10 Great Rebus Novels (John Rebus) (165 page)

‘So what’s the business?’

‘A detective agency, of course!’

‘Where exactly?’

‘Edinburgh. I’ve made more money since I came here than I made in six months in Aberdeen.’

‘You cannot be serious,’ said Rebus. But Andy Steele was.

He had one last meeting planned, and wasn’t looking forward to it. He walked from St Leonard’s to the University library at George Square. The indifferent security man on the door glanced at his ID and nodded him towards the front desk, where Nell Stapleton, tall and broad-shouldered, was taking returned books from a duffel-coated student. She caught his eye and looked surprised. Pleased at first; but as she went through the books, Rebus saw her mind wasn’t wholly on the job. At last, she came over to him.

‘Hello, John.’

‘Nell.’

‘What brings you here?’

‘Can we have a word?’

She checked with the other assistant that it was okay to take a five-minute break. They walked as far as a book-lined corridor.

‘Brian tells me you’ve closed the case, the one he was so worried about.’

Rebus nodded.

‘That’s great news. Thanks for your help.’

Rebus shrugged.

She tilted her head slightly. ‘Is something the matter?’

‘I’m not sure,’ said Rebus. ‘Do you want to tell me?’

‘
Me?
’

Rebus nodded again.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘You’ve lived with a policeman, Nell. You know we deal in motives. Sometimes there isn’t much else to go on. I’ve been thinking about motives recently.’ He shut up as a female student pulled open a door, came out into the corridor, smiled briefly at Nell, and went on her way. Nell watched her go. Rebus thought she would like to swop bodies for a few minutes.

‘Motives?’ she said. She was leaning against the wall, but Rebus got no notion of calmness from her stance.

‘Remember,’ he said, ‘that night in the hospital, the night Brian was attacked. You said something about an argument, and him going off to the Heartbreak Cafe?’

She nodded. ‘That’s right. We met that night to talk over a drink. But we argued. I don’t see –’

‘Only, I’ve been thinking about the motive behind the attack. There were too many at first, but I’ve narrowed them down. They’re all motives
you’d
have, Nell.’

‘What?’

‘You told me you were scared for him, scared because
he
was scared. And he was scared because he was poking into something that could nail Big Ger Cafferty. Wouldn’t it be better if there was
another
body on the case, someone else to attract the fire? Me, in other words. So you got me involved.’

‘Now wait a minute –’

But Rebus held his hand up and closed his eyes, begging silence. ‘Then,’ he said, ‘there was DC Clarke. They were getting along so famously together. Jealousy maybe? Always a good motive.’

‘I don’t believe this.’

Rebus ignored her. ‘And of course the simplest motive. The two of you had been rowing about whether or not to have kids. That and the fact that he was overworking, not paying you enough attention.’

‘Did he tell you that?’

Rebus did not sound unkind. ‘You told me yourself you’d had a row that evening. You knew where he was headed – same place as always. So why not wait near his car and brain him when he came out? A nice simple revenge.’ Rebus paused. ‘How many motives does that make? I’ve lost count. Enough to be going on with, eh?’

‘I don’t believe this.’ Tears were rising into her eyes. Every time she blinked, more appeared. She ran a thumb and forefinger down her nose, clearing it, breathing in noisily. ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked at last.

‘I’m going to lend you a hankie,’ said Rebus.

‘I don’t want your fucking hankie!’

Rebus put a finger to his lips. ‘This is a library, remember?’

She sniffed and wiped away tears.

‘Nell,’ he said quietly, ‘I don’t want you to say anything. I don’t want to know. I just want
you
to know. All right?’

‘You think you’re so fucking smart.’

He shrugged. ‘The offer of a hankie still stands.’

‘Get stuffed.’

‘Do you really want Brian to leave the force?’

But she was walking away from him, head held high, shoulders swinging just a little exaggeratedly. He watched her go behind the desk, where her co-worker saw something was wrong and put a comforting arm around her. Rebus examined the shelves of books in front of him in the corridor, but saw nothing to delay his leavetaking.

He sat on a bench in the Meadows, the back of the library rising up behind him. He had his hands in his pockets as he watched a hastily arranged game of football. Eight men against seven. They’d come over to him and asked if he fancied making up the numbers.

‘You must be desperate,’ he’d said, shaking his head. The goalposts comprised one orange and white traffic cone, one pile of coats, one pile of folders and books, and a branch stuck in the ground. Rebus glanced at his watch more often than necessary. No one on the field was worrying too much about the time taken to play the first half. Two of the players looked like brothers though they played on opposing sides. Mickey had left the flat that morning, taking the photo of their dad and Uncle Jimmy with him.

‘To remind me,’ he’d said.

A woman in a Burberry trenchcoat sat down on the bench beside him.

‘Are they any good?’ she asked.

‘They’d give Hibs a run for their money.’

‘How good does that make them?’ she asked.

Rebus turned towards Dr Patience Aitken and smiled, reaching out to take her hand in his. ‘What kept you so long?’ he asked.

‘Just the usual,’ she said. ‘Work.’

‘I tried phoning you so often.’

‘Put my mind at rest then,’ she said.

‘How?’

She moved closer. ‘Tell me I’m not just a number in your little black book . . .’

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the Chandler-Fulbright Award in the writing of this book.

Discussion points for
The Black Book

The Black Book
is the first time Ian Rankin moves Rebus to a real-life police station and mentions the street where he lives. Is this new level of authenticity reflected in any other areas?

When Rebus meets former Parachute Regiment colleague Deek Torrance he’s reminded of ‘the whole black comedy of his past’. Is this better in Rebus’s eyes than his past being a ‘tragedy’, or does he feel there actually might not be too much of a difference?

Is the fact that DS Brian Holmes has his own unofficial notebook with jottings on unofficial lines of enquiry indicative of the time he has spent working with Rebus? Does the ‘black book’ of the title refer more to Holmes’s notebook, to Big Ger’s diary or to Black Aengus’s journal?

Characters from previous Rebus novels reappear. Does Ian Rankin make allowances for readers who might not have read the earlier books? Discuss the different sorts of ‘ghosts from the past’.

Is Michael similar to Rebus in that he treats the thought of ‘scary’ things with humour?

‘
The past was certainly important to Edinburgh. The city fed on its past like a serpent with its tail in its mouth. And Rebus’s past seemed to be circling around again too
.’ How does Ian Rankin explore these notions, and why does the reader feel a sense of threat?

Ian Rankin claims that by the end of
The Black Book
, newcomer DC Siobhan Clarke has usurped Brian Holmes: ‘
It was not in Siobhan’s mind to remain “just another colleague”; she seemed to have other ideas entirely
’. How does this play out on the page, and in what ways does she prove herself to Rebus?