Devil in the Detail (Scott Cullen Mysteries) (38 page)

"How do you mean?" asked Young.

"How did he seem when he got to yours on Sunday night?" asked Cullen.

"Typical Jamie, eh?" said Young. "Always looks a bit haunted that boy."

"And when you were drinking yesterday," said Cullen, "was he keeping up?"

Young paused for a few seconds - Cullen started to worry that he'd clam up again. "Didn't really notice," he finally said. He toyed with the spike again. "Now you mention it, he wasn't putting them away as much as I was, ken?"

"What about this afternoon?"

Young laughed. "You saw the state he was in, didn't you?"

Cullen thought it through - Cook could have been holding back the previous afternoon with a view to getting away reasonably sober in the evening. He'd drunk like a banshee that afternoon - Cullen wondered if that was the sign of someone trying to escape from something that they'd just done, or maybe celebrating his achievement the previous day.

"Mr Young, thanks for your help," said Cullen. "I'll need you to sign a statement with ADC Caldwell here. And we may need further information."

Cullen sat in the Incident Room that Bain had procured. It was currently empty which was a relief for Cullen - he needed some space to think. Someone had made a start on replicating the Garleton Incident Room but had given up halfway through. Cullen found a laptop and was typing up the notes of the Steven Young interview, a task he'd give up if Bain ever decided to listen to a single one of the six voicemails he had left.
 

He took his iPhone out and called DC Murray.

"All right, Cullen?" There was wind down the line.

"You got Lamb with you?" asked Cullen.

"Why, do you need him?"

"No, it's fine," said Cullen. "Where are you?"

"Doing door-to-door in Garleton," said Murray. "Why do you need the gaffer?"

"I just need someone in Haddington," said Cullen.

"Aye, right, what for?"

"Need someone to speak to a Simon Spink."

"Spider, right?"

"You know him?"

Murray laughed down the phone. "Who doesn't?" he said. "He's a bit like the Haddington version of Jamie Cook."

"Another one?"

"He's not quite as bad," said Murray.

"Can you get a hold of him?" asked Cullen. "We really need to speak to him."

"I'll see what I can do," said Murray. "I've been round his house a few times over the years and I think I know where he works."

"Cheers."

Cullen leaned back on the chair and tried to think what else he could do, other than search the station for Bain. It was supposed to be Bain getting updates from Cullen, not the other way round.

He looked around the room. It was one of the few large meeting rooms and it had a kitchen annexe - just a sink and a tap. Someone had found a kettle, some mugs, 'borrowed' teaspoons from the canteen, and bought tea bags, own brand instant coffee and a litre of milk from the Tesco Express across the road. Cullen would have put money on it being PC Watson. He went over and put the kettle on. Twelve dirty mugs sat in the sink, most of them with a drop of curdling milk and coffee inside. Cullen quickly washed the least disgusting.
 

PC Johnny Watson bumbled into the room, clutching three mugs in one hand.
 

"Have you seen Bain or Lamb?" asked Cullen.

"They're in with a bus driver, I think," said Watson.

That explained why Cullen was having trouble finding Bain. "Where have you been?" he asked. He poured the hot water over the tea bag and started mashing it against the side of his mug with one of the teaspoons.

"Stuck at that pub in Haddington that Jamie Cook was in," said Watson, rinsing the mugs in the sink.
 

"And you're back out here?"

"Bain's orders," said Watson. "We interviewed every person that was in there."

"Did any of them confirm whether Jamie Cook stayed there all day yesterday?" asked Cullen.

"Eh..." Watson opened his notebook. "He went out for a bit," he said. "Aye. Back of eight, according to the barman."

Cullen ran his hand through his hair. "Anybody else?"

"Most of the people we interviewed were totally out of it," said Watson, "or they hadn't noticed them sitting in there."

"And they didn't notice that Jamie Cook was underage?"

Watson gave a shrug. "Guess not."

"Did you speak to a Simon Spink?" asked Cullen.

Watson frowned. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"We need to confirm with him about Jamie Cook leaving the pub," said Cullen.

"Right."

"Do you know if anyone else has spoken to him?" asked Cullen.

"No idea," said Watson.

"Could you find out?"

Watson held up the mugs. "I've got to make the coffees," he said.

Cullen pointed his finger him. "You are going to find out about Simon Spink, not make coffee."

