Resurrection Men

25

Late down to breakfast, Rebus found the other five members of the Wild Bunch seated at one of the tables. He squeezed in between Stu Sutherland and Tam Barclay.

“What’s this about Dickie Diamond?” Barclay said.

“Got himself throttled last night,” Rebus answered, concentrating on the plate in front of him.

Barclay whistled. “Got to be our shout, hasn’t it?”

“It’s a Leith call,” Rebus told him. “Body was fished out of the docks.”

“But it could tie in to the Lomax case,” Barclay argued. “Which belongs to us.”

Sutherland was nodding. “Bloody hell, we talked to him only yesterday.”

“Yes, funny coincidence,” Rebus said.

“John thinks one of us did it,” Allan Ward blurted out. Sutherland’s jaw dropped, revealing chewed-up bacon and egg yolk. He turned to Rebus.

“He’s right,” Rebus conceded. “Diamond had the same neck hold put on him that Francis used in the interview room.”

“I’d say you’re leaping to conclusions,” Jazz said.

“Aye,” Barclay added, “the kind of leap Superman used to make in the cartoons.”

“Just think for a minute, John,” Jazz pleaded. “Try to rationalize it . . .”

Rebus sneaked a glance at Gray, who was working away at a crust of toast. “What do you say, Francis?” he asked. Gray stared back at him as he answered.

“I say the pressure’s got to you . . .you’ve stopped thinking straight. Maybe a few extra sessions with wee Andrea are in order.” He reached for his coffee, preparing to wash down the mouthful of toast.

“Man’s got a point, John,” Barclay argued. “Why the hell would any of us want to do away with Dickie Diamond?”

“Because he was holding something back.”

“Such as?” Stu Sutherland asked.

Rebus shook his head slowly.

“If there’s something you know,” Gray intoned, “maybe now’s the time to spit it out.”

Rebus thought of the little confession he’d made to Gray, the hint that he’d not only known Dickie better than he’d admitted but also knew something about Rico Lomax’s demise. Gray’s threat was implicit: keep accusing me, I start talking. But Rebus had considered this, and didn’t think anything Gray could say would do him much harm.

Unless he’d wrenched some confession out of the Diamond Dog . . .

“Morning, sir,” Jazz said suddenly, looking over Rebus’s shoulder. Tennant was standing there. He tapped two fingers against Rebus’s upper arm.

“I hear the situation has changed somewhat, gentlemen. DI Rebus, as you were present at the postmortem examination, perhaps you could fill us in. From what I’ve been told, DI Hogan has yet to apprehend any suspects, and he’s keen for whatever input we can provide.”

“With respect, sir,” Barclay spoke up, “we should be in charge of this one, seeing how it might connect to Lomax.”

“But we’re not an active unit, Barclay.”

“We’ve been doing a pretty good impersonation,” Jazz stated.

“That’s as may be . . .”

“And you’re not saying Leith wouldn’t welcome a few extra pairs of hands?”

“Always supposing they were there to help,” Rebus muttered.

“What’s that?” Tennant asked.

“No point in us being there if an ulterior motive’s involved, sir. Hindering rather than helping.”

“I’m not sure I see what you’re getting at.”

Rebus was aware of three pairs of eyes glowering at him. “I mean, sir, that Dickie Diamond was strangled, and when we brought him in for questioning, DI Gray got a bit carried away and started throttling him.”

“Is this true, DI Gray?”

“DI Rebus is exaggerating, sir.”

“Did you touch the witness?”

“He was bullshitting us, sir.”

“With respect, sir,” Stu Sutherland piped up, “I think John’s making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“A molehill can trip us as surely as any mountain,” Tennant told him. “What do you have to say, DI Gray?”

“John’s getting carried away, sir. He’s got a bit of a rep for letting cases get beneath his skin. I was out last night with DI McCullough and DC Ward. They’ll vouch for me.”

His two witnesses were already nodding.

“John,” Tennant said quietly, “is your accusation against DI Gray based on anything other than what you say you saw in the interview room?”

Rebus thought of all the things he could say. But he shook his head instead.

“Are you willing to withdraw the accusation?”

Rebus nodded slowly, eyes still on his untouched plate of food.

“You sure? If Leith CID do ask us to help, I have to be sure we’re heading there as a team.”

“Yes, sir,” Rebus said dully.

Tennant pointed to Gray. “Meet me upstairs in five minutes. The rest of you, finish your breakfast and we’ll convene in fifteen. I’ll talk to DI Hogan and see what the state of play is.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jazz McCullough said. Tennant was already on his way.

Nobody said anything to Rebus during the rest of the meal. Gray was first to go, followed by Ward and Barclay. Jazz seemed to be waiting for Stu Sutherland to leave them alone, but Sutherland got himself a refill of coffee. As he rose to go, Jazz kept his eyes on Rebus, but Rebus focused on the remains of his egg white. Sutherland settled back down with his replenished cup and took a loud slurp.

“Friday today,” he commented. “POETS day.”

Rebus knew what he meant: Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday. The team were due a weekend’s break, followed by the final four days of the course.

“Think I’ll go to my room and start packing,” Sutherland said, getting up again. Rebus nodded, and Sutherland paused, as if preparing for some carefully considered speech.

“Cheers, Stu,” Rebus said, hoping to spare him the effort. It worked. Sutherland smiled as though Rebus were responding to something he’d said, some valuable contribution to Rebus’s well-being.

Back in his room, Rebus was checking for messages on his mobile when it started to ring. He studied the number on the LCD display, and decided to take the call.

“Yes, sir?” he said.

“All right to talk?” Sir David Strathern asked.

“I’ve got a couple of minutes before I need to be somewhere else.”

“How’s it going, John?”

“I think I’ve blown it big-time, sir. No way I’m going to regain their trust.”

Strathern made a noise of irritation. “What happened?”

“I’d rather not go into details, sir. But for the record, whatever they did with Bernie Johns’s millions, I don’t think they’ve got much of it left. Always supposing they had it in the first place.”

“You’re not convinced?”

“I’m convinced they’re not on the straight and narrow. I don’t know if they’ve pulled any other scams, but if one presented itself, they’d be happy to take it on.”

“None of which gets us any further.”

“Not really, sir, no.”

“Not your fault, John. I’m sure you did what you could.”

“Maybe even a bit more than that, sir.”

“Don’t worry, John, I won’t forget your efforts.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I suppose you’ll want to be pulled out now? No use staying . . .”

“Actually, sir, I’d rather stick it out. Only a few more days to go, and they’d rumble me if I suddenly disappeared.”

“Good point. We’d be breaking your cover.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well then. If you’re okay with that . . .”

“I’ll just have to grin and bear it, sir.”

Rebus ended the call and thought about the lie he’d just told: he was staying put not because he feared being rumbled but because he still had work to do. He decided to phone Jean, let her know they’d have the weekend to themselves. Her response: “Always supposing nothing comes up.”

He couldn’t disagree . . .

The Wild Bunch reconvened in the Lomax inquiry room. It seemed like they’d been away from it a long time; longer still since they’d first met around its table. Tennant was seated at the head, hands clasped in front of him.

“Leith CID would like our help, gentlemen,” he began. “Or more properly, your help. You won’t be running the case — it’s not your bailiwick, after all. But you will share any and all information with DI Hogan and his team. You will pass on to them your notes on the procedures you’ve followed, the progress you’ve made on the Lomax case. And especially anything pertaining to Mr. Diamond and his circle. Clear enough?”

“Will we be based in Leith, sir?” Jazz McCullough asked.

“For today, yes. Make sure you take everything with you. There’s a weekend coming up, and after that you’ll be back here for four days of intensive final analysis. The plan was to retrain you and prepare you to work once more as effective team players . . .” Rebus felt Tennant’s eyes rest on him as he spoke these words. “Your respective forces will need evidence that you have learned from this course.”

“How are we doing so far, boss?” Sutherland piped up.

“You really want to know, DS Sutherland?”

“Actually, now you mention it, I think I can wait.”

There were smiles at this, from everyone in the room but Rebus and Gray. Gray looked chastened after his little chat with Tennant, while Rebus was deep in thought, trying to gauge how safe he would be down in Leith. At least he’d be in Edinburgh — on home turf — and he’d have Bobby Hogan to watch his back.

Odds on him making it to the weekend in one piece?

He’d give no better than even money.

The case against Malcolm Neilson was proceeding nicely. Colin Stewart from the Procurator Fiscal’s office had arrived at St. Leonard’s that morning for a progress report. It would be Stewart and his team of lawyers who’d decide whether there was enough evidence to justify a trial. So far he seemed satisfied. Siobhan had been called into Gill Templer’s office to answer a few of his procedural questions regarding the search of the house in Inveresk. Siobhan had countered with a few questions of her own.

“We’ve no actual physical evidence yet, have we?”

Stewart had removed his glasses, seeming to study the lenses for smears, while Gill Templer sat stone-faced beside him.

“We’ve the painting,” he commented.

“Yes, but it was found in an unlocked shed. Anyone could have put it there. Aren’t there more tests we could be doing to see whether anyone else handled it?”

Stewart glanced towards Templer. “We appear to have a doubting Thomas in our midst.”

“DS Clarke likes to play devil’s advocate,” Templer explained. “She knows as well as we do that further tests would take time and money — especially money — and probably wouldn’t add anything to what we already know.”

It was something the officers on an inquiry were never allowed to forget: each case had to fall within a strict budget. Bill Pryde probably spent as much time adding up columns of figures as he did on actual detective work. It was another thing he was good at: bringing cases in under budget. The High Hiedyins at the Big House perceived this as a strength.

“I’m just saying that Neilson would be an easy target. He’d already had a very public falling-out with Marber. Then there was the hush money and . . .”

“The only people who know about the hush money, DS Clarke,” Stewart said, “are the investigation team themselves.” He slipped his glasses back on. “You’re not implying that one of your own officers could have had some involvement . . . ?”

“Of course not.”

“Well then . . .”

And that had been that. Back at her desk, she called Bobby Hogan in Leith. It was something she’d been meaning to do. She wanted to know whether Alexander had been told about his mother’s death, and how he was bearing up. She’d even considered paying the grandmother a visit, but knew there could be no easy conversation between them. Thelma Dow had to contend with the loss of Laura and the jailing of her own son. Siobhan hoped she would be able to cope, able to give Alexander what he needed. She’d even briefly considered contacting a pal in social work, someone who could check that both carer and grandson were going to manage. Staring at the office around her, she saw the case winding down. The telephones had stopped being busy. People were standing around, catching up on gossip. She’d seen Grant Hood on last night’s TV news, acknowledging that a man had been charged, a house searched, and certain contents taken away for examination. It all had to be very coy now, so as not to jeopardize the legal case. The murder of Laura Stafford hadn’t even made the front page of the tabloids. RED-LIGHT STAB HORROR was the headline Siobhan had seen, with a daytime photograph of the Paradiso’s exterior and a much smaller photo of Laura, looking younger and with longer, bubble-permed hair.

Bobby Hogan was taking a while to come to the phone. Eventually, another officer answered for him.

“He’s swamped right now, Siobhan. Is it anything I can help with?”

“Not really . . . They’re keeping you busy down there then?”

“We had a murder last night. Rogue called Dickie Diamond.”

They chatted for a couple more minutes, then Siobhan hung up. She walked across to where George Silvers and Phyllida Hawes were sharing a joke.

“Hear what happened to Dickie Diamond?” she asked.

“Who’s he when he’s at home?” Silvers responded. But Hawes was nodding.

“That lot from Tulliallan had him in here only yesterday,” she said. “Bobby Hogan was in first thing this morning, asking questions.”

“As long as he’s not after poaching a few extra bodies,” Silvers commented, folding his arms. “I think we all deserve a bit of a rest, don’t you?”

“Oh, aye, George,” Siobhan told him, “you’ve been breaking your neck on this one . . .”

His glare followed her back to her desk. WPC Toni Jackson entered the room, saw Siobhan and smiled.

“It’s Friday,” she said, leaning against the side of the desk. Silvers had spotted her and was giving a sycophantic wave, still believing her to be related to someone famous. She waved back. “Silly sod,” she muttered under her breath. Then, to Siobhan: “You still got that date lined up?”

Siobhan nodded. “Sorry, Toni.”

Jackson shrugged. “It’s your loss, not ours.” She gave a sly look. “Still keeping lover boy’s name under wraps?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, that’s your prerogative, I suppose.” Jackson eased herself off the desk. “Oh, nearly forgot.” She handed over the sheet of paper she’d been carrying. “Marked for your attention. Came through to our fax machine by mistake.” She wagged a finger. “I want to hear all about it on Monday.”

“Right down to the forensic detail,” Siobhan promised, offering a smile as Jackson moved away. The smile melted as she studied the cover sheet of the lengthy fax. It was from Dundee CID, responding to her request for the lowdown on Ellen Dempsey. Just as she was starting to read, a voice interrupted her.

“No rest for the wicked, eh, Siobhan?”

It was Derek Linford. He seemed even better groomed than usual, with a pristine shirt, new-looking suit, and dapper tie.

“Going to a wedding, Derek?”

He looked down at himself. “Nothing wrong with being presentable, is there?”

Siobhan shrugged. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with the rumor that we’re in line for a visit from the chief constable?”

Linford raised an eyebrow. “Are we?”

She gave a wry smile. “You know damned well we are. Bit of a fillip for the troops, telling us how hard we’ve all been working.”

Linford sniffed. “Well, it happens to be true, doesn’t it?”

“Speaking of which, some of us still have work to be getting on with.”

Linford angled his head, trying to read the fax. Siobhan turned it facedown on her desk. “Hiding something from your colleagues, Siobhan?” he teased. “That’s hardly being a team player, is it?”

“So?”

“So maybe you’ve been learning all the wrong lessons from DI Rebus. Make sure you don’t end up like him, kicked into rehab . . .”

He turned to go, but she called him back. “When you’re having your hand shaken by the Chief, just remember . . .” She pointed a finger at him. “It was Davie Hynds who found the money Marber paid to Malcolm Neilson. You’d already been through Marber’s bank statements and hadn’t spotted it. Bear that in mind when you’re taking all the credit for solving the case, Derek.”

He gave her a cold smile, said nothing. When he was gone, she tried getting back to her reading but found it impossible to concentrate. Scooping up the fax, she decided she wanted to be elsewhere when the brass from the Big House came calling.

Settling for the Engine Shed, she bought herself some herbal tea and sat at a table by the window. A couple of mums were feeding jars of food to their infants. Otherwise, the place was quiet. Siobhan had turned off her mobile, pulled out a pen, and was preparing to mark any interesting snippets.

Having read the fax through once, she found that she’d underlined just about the whole damned thing. She realized that her hand was trembling slightly as she poured out more tea. Taking a deep breath, trying to clear her head, she started reading again.

The money to fund Ellen Dempsey’s cab company hadn’t come from shady businessmen; it had come from a few years’ work as a prostitute. She’d been employed in at least two saunas, undergoing a single arrest in each when they were visited by police. The busts had been eighteen months apart. There was an additional note to the effect that Dempsey had also worked for an escort agency and had been questioned after a foreign businessman “mislaid” his cash and credit cards after a visit by Dempsey to his hotel room in the city. She was never charged. Siobhan looked for evidence that one or both of the saunas had been owned by Cafferty, but couldn’t find any. Names were given, but they were the names of local entrepreneurs, one Greek in origin, one Italian. After the police raids, HM Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise had opened their own inquiries, looking into profits and VAT left undeclared. The owners had shut up shop and moved on.

By which time Ellen Dempsey was already running her small-time cab company. There were a couple of minor cases: a driver assaulted by a passenger who’d refused to pay the fare. The passenger — ready for an argument at the end of a long night’s drinking — had found in the driver a willing sparring partner. The result had made it as far as an overnight stay in the cells, but had fallen short of a court appearance. The second case was similar, only Ellen Dempsey had been the driver, and she’d sprayed the client with mace. As mace was banned in Scotland, it was Ellen who’d ended up being charged, the passenger claiming that he’d only wanted a good-night kiss and that the two of them “knew one another of old.”

Though this last phrase wasn’t explored, Siobhan got an inkling of what had really happened. One of Ellen’s old punters, probably not believing that she’d given up the sauna life, deciding that if he pressed, she’d be willing.

But she’d reached for the mace instead.

It might explain the move to Edinburgh. How could she operate a legitimate business from Dundee without the threat of more ghosts appearing? Impossible to escape her old life, her old self . . . So she’d set up in Edinburgh instead, and bought herself a house in Fife, somewhere she wouldn’t be recognized, somewhere she could hide from the world.

Siobhan poured more tea, though it was tepid now and too strong. But it gave her something to do while she collected her thoughts. She flicked back four or five sheets, found the page she was looking for. There was a name not only underlined there, but circled, too. It cropped up a couple of times, once in connection with the raid on the sauna, once to do with the mace case.

A detective sergeant called James McCullough.

Or Jazz, as everyone seemed to call him.

Siobhan wondered if Jazz might be able to shed more light on Ellen Dempsey, always supposing there was light to shed. She thought back to Cafferty’s words. There was no indication in the fax of any “friends” Dempsey might have. She’d never been married, had no children. She seemed always to have supported herself . . .

Pictures flickered across Siobhan’s vision: Jazz McCullough, visiting the Marber inquiry, keeping up with developments . . . Francis Gray, seated on one of the desks, reading transcripts . . . Allan Ward buying Phyl dinner and pumping her for information.

Ellen Dempsey . . . tangential to the case . . . maybe worried, contacting her friends. Jazz McCullough and Ellen Dempsey . . . ?

Coincidence or connection? Siobhan turned her mobile on, called Rebus on his. He picked up.

“I need to talk to you,” she said.

“Where are you?”

“St. Leonard’s. You?”

“Leith. Supposedly helping with the Diamond killing.”

“Are the others there with you?”

“Yes. Why?”

“I want to ask you about Jazz McCullough.”

“What about him?”

“It may be nothing . . .”

“You’ve got me curious. Want to meet?”

“Where?”

“Can you come down to Leith?”

“That would make sense. I can ask McCullough a few questions while I’m there . . .”

“Don’t expect me to be much use in that department.”

She drew her eyebrows together. “Why not?”

“I don’t think Jazz is talking to me. Nor is anyone else, for that matter.”

“Hang in there,” Siobhan said. “I’m on my way.”

Sutherland and Barclay had traveled to Leith in Rebus’s car. A period of uncomfortable silence had been broken by some stilted conversation, before Barclay plucked up courage and asked Rebus if it was maybe worth reconsidering his accusations.

Rebus had just shaken his head slowly.

“No use arguing with the man,” Sutherland had muttered. “Thank Christ for the weekend . . .”

At Leith police station, the atmosphere had been hardly less strained. They’d presented a report to Hogan and one of his colleagues, Rebus saying little as he concentrated on spotting anything the trio might be trying to leave out. Hogan had been aware of the tension in the room, his eyes requesting some sort of explanation from Rebus. None had been forthcoming.

“We don’t mind sticking around,” Jazz had said at the end of the report. “If you feel we’ve a contribution to make. . .” Then he’d shrugged. “You’d be doing us a favor, keeping us away from Tulliallan.”

Hogan had smiled. “All I can promise is office grind.”

“Better than classroom lessons,” Gray had opined, speaking, it seemed, for all of them.

Hogan had nodded. “Fair enough then, maybe just for today.”

The inquiry room was old-fashioned and high-ceilinged, with peeling paint and chipped desks. The kettle seemed to be on constantly, with the most junior officers on a milk-buying roster. There wasn’t much room for the Tulliallan contingent, which suited Rebus, as it meant they had to split up, sharing desk space with disgruntled locals. Rebus waited a good twenty minutes after Siobhan’s call before she put her head around the door. He got up, joined her in the corridor, having signaled to Hogan with his palm spread, meaning he was taking five. He knew Hogan would relish the chance of a word, realizing something was up and wanting to know what it was. But Hogan was in charge of the team, his time at a premium. So far, they hadn’t managed a moment alone.

“Let’s go walkies,” Rebus told Siobhan. When they got outside it was drizzling. Rebus pulled his jacket around him and took out his cigarettes. He gestured with his head, letting her know they were walking down towards the docks. He didn’t know exactly where the Diamond Dog’s body had been discovered, but it couldn’t have been too far from here . . .

“I heard about Diamond,” Siobhan said. “How come no one’s talking to you?”

“Just a little falling-out.” He shrugged, concentrating on his cigarette. “These things happen.”

“To you more than most.”

“Years of practice, Siobhan. So what’s your interest in McCullough?”

“His name came up.”

“Where?”

“I was looking at Ellen Dempsey. She owns the cab that dropped Marber home that night. Dempsey moved her company here from Dundee. In a past life, she worked in a sauna.”

Rebus thought of Laura Stafford. “Interesting coincidence,” he mused.

“And here’s another one: Jazz McCullough arrested her a couple of times.”

Rebus seemed to concentrate harder than ever on his cigarette.

“And then I started remembering the way McCullough and Gray spent so much time flipping through the transcripts and notes in the inquiry room.”

Rebus nodded. He’d been there, seen them . . .

“And Allan Ward dating Phyl,” Siobhan was saying.

“Asking her questions,” Rebus added, still nodding. He’d stopped walking. Jazz, Gray and Ward . . . “How do you think it plays?”

She shrugged. “I just wondered if there was some connection between McCullough and Dempsey. Maybe they’ve kept in touch . . .”

“And he kept tabs on the Marber case at her behest?”

“Maybe.” Siobhan paused. “Maybe because she didn’t want her past to come up. I think she’s tried hard to build a new life.”

“Could be,” Rebus said, not sounding entirely convinced. He’d started walking again. They were close to the docks now, heavy lorries passing them almost continuously, spewing out fumes, kicking up dust and grit. They walked with their faces turned to one side. Rebus could see Siobhan’s unprotected neck. It was long and slender, a line of muscle running down it. He knew that when they reached the dockside the water would be oily and dotted with jetsam. No place for a body to end up. He touched her arm and took a detour, leading them down an alley. It would connect with one of the roads eventually, leading them back towards the station.

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I thought I’d get McCullough’s response.”

“I’m not sure about that, Siobhan. Maybe you’d be better off doing a bit more digging first.”

“Why?”

Rebus shrugged. What could he tell her? That to his mind Jazz McCullough, quiet and charming family man, was perhaps mixed up in murder and criminal conspiracy?

“I just think it might be safer.”

She stared at him. “Care to elucidate?”

“It’s nothing concrete . . . just a feeling.”

“A feeling that asking McCullough a few questions might not be safe?”

Rebus shrugged again. They’d come out of the alley. By turning right, they’d be heading towards the rear of the police station.

“I’m guessing this ‘feeling’ of yours has something to do with the fact that nobody’s talking to you?”

“Look, Siobhan . . .” He ran a hand down his face, as if trying to brush away a layer of skin. “You know I wouldn’t say anything if I didn’t think it mattered.”

She considered this, then nodded her agreement. They were walking around the side of the station, a pavement drunk causing them to step onto the road. Rebus pulled Siobhan back to safety as a car hurtled past, horn blaring. Someone in a hurry.

“Thanks,” Siobhan said.

“I do what I can,” Rebus informed her. The drunk was making for the opposite pavement, stumbling blindly across the road. They both knew he’d make it. He was carrying a bottle: no way a motorist would want that flying through his windshield.

“I’ve often thought pedestrians should be issued with hammers for just this situation,” Siobhan said, watching the car disappear into the distance. She said good-bye to Rebus on the steps of the police station, watched him disappear inside. She’d wanted to say something: take care, maybe, or watch yourself, but the words hadn’t come out. He’d nodded anyway, reading her eyes with a smile. The problem wasn’t that he thought himself indestructible — quite the opposite. She worried that he relished the idea of his own fallibility. He was only human, and if proving it meant enduring pain and defeat, he would welcome both. Did that mean he had a martyr complex? Maybe she should give Andrea Thomson a call, see if the two of them could talk about it. But Thomson would want to talk about her, and Siobhan wasn’t ready for that. She thought of Rebus and his ghosts. Would Laura Stafford now haunt her dreams? Might she be the first of many? Laura’s face was already starting to fade, losing definition, leaving Siobhan with a hand locked to a car’s door handle.

She took a deep breath. “Got to keep busy,” she told herself. Then she opened the door to the station and peered inside. No sign of Rebus. She walked in, showed her ID, climbed the stairs to the CID floor. It struck her that Donny Dow might still be in the cells, but by now he was probably on remand in Saughton jail. She could always ask, but wasn’t sure that seeing him again would constitute any kind of exorcism.

“It’s Siobhan, isn’t it?” The voice startled her. The man had just appeared from out of an office. He was carrying a blue folder. She forced a smile.

“DI McCullough,” she said. “That’s funny,” the smile widening, “I was just looking for you . . .”

“Oh yes?”

“I wanted a quick word.”

He looked up and down the corridor, then nodded to the room he’d just vacated. “We’ll have some privacy in here,” he said, leaning past her to open the door.

“After you,” she said, the smile frozen on her face. The office looked little used. Some old desks, chairs each missing a leg, stiff-drawered filing cabinets. She left the door open, then remembered Rebus . . . didn’t want him catching her here. So she closed the door behind her.

“All very mysterious,” McCullough said, placing the folder on a desk and folding his arms.

“Not really,” she said. “It’s just something that’s cropped up in connection with the Marber case.”

He nodded. “I hear you found the missing painting. That should give you a hike up.”

“I was promoted pretty recently.”

“Nevertheless . . . You go on breaking cases at this rate, sky’s the limit.”

“I don’t think the case is necessarily broken.”

He paused. “Oh?” Sounding genuinely surprised.

“Which is why I have to ask a few questions about the owner of MG Cabs.”

“MG Cabs?”

“A woman called Ellen Dempsey. I think you know her.”

“Dempsey?” McCullough frowned, trying the name out a few times. Then he shook his head. “Give me a clue?”

“You knew her in Dundee. Prostitute. She was working the night you raided a sauna. A while after that, she was off the game and running a couple of minicabs. Used mace against a customer, ended up in court . . .”

McCullough was nodding. “Right,” he said, “I’ve got her now. What did you say her name was? Ellen . . . ?”

“Dempsey.”

“That the name she was using back then?”

“Yes.”

He looked like he was still having trouble putting a face to the name. “Well, what about her?”

“I just wondered if you’d kept in touch?”

His eyes widened. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“DS Clarke . . .” Unfolding his arms, face turning angry. His hands had started to bunch themselves into fists. “I should have you know I’m a happily married man — ask anyone . . . even your friend John Rebus! They’ll tell you!”

“Look, I’m not suggesting anything improper here. It just seems a coincidence that the two of you —”

“Well, coincidence is all it can be!”

“Okay, okay.” McCullough’s face had reddened, and she didn’t like those clenched fists . . . the door opened and a face peered round.

“You okay, Jazz?” Francis Gray asked.

“Far from it, Francis. This little bitch has just accused me of shagging some old pro I arrested once in Dundee!”

Francis Gray stepped into the room, closing the door softly behind him. “Say that again,” he growled, eyes reduced to slits which were concentrated on Siobhan.

“All I’m trying to say is —”

“You better be careful what you say, dyke-features. Anybody starts bad-mouthing Jazz, they’ve got me to contend with, and I make Jazz here look like a pussy, though probably not the kind of pussy that interests you.”

Siobhan’s face was suffusing with color. “Now hang on a minute,” she spat, trying to control the tremor in her voice. “Before the pair of you go flying off the handle . . .”

“Did Rebus put you up to this?” McCullough was snarling, fingers of both hands pointed at her as though they were six-shooters. “Because if he did . . .”

“DI Rebus doesn’t even know I’m here!” Siobhan said, her voice rising. The two men seemed to glance at one another, and she couldn’t tell what they were thinking. Gray stood between her and the door. She didn’t think she was going to get past him in a hurry.

“Best thing you can do,” McCullough was warning her, “is head back to your burrow and dig yourself in for the winter. You start telling tales, you could be headed for your chief constable’s cooking pot.”

“I think Jazz, as usual, is being too generous in his predictions,” Gray said, with quiet menace. He’d just taken half a step towards her and away from the door when it flew open, catching him in the back. Rebus had shouldered it, and was now standing there, surveying the scene.

“Sorry to crash the party,” he said.

“What do you think you’re trying to pull, Rebus? Reckon you could drag your little girlfriend here into those paranoid fantasies of yours?”

Rebus looked at Jazz. He seemed upset, but Rebus couldn’t tell how genuine it was, or what its cause might be. It was just as easy to be upset when maligned as when found out.

“You finished asking questions, Siobhan?” When she nodded, Rebus stuck out his thumb and jabbed it over his shoulder, letting her know it was time to leave. She hesitated, not liking the idea of him bossing her around. Then she gave McCullough and Gray the same withering stare, and squeezed past Rebus, striding down the corridor without looking back.

Gray offered Rebus a wicked grin. “Want to shut that door again, John? Sort things out here and now?”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Why not? Just you and me. We’ll leave Jazz out of it.”

Rebus’s fingers were around the door handle. He didn’t know what was about to happen, but started pushing the door closed anyway, watching as Gray’s grin widened, showing yellow, glinting teeth.

Then a fist rapped on the other side of the door, and Rebus let it swing open again.

“Getting all cozy in here?” Bobby Hogan said. “I’ll have no goldbricking on my shift.”

“Just conferencing,” Jazz McCullough said, face and voice suddenly back to normal. Gray had his own face lowered, pretending to adjust his necktie. Hogan looked at the three men, knowing something had been going on.

“Well,” he said, “conference your arses out of here and back to what we in the human world call work.”

The human world. . . Rebus wondered if Hogan would ever know how close to the mark he’d been. In this room, for a matter of seconds, three men had been reconciled to acting like something less than human . . .

“Sure thing, DI Hogan,” Jazz McCullough said, picking up his folder and readying to leave the office. Gray’s eyes caught Rebus’s, and Rebus could see the man was having a hard time pulling himself back. It was like watching Edward Hyde decide he no longer needed Henry Jekyll. Rebus had told Jazz that there was still the chance for resurrection, but not in Francis Gray’s case. Something had died behind his eyes, and Rebus didn’t think he’d be seeing it again.

“After you, John,” McCullough was saying with a sweep of his arm. As he followed Hogan out of the room, Rebus could feel a tingling all down his spine, as though a blade were about to lodge itself there . . .