Thursday legends

17

As he rang the Lewis doorbell, Andy Martin was thinking about Sarah's advice, thinking hard. When Juliet Lewis opened the door he snapped back to the present.

'Good evening, Andy,' she said. There was nothing but welcome in her voice. 'You after my older daughter?'

'Yeah. I've got a couple of tickets waiting for us out at UCI.'

'You look as though you need a break. Come on in, Rhian's not quite ready.' She led the way up to the living room. He had never been upstairs before, but the house was built identically to his own, so the layout was familiar. He glanced around the room; it was expensively furnished, in modern style, with a large television set in the corner beside the patio doors. On the other side, a parrot, red the dominant colour among its plumage, sat on a swing in a big cage.

'Who are you then?' he asked. 'I'm Andy.'

'I'm Andy! I'm Andy!' the bird cawed.

'Clever bugger,' Martin chuckled.

'Clever bugger! Clever bugger!'

He turned to Rhian's mother, thinking as he did, that he could see what Spike Thomson saw in her. She was wearing cotton slacks and a sleeveless top which did her no disservice at all.

'Quite a mimic, isn't he?' she said. 'Say anything to him, anything at all, and he'll copy it. His name's Hererro; some South American reference, I was told. I rescued him not long ago. His owner was leaving the country for good. I haven't had a quiet moment since.'

'I sympathise. You were right about me needing some time off.' He smiled. 'Normally, Edinburgh isn't a particularly dangerous place, but for the last few years, when things have happened, they've tended to come in clusters. Having two murder investigations running simultaneously isn't normal for us, but it isn't unprecedented either.'

'I know,' Juliet answered. 'My division at Victoria Dock deals with the incidence of crime, among other things. It's just so unpredictable, isn't it? I've actually been out into the field with serving officers; often I think to myself that we civil servants should know more about how the police work. Do you think it would be feasible for some of us to be seconded to forces?'

'I don't see why not. Why don't you float the idea with Ministers? If they give it the okay, I'm sure you could work something out with the Chief Constables.'

'Whose number you will be joining quite soon, I hear.' He looked at her in surprise. 'Come on,' she said, reading him. 'You're sleeping with my daughter; not only that, you're more than ten years older than she is. You think I wouldn't check you out?'

'Not at all. I'm just a bit disturbed that you could.'

'I have my sources… although, like you, I wouldn't dream of revealing them.'

'Sir John Govan,' he said. She flushed and he knew that he was right.

'I couldn't possibly say. Anyway, I was told that there will be an ACC job coming up in Strathclyde in round about a year and that you're favourite for it.'

He laughed. 'Jock was always a manipulator. I haven't even thought about it.'

'You don't have to. Everybody and his mother knows that Bob Skinner was offered the Strathclyde Chief's job and turned it down flat. So it's the logical place for you.'

'Why?'

'You know quite well why.'

He smiled at her, amused by the game, and in spite of himself a little flattered. 'And what about Bob?' he asked. 'What has Jock got planned for him?'

'I know, but I couldn't possibly tell you, I'd be fired if word got out to him before everything was ready.'

'Rubbish, mother,' said Rhian, appearing in the doorway. 'You're going to be head of your department inside two years, and Permanent Secretary before you're fifty. You're fireproof.'

'Jesus,' Andy cried out. 'Enough of the career planning. Let's go and hide out in another galaxy, a long time ago and far, far away. This one's getting too bloody crowded.'

She took his hand and followed him downstairs, waving goodnight to Juliet. The MGF was outside, top down in the warm evening. He drove slickly up Palmerston Place, along Morrison Street, and eventually down Holyrood Road, past Dynamic Earth and the rising Parliament complex. Soon they were heading out of town, for the UCI multiplex.

'What about that talk?' Rhian asked, suddenly, her voice raised above the rush of the wind. 'Are we having it later, finally?'

'No, let's have it now. Are you serious about this thing, or are you just a young girl having fun with an older guy?' 'I'm serious.'

'Fine. Let's see how it goes, then.' 'What about love 'n stuff?'

'I don't use that word any more. Too bloody dangerous.'

'My mother's ambitious for me as well as for herself, you know. She's trying to pair us off, if you haven't guessed.'

'Sure, I know. That's the norm in some cultures and it seems to work more often than not, too.'

She laughed, musically, like a chime in the wind. 'You're not exactly a great romantic, are you?'

'I've grown out of that too. I'm me and that's it; but I'm looking for someone. Maybe it's you.'

'So am I on trial?'

'No more than I am with you. So far all we know is that we're good in bed together. Now we have to find out what else there is.'

'Andy?' she asked, whispering in his ear as he drew into a parking space outside the cinema. 'Can you cook?' 'Yes.'

'Thank God for that'