Torch (16 page)

‘I hate fucking
Hogmanay,’ he said.

She breathed
out against him. ‘So do I.’

The phone rang
in the hall.

‘Leave it,’ he
told her.

Chapter
26

Bill Wilson
called her early to tell her about the car. Rhona listened, her
head still stupid with sleep and too much whisky.

‘I don’t
understand.’

‘I tried to get
you late last night, but you weren’t answering. Chrissy came back
to the lab, to ask you to go for a drink. She saw your car go up in
flames and thought you were in it. She tried to open the door.’

‘My God! Is she
alright?’

‘Burned her
hands but otherwise, yes, she’s alright. She’s in the Western
Infirmary.’

‘I’ll get a
taxi there right away. Oh, and Bill... where’s my car?’

‘They’ve taken
it to the police garage. A team is checking it over.’

In the sitting
room the blanket and pillows she’d given Severino were folded at
the end of the couch. An empty whisky bottle and two glasses stared
reproachfully back at her from the table, a note beside them.
Severino had gone for a walk to clear his head and would phone
later.

Rhona was
relieved not to have to face him.

The
receptionist in Accident & Emergency directed her to Ward 3.
Chrissy was asleep when she went in. Rhona searched the pale face
for burns but it was unmarked. But the hands...

‘Oh Chrissy,’
she whispered, distressed.

Chrissy opened
her eyes.

‘I thought you
were asleep.’

‘I have to
pretend or that Sister will take my temperature again.’

Chrissy winced
as she tried to pull herself up in bed. ‘What’s going on
Rhona?’

‘I don’t
know.’

‘If you ask me,
someone’s got it in for you.’

‘It might have
been an accident. We don’t know yet.’

Chrissy wasn’t
convinced. ‘Are you going to examine the car?’

Rhona nodded.
‘I’m headed there now.’

Chrissy
attempted to get out of bed.

‘Where do you
think you’re going?’

‘With you.’

‘Oh no you’re
not. You’re staying here until they say you can leave.’

‘But... ’

Rhona held up
her hand. ‘No buts.’

After she’d
talked to the SOCO’s and taken a look at the car herself, she’d
gone in search of Bill. The car was a mess, but the quick use of a
fire extinguisher by the security guard had confined the fire to
the front two seats

‘And no
evidence of a timing device?’ Bill asked.

Rhona shook her
head.

‘But definitely
arson?’

She nodded.
‘The fire started in the passenger compartment. They identified two
different sources of ignition.’

‘Was there
anything that might point to the identity of the arsonist?’

‘There was a
tin on the driver’s seat with a photograph of me in it and a CD of
the Rolling Stones singing “Jumping Jack Flash”.’

‘I take it not
belonging to you?’

She nodded.
‘The same song was left on my ansaphone last week.’

Bill’s voice
grew serious. ‘I don’t like this, Rhona.’

Neither did
she.

‘Maybe the
security cameras can throw some light on it. I’ve got someone
ploughing through the footage now.’ Bill looked at her, concerned.
‘Is Sean about?’

‘Amsterdam,’
she told him.

He looked
worriedly about her. ‘I’ll get a squad car to drop you home.’

Rhona conceded
to that at least.

‘My advice is
to stay there,’ Bill told her. ‘I’ll let you know when we have
anything.’

When she got
back to the flat, Severino was there. Rhona explained about her car
and the tin with her photo and the CD inside, then she pressed the
play button on the ansaphone. Mick Jagger’s distinctive voice
filled her hall, the thump of base guitar behind it.

‘Jumping Jack
Flash, the Rolling Stones, 1969 or 70,’ Sev looked worried. ‘That
was what was on the CD?’

‘Yes.’

There was a
moment’s silence as Severino digested this.

Then Rhona
voiced her fear. ‘The paint scrapings on the sewer wall came from a
canister. Maybe he’s planning to use propane.’

Chapter
27

DI Wilson
headed back to the police office. He’d promised his wife Margaret
he would be back by three to serve the elderly relatives their
Ne’erday dram. He intended keeping his promise. The empty streets
looked like a Sunday with a hangover. A few souls were wandering
about looking for the remains of a party but the rest were indoors
continuing the celebrations or sleeping it off.

