see an arrest, Mr Skinner? It’s just not good enough.’

‘I quite agree with you. It’s not good enough that you should be subjected to such harassment. I’d be quite happy if you were to refer every one of these people to my office. I’ll be happy to listen to their worries.’

He paused. ‘But let me ask you? What do you say to these concerned constituents?’

‘I agree with them, of course. Armed men holding up banks and the police apparently doing nothing about it. It’s not right.’

Skinner held up his right hand, bunched into a fist. ‘D’you see that, Councillor?’

She peered at it. ‘It looks swollen to me.’

‘Quite right. I injured it this morning, tackling a very large man holding a silenced pistol. If I hadn’t been there, or even if I’d been a second or two slower, a young officer would be dead right now.’

As he spoke, his tone became harder. ‘I saw you at a funeral yesterday; that of a young police officer. Annie Brown gave her life in the service of the public, lady. Stevie Steele almost did today.

‘In the office which you hold, people like them are entitled to expect unswerving public support from you. In the office which I hold, I bloody well demand it. Unless you’re prepared to relinquish the Chair to someone worthier, I suggest that you try to learn a bit about the realities and the difficulties of police work.

‘For example, not all criminals wear flat caps, have low foreheads, and carry sacks labelled “swag” over their shoulders. Some. . the successful ones. . are highly intelligent people who go about their work in a highly professional way. These robberies have been planned better than any I’ve ever encountered, and have been implemented with matching efficiency. It is not easy to catch people like that. . yet if you look at the record of this force, you’ll find that almost invariably, we do.

‘The Chair of the Police Board should know all that. I suggest that you go away and read up the facts and figures, so that you can do your job properly by supporting my officers, not attacking them.’

He stood up, abruptly, his anger written all over his face. ‘Now, as you will appreciate, with the number of live investigations which we have running, I’m busy, so this meeting is at an end.’

Councillor Topham looked up at him, red-faced. ‘But Sir James always gives me half an hour,’ she protested.

‘In that case,’ said Skinner, ‘maybe you should postpone your next visit until Jimmy gets back from holiday. I think that we both have higher priorities than vacuous chat, don’t you?’

She rose, at last, with ill grace. As the side door closed on her, Gerry Crossley appeared at the other end of the room, carrying a tray. The Acting Chief grinned at him. ‘Sorry, but the lady’s just gone. Have the other cup yourself and brief me on these hearings.’

The secretary nodded and left the room to fetch his papers. When he returned, he sat in the armchair which Councillor Topham had just vacated.

‘Let me see, sir,’ he began, leafing through the folder. ‘In both these cases, the officers concerned have declined formal hearings into the complaints. They’ve opted to come straight to the Chief Constable for disposal.

‘PC Green. . he’s the first before you. . has taken the position that since the circumstances which led to the Divisional Commander’s complaint against him were domestic rather than professional, and since no criminal charges have been laid, there’s no case to answer.’

Skinner nodded. ‘I can follow that line of reasoning. Will he be represented this afternoon?’

‘Yes. He’s exercised his right to have his local Police Federation rep. sit in on the meeting.’

‘Who’s that?’

‘Sergeant Ewan Cameron, from Bathgate.’

‘I know who you mean. He was a DC on my Drugs Squad years ago. What’s he like as a Fed. guy?’

Crossley thought for a moment. ‘Conscientious but cautious, I’d say, sir. He does his job properly: by that I mean he stands up for the people he represents, but that he always manages not to upset Sir James.’

Skinner laughed. ‘That sounds like Ewan all right. It sums up the reason why I recommended him for promotion to uniformed sergeant. Sometimes in CID work you have to put your arse on the line. Cameron was conscientious all right, but he’d never do that.’

He took a sip of his coffee and picked up a low-fat chocolate digestive. ‘What about Sergeant Neville?’

‘She simply denies the allegation. There’s a statement from PC Keenan, the boy she’s alleged to have assaulted, describing the incident. Then there’s a note from the Divisional Commander, which says that he can’t judge the facts, but that she’s a bloody good officer, and that the probationer has not impressed him in his attitude to the job. Finally, there’s her own statement which says simply that she bumped into Keenan in the cupboard. She says that they just happened to be in there at the same time.’