Watson looked away. "Okay..."

"Now."

Watson put the mugs down and scurried off. Cullen took the teabag out and poured the milk in. It was starting to smell but it hadn't gone lumpy yet.

"Learning from the master, obviously."

Cullen looked over. Bain was standing in the doorway, his eyes locked on Cullen.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough," said Bain with a grin. "You know, you're technically the same grade, so you shouldn't be giving him orders."
 

"Promote me, then," said Cullen.

Bain laughed and rubbed his hands together. "Come on, Sundance. Jamie Cook, take two."

Cullen looked at his cup of tea. Lumps of milk had started floating to the top. He left it and followed Bain down the corridor.

"How did it go with that Stevie boy?" asked Bain.

"We could have something," said Cullen.
 

"Aye? Has he fucked Cook's alibi?"

"It's a possibility," said Cullen. "Jamie disappeared from the pub for a bit, around about eight o'clock."

Bain stopped in the corridor. "You're fuckin' kiddin'."

"No, I'm not," said Cullen. "Watson just told me that the barman noticed him leaving as well. Eight o'clock. That's confirmation."

"We've got him," said Bain. "We've fuckin' got him."

Cullen looked through his notebook. "Has Mulgrew's PM come back?"

"Aye," said Bain. "Time of death was 7pm to 9pm. Most definitely murder."

"Tallies with the time that Jamie left the pub," said Cullen, nodding.

"Right," said Bain. "We need to nail Cook with this."

"Thought you were convinced it was Mulgrew?" asked Cullen.

"Eh?"

"Back at Garleton, you said it was Mulgrew."

"Aye, well, that was before we spoke to the boy Cook."

Bain set off again, towards the interview room. "Deeley said it was the same MO as Mandy, by the looks of things," he said. "Suffocation. We can get him with that."

"How did it go with the bus driver?" asked Cullen.

"Me and Lamb questioned him," said Bain. "He confirmed Cook's story. He saw a man and a girl going into a cottage, just by that bus stop. We gave him a proper going over. It looks like it checks out, but only at a 'fits the description of' kind of level."

"So Cook didn't kill Mandy?"

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Bain. He stopped outside the interview room. "The little fucker definitely did Mulgrew. Mandy is still open."

Cullen didn't want to press the point too much with Bain - he'd seen what happened when someone did - he needed to try a new tack. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Aye, I am."

"We need to think this through," said Cullen. "Jamie Cook had been on an all day bender with very little sleep. Are you suggesting that he's capable of driving back to Garleton, killing Mulgrew and taking him to the Ponds?"

Bain rolled his shoulders. "He could have met Mulgrew there," he said. "Remember what Mulgrew said about this shack."

"That's not my point," said Cullen. "That's a lot of organisation for someone who'd been out on the lash all day."

"Has anyone asked about how pissed Cook was?" asked Bain.

Cullen nodded his head. "I have," he said. "Stevie Young reckons that it's possible that Cook wasn't drinking that much yesterday."

"You'll know as well as I do, Constable," said Bain, "that it's fairly easy to be on an all-dayer and not get totally blootered. A lager tops every couple of hours, pint of water at the bar. Easy. Remember, I've been undercover. When I was in Glasgow, I infiltrated a gang once. Took me eighteen months but I got my DS out of it. I learnt how to drink sensibly. Not like you last night with Tommy Smith's cheap whisky."

The more Cullen thought about it, the more plausible it felt. Cook was seventeen but he seemed old beyond his years. Perhaps he could have done it. They had Cook fingered for two murders. With the statement from the bus driver, it seemed to Cullen that Jamie Cook was innocent of Mandy's murder.
 

"Was there anyone else there?" asked Bain.

"Some boy called Spider," said Cullen. "Real name Simon Spink. We're trying to bring him in for questioning."

"Let me know how that goes," said Bain.

Cullen sighed. "I'll ask again," he said. "Do you think he's in the clear over Mandy Gibson?"

Bain screwed his face up. "No, I think he's got a lot of talking to do to get out of that one."

"It was just the words of Gibson and Mulgrew against him," said Cullen. "You've spoken to the bus driver. He picked up Jamie Cook and confirmed that he saw Mandy Gibson alive, going into Mulgrew's cottage. We've got statements covering Cook's movements from then on. Mulgrew seems to have been involved in Mandy's death. We really need to speak to Gibson, now."

"Hold your horses, Sundance," said Bain. "All that the bus driver said was that he saw someone matching Gibson's description carrying Mandy inside. She could have been dead already. Cook could have killed her beforehand."

"What about the teddy bear?"

"Well, exactly."

"Eh?"

Bain shook his head. "Come on, Sundance," said Bain. "She leaves home in the middle of the night, gets abducted by Cook. He kills her, then dumps the body in that lane. Her old man finds her, rushes her to Mulgrew's to see if his exorcism skills stretch to resurrection. Meanwhile, Cook has escaped and is getting the bus to Haddington to lie low. He sees Gibson take his daughter in, points it out to the bus driver so he's got an alibi. Misdirection at its finest."

Cullen shook his head. "Amazing," he said, "and not a single piece of evidence."

"We'll get evidence," said Bain. "There's something I've been reminding Jim Turnbull. This is only day two. We can be lookin' for evidence for months. We've got time."

"You haven't."

"Aye, well, we'll see what Jim has to say when I give him a collar," said Bain. "Cargill can get to fuck." He checked his watch. "Do you want to lead this?"

"Okay," said Cullen, getting a sinking feeling that he was at the centre of Bain's game.

*

Cullen sat in the chair that Bain had previously occupied. Cook looked like he had been asleep. He had his head on the desk and tapped a rhythm out with his fingers. McLintock sat beside him, legs crossed, scribbling away on a notepad which nestled on his briefcase. PC Buxton stood by the door.

"Are you okay, Jamie?" asked Cullen.

"Course he is," muttered Bain.

"My client is ready," said McLintock.

"Aye," said Cook. "Get on with it."

Cullen started recording. "Interview with Jamie Colin Cook," he said. "Interview commenced at 20.10 on Tuesday the 24th January 2012." He listed the attendees.

"Jamie," said Cullen, "can you tell me about your relationship with Seamus Mulgrew?"

Cook bit his lip. "No, I don't want to."

"I understand that there may be personal reasons for not wishing to," said Cullen, "but you are the chief suspect for the murder of Seamus Mulgrew. Can you detail your relationship with Father Mulgrew, please?"

"No."

Cullen looked at Bain, who just shrugged.

"My client does not need to answer that question," said McLintock, looking up from his notepad. His eyes peered over the chunky DKNY-branded glasses he wore.

Cullen took a deep breath then looked at Cook for a few seconds. "Okay, Jamie, let's try again, shall we?" he said. "I just met with Steven Young. He said that you left the pub at around eight o'clock on Monday night."

Cook's eyes lit up. "What?"

"The bar staff at the Pheasant in Haddington backed that up as well."

Cook shared a look with McLintock.

"Well, did you or didn't you?" asked Cullen.

"No comment," said McLintock. He tore his glasses off and stared at Cullen.

"Jamie, where did you go?"
 

"Who have you spoken to?" asked Cook. "Spider?"

"Not yet, but we will."

"What I'll tell you is that me and Spider went out to get some hash from his mate," said Cook. "We were only gone half an hour, maybe three quarters of an hour."

Cullen glanced at Bain – he was grinding his teeth. "When you say hash, Jamie," said Cullen, "do you mean cannabis?"

Cook sat in silence for a while. "Yes," he eventually said. "Marijuana. Dope. Hash."

"Thank you for your honesty, Jamie," said Cullen.

Bain tapped at the table. Cullen looked at him. Bain gestured to the door. Cullen paused the interview.

Out in the corridor, Bain was rubbing at his moustache. "Think this is right?" he asked.

"No idea," said Cullen. "Sounds plausible."

"Right, right," said Bain, nodding. "Good effort in there, by the way."

Lamb appeared from behind Bain. "What's going on?" he asked

"We have a gap in Jamie Cook's statement," said Bain. "Funnily enough it's when he could have killed Mulgrew."

"Jesus Christ," said Cullen.

"We need to speak to some mate of Steven Young's called Spider," said Cullen.
 

"Spider?" asked Lamb. "Simon Spink?"

"That's the one," said Cullen. "Cook is claiming that he and Spider went off somewhere to get hash."

Lamb nodded. "Murray's just found him," he said.

Spider had just left his office when DC Murray caught up with him.