Part 13 (1/2)

'Just get your a.r.s.e down here, right away.'

I hung up. Moses straightened his long leather coat. Remarkably, his make-up was still intact. His kohl stuck to him as if he were a Hollywood icon. He raised two fingers to his temple and saluted me. Saying nothing, he disappeared into the fog, and all I had left of him was the tapping of his cane.

He had made his decision. Moses had gone to meet Duncan Bancho. Rightly or wrongly, all three of us knew that any a.s.sault charge Duncan brought against him wouldn't stick. Nonetheless, Duncan's efforts would delay him and buy me some time.

It was not the first time that Bancho and I had crossed swords over Moses. The last time I had won and it cost Bancho a promotion. Bancho thought then that he had busted Moses' car-theft ring. It was alleged that the Dark Angels stole cars in and around the central belt of Scotland. They were said to have taken the cars back to a yard that Moses owned. DI Bancho had a tip-off that a fresh load of cars had arrived. He turned up with a warrant and Moses wasn't there. Bancho took the cars. His first problem was that it was late on a Friday and there were no police trucks available to uplift the vehicles, so he used his initiative. Bad mistake. Bancho instructed a local garage to pick them up and put them in their yard.

At five they locked the gates with chains and went home.

Moses' story was he didn't steal cars, so when he was walking home and saw his cars in a strange yard, the first thing he did was call the garage owners to find out what the score was. They weren't available because it was the weekend.

The next thing he did was cut the chains and take his cars back.

When Bancho went to collect the evidence on Monday morning, it wasn't there. He couldn't charge Moses with theft because he had no evidence. He did have CCTV footage so he charged Moses with breaking and entering. The second charge was an attempt to pervert the course of justice; the third charge was breach of the peace.

On the morning of the trial, I pointed out to the Fiscal that her case had more holes than Emmental cheese. She was young, a more experienced Fiscal might have run it. Okay, I bullied her when I pointed out that in Scotland you can't be guilty of breaking and entering unless you intend to steal. How can you steal your own property? If there's no theft, there's no court case, so how can you pervert the course of justice?

Then I said my client would plead to a breach of the peace.

In the plea in mitigation, I said he was very sorry for having sworn at the police officers but he was justifiably upset at being accused of a crime he did not commit. Moses got a fifty-quid fine instead of the seven-year jail sentence Duncan Bancho thought he would.

Bancho had been mad at me ever since. That didn't mean I was ready to roll over and let him win.

Alex Cattanach was alive, and that was the best news I had heard in ages ... even if I did have Jack Deans to thank for it.

Chapter Seventeen.

'How much for a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b, darlin'?'

A 1967 white 3.8 S-type Jaguar sedan pulled up at the kerb. I ran out from the close where I had been taking cover.

'Nice to see you too, Jack. Drive.'

Jack Deans leaned over and kissed my cheek. My body betrayed me, as it often did, and I turned to face him. I had heard that fear heightened s.e.xual response. Could I use that as my excuse?

'Tell me about Cattanach. How come you managed what the police couldn't?'

'I'm proud to be one of the best muckrakers around.'

'Muckraker?'

'To get answers, you've got to stir s.h.i.+t. ”Investigative journalist” just makes it all sound so antiseptic. You know I'm not that type.'

He stroked my face at the traffic lights and I kicked myself for not telling him to p.i.s.s off. The streetlights twinkled in the fog, and Edinburgh took on a mysterious feel. I saw myself as a raunchy Nancy Drew, off to solve a puzzle.

There was little traffic and the journey across the Forth Road Bridge was smooth. Jack fondled my thigh or was it a rea.s.suring pat?

'You've had a hard time the last few days.'

'My life would be easier if you put both hands on the steering wheel and then told me what s.h.i.+t you had to stir to track down Alex Cattanach.'

The haar disappeared as soon as we left the east coast and started moving inland. Jack, on the other hand, was immovable on the subject of his contacts.

'Are you expecting me to put out, Jack, before you tell me what I want to know?'

'What age are you? Fifteen?'

'Well, why don't you tell me, then?'

'You don't have any rights here. I have to protect my sources. I'm able to find out facts that the police can't because I use sources that they don't. Did you know the Salvation Army reunites ten people every day with their families? They're a d.a.m.n sight more reliable and pleasant than the cops. Everyone on the run s.h.i.+ts themselves if they see a copper but a nice Salvation Army wifey is a different matter.'

'So the Salvation Army found Cattanach?'

'I didn't say that. My job is to seek out and expose scandal. My sources have to trust me. You can trust me too.'

'Are you going to do a story on this?'

'It's what I do, Brodie.'

'So, how come wherever Alex is didn't work out that the headliner on ”Crimewatch” was within their midst?'

'We're talking the North of Scotland, Brodie. The Highlands barely even recognize television, never mind watch it.'

'Oh, come on, that's a crock of s.h.i.+t, Jack they're not exactly stuck in the Stone Ages. Do you want the Scottish Tourist Board putting you on a hitlist as well?'

'Seriously, Brodie,' he said, 'It's another world up there. They get a different local regional news programme to Edinburgh and Edinburgh was where Cattanach went missing, so it's seen as a local angle. Just the same with the papers it was huge in the Edinburgh Evening News because they'd already been following all the Law Society stuff and running interviews, but anywhere else? No story.'

'And that's where you come in with your sleuthing skills and dodgy contacts?' I asked.

'Well, it's certainly where I come in with my willingness to get bored t.i.tless phoning every hostel and guest house and possible resting place for Cattanach's weary head.'

'So where was it? Hostel? Guest house?'

'Hospital actually. Usually one of the first stops, but not always the best as it depends on whether you get Nurse Ratchett answering the phone or not. I'd put it off as I'd had a bad experience doing a story a while back where a guy walked out of his house one morning and never came back. All searches turned up blank, then eventually someone told me he had been seen at Inverness Royal. I set up camp to see if it was him it was, but it turns out he wasn't an amnesiac patient, it was a straightforward running off with his fancy piece who worked on the switchboard rather than an international spy scandal or anything. Abuse I suffered made me a bit wary of Inverness's finest medical frontliners though ...'

'And Cattanach? Tell me about Cattanach?'

I was trying to concentrate on Cattanach because I didn't want to think about Jack. Being close to him after last Sat.u.r.day night was odd. It hadn't felt like this in the pub probably because we hadn't had the chance to do anything there. Now? We could do what we liked. If we liked. And I wasn't sure whether I liked or not. If I was honest with myself, I would admit that I was thinking about Glasgow Joe. When he sent me the divorce papers, I couldn't breathe without it hurting. It took me years to live again, and then just when I could live without him, he showed up.

So why did I feel like this about Jack? Why did I feel that I wanted him? He put his hand on my leg again; we both pretended it was for rea.s.surance. I closed my eyes and feigned sleep. It was easier than having to work out how to respond.

When we pa.s.sed Perth, I felt the energy outside change. We were moving into the Highlands. Jack nudged me awake.

'I'm starving, Brodie. Let's stop at the chippie in Dunkeld.' I didn't want to admit that I'd already eaten at a chip shop that night, so I was forced to wolf down a fish supper by the cathedral. I must have consumed fifteen thousand calories today. I regretted not giving Moses that chip.