‘Will she have a Fed. rep. with her?’

Gerry Crossley frowned, momentarily. ‘No. Sergeant Geary, from Dalkeith, is her area rep., but when I spoke to her to arrange this hearing, she refused point-blank to have him present. She said she was going to come alone.’ The secretary paused, and coughed. ‘I told her that in the circumstances, sir, I thought that would be completely inappropriate, so I insisted that she bring another personal representative.’

Skinner laughed out loud. ‘Were you scared she’d walk out of the meeting and accuse me of groping her as well?’

The young man flushed, and smiled, awkwardly. ‘No, sir, but in this office you can’t be too careful.’

‘I know that, son. So just you make sure that the recording system is switched on.’ Crossley looked at him in sudden, shocked surprise. The acting Chief Constable grinned. ‘Gerry, there’s nothing I don’t know about this building. You bear that in mind, and don’t ever think about phoning your stockbroker from in here.’ He pointed to the desk. ‘Especially not through that white telephone over there.’

By the time the buzzer sounded at three o’clock, Skinner had read his way through all of the papers relating to the cases which he was to hear. He had also changed into uniform, something which made his secretary’s eyebrows rise momentarily as he showed in PC Green and Sergeant Cameron.

Both men marched into the room stiffly, and stood to attention. ‘At ease, at ease, for Christ’s sake, and take off those bloody hats,’ the DCC burst out. ‘Ewan, you don’t have to come to attention in front of me.

‘Sit down both of you. Take one of the comfortable seats over there.’ Sergeant Cameron smiled and nodded. Green seemed, in an instant, as if a weight had been taken from him.

‘That’s good, that’s good,’ said Skinner as they settled into the plush, well-upholstered chairs.

‘Okay, we all know why we’re here. PC Green. . it’s Mark, isn’t it. . Mark, I’ve read the Divisional Commander’s complaint, I’ve read your wife’s statement and I’ve read yours. Is there anything you want to say to me, now you’re here?’

PC Mark Green gazed across at him, confidence replacing his initial apprehension. He was twenty-eight years old, small for a policeman, but with a wiry strength exuding from him, suggesting that he was someone to be approached with caution.

‘Well, sir, really only what’s in my statement, sir.Wendy and me, we had a wee argument; bawling and shouting and that. She threw a plate at me and I lost my temper and hit her. The next thing I knew there were two coppers at the door, two of my mates from the station.

‘There was this wee nyaff of a neighbour wi’ them. He’s always had a down on me. Bad family they are; his son’s aye in the jail. If he hadn’t been there, sir, the whole thing would have been sorted on the spot, but since he was, the lads felt that they had to lift me.’

Skinner nodded, sympathetically. ‘So it’s all a misunderstanding, then?’

‘Aye, sir. That’s how I’d put it.’

‘Ewan, do you have anything to add?’

The sergeant shook his head. ‘No, sir. PC Green’s been given the opportunity to say his piece. That’s what I’m here to ensure.’

‘Fine. That’s fine.’ The DCC paused. ‘In that event, I hope we can get this sorted quickly and easily. I hear what you say, Mark, and of course, I’ve read your statement. I’ve read your wife’s too. I have to say, there’s nothing in there about flying plates.’

‘Well, no, sir. There wouldnae be, would there?’

‘No, I suppose not. But you see, I’ve read some other papers too. I’ve read the arrest reports, for example. If the arresting officers were mates of yours. . well, all I can say is that you should pick your pals more carefully. They seem to have been out to stuff you. They both say that when they arrived, you were in a rage, and Wendy was terrified. They also said that she was bleeding from a cut lip and that her left eye was badly swollen.’ As he looked across at Green, he was still smiling, but nonetheless a palpable feeling of tension had crept into the room. Sergeant Cameron shifted in his seat.

