Mortal Causes

by Ian Rankin

  ‘I better go,’ Rebus said. She became very still. He couldn’t see her face, not enough of it. ‘Hadn’t I?’

  ‘I’ve no commitments, John.’ Her hands were resting lightly on the work surface, either side of the pot. ‘What about you?’

  He knew what she meant; she meant Patience. ‘There’s someone,’ he said.

  ‘I know, Dr Curt told me.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Caroline, I shouldn’t have done that.’

  ‘What?’ She turned to him.

  ‘Kissed you.’

  ‘I didn’t mind.’ She gave him her smile again. ‘I’ll never drink a whole pot of tea on my own.’

  He nodded, realising he was still holding the mugs. ‘I’ll take them through.’

  He walked out of the kitchen on unsteady legs, his heart shimmying. He’d kissed her. Why had he kissed her? He hadn’t meant to. But it had happened. It was real now. The photographs smiled at him as he put the mugs down on a small table which already had coffee-rings on it. What was she doing in the kitchen? He stared at the doorway, willing her to come, willing her not to come.

  She came. The teapot was on a tray now, a tea-cosy in the shape of a King Charles spaniel keeping in the heat.

  ‘Is Sandy a King Charles?’

  ‘Some days. How strong do you like it?’

  ‘As it comes.’

  She smiled again and poured, handed him a mug, then took one herself and sat in her chair. She didn’t look very comfortable. Rebus sat opposite her on the sofa, not resting against the back of it but leaning forward.

  ‘There’s some shortbread,’ she said.

  ‘No, thanks.’

  ‘So,’ she said, ‘any progress on Nemo?’

  ‘I think so.’ This was good; they were talking. ‘SaS is a loyalist support group. They’re buying and shipping arms.’

  ‘And the victim in Mary King’s Close, he was killed by paramilitaries, nothing to do with his father?’

  Rebus shrugged again. ‘There’s been another murder. It could be linked.’

  ‘That man they found in the cellar?’ Rebus nodded. ‘Nobody told me they were connected.’

  ‘It’s being kept a bit quiet. He was working undercover.’

  ‘How was he found?’

  ‘The flat was having some building work done. One of the labourers opened the cellar door.’

  ‘That’s a coincidence.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘There was building work going on in Mary King’s Close too.’

  ‘Not the same firm.’

  ‘You’ve checked?’

  Rebus frowned. ‘Not me personally, but yes, we’ve checked.’

  ‘Oh well.’ She took another cigarette from her packet and made to light it, but stopped herself. She took the cigarette from her mouth and examined it. ‘John,’ she said, ‘if you’d like to, we can make love any time you want.’

  There were none of Cafferty’s men waiting for him outside Patience’s flat, nothing to delay him. He’d been hoping for the Weasel. Right now, he felt ready for some hands-on with the Weasel.

  But it wasn’t Cafferty’s man he was angry with.

  Inside, the long hallway was cool and dark, the only light coming from three small panes of glass above the front door. ‘Patience?’ he called, hoping she’d be out. Her car was outside, but that didn’t mean anything. He wanted to run a bath, steep in it. He turned on both taps, then went to the bedroom, picked up the phone, and rang Brian Holmes at home. Holmes’s partner Nell picked up the call.

  ‘It’s John Rebus,’ he told her. She said nothing, just put the receiver to one side and went off to fetch Brian. There was no love lost these days between Rebus and Nell Stapleton, something Holmes himself realised but couldn’t bring himself to query …

  ‘Yes, sir?’

  ‘Brian, those two building companies.’

  ‘Mary King’s Close and St Stephen Street?’

  ‘How thoroughly have we checked them?’

  ‘Pretty well.’

  ‘And we’ve cross-referenced? There’s no connection between them.’

  ‘No, why?’

  ‘Can you check them again yourself?’

  ‘I can.’

  ‘Humour me then. Do it Monday.’

  ‘Anything in particular I should be looking for?’

  ‘No.’ He paused. ‘Yes, start with casual labour.’

  “I thought you wanted Siobhan and me to go see Murdock?’

