Ice Cold Blood

by David W. Millar

  ‘There’s something I haven’t told you yet, but Andrea and the advocate want me to talk it over with you.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Andrea’s already discussed the details of the case with this advocate and she’s willing to represent me but…’

  ‘But what?’

  ‘She wants me to be open to some plea bargaining.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘It means maybe pleading guilty to something I didn’t do.’

  ‘That’s not wise, John. It would mean prison.’

  ‘I’d no intention of doing anything like that but Andrea did ask me to think about it.’

  ‘Look they haven’t charged you so they’re still not sure you’d be convicted.’

  ‘If I’m charged, they can’t continue to interview me so I think they’re just hoping something else will come up.’

  ‘The jury might decide there’s not enough evidence. If you plead guilty then that chance has gone.’

  He smiled at her. At least while he was innocent until proven guilty then she was still his woman. He was the father of her children and that counted for something.

  ‘I’d better be getting to work, then. Good luck with your advocate.’

  Chapter 41

  Like John Serafini, Tosh had received a text that morning too. He was in a pub in Edinburgh waiting for Alan Saunders to appear. But unlike the message John Serafini had received he knew who the text was from.

  Bill, I just wanted to let you know we’ve had a baby boy - Duncan. Hope you’re well. Alison.

  For some reason the ‘we’ and not ‘I’ seemed especially significant to him. We’ve had a baby boy. Was she telling him in a roundabout way that they were a couple who now had children? He told himself he was being stupid to ruminate on something innocent. He had always read too much into things and his brain wouldn’t let it rest. Nonetheless he would send a card - it was the correct and civilised thing to do. It would be one without storks and the usual sentimental mush. And he would write Congratulations on your baby boy, all the best, Bill. Not love Bill, plain Bill. There would be no need for any further contact. Could he now get on with his life?

  The text caused a return to the endless why permutations that had run as a closed loop in his head when they first broke up. He remembered she’d wanted him to learn to dance and attend salsa classes with her. He’d said no. It was one of the few times he’d dug his heels in. She’d huffed for days saying they never did things together. It wasn’t true. In the end she’d gone on her own and apparently met the new man there. He wondered if he had just gone that night and they’d learned to dance together it would be his child lying in a cot somewhere in the maternity hospital? Intense therapy after the break-up had eventually shown him that was unlikely.

  His friends on the Force had been sympathetic. A colleague had mentioned casually that his partner, a woman called Cathy, was studying to be a relationship counsellor and was in her final year. She wanted to do her case study on counselling individuals after a break-up and suggested Tosh could meet with her for free if he wanted someone neutral to talk to. She would then write it up - anonymously of course. Tosh had said no initially, but finally agreed to five sessions, making up the excuse in his head that it couldn’t do any harm and he would be doing this woman a favour.

  She had suggested they meet in a pub, a safe venue. On the first session he sought a prior agreement that in return for her time he bought the drinks and she graciously agreed. Cathy, was attractive, quietly spoken and with an easy manner. As he eventually found out - a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

  The first session consisted of some general chit-chat. She talked a bit about herself and her course; asked a few broad questions about his life as a child while making some notes. Cathy told him she used a combination of person-centred and cognitive behaviour counselling depending on what was more appropriate. It was all low-key. In the second session she probed him gently about his relationships before Alison: did he have crushes on older girls at school, was he ever attracted to other boys and was he always looking for someone to settle down with? It all seemed innocuous.

  Then in subsequent sessions she went for the jugular, seemingly able to play him like a salmon on a line. Her direct questioning immediately raised unwelcome and uncomfortable feelings. And there was no let up. When she repeated his answers back to him or asked for clarification it increased the pain. Tosh felt she knew when he was lying.

  Did he see himself as someone who was generally insecure, needy even?

  Of course not, he was a policeman, a detective who had made the rank of inspector. He gave as good as he got with his peers. Yes, he liked being with people, but was easy in his own company. Insecure was not a word he would use to describe himself.

  So, he was a confident person then?

  Yes, you couldn’t become a detective inspector without being confident and he was keen on further promotion to chief inspector. He dealt with difficult people. He had to be confident or the criminals he dealt with would crucify him. She had smiled and nodded in apparent agreement - her partner was a copper too and she surely understood that. Then she suddenly started on his relationship with Alison.

  Had Alison been the dominant one in their relationship?

  He said no immediately, saying he felt their relationship had always been one of equal standing. But Cathy dismissed that straight away. In her experience, she told him, things were never that simple in a relationship. There was usually a power struggle. It might be fluid and change with time, but usually one person exercised more control over the other in some respects anyway.

  Did he tend to accede to her wishes?

  Tosh gave some ground grudgingly. Yes, he tried to keep her onside, but only because he understood the pressure that she was under in her job.

  Was he not under the same pressures?

  Yes, but being a woman in the Force was often harder than for men.

  His response drew raised eyebrows.

  Whose idea was it to buy a flat together?

  He admitted it was his but said Alison was enthusiastic.

