Dyed in the Wool (32 page)

Cargill left the room, Turnbull and Fletcher following.

Cullen looked around, noticing a few familiar faces covered with looks of bewilderment.

Wilkinson tapped him on the shoulder. "None of my bloody Blackburn links came through."

Cullen frowned. "Blackburn Teddy, right?"

"Right. Had six of my lads going through contacts. Nobody knows anything about it. That's a shithole by the way, even worse than the one in bloody Lancashire."

Cullen smiled. "I thought Yorkshiremen were supposed to spit when you said that."

"I bloody feel like it." Wilkinson bellowed with laughter. "I need to speak to Charlie Kidd."

"I'm not stopping you."

"That's the thing. I don't understand that stuff half as well as you. Come upstairs with me."

"Much as I'd love to, I've got to man mark Muir. We're supposed to interview PC Bain."

"Wait here." Wilkinson dragged him over to Muir, sitting with Holdsworth. "Can you wait for Cullen to get back before you interview Kieron?"

Muir sighed. "I suppose I can."

"Excellent." Wilkinson tugged at Cullen's jacket. "Come on." He led upstairs. "I think that's Bain finally got his comeuppance."

"You think?"

"I've thought it before but he's always manages to wriggle out of it. House arrest is pretty bloody serious."

"I suppose so."

Wilkinson pushed open the door to the Forensic Investigations floor and marched over to Kidd's desk. "What are you doing here?"

Buxton looked up from his phone. "Crys- sorry, DS Methven asked me to help."

"And are you?"

"Not really." Kidd folded his arms.

"Put your phone away, Constable." Wilkinson pulled up a seat. "How's it going, Charlie?"

Kidd stretched out and yawned. "Getting there."

Cullen sat on the edge of the desk. "Where's there?"

Kidd sat back and started playing with his ponytail. "We've finally managed to get a link between the chat room and the core database."

"Thought this was supposed to be a piece of piss, Charlie? You've been at it for days."

"It's not easy. I've tried about a hundred different things and I've finally just managed to find a couple of tables hidden behind a firewall which might fix it."

Wilkinson shook his head. "I can't believe this site is legal."

"Me neither. Aitchison says they comply with all information security laws, but it sounds like bollocks."

"There could be anything going on in this chat room." Wilkinson scowled. "Football hooligans are the tip of the iceberg. Paedophiles, people trafficking, you name it."

"They regularly scan for that sort of activity using a set of keywords. I've been looking into it for that Tony boy who works for you."

"Right. We've not got any convictions yet." Wilkinson pointed at the screen. "So what are you pair actually doing?"

"Executing the join."

"It's taking this amount of time?"

"There's five hundred million users on there. You're lucky it's at all possible. I've had to nick about ten per cent of their data centre's resources to do it."

Wilkinson looked over at Buxton. "What were you up to on your phone?"

"Nothing."

"Come on."

Buxton shrugged. "Just looking at Twitter. Joey Barton was getting into a stupid argument with someone."

"Figures." Wilkinson frowned. "Who does he play for now?"

"Marseille. He's on loan from QPR. It was a dodge to get out of the three-month ban he got, I think."

Cullen pointed at Buxton's phone. "What's Turnbull been up to?"

Wilkinson glared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"He's been forced to tweet. Show him, Simon."

Buxton laughed. "He's been talking about how senior officers need to 'drink from the fire hydrant'."

"What does that even mean?" Wilkinson laughed.

"Me neither."

Kidd's machine beeped. He sat bolt upright. "Here we go."

Cullen leaned forward. "What is it?"

"That query's just returned. We've had to join across eight different systems and recreate their surrogate keys. Been a total nightmare."

"What can you tell me?"

Kidd tapped the screen. "We don't have a match for Blackburn Teddy."

"All this bloody time for nothing?" Wilkinson smacked his hand off the desk. "How come?"

"Blackburn Teddy hasn't got an account on Schoolbook."

Cullen frowned. "You said you thought it was Tommy Aitken."

Wilkinson looked away. "Believe me, we've pressed him hard on this. He's not even got a mobile, let alone a computer. It's not him."

"So he's not being held in connection with this any more?"