  ‘I did. I’ll take your place. Have a nice evening.’ Rebus put down the phone and went back to the bathroom. There was good pressure in the pipes, and the bath was practically full already. He turned off the cold and reduced the hot to a trickle. The kitchen was through the living room, and he fancied some milk from the fridge.

  Patience was in the kitchen, chopping vegetables.

  ‘I didn’t know you were here,’ Rebus said.

  ‘I live here, remember? This is my flat.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’ She was angry with him. He opened the fridge door, took out the milk, and managed to pass her without touching her. He put the milk on the breakfast table and got a glass from the draining board. ‘What are you cooking?’

  ‘Why the interest? You never eat here.’

  ‘Patience …’

  She came to the sink, scraping peelings into a plastic container. It would all go onto her compost heap. She turned to him. ‘Running a bath?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘It’s Giorgio, isn’t it?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘That perfume.’ She leaned close, sniffed his shirt. ‘Giorgio of Beverly Hills.’

  ‘Patience …’

  ‘You’ll have to tell me about her one of these days.’

  ‘You think I’m seeing someone?’

  She threw the small sharp kitchen knife at the sink and ran from the room. Rebus stood there, listening until he heard the front door slam. He poured the milk down the sink.

  He took back the videos – still unwatched – then went for a drive. The Dell Bar sat on an unlovely stretch of main road outside the Gar-B. It didn’t get much passing trade, but there was a line of cars parked outside. Rebus slowed as he drove past. He could go in, but what good would it do? Then he saw something, and pulled his car up kerbside. Next to him a van was parked, with fly-posters pasted on its sides. The posters advertised the play which was soon to go on in the Gar-B gang hut. The theatre group was called Active Resistance. Some of them must be drinking inside. A few vehicles further on was the car he wanted. He bent down at the driver’s side window. Ken Smylie tried to ignore him, then wound the window down angrily.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.

  ‘I was about to ask the same,’ said Rebus.

  Smylie nodded towards the Dell. He had his hands on the steering-wheel. They weren’t just resting on it, they were squeezing it. ‘Maybe there’s someone drinking in there killed Calumn.’

  ‘Maybe there is,’ Rebus said quietly: he didn’t fancy being Smylie’s punchbag. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

  Smylie stared at him. ‘I’m going to sit here.’

  ‘And then what? Break the neck of every man who comes out? You know the score, Ken.’

  ‘Leave me alone.’

  ‘Look, Ken –’ Rebus broke off as the Dell’s door swung open and two punters sauntered out, cigarettes in mouths, sharing some joke between them. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I know how you feel. I’ve got a brother too. But this isn’t doing any good.’

  ‘Just go away.’

  Rebus sighed, straightened up. ‘Fair enough then. But if there’s any hassle, radio for assistance. Just do that for me, okay?’

  Smylie almost smiled. ‘There won’t be any trouble, believe me.’

  Rebus did, the way he believed TV advertising and weather reports. He walked back towards his car. The two drinkers were getting into their Vauxhall. As the passenger yanked open his door, it nearly caught Rebus.

  The man didn’t bother to apol
ogise. He gave Rebus a look like it was Rebus’s fault, then got into his seat.

  Rebus had seen the man before. He was about five-ten, broad in the chest, wearing jeans and black t-shirt and a denim jacket. He had a face shiny with drink, sweat on his forehead and in his wavy brown hair. But it wasn’t until Rebus was back in his own car and halfway home that he put a name to the face.

  The man Yates had told him about, shown him a photo of, the ex-UVF man they’d lost in Glasgow. Alan Fowler. Drinking in the Gar-B like he owned the place.

  Maybe he did at that.

  Rebus retraced his route, cruising some of the narrow streets, checking parked cars. But he’d lost the Vauxhall. And Ken Smylie’s car was no longer outside the Dell.

  18

  Monday morning at St Leonard’s, Chief Inspector Lauderdale was having to explain a joke he’d just made.

  ‘See, the squid’s so meek, Hans can’t bring himself to thump it either.’ He caught sight of Rebus walking into the Murder Room. ‘The prodigal returns! Tell us, what’s it like working with the glamour boys?’

  ‘It’s all right,’ said Rebus. ‘I’ve already had one return flight out of them.’