  Was he jealous if she talked to other men? Was he ever suspicious she might be seeing someone else? Had he ever checked her phone for messages from other men?

  Tosh had said no on all counts. She had looked at him and smiled, quoting again the counsellor’s mantra, that whatever he said would always remain confidential. And this expression of trust had made him confess. Yes, he’d checked her phone a couple of times and admitted he’d once gone into her email account and found a discarded message in her wastebasket from an old boyfriend asking her to go for a drink with him. Tosh admitted it had caused him so much anxiety since he couldn’t confront her without it coming out that he had been looking at her emails. He never knew if Alison had gone for that drink.

  Each session dug repressed feelings from his subconscious and laid bare all his insecurities.

  Did he feel his mother gave him enough of her attention, enough praise and enough love?

  The descent back into his childhood was unexpected: the long hours his mother worked marking and preparing lessons, his sister’s neediness that monopolised his mother’s time and the angst he sometimes felt that his older brother was her favourite. He had felt edged out, marginalised and preferring to spend time with his father who took him to the football games.

  Did you feel vulnerable with Alison - a sense that you might lose this person’s love after never feeling sufficient love from your mother?

  He had to admit that he did feel vulnerable.

  How often did he tell her he loved her? How often did he want reminded that she loved him?

  Tosh knew he had needed reminded every day always seeking some form of covert assurance that she loved him. He looked for subliminal messages and tried to read her body language. Was everything ok between
them? He could sense her mood as soon as she came through the door. He knew when she wanted a hug and when she wanted to be left alone. He knew when it was ok to seek a hug and when to withdraw. At times it had been exhausting. Tosh saw their relationship had been one-sided and the counsellor reminded him that some women often despised men whom they considered weak, needy or jealous. She suggested that perhaps Alison, at some level, sensed this in him and it put distance between them. Then he became even more desperate to know she loved him - a negative feedback loop developed. Maybe Alison felt crowded.

  Tosh had looked at Cathy and nodded. Alison had once accused him of suffocating her. She’d apologised later, but the damage had been done. Maybe if he’d known all this before, he could have altered his behaviour and they might have stayed together. Then maybe, as the counsellor had said on their last session, they were just not right for each other.

  Another text came through. The sound brought his thoughts back to the present. It was from Shona asking how he was. It was so typical of her. She did simple things for him that meant so much: called at the right time, sensed when he was exhausted, would suggest they eat in even on a Saturday night and was happy to talk about police work.

  She was politically motivated too, something he really liked about her. A socialist who wanted a better society - just like him. She had joined the police to make life better for people saying more money should be invested into preventing crime rather than locking people up. Prison should be a last resort. They had a shared passion for history and films. There was a simple pleasure in just walking with her and going for coffee. There was still so much to find out about each other, and exciting times lay ahead. Maybe it was time to take her to meet his parents.

  A familiar figure entered the pub, raising his hand in greeting. Tosh rose to his feet to meet Alan Saunders.

  ‘Thanks for coming Mr Saunders. It’s a long way for you to travel.’

  ‘I have friends in Edinburgh and it’s a city I always like to visit and please, call me Alan.’

  ‘Well I’ll need to be addressed as Bill then,’ Tosh smiled. ‘And I’ve pre-ordered us a couple of pints since you insisted on buying the drinks the last time we met.’

  ‘Right, thanks Bill. I got the photo of the spring you found and thought I should have a proper look at it.’

  Tosh took out a large envelope from his briefcase and extracted the spring. Their drinks appeared as Alan Saunders turned it round in his hand, pulling on it to test the tension. Without speaking he handed it back to Tosh.

  Tosh placed it back in the envelope before raising his glass. He could tell that Saunders knew something.

  ‘Where did you say you found this?’ Saunders said eventually after drinking most of his beer in one go.

  ‘Outside the snow-hole, maybe a few metres away.’

  ‘Did you find out anything about it?’

  ‘Initially we thought it might be a spring from some ski bindings.’

  ‘Really! Ski bindings?’

  ‘Well we didn’t know…’

  ‘It’s a powerful spring with a large k-value.’

  ‘A k-value…?

  ‘Sorry, it’s a measurement engineers make about spring stiffness. This one is pretty stiff.’

  Tosh nodded nonchalantly while draining his glass. He had parked the car at a friend’s house that evening and would stay there overnight. There was no need to rush the interview.

  ‘I used springs like this one years ago in my workshop.’

  ‘You know what these springs are used for?’

  ‘Well I know what I used one like this for.’

  ‘And what was that?’

  ‘We used them to make a set of chest expanders.’

  ‘Who’s we?’

  ‘My son Eamon and me.’

  Tosh looked at Saunders before shaking his head. ‘I’m lost Alan.’

  ‘When Eamon was about fourteen, he started playing rugby and said he wanted to get bigger chest muscles. He asked me to buy him a chest expander. I suggested we make one together in my workshop.’

  ‘So you used springs like that one?’

  ‘It was the only time we worked together and made something.’ Saunders said wistfully, ignoring Tosh’s question. We used six of these springs to make the thing. I turned the wooden handles on a lathe and got Eamon to drill the holes. Then we linked up the springs into sets of three.’

