Blood Lines (22 page)

‘Jack. Jack?’

‘Don’t scream, gorgeous; let me explain.’

He put his hand over my mouth. It was hard to breathe. I tried to bite him, but he knew what I was up to. He was almost naked, and through his boxers I could tell he was definitely pleased to see me. I didn’t feel like returning the compliment. He brought his mouth close to my ear and whispered. His hot breath sent shivers down my spine; for form’s sake I thought I had better continue trying to kick him. Then I heard the words, and any emotion other than fear flew out the window.

‘They’ve found another body, Brodie. Same MO as before, except they didn’t find this poor sod in time. It’s only a matter of time before Duncan Bancho turns up here and arrests you. I knew you’d need an alibi, so here I am. The old lock-picking skills are still there – and you should be damn grateful that they are. In more ways than one. I’m not just useful for scaring the cops away.’

He pulled me closer; his hand was still over my mouth and he kissed me on the neck. My body wriggled towards him. It had a mind of its own. With his free hand he reached out to investigate my nakedness further. He didn’t seem quite so bothered about my imminent arrest as I was.

‘You are gorgeous, Brodie – and I think we should make this look as if we’re for real.’

I tried to bite his hand again, but it was more of a nibble. My mouth searched hungrily for his. I was so engrossed I didn’t hear the first knock.

‘I’ll go,’ he said. ‘You stay here and be quiet.’

Jack grabbed my silky dressing gown and ran to the door. I could hear the mumbled voices coming closer as he led the visitors into my darkened bedroom.

‘Just what the fuck do you think we were doing, Duncan?’ he said as he came in. ‘Do you want details?’

The harsh centre light was now on in the room and I struggled to get my bearings. Through my squinting eyes I could see that Jack looked both obscene and ridiculous. My pink dressing gown was far too short, and impressively it was still sticking out at ninety degrees.

Duncan Bancho nodded towards me.

‘Evening, Brodie.’

I sat up in bed, covering myself as much as possible, and let Jack continue to deal with Bancho as he was doing such an impressive job. As my eyes adjusted to the light I saw things I’d rather not, like the young police constable standing on my dirty knickers that I had dropped by the side of the bed; the tights drying on the mirror along with a selection of grey pants; and, taking pride of place, my home waxing kit, which lay in full view with what looked like a year’s worth of pubic hair stuck to the roller.

‘Detective Inspector – if you want to speak to Brodie then that’s fair enough. You can see that I have been here with her; she has not had the opportunity to commit any crime. If you want she’ll hand herself in at a time to be arranged between you, but if you lift her now, then I promise you there will be a story in the papers about police harassment by Sunday. See what that will do to your promotion prospects.’

‘Are you threatening me, Deans?’

‘I’m just stating the facts, Inspector – so that we’re both aware of the score here.’

‘I thought you were the lawyer, Brodie? You must be losing your touch if you’re letting this has-been fight your battles. By the way – does Joe know this one’s shagging you?’ Duncan Bancho turned to Jack and looked him up and down, before fingering the edge of my dressing gown. Jack didn’t flinch; thankfully, his erection was long gone.

‘It might not have been such a clever move to give Brodie an alibi, Deans. Glasgow Joe’s a hard jealous bastard – you might have bitten off more than you can chew, smart-arse.’

Jack stared him down.

‘Put the light out on your way out, Duncan, and leave us to finish what we started. Think hard on what I said. I think Brodie’s cost you a promotion before, hasn’t she?’

Bancho slammed the bedroom door on his way out.

From the hallway he shouted, ‘I’ll be back, Brodie. You’ve just got a stay of execution, not a full pardon.’

We listened in silence, straining to hear their car drive away.

‘Sorry about that last remark, Brodie – he riled me.’

‘Was it the comment about being a has-been?’

‘Fuck, no; nothing I haven’t heard before. No, it’s just that we both know he’s on his way to tell Glasgow Joe. And he’ll enjoy it.’

Jack didn’t look obscene any more, just daft in my dressing gown. We looked at each other with embarrassment; we both knew the moment had passed. He left to go to the other room and get dressed properly. In the time he was away, I twiddled my thumbs and wondered where the hell we would go from here.