  Lauderdale clearly had not been expecting this …

  ‘So it’s true then,’ he said, recovering well, ‘they’re all high flyers over at SCS.’ He captured a few laughs for his trouble. Rebus didn’t mind being the butt. He knew the way it was. In a murder inquiry, you worked as a team. Lauderdale, as team manager, had the job of boosting morale, keeping things lively. Rebus wasn’t part of the team, not exactly, so he was open to the occasional low tackle with studs showing.

  He went to his desk, which more than ever resembled a rubbish tip, and tried to see if any messages had been left for him. He had spent the rest of his weekend, when not avoiding Patience, trying to track down Abernethy or anyone else in Special Branch who’d talk to him. Rebus had left message after message, so far without success.

  DI Flower, teeth showing, advanced on Rebus’s desk.

  ‘We’ve got a confession,’ he said, ‘to the stabbing in St Stephen Street. Want to talk to the man?’

  Rebus was wary. ‘Who is it?’

  ‘Unstable from Dunstable. He’s off his trolley this time, keeps asking for a curry and talking about cars. I told him he’d have to settle for a bridie and his bus fare.’

  ‘You’re all heart, Flower.’ Rebus saw that Siobhan Clarke had finished getting ready. ‘Excuse me.’

  ‘Ready, sir?’ Clarke asked.

  ‘Plenty ready. Let’s go before Lauderdale or Flower can think of another gag at my expense. Not that their jokes ever cost me more than small change.’

  They took Clarke’s cherry-red Renault 5, following bus after bus west through the slow streets until they could take a faster route by way of The Grange, passing the turn-off to Arch Gowrie’s residence.

  ‘And you said The Grange didn’t lead anywhere,’ Clarke said, powering through the gears. True enough, it was the quickest route between St Leonard’s and Morningside. It was just that as a policeman, Rebus had never had much cause to heed Morningside, that genteel backwater where old ladies in white face powder, like something out of a Restoration play, sat in tea shops and pondered aloud their next choice from the cake-stand.

  Morningside wasn’t exclusive the way Grange was. There were students in Morningside, living at the top of roadside tenements, and people on the dole, in rented flats housing too many bodies, keeping the rent down. But when you thought of Morningside you thought of old ladies and that peculiar pronunciation they had, like they’d all understudied Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The Glaswegians joked about it. They said Morningside people thought sex was what the coal came in. Rebus doubted there were coal fires in Morningside any longer, though there would certainly be some wood-burning stoves, brought in by the young professionals who probably outnumbered the old ladies these days, though they weren’t nearly so conspicuous.

  It was to serve these young professionals, as well as to cater for local businesses, that a thriving little computer shop had opened near the corner of Comiston Road and Morningside Drive.

  ‘Can I help you?’ the male assistant asked, not looking up from his keyboard.

  ‘Is Millie around?’ Rebus asked.

  ‘Through the arch.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  There was a single step up to the arch, through which was another part of the shop, specialising in contract work and business packages. Rebus almost didn’t recognise Millie, though there was no one else there. She was seated at a terminal, thinking about something, tapping her finger against her lips. It took her a second to place Rebus. She hit a key, the screen went blank, and she rose from her seat.

  She was dressed in an immaculate combination of brilliant white skirt and bright yellow blouse, with a single string of crystals around her neck.

  ‘I just can’t shake you lot off, can I?’

  She did not sound unhappy. Indeed, she seemed almost too pleased to see them, her smile immense. ‘Can I fix you some coffee?’

  ‘Not for me, thanks.’

  Millie looked to Siobhan Clarke, who shook her head. ‘Mind if I make some for myself?’ She went to the arch. ‘Steve? Cuppa?’

  ‘Wouldn’t say no.’

  She came back. ‘No, but he might say please, just once.’ There was a cubby-hole at the back of the shop, leading to a toilet cubicle. In the cubbyhole sat a percolator, a packet of ground coffee, and several grim-looking mugs. Millie got to work. While she was occupied, Rebus asked his first question.

  ‘Billy’s mum tells us you were good enough to pack up all his stuff.’

  ‘It’s still sitting in his room, three bin liners. Not a lot to show for a life, is it?’

  ‘What about his motorbike?’

  She smiled. ‘That thing. You could hardly call it a bike. A friend of his asked if he could have it. Billy’s mum said she didn’t mind.’

  ‘You liked Billy?’

  ‘I liked him a lot. He was genuine. You never got bullshit with Billy. If he didn’t like you, he’d tell you to your face. I hear his dad’s some kind of villain.’

  ‘They didn’t know one another.’

  She slapped the coffee-maker. ‘This thing takes ages. Is that what you want to ask me about, Billy’s dad?’

  ‘Just a few general questions. Before he died, did Billy seem worried about anything?’

  ‘I’ve been asked already, more than once.’ She looked at Clarke. ‘You first, and then that big bastard with the voice like something caught in a mousetrap.’ Rebus smiled: it was a fair description of Ken Smylie. ‘Billy was just the same as ever, that’s all I can say.’

  ‘Did he get along okay with Mr Murdock?’

  ‘What sort of question is that? Christ, you’re scraping the barrel if you think Murdock would’ve done anything to Billy.’

  ‘You know what it’s like in mixed flats though, where there’s a couple plus one, jealousy can be a problem.’

  An electric buzzer announced the arrival of a customer. They could hear Steve talking to someone.

  ‘We’ve got to ask, Millie,’ Clarke said soothingly.

  ‘No you don’t. It’s just that you like asking!’

  So much for the good mood. Even Steve and the customer seemed to be listening. The coffee machine started dolloping boiled water into the filter.

  ‘Look,’ said Rebus, ‘let’s calm down, eh? If you like, we can come back. We could come to the flat –’

  ‘It never ends, does it? What is this? Trying to get a confession out of me?’ She clasped her hands together. ‘Yes, I killed him. It was me.’

  She held her hands out, wrists prominent.

  ‘I’ve forgotten my cuffs,’ Rebus said, smiling. Millie looked to Siobhan Clarke, who shrugged.

  ‘Great, I can’t even get myself arrested.’ She sloshed coffee into a mug. ‘And I thought it was the easiest thing in the world.’

  ‘Are we really so bad,
Millie?’

  She smiled, looked down at her mug. ‘I suppose not, sorry about that.’

  ‘You’re under a lot of strain,’ said Siobhan Clarke, ‘we appreciate that. Maybe if we sit down, eh?’

  So they sat at Millie’s desk, like customers and assistant. Clarke, who liked computers, had actually picked up a couple of brochures.

  ‘That’s got a twenty-five megahertz microprocessor,’ Millie said, pointing to one of the brochures.

  ‘What size memory?’

  ‘Four meg RAM, I think, but you can select a hard disk up to one-sixty.’

  ‘Does this one have a 486 chip?’

  Good girl, thought Rebus. Clarke was calming Millie down, taking her mind off both Billy Cunningham and her recent outburst. Steve brought the customer through to show him a certain screen. He gave the three of them a look full of curiosity.

  ‘Sorry, Steve,’ said Millie, ‘forgot your coffee.’ Her smile would not have passed a polygraph.

  Rebus waited till Steve and the customer had retreated. ‘Did Billy ever bring friends back to the flat?’

  ‘I’ve given you a list.’

  Rebus nodded. ‘Nobody else you’ve thought of since?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Can I try you with a couple of names? Davey Soutar and Jamesie MacMurray.’

  ‘Last names don’t mean much in our flat. Davey and Jamesie … I don’t think so.’

  Rebus willed her to look at him. She did so, then looked away again quickly. You’re lying, he thought.

  They left the shop ten minutes later. Clarke looked up and down the pavement. ‘Want to go see Murdock now?’

  ‘I don’t think so. What do you suppose it was she didn’t want us to see?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘You look up, see the police coming towards you, why do you blank your computer screen pronto and then come flying off your seat all bounce and flounce?’

  ‘You think there was something on the computer she didn’t want us to see?’

  ‘I thought I just said that,’ said Rebus. He got into the Renault’s passenger seat and waited for Clarke. ‘Jamesie MacMurray knows about The Shield. They killed Billy.’

  ‘So why aren’t we pulling him in?’