  ‘Was it a success?’

  ‘It was certainly tough to pull the thing apart, but you could remove the middle two springs to make it easier. He used it for a few weeks and then got fed up and it ended up in a corner of my workshop.’

  Saunders finished his drink and Tosh picked up the empty glasses and walked over to the bar. He could see the man was caught up in past regrets regarding his family and wanted to give him time. The fact he had travelled all the way to Edinburgh to see him was significant. There was no need to rush things.

  ‘It’s my turn,’ Saunders protested as Tosh put another pint in front of him.

  ‘I’m claiming these on expenses.’

  It was a lie, but Saunders smiled back and raised his glass.

  ‘Did you find the discarded chest expanders in your workshop or have they gone missing along with your ice axe?’

  Saunders looked up at Tosh and smiled knowingly. ‘Very good, I’m impressed.’

  ‘I don’t think you’d have come all the way to Edinburgh if you didn’t have some suspicions about the spring.’

  ‘I can’t find them in the workshop or the house.’

  ‘Maybe you just misplaced them?’

  Saunders shook his head. ‘I hoard stuff and always know where everything is. They were in my workshop a couple of months ago as I considered breaking them up so I could use the springs for another of my contraptions. In the end I found a box of old springs in a drawer so didn’t need them.’

  ‘Could Eamon have taken the chest expanders?’

  ‘I phoned to ask him after you sent the photo of the spring, but he got irritated and asked me why I thought he would want a set of ancient chest expanders.’

  ‘Does the spring I showed you look identical to the ones you and Eamon used all those years ago?’

  ‘Identical.’

  ‘Could Ellie have taken them - the chest expanders?’

  ‘I think she’d have even less use for them than Eamon.’

  Tosh took out his mobile and pressed a few buttons. The conversation was short and terse but eventually Tosh persuaded Eamon Saunders he should leave work and meet them at the pub rather than Tosh appear at his office. Alan Saunders raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

  ‘Anything else gone missing from your workshop?’

  ‘Apparently Ellie was in there recently when I was away. I noticed bits of angle iron and a sheet of aluminium had been cut up.’

  ‘Aluminium?’

  ‘Don’t know what she’d have used that for. Anyway, I’ll leave you to have your conversation with my son who won’t be best pleased at being hauled away from work.’

  Tosh found a newspaper and settled into his seat to await Eamon Saunders.

  It was half an hour before he arrived.

  ‘I’m considering putting in a complaint about harassment,’ he growled before sitting down opposite Tosh.

  ‘Thank you for coming Mr Saunders,’ Tosh smiled. ‘I’m sure you want us to catch whoever did this to your sister.’

  ‘Well you’re certainly taking your time about it.’

  Tosh felt his hackles rise and struggled to keep his composure. ‘Then maybe you can help speed things up Mr Saunders. ‘Do you know anything about a set of chest expanders that you and your father made when you were about 14?’

  Eamon Saunders looked at Tosh with genuine incredulity. ‘What is it about bloody chest expanders? My sister was killed on a mountain
with an axe and you’re asking me about bloody gym equipment?’

  ‘Can you just answer the question?’

  ‘I’m trying to run a business and I’m being hounded from my office to talk about chest expanders!’

  ‘Have you been in your father’s workshop recently?’

  ‘No, I never go near the bloody place.’

  ‘Do you know of anyone who might have taken them?’ Tosh asked quietly, aware of developing tensions. He didn’t want a scene in a pub.

  ‘I hear you have a suspect. Yet you’ve got me out of my work to come down here and answer questions about some bloody springs my dad and I used God knows how many years ago.’

  ‘I take it that’s a no then?’

  ‘That is indeed a no now can I please get back to work?’

  ‘Thank you for your time Mr Saunders.’

  Chapter 42

  McIntyre was waiting at arrivals when the flight from New Zealand landed in Glasgow. Tired and jetlagged Joe Flint was not best pleased to see the detective.

  ‘I need to get a flight back to Wales. I’m desperate for a shower and I’ve got lots of work to catch up on.’

  ‘Won’t take long Mr Flint. I’ll buy us a coffee in the lounge.’

  ‘I’m awash with teas and coffees,’ Flint sighed following the detective sergeant towards the café. ‘It was a bloody long flight.’

  ‘When did you become aware that Ellie Saunders might have been pregnant and might have given birth to a child in New Zealand?’ McIntyre asked as soon as they sat down.

  The question caught him by surprise.

  ‘A few weeks ago.’

  ‘Do you mind telling me how you found this out?’

  So Flint told him some of what he knew, trying to be as vague as possible. He mentioned his conversations with Annabel, the meeting with Ellie that he’d cancelled over 14 years ago and the fury it had caused. He told him of the visit to the pregnancy clinic and the copy of the scan he was given from Euan Hunter. He left out any reference to Richie Carter.

  ‘So neither you, Ms Jackson nor Euan Hunter thought of contacting the police with this information?’