‘Okay,’ he went on. ‘We’ve all been in the job for a long time; we all know that arrest reports can read worse than things actually were. But you see, I’ve spoken to the arresting officers. They stand by every word of their account. Still, it’s possible they may have had a grudge against you.’

He paused again, for longer this time. PC Green sat staring at him, his right fist clenching and unclenching. ‘The trouble is,’ the words burst out suddenly, startling both of the other men, ‘there’s Wendy’s recent medical history. Let’s see, Mark, you’ve been married for going on three years. In that time, she’s been treated on four occasions for domestic accidents, on three of them by her GP and on the other in the Accident and Emergency Department, after she broke her wrist.’

‘She fell off a step-ladder!’ the constable protested.

‘At midnight? Don’t insult me, Mark.’ He shook his head. ‘Look, I don’t know anything about your wife. She may be an annoying wee so-and-so. She may even have been unfaithful to you. I don’t know, and quite frankly I don’t care. The way all this comes across, it’s clear to a blind man that you are a serial wife-basher.’

He held Green’s gaze, almost hypnotically, until the other man gave the briefest of nods.

‘Good,’ he said, almost gently. ‘So let’s proceed on the basis of honesty. I say to my officers, and I mean it, that what happens in their domestic lives doesn’t affect me, until it affects their operational efficiency.

‘But this is different. What you’ve just admitted is criminal behaviour. Even on the basis of one incident, your Divisional Commander was right to bring his complaint. On the basis of five, it was his public duty.’

The DCC glanced across at Sergeant Cameron. ‘As Ewan will have told you, my powers in this case are pretty wide-ranging. I can reprimand you and enter that on your record. I can reduce in rank. . irrelevant in this case. . or I can dock you seniority.

‘However, I can’t do any of those things here. If this was an isolated incident, I’d probably dock you three years’ promotion eligibility. It isn’t, though. Constable, you’re supposed to be a protector of the public: in fact, you’re a danger to them. Maybe if Sir James was sitting here, he’d see it differently, but I doubt it. In any event, he isn’t here. I am, and there’s no way I can let you continue in this job.’ As Skinner looked at him, he saw Mark Green begin to shake.

‘There are two ways of doing this,’ he continued. ‘I can suspend you and institute dismissal proceedings, right now, or I can accept your resignation. I hope you’ll choose the second way. In fact, I’ve had my secretary prepare a letter for your signature. We’ll honour your full notice period, give you accrued holiday pay, and preserve your pension rights: all that stuff. But you’re out today. You don’t even go back to your nick to pick up your belongings. They’ll be sent on to you.

‘Is that acceptable to you? I can’t give you time to think about it, I’m afraid; not in the circumstances.’

Green sat for a while in silence, trying to come to terms with what Skinner had said. There was a catch in his voice when finally he replied. ‘Yes, sir. I’ll sign the letter.

‘About Wendy, sir. She’s all right, really. I should never have got married, that’s all.’

‘Are you seeing anyone else?’

‘Yes, sir. Someone I knew before I met Wendy. I’ve never stopped seeing her, in fact.’

Skinner shook his head. ‘Then choose, son. For everyone’s sake, choose.’ He rose to his feet, and the others followed. ‘One thing though. You’re walking out of here with a good chance of finding a new career. I will give you a personal reference based on your performance reports. But if there is ever another call-out to a domestic at your house, you’re done for.

‘Understood?’

‘Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.’

Skinner saw the sergeant and the soon to be ex-constable to the door. As soon as it closed behind them, he left the room by the side exit, and made his way down to the headquarters gymnasium.

He opened his locker and changed into trainers and shorts, then took out a pair of boxing gloves. Slipping them on, he walked over to the heavy punching bag and began to hit it: jabs with his left hand at first, light blows, then shorter, harder-hooking punches, thrown in combinations, rising in speed and ferocity.

He pounded the bag non-stop for almost half an hour, ignoring the ache in his swollen right fist, sweat pouring from him, his face contorted with the effort, winding up the session with a huge sweeping left hook which lifted the bag up, and rattled the chains upon which it hung.

By the time his buzzer sounded to signal the arrival of Sergeant Karen Neville, he was showered and back behind the Chief’s big desk. He stood as she entered. . followed by DCI Maggie Rose. He looked at his former assistant, a question in his eyes which she answered quickly.

‘Good afternoon, sir. You’ll be surprised to see me, I expect. Sergeant Neville asked me if I would come along as her personal representative. She felt she’d like a woman here.’

‘Understood; take a seat, both of you, please.’ He showed them to the leather chairs, as Gerry Crossley came in with more coffee. He pointed to the tray as it was set down on the low table. ‘I’ve asked for this just to emphasise that this is an informal meeting.

‘Let’s blow out any notion that this is a disciplinary hearing. It’s not. I’ve looked at PC Keenan’s allegation and at your statement, sergeant. I’ve also made inquiries about your accuser. This is a straight situation of your word against his, and nothing I’ve read or been told makes me inclined to find in his favour. So relax, Karen, you’re off the hook on the harassment complaint.’

The blonde officer looked at him gratefully. ‘Andy was right,’ he thought. ‘She is a looker. Lucky young Sammy.’

‘In that case,’ the DCC went on, ‘you may be wondering why I didn’t just cancel the hearing, and let you know of my decision in writing.’

Sergeant Neville looked at him, but said nothing.

‘Well, the fact is, I did think that I had cause to speak to you. You’ll recognise the name Sammy Pye, I think. In fact, I might even say that you’ll be familiar with it.’ In a second, the woman’s face went bright pink. ‘Then there’s Neil McIlhenney. I understand that. . how do I put it?. . you made a pass at him at another gathering.’ He glanced at Maggie Rose. By now she was staring at her companion in disapproving astonishment.

‘You’ve obviously never met Olive McIlhenney,’ said Skinner, with a chuckle.

‘On top of that. . if I may use the phrase. . am I misled that your reluctance to have Sergeant Geary act as your Fed. rep. at this meeting might have had something to do with an encounter two or three years back?

‘Finally, I haven’t been misinformed, have I, that your former Divisional Commander once gave you a friendly warning about. . let’s say about fraternising?’

Staring at the coffee table, Karen Neville shook her head.

‘Okay. I don’t want to embarrass you, sergeant, any more than I have to. I’ll say to you what I’ve said to someone else today.Your private life is your own business, within the letter of the law. As the world knows, no one believes that more than I do.

‘My point in raising all these things is to bring home to you the fact that young Mr Keenan’s allegation wouldn’t have left the Divisional Commander’s office had it not been for the chat on the station grapevine. I spoke to Sammy Pye, and to McIlhenney. I had to lean on both of them. . especially Pye. . to make them confirm anything, and I’m convinced that neither of them has done any bragging.

‘Since there were only two parties to these transactions, that rather suggests that you may be to blame yourself for the subsequent gossip.

‘Keenan made his allegation, Karen, because he thought it would be believed.’

The woman spoke for the first time. ‘I had worked that out for myself, sir. It doesn’t make me proud, believe me.’

‘I know, I know.’ He smiled at her. ‘The world’s changing, but not to the point at which a lass can behave like a lad and expect the reaction to be the same. Girl Power is no more than a marketing slogan in that respect. It might not be fair, but it’s fact.

‘Look, as I said, there are no adverse career consequences from this, but we’d better get you out of Haddington. There’s a vacancy for a sergeant in Special Branch.’

He flashed the briefest of looks, and grins, at Maggie Rose, just as her eyebrows rose.

‘I won’t put you there, of course, not straight from uniform. However, Sergeant McNee, who’s been filling in in DCS Martin’s office, will be moving across. Mr Martin’s happy for you to move into his job. You don’t have any problems about working with Sammy Pye again, do you?’

‘No, sir.’

Skinner smiled broadly. ‘That’s good. Neither does he. In fact, he seemed quite keen on the idea. Just remember, though; in future keep professional and private well separated.’ The smile turned into a laugh. ‘The cupboard in CID’s far too small anyway.’