It was the only way. And it was, broadly, the truth. With a few omissions.
When Burns appeared at the door, his face was set in dark rage.
“Sir, thank you for coming, I…”
He glared at her as though she was speaking a language he didn’t understand, jaw working furiously. “Where is he?” he hissed.
Susie led him into the living room, Doug rising from the couch as they entered. He offered his hand to Burns. “DCI Burns,” he said. “Thanks for coming, I can appreciate this is a little out of the ordinary.”
“Skip it, McGregor. I see that, once again, you’ve managed to drag Drummond into the shit with you. But she says you’ve got something that might link two murder investigations. So why don’t you tell me what the fuck is going on and then I’ll decide if I’m going to charge you with anything?”
Doug let his hand drop slowly and lowered himself back onto the couch. Susie saw something dark flash across his own face, said a silent prayer that whatever smart-ass comment he had just thought up would die on his lips. Amazingly, it did.
“It’s about this,” he said, gesturing to the laptop and the brown envelope beside it.
“And what, exactly, is that?” Burns asked.
Doug let the obvious answer slide. No point in antagonising Burns any further. They were going to need him on this. “This laptop came into my possession a couple of days ago, along with a memory stick and an SD card,” Doug said slowly, keeping his eyes locked on Burns. “I believe they belonged to Paul Redmonds.”
Burns’ jaw pulsed. “Why would you think that?” he asked. “And how did you come by these items?”
“They were sent to me,” Doug said, keeping his voice level. “And as to why I think they belong to Redmonds… well, either they’re his, or there’s another Paul Redmonds out there who used to work for Lothian and Borders who wants to write the world’s worst autobiography. Also, this was on the flash drive.” He handed the envelope to Burns.
Burns took it, slid out the picture Colin had produced for Doug. A simple blow-up of what was on the screen behind Redmonds and Susie. That original full image had, of course, now been deleted from the flash drive, and they had found no record of it or any other associated images on the Devils website. The camera never lies, Doug thought, feeling the sudden scampering of hysterical laughter in his chest, but I do.
He watched as comprehension dawned on Burns’ face, his jaw slackening as his eyes went wide. “The date stamp… 2008,” he said after a moment. “Is it accurate?”
“No reason to believe it isn’t, sir,” Susie said. “But that’s not the reason I wanted to see you here.”
Burns tore his gaze from the picture. “Then what the fuck is?” he said, the anger reasserting itself in his eyes as he spoke.
“This,” Doug said, tapping the laptop. As I said, I had a look at it, and then I inserted this SD card. And look what happened when I did.”
He slid the card home, watched as the boot sequence ran and the landing page for the website appeared. He waited for the prompt, typed, All the Devils, then swivelled the laptop round on the table towards Burns.
“We think this is what caused Mark Hayes’ outburst, sir.” Susie said, moving closer. “As you can see, it’s a personal log-in under Redmonds’ name. It must have triggered the alarm DC King spoke about hearing at Hayes’ flat when we logged into the site.”
“But what is it?” Burns asked, squinting down at the laptop.
“It’s a porn-sharing site,” Doug said as he started to call up images and files, his fingers feeling cold and alien as typed, disgust rising in the back of his throat. “Best we can tell, the users are taking pictures or filming stuff, then uploading it here so they can enjoy it with their ‘friends’.” He spat the last word as though it was an obscenity. He gestured at the small message at the bottom of the screen: 31 guests. 1 online. All the Devils are here. Welcome back, Paul. “It looks like Redmonds was a member, probably with the people in that picture you’ve got there.”
Burns blinked, trying to take in what he was being told. “So you’re telling me this is what Redmonds was killed for? This image and his access to a porn site? Why?”
“See for yourself,” Doug said, gesturing to the images he had called up. He saw Burns flinch away when he looked at the screen, felt a sudden irrational hope. So he was human, after all. “It’s pretty nasty stuff. Most of it illegal. Kids, bestiality, date rape.” He fought the urge to look up at Susie. “I’ve not had time to go through all of it, but some of the files seem to have identifiable faces in them. If you were involