Skinner's rules

32

When Mackie returned to the outer office fifteen minutes later, Sarah was about to leave. As she closed Skinner’s door behind her, Mackie could have sworn he heard her say: ‘See you later then.’

He paused, then shook his head. ‘Nah, I’m hearing things.’

‘All done, sir,’ he reported to Skinner. ‘The answer’s going to the Scotsman and Record through channels, and anyone else who comes on will get the same story.

‘The shrinks are on their way. As far as Yobatu’s lawyer’s concerned Maggie says that Madame doesn’t want to involve him, but she’s called the Japanese Ambassador instead.’

Skinner whistled. ‘Has she indeed! We always knew this was a high-toned bastard. Now we know how high-toned. Right, now I can phone the Gaffer.’

Skinner interrupted the Proud family’s evening meal. The Chief Constable’s wife answered the telephone. All coppers were like sons to her, Skinner often thought.

‘Hello, Bob, haven’t seen you in long enough. You must be having a terrible time of it with all these murders and so on. Hold on. I’ll get Jimmy.’

The Chief Constable was still chewing something when he took the telephone. Skinner allowed him time to finish. Might choke when he hears what I’ve got to tell him, he thought.

He explained what had happened over the past few days, told of the raid on Yobatu, and of the arrest.

Relief swept down the telephone line. ‘Well done, Bob. Bloody good work. I’m happy for you, and for me, I don’t mind saying. For a while there I could see the knighthood going out the window!’ The man’s frankness was one of his best qualities.

Skinner laughed with him. ‘I hope you don’t feel I should have told you earlier, but it might have been a wild goose chase. If I brought you in on every bum lead you’d never finish a meal.’

‘That’s fine by me. Where is the man now?’

‘I’ve got him locked up at Fettes, Chief. But there’s a problem. Maybe two.’

He told Proud of Yobatu’s collapse, and of his wife’s subsequent telephone call to the Japanese Ambassador.

‘I see. When are the shrinks due?’

‘Any minute now.’

‘Well let’s see what they say. Do you want me to come in?’

‘No, better not. There’s just a chance that the papers might have this place staked out. If you arrive on a Sunday night, they’ll know it’s something big.’

‘Fair enough. Well look, keep me in touch. Do you think you’ll get a confession tonight?’

‘Not unless someone’s come up with a miracle cure for catatonic withdrawal. This bugger’s not kidding. There is nothing going on in his head … nothing at all.’

‘What about the press side of it?’

‘I’ll play that by ear. I’m not issuing any further statement till I have something to say. If I feel that I need to have a press conference, I’ll consult you first.’

‘No, just do what you think best. But let me know if you hear from this Ambassador fella.’

‘Okay, boss.’

Skinner had just replaced the receiver when Willie Haggerty arrived, with another detective. The two shook hands, and Haggerty introduced his colleague. ‘This is Detective Sergeant David Bell.’ The other man was much taller than Haggerty, taller even than Skinner.

‘Where’s our man then, Mr Skinner?’ Haggerty was breezy and ebullient, typically Glaswegian.

‘He’s in a room of his own, with two big polismen, but for all he knows he could be on a South Sea island, or back in Japan in a rice-paper house.

‘You see, Willie, our man Yobatu has gone quietly out of his tree.

‘I’m just waiting for two eminent practitioners to arrive, to take a look inside his head. I’ll be bloody surprised if they find anything, though. So I don’t think you should see him right at this moment.’ Skinner’s face split into an untypically mischievous grin. ‘I’ll show you Shun Lee’s nuts, though, if you like!’

The stocky detective grimaced, throwing up his hands in mock horror. ‘Aw yous’re all fuckin’ heart and generosity through here in Edinburgh!’

When the laughter had subsided, Skinner told Haggerty, from the beginning, the story of the Yobatu connection, taking it through to the confrontation in the Balerno conservatory, to the discoveries in the garage, and to the abortive interview.

‘Christ,’ said Haggerty, ‘it all fits, but it’s all so bloody bizarre. He does Shun Lee, then Mortimer, then the girl. But along the way, after Mortimer, he does in three innocent punters here in Edinburgh, one of them a copper, to blind you to the link between those three murders. We think that the Triads did Shun, and that the girl was a jumper. You’re supposed to think that Burke and fuckin’ Hare are back in business.’

‘That’s how it looks, Willie.’

‘Jesus, it would chill you to the fuckin’ marrow, would it no’? And you didnae even know he was at Queen Street till he told you?’

‘No we did not. I don’t know how I kept a straight face when he came out with that one.’

As Haggerty shook his head in wonderment, there was a quick soft knock on the door. Mackie stepped into the room.

‘Two things, sir. ’ Things often came in pairs with Mackie, Skinner had noticed. ‘One, Mr O’Malley and the other nutcracker have arrived. Two, Mr Martin’s on the phone.’