Pray for the Dying

Five

‘You might have told me you were goin’ to be on the telly, Mum,’ Jake Mann mumbled, as he disposed of the last of his cereal. ‘I’d have told all my pals to watch.’

‘I didn’t have much notice of it, Jakey,’ Lottie replied. ‘Anyway, I wouldn’t have wanted you to do that, given the subject.’

‘You should have combed your hair.’

She raised an eyebrow and glared at the nine-year-old. ‘Maybe, but my hairdresser wasn’t available at the time. I could have done with a bit of lippie as well, but the make-up room was in use.’

‘You were good, though,’ Jake said, reaching for his orange juice.

‘Good?’ she boomed.

‘Brilliant,’ he offered. ‘Pure dead brilliant.’

‘You’re getting there, kid.’

‘Who was that big man alongside you?’

‘That was Mr Skinner. He’s from Edinburgh, but he’s going to be our chief constable for a while.’

‘Is that right?’ a voice from the doorway asked.

Lottie turned, and frowned. ‘Hey,’ she exclaimed, ‘the Kraken’s awake.’

‘The Kraken of dawn,’ Scott Mann moaned, as he shambled barefoot into the kitchen, in T-shirt and shorts.

‘Dawn? It’s half past eight, for Christ’s sake.’

‘Aye, and you didnae get in till midnight.’

‘Sorry, but you saw what happened. Didn’t you?’

‘Not really. The telly didn’t show much. They just said the chief constable was deid, that was all, even though you and the guy Skinner wouldnae say so.’ He looked at her as he lifted the kettle to check that it was full, then switched it on. ‘Izzat right?’

She frowned. ‘It’s right.’

‘How?’

She nodded towards their son. ‘Pas devant l’enfant.’

‘Eh?’

‘It means “Not in front of the child”, Dad,’ Jake volunteered. ‘Mum’s always saying it so I looked it up on the internet.’

‘That’s your mother all over, Jakey. She got an O grade in French at the high school, and she thinks she’s Vanessa Paradis.’

‘Hah, and you’d just love it if I was, sunshine. I’m closer to being her than you are tae Johnny Depp, that’s for sure.’ She paused. ‘He’s nearer my height and all.’ Her husband was stocky in build but he stood no more than five feet eight. ‘Yes, that’s a deal, you can have Vanessa and I’ll have Johnny.’

‘Naw!’ Jake protested.

Lottie laughed. ‘Chance would be a fine thing, wee man. On you go if you’re finished; see what’s on CBeebies.’

Their son needed no second invitation to watch television. He grabbed a slice of buttered toast and sprinted from the room.

‘So?’ Scott asked, as the door closed. ‘What did happen?’

‘Three bullets in the head from a professional. The thing was very well planned. They blew the power as soon as they’d fired. They shot two cops on the way out. . Sandy Sproule and Billy Auger. .’

‘Aw, Jesus,’ her husband exclaimed. ‘I ken Sandy. Is he. .’

‘Yes, I’m afraid so. He died instantly. Billy Auger will live, but they’re not sure he’ll walk again. Spinal damage.’

‘Bastards.’

‘Ye can say that again. They’d have got away too, had not Skinner and another bloke arrived just seconds after they’d shot them. I’ve seen the video. The other guy did for one of them straight away. His buddy ran for it, but Skinner picked up Sandy’s carbine and put two rounds through him. Never batted a fucking eyelid either, either on the tape or later, inside the hall. The only thing he was sorry about was that if he’d just wounded the guy he might have given us a clue tae who sent him. But he said that from that range all he could do was aim for the central body mass, as per the training manual. That is one fucking hard man. I couldn’t have done that, I’ll tell you.’

Scott squeezed her hand. ‘You know what, love? I’m glad about that.’ The kettle boiled. ‘Want another?’ he asked.

She handed him her mug. ‘Quick one. I’ve got to be out again. I’ve had crime scene people workin’ all night up at the hall and in Killermont Street. I’ve set up a temporary murder room, I have to get up there to pull everything together. Killermont Street’s still closed to traffic and there’s another event due in the hall tonight. Some golden oldie rocker; it’s a sell-out and they’re desperate not to cancel, so time is, as they say, of the essence.’

Her husband stared at her. ‘Can they do that? Just open the place the night as if nothin’s happened?’

‘As long as they put a patch in the carpet,’ she said. ‘They won’t get the blood and the brain tissue out with bloody Vanish, that’s for sure. And they’ll have to get joiners in to fix the boards in front of the stage. They had to dig a couple of flattened bullets out of there. They’ll maybe keep the lights low all the time, that’ll help.’

His eyes widened. ‘Imagine. Somebody’s goin’ to be occupying a seat tonight, and last night a woman was. . Wow.’

‘Ah know,’ she agreed. ‘It’s a bit ghoulish. Listen, Scott, if I could, I would close the hall tonight as a mark of respect. Any polis would. But the hall manager says that people will be coming from all over Scotland to hear this guy. Some’ll have left already.’

‘Not any polis,’ he said.

She looked at him, surprised. ‘Come again?’

‘Ah still have pals in the job,’ he replied, ‘even though I’ve been out for five years. From what they tell me, Antonia Field won’t be missed by too many people. A lot of people, me included in my time, liked Angus Theakston, the deputy chief, and I know you did too. It’s an open secret that she more or less sacked him. A guy Ah know worked in his office. He says they had a screamin’ match one day that folk in Pitt Street could have heard, and that Mr Theakston put his papers in next morning, and was never seen in the office again. She treated old Max Allan like shit too, my pal said. The only one she had any time for was Michael Thomas.’

‘He’s a fucking weasel,’ Lottie muttered. She sipped her tea. ‘You never told me any of this before.’

‘Ah was told on the QT. You’re a senior officer; Ah didn’t want to get my pal intae bother.’

‘Eh?’ she exclaimed. ‘Do you actually think that I would come down on a guy because of something you told me?’

‘Come on, hen,’ he protested, ‘you’re a stickler and you know it. We used tae work thegither, Ah’ve seen you in action, remember; been on the receiving end too.’

‘Aye,’ she retorted, ‘and had your own back too. Let’s not go there, Scott. Just don’t keep anything else from me. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

‘Good, now I’ve got to go.’

‘When’ll you be back?’

‘Soon as I can.’

‘You’ve forgotten, haven’t you?’

‘Forgotten what?’

‘We promised Jakey we’d take him to Largs.’

‘Bugger!’ she swore. ‘I’m sorry, Scott.’

‘Don’t say sorry tae me. Save it for the wee man.’

‘Aw, don’t be like that. You know what it’s like. Look, when I say as soon as I can, I mean it. But I will have to put a report on Skinner’s desk first thing tomorrow, ready to go to the fiscal. And I will have to work out where the hell we go from here, given that our new acting chief’s gone and killed the only possible bloody witness.’

His expression softened. ‘Ah know, love, Ah know.’

She picked up her purse from the work surface and extracted three ten-pound notes. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘Take him wherever he wants to go with that.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re takin’ a chance, aren’t you?’

She frowned. ‘I’d better not be.’ She headed for the door. ‘Have fun, the pair of you. See you.’