"Correct. He's still going to get done for assaulting Hugh Nichol. He's not going to drop the charges, even though Aitken was clearly under distress. Lot of bad blood there."

"Right, so we know nothing, then?"

"Not quite." Kidd tapped at the screen. "We've found Gorgie Billy."

"Who is it?"

"Someone called Kieron Bain."

Cullen opened the door to the interview room.

Methven was in full flow. "I wish you'd lose this 'no comment' nonsense. It's getting both of us nowhere."

Kieron smirked. "No comment."

Cullen waved over. "Sarge, a word?"

"Very well." Methven narrowed his eyes as he paused the interview. He led DS Muir outside into the corridor, slamming the door behind him. "What is it?"

Cullen nodded at the door. "Kieron Bain organised the fight at Ginty's Quarry."

"Sodding hell."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Methven rubbed his forehead. "What do you want to do?"

"Let me in there."

Muir held up his hands. "I'm staying."

Methven looked over at Wilkinson. "Does Alison know?"

Wilkinson shook his head. "Haven't seen her."

Methven took a deep breath. "Let's you and I go and speak to her while Cullen and Muir interview Kieron."

Wilkinson folded his arms. "Why?"

"We need to manage upwards, Paul. That's why."

Wilkinson grinned. "Right, but I'm pulling rank here, okay?"

"Very well."

Cullen put his hand on the interview room door. "We okay to progress?"

"Go for it." Methven led Wilkinson away.

Cullen sat down at the table and pressed started the recorder. "Interview recommenced. Present are DC Scott Cullen, DS Simon Muir, PC Kieron Bain and Alistair Reynolds. For the record, Mr Bain has foregone the right to a Police Federation rep."

Muir gestured for Cullen to lead.

Cullen leaned across the table. "Kieron, DS Muir here represents the Professional Standards and Ethics department. Do you know what they do?"

"I know what they do."

"Then you'll know you're in deep trouble."

Kieron shrugged. "Okay."

"There are a couple of other things DS Muir's helping us investigate. First, some of the evidence against you has disappeared from the Forensics Lab."

"I've no idea what you are talking about."

"The knife with your fingerprints on was misappropriated this morning. Do you know who stole it?"

"No."

"Was it your father?"

Kieron's eyes shot up again. "I've no idea. If it was him, he hasn't told me. I've no idea who stole it."

Cullen stared at him for a few seconds. "Second, did you have anything to do with the disappearance and murder of Alexander Aitken?"

"You know I was FAO when the car turned up."

"I know. You were also involved when we traced the car to the lock-ups on the outskirts of Ravencraig. They were conveniently on fire."

"What are you saying?"

"That's a lot of coincidences. You were involved when the car was stolen and when the body was found."

"So?"

"On Monday afternoon, you had the opportunity to report to your co-conspirators that the garage was going to be investigated. It gave them time to get the place torched and destroy any evidence."

"No comment."

"It's a pretty locked in conviction, Kieron. You killed Liam Crossan."

"No comment."

Cullen rolled his eyes. "Okay, so we're still playing this game, are we?"

"It's not a game. I'm not commenting on speculation."

"We know you arranged the fight on an internet chat room."

"I'm sorry?"

"Does Gorgie Billy mean anything to you?"

Kieron stared at the table. "No comment."

"It is you, though, isn't it?"

"Where do you get that from?"

Cullen cracked his knuckles. "Kieron, you used the same IP address to log on to your Schoolbook account."

"It could have been my old man. I was staying at his house."

Cullen held up a sheet of paper Charlie Kidd had given him. "Kieron, it was a mobile IP address, from an Android smartphone."

"My phone was stolen."

"Do you have any proof of this?"

"Not got around to reporting it yet."

"Is that true?"

Kieron sat in silence, eyes focused on Reynolds. "Okay, it was me."

"You're Gorgie Billy?"

"I am. I helped arrange the fight."

"Helped? Who was the ringleader?"

"No comment."

Cullen sighed. "Kieron, who was Blackburn Teddy?"

Kieron frowned. "I don't know what you mean. I led it."

"You were Blackburn Teddy?"

Kieron swallowed. "Aye, I was."

"Let me get this clear." Cullen paused for a few seconds, watching Kieron twitch. "You managed to use the same IP address for the main Schoolbook site, chat room as you did for the user name Gorgie Billy. Correct?"