‘Do you fancy a hot chocolate?’ I asked him, shouting through. ‘It helps me sleep.’ I knew that it would be too straightforward for him to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

‘I fancied something hot and sweet when I came in here tonight, darlin’, but it wasn’t drinking chocolate.’ He walked back through, pushing his mobile into his trouser pocket.

‘Well, that’s all that’s on offer – and only if you put some clothes on. You remind me of Donna Diamond. Before the op.’

‘How do you know Donna?’

‘She’s my client. I saw her yesterday morning. I’m representing her in the High Court on the embezzlement charges.’

‘Not any more you’re not, Brodie,’ he told me. ‘Do you carry your own fan around to throw shit at?’

‘What are you talking about? Has Bridget steamed in again?’

Jack looked at me with a mixture of exasperation and pity. ‘Brodie – the person found murdered up Calton Hill a couple of hours ago was Donna Diamond.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Pain knocked me down onto a chair.

It was difficult to breathe. Even I was beginning to suspect me.

‘She knew more than she told me, Jack.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘When I saw her today, I knew that she was important, that she had at least part of the key to all this. Now it’s obvious she was acquainted with Cattanach’s attacker. Maybe she contacted him after I left and this is the result?’

‘Serial killer?’

‘Only one person is dead, Jack – he didn’t finish Alex Cattanach off. He’s learned his lesson; he made sure that Donna Diamond wasn’t left the same way.’

‘Alex is as good as dead; we wouldn’t let an animal suffer the way that she’s suffering.’

The doorbell rang, interrupting Jack’s words.

‘Christ, that was quick. He’s sharper off his heels than I would have given him credit for.’

‘What do you mean – “that was quick”?’

The doorbell went again; the caller was impatient.

‘It’s three thirty in the morning. Who’s calling at this time?’

‘Joe.’

‘Why is Joe here?’

‘Because I texted him. I believe it’s always best to mix some truth with a lie. I knew that Bancho wouldn’t be able to wait to tell him about me being here. Believe it or not, I respect Joe too much to let that bastard break the news to him.’

‘You’re a liar, Jack Deans.’

The doorbell went again. Jack was jumpy but I wouldn’t let him answer it.

‘You’re scared of Joe. That’s the only reason you’d forewarn him. You hate the thought that if it came from someone else, you’d be looking over your shoulder until he decked you.’

‘Of course I’m scared of him, Brodie – I’m not fucking brain-dead; but that doesn’t alter anything. Until you make up your mind who you want, me or Joe, then I think it’s best to play it this way.’

‘I didn’t know you were on the menu. I didn’t know I was faced with having to bloody well “choose”. Who put you in charge of deciding what my options are?’ The constantly ringing doorbell was playing on my nerves. Joe was only stopping himself from kicking the door in because he knew I was in here; it wasn’t enough to stop him irritating the hell out of me though.

‘You’ve always known, Brodie, you’ve always known that I was waiting for you to snap your fingers. Remember that night outside St Leonard’s when you were going in to defend Kailash? That’s when I really knew. You got off that bike looking like something wild – you were facing them all, knowing you had a fight on your hands, and you’d never looked more gorgeous.’

‘You still thought that even after I hit your dodgy knee with my briefcase?’

‘Maybe because of that – you’re ballsy and I like that in a woman.’

‘Gee, thanks. Talking of ballsy women reminds me of Donna, though, poor sod.’ The ringing continued. ‘Why don’t you answer that door before Joe comes through it?’

I checked in the mirror that I looked decent; letting myself know what my priorities were. Joe came in the open door like a force ten gale. Sweeping me up in his arms, he held me under the light checking for bruises. I hoped Jack hadn’t left a love bite on me when I was dozing.

‘You’re scaring me – and I don’t like it,’ Joe growled down at me. ‘I heard that there had been a murder and that you were involved. I thought …’

‘I know what you thought, Joe, and that’s maybe my fault,’ said Jack.

‘Maybe? You sent the buggering text! At first I thought she had been hurt – then I reckoned that even an ill-mannered get like you might have resorted to a call rather than a text for that sort of news,’ exploded Joe.

‘Sorry,’ said Jack, sounding anything but. ‘Well, at least she’s okay.’

He moved on to busily filling the kettle for tea, obviously not wanting to make eye contact with Joe, who might still be thinking about killing him.

‘So – what’s the problem?’ Joe demanded.