Janice had been
one of the ones to draw the short straw and work Hogmanay. She’d
taken the news well. She wasn’t a big drinker anyway. When the team
went for a pint after a shift, her limit seemed to be two glasses
of wine.

Janice wasn’t
at her desk but there was a large yellow sticky on his. Some guy
had phoned and said he knew Dr MacLeod and wanted to speak to the
man in charge of the drug murders. When he heard DI Wilson wasn’t
there he refused to talk to his DS or anyone else.

Bill carried
his over-milked coffee to his room and sat on his big old leather
swivel chair to think.

‘So you’re
back.’

Janice made it
sound as if he was a kid skiving class. Bill waved the sticky at
her.

‘Don’t know who
it was,’ she said. ‘Sounded jumpy and would only speak to you. Oh
and I could hear a dog whining in the background.’

‘If he calls
back I want it traced.’

‘We’re short
staffed but I’ll try. And Sir. The report on Meldrum Holdings is
ready.’

Despite being
down to three men and a dog, Janice had achieved the impossible. DI
Wilson felt suitably chastened.

The report was
ten pages long. Meldrum Holdings were wide ranging in their
interests, from construction to financial services to
manufacturing. It would need a complicated flow chart to signal
where the money came from and where it went. When the local
authorities had their own direct services it was easy enough to
spot where the money went - down a black hole. Now that the private
sector had been brought in for the construction and maintenance of
public housing, things were a little less clear. Meldrum Holdings
looked as though they were doing a nice job of bulldozing those run
down areas. Now if Meldrum Holdings were also doing a nice job of
redeveloping the same areas?

When he left at
two, Bill was none the wiser. Linking anyone in Meldrum Holdings to
arson in run-down housing estates would be like coming up with the
correct string of lottery numbers; and just about as
pleasurable.

On his way home
he took a detour, trying to blot out the expression on Margaret’s
face when he didn’t arrive home for his meal on time. Minutes later
the slip road he’d chosen deposited him in a desert of high rise
flats and creeping wasteland. The pub was on a corner, between the
bookies and the post office-cum-general store. No one looked at him
as he headed for the bar but they all saw him.

‘Happy New
Year, Sarge.’

Wee Archie
didn’t believe in promotion. If he wasn’t moving up in the world
then no one else was.

‘Happy New
Year, Archie.’

Bill nodded at
the barman and Archie had his half and half pint replenished.
Archie had lived in this housing scheme all his life. He’d seen it
begin good and end up bad. If anyone knew what was going on here,
it would be Archie.

It took two
more shorts before Archie’s brain went into play.

Chapter
28

Jaz put down
the receiver and stepped out of the phone booth into the wind.

No trains, no
boats, no planes out of Auchenblair on New Year’s Day. He’d tried
to hitch but nobody was driving anywhere other than round the
corner and Jaz didn’t fancy the hike to the main road for a lorry
heading south. So he’d tried phoning. Except there was no MacRae
and no MacFarlane and now no DI Wilson around. The lady scientist
had been his last chance.

He wasn’t too
happy about Emps either. The dog’s nose was hot and he was whining
a lot.

The hills
behind the village were topped with snow and the sky hung heavy
with it. He headed for the hotel bar. There was no point holding on
to cash for the train now. He would blow it on something to eat and
a heat by the fire.

Amy jumped the
two steps from the blue front door and landed right in front of
him.

‘What happened
to Emperor?’

Emps was
licking the wee girl’s hand.

‘He got his
tail caught in a door.’

‘You’ll have to
take him to the vet.’

‘I will,’ Jaz
promised the earnest face, ‘as soon as I get back to
Edinburgh.’

‘Why don’t you
go now?’ Amy examined the seeping stump of tail, a worried look on
her face.

‘No transport
until tomorrow,’ he explained.

Mrs MacRae had
appeared behind Amy at the door.

Amy ran back up
the steps. ‘Mummy, Emps got hurt and he can’t go to the vet until
tomorrow. Granny could help him. Couldn’t she Mummy?’

Mrs MacRae was
giving Jaz one of her ‘who the hell are you looks’.

‘It’s okay,
Amy,’ Jaz was anxious to be away. ‘Emperor’ll be okay.’

Jaz made to
walk on but Mrs MacRae had bent down and was looking at Emps’ tail,
or lack of it.

‘What if
Emperor dies like Bess?’ Amy turned to Jaz. ‘Bess hurt herself on a
fence and died when we were out.’ Tears filled her eyes.

So that’s what
they’d told her about the dog.

‘Amy, go inside
and say goodbye to Jennie. Tell her we’ll see her tomorrow at the
party.’

‘But mummy...
’

‘Go.’

MacRae’s wife
turned to him.

‘This dog needs
a vet.’

‘I’m stuck here
until tomorrow,’ Jaz began.

‘If you come
home with us, my mother will look at him for you.’

Arguing with
Mrs MacRae didn’t look an option. And Emps did need to see a vet.
And getting close to MacRae’s wife and kid had been the reason he
came here in the first place.

‘Okay.’

Bess’s body had
been removed from the front lawn. Jaz tried not to look for
bloodstains as he followed Amy up the path. He would insist on
waiting outside he decided, his stomach jumping in fright at the
sudden thought of MacRae turning up on New Year’s day and finding
him sitting in his mother-in-law’s kitchen. Christ! He would end up
with more than a hole in his hand.

Amy was running
ahead, throwing open the door and calling to her Gran to come and
see the poor dog.

Jaz stopped at
the door.

‘I’ll wait
here.’

‘Nonsense,’ Mrs
MacRae said. ‘You’ll need to hold Emperor while we dress his
wound.’

Emperor was
asleep now, knocked out by the antibiotics he’d had pumped into
him.

‘You’d better
leave Emps here tonight.’ Granny was saying, ‘I should keep an eye
on him overnight.’ She topped up Jaz’s mug of tea. ‘Where are you
staying?’

Jaz went
through half a dozen scenarios in his head in quick succession then
decided to opt for the truth, or nearly the truth. ‘I expected to
go back today,’ he smiled ruefully, ‘I forgot about the
trains.’

‘There’s a room
over the garage you can have for tonight.’

Mrs MacRae
wasn’t happy about the offer but a quick glance from her mother
silenced her.

‘It’s not much,
but it’s warm and you can see Emperor first thing in the
morning.’

‘I don’t want
to put you to any trouble,’ Jaz said.

‘No trouble.
The weather’s closing in anyway. You’d have problems going anywhere
tonight.’

The four-paned
kitchen window was thick with snow. Amy left her place by Emperor
and ran over to the window in delight.

‘Can I phone
dad and tell him?’

Jaz’s heart
sank. The first thing Amy would do was tell her father that Emperor
was in the house. Then it would all be over. The police car would
be here in minutes.

‘Can I use your
toilet?’ Jaz asked quickly. He would have to leave Emps behind but
the dog was better off here, the state he was in.

‘It’s through
the back,’ MacRae’s wife opened the kitchen door for him.

Jaz listened in
from the hall. Christ, the kid was already dialling.. He could feel
her impatience as she waited for someone to pick up.

‘Never mind
Amy,’ her mother was saying. ‘Your dad’ll be working. You can try
again tomorrow.’

Jaz went into
the bathroom and flushed the toilet for effect. Maybe he would get
a sleep in a bed tonight after all. As long as he was away sharp in
the morning.

The room over
the garage was being used mainly for storage but the bed was
comfortable and wonderfully warm. After showering he put his
clothes back on and left his parka at the foot of the bed and
climbed in.

When he’d left
the kitchen, Emperor hadn’t stirred from his deep sleep beside the
range. The old woman had listened to the dog’s heartbeat and
pronounced his progress satisfactory. Nothing was said about
Emperor’s injuries nor Bess’s death. The old woman seemed to have
accepted him at face value, but her daughter was a different
matter. Jaz had caught MacRae’s wife looking at him oddly during
supper and he was sure she didn’t believe a word of his story. He
had a feeling she had decided keeping him there might be the best
idea, at least until she’d spoken to her husband or the police.

Snow sliding
off the garage roof and landing with a thump on the roadway wakened
him two hours later. Immediately awake, Jaz slipped out of bed and
reached for his jacket, deciding to check on Emperor. The kitchen
was in darkness apart from a small lamp near the range. Jaz bent
over the sleeping shape of the dog, relieved to see the blanket
rise and fall with gentle regularity.