Kieron shrugged. "I suppose."

"You suppose so?"

"Okay, it's true."

"Now, at the same time, you also had another handle on the chat room - Blackburn Teddy. You managed to use a different IP address for that one, though. Is that true?"

"Aye."

"It's not, is it?"

"I was working alone."

"Why were you so careful with Blackburn Teddy but not with Gorgie Billy?"

"Just one of those things."

Cullen stared at him, trying to psyche him out.

Kieron was Gorgie Billy. He'd been in online chats with Blackburn Teddy. They weren't the same person.

Who was Blackburn Teddy?

Focus on Teddy.

Teddy Bear - Rangers fans called themselves the Teddy Bears.

Blackburn Ranger. Blackburn Rangers.

Nothing.

Start again.

Blackburn Rangers. Blackburn, Lancashire. Blackburn Rovers.

Teddy Bear.

Ranger.

Ranger Rover.

Fuck.

Cullen looked up. "Is Blackburn Teddy Craig Smith?"

Kieron leaned back in his chair. "Craig who?"

Cullen looked at Muir. "DS Muir, what sort of sentence would you expect Mr Bain to receive on conviction."

"I'd need to think." Muir exhaled. "There's at least four or five crimes Mr Bain will be charged with, which may rise to another two or three. Murder's obviously the main one."

Kieron's eyes darted between them. "Murder?"

"Liam Crossan." Cullen smiled. "We've already discussed this."

Kieron sat back. "No comment."

Muir folded his arms. "All in, we're probably talking a minimum of thirty years."

"I can only imagine what they do to ex-police officers inside, but you've convicted a fair few."

"Well, first they'd lose their pension. That's probably the least of Mr Bain's worries." Muir straightened his jacket sleeve. "Ex-officers aren't the most popular inmates. The prisoners don't like them and the officers don't like them."

"What does 'don't like' mean?"

Muir grinned, mischief in his eyes. "If you're lucky it involves knives fashioned from other objects."

Kieron tapped his fingers on the table top. "What do you want me to say?"

Cullen looked at Reynolds. "For the record, I'm not trying to ensure certain words come out of your client's mouth. I just want the truth, no matter how messy it is."

Reynolds reached over and whispered into his client's ear.

Cullen glared at the lawyer. "Could you repeat what you just told your client?"

"That's not a matter for the record."

"Okay. Do you wish to state anything further, Kieron?"

"No."

Cullen looked at Muir. "Where does that leave us?"

"Prison, I think."

Cullen nodded slowly and emphatically. "Well, not us. That certainly looks like where you are heading, Kieron."

"Mr Cullen, I'd suggest you refrain from bullying my client. At the moment, he's under the presumption of innocence. There's no clear path to a conviction."

"We think there is."

"'Think' isn't good enough."

Cullen grinned. "You know Kieron's employment history will be a matter of public record if this goes to full trial."

"I'm sorry?"

"A case like this will be all over the papers. TV too. If Mr Bain doesn't plead guilty then it'll be a lengthy hearing. I wouldn't like to be in his shoes."

Reynolds whispered in Kieron's ear, waiting for him to nod. "My client wishes to make a statement."

Kieron took a deep breath then rubbed his hands together slowly, his eyes were focused on the table top. "I'm not going to comment on this Liam Crossan boy. Whatever I give you, I'm not talking about that. I'll talk about Blackburn Teddy."

"Who is Blackburn Teddy?"

"Craig Smith."

"You sure it's Craig Smith?" Cullen licked his lips.

"Aye. It's him."

"How do you know him?"

"I knew his son, Kyle. We both went to school in Bathgate. We stayed in touch when I moved to Dalkeith. I used to go round to his dad's house all the time. We watched the football on Sky - Dad wouldn't let us have it at home. We used to play on his Playstation. He was a good lad."

"Was Kyle at the fight?"

"He moved to Aberdeen." Kieron laughed. "Studying to be a lawyer, would you believe?"

"Go on."

"Kyle's parents split up a few years ago. His old man used to have cards nights round his house. When me and Kyle turned sixteen, he let us in on them. That's when I started getting into gambling."

"Gambling? That's why your mother kicked you out of her house, wasn't it?"