Jack sat down to wait on the kettle boiling, but also to interject some drama into the conversation on his terms.

‘Duncan Bancho was coming round to arrest Brodie for the murder of Donna Diamond.’

‘Oh, Jesus – did that poor woman not suffer enough?’

‘If it’s any consolation, Donna’s out of her suffering now.’

‘I’m not talking about Donna, Deans. No, it’s poor Marjorie I’m thinking of. Can you imagine how heartbreaking it would be to lose your husband and gain a narcissistic bossy pal who’s better-looking than you? Then there were the other women. Now she has to deal with Donna being dead – what is she supposed to feel, for Christ’s sake? The tabloids will have a field day.’

Jack backtracked on what Joe had said, neatly ignoring the comment about the tabloids. ‘What do you mean, “other women”?’

‘Well, after the snip, Donna was always after other women. That’s how she really knew Alex Cattanach, not through rugby at all.’

‘Was Donna Alex’s lover?’ asked Jack.

‘No – at least I don’t think so. I went out to help Marjorie with the tea when we were there and she poured her heart out – she was a bit upset about Donna’s shenanigans.’

‘What are you on about, Joe?’ I asked.

‘You must have noticed the way she flirted with you, Brodie.’

‘No!’ I shouted, ignoring how uncomfortable I had been when we were there.

‘Really?’ Joe went on. ‘Didn’t you think it odd that she didn’t think you were guilty of what you were accused of?’

‘I beg your pardon, Joe? There are quite a few people who don’t think I’m capable of such a hideous crime.’

Jack was keeping his head down, brewing tea in the background.

‘Would anyone like some toast? That’s lovely bread you’ve got there, Brodie. Did you make that yourself?’

‘Shut up, Jack!’ we both shouted in unison.

‘Here,’ said Joe, finally putting things in their place and pointing at Jack. ‘Nobody has told me yet why he’s here.’ He froze a smile on his face as he reached over for the mug of tea Jack was offering him. ‘I don’t think you’re here to be the tea laddie, are you?’

Jack was quick with his explanation.

‘Brodie needed an alibi so I provided one.’

‘Good. Good,’ Joe nodded. He waited a few seconds before adding, ‘Mind you, “alibi”? That’s a new word for it.’

I tried to stare him out, make him say more. I won – sort of.

‘I can see with my eyes what’s going on – it’s not an alibi and it’s not a fucking ciabatta-making competition either.’

‘So, what is going on, Joe?’ I asked.

‘Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?’

Jack was holding his breath whilst looking for an

escape route. His eyes kept skimming over to the kitchen window – it was obvious he was thinking of jumping and that broken legs were the least of his worries.

‘What are you on about? Spit it out, man.’ I goaded Jack more than Glasgow Joe as Jack shook his head to me behind Joe’s back. For better or worse I ignored him.

Joe looked to the nodding dog behind him.

‘I don’t mean to insult you, Jack … after all, a man’s got to make a living. I just don’t exactly approve of you fleecing Brodie.’

‘Any article I write, I’ll run past Brodie,’ Jack quickly explained. Quickly, but not very convincingly. There was no way Jack would give up his editorial rights, unless he thought they were a fair exchange for his testicles.

The three of us stared at each other in turn like characters out of some bad Spaghetti Western. By the time a few tons of tumbleweed had blown past, it was clear that nothing more was going to be said, and that no one was really willing to give in. It reminded me of being back at school, with the main difference being that Joe had protected me in those days. I didn’t think I could rely on him to do that now.

I turned my back on both of them and made my way to my bedroom. I wiggled my arse a bit for good measure and assumed that they would either start fighting or leave.

The silence that hit the flat as I cosied myself under the duvet suggested there were no more bodies to be counted that night. The very thought brought the corpse of Donna Diamond to my mind, just in time for the nightmares to begin.

Chapter Thirty

The sounds of Elvis drifted towards me, mingling with the smell of death.

The music of the King let me know that Patch was at home and probably about to start work.

Professor Patterson didn’t turn around when I entered the morgue. This gave me a chance to study my mentor. He wore a shirt reminiscent of Elvis’ Hawaiian period, short-sleeved with large swathes of yellow and green. Pictures of palm trees and dusky maidens in grass skirts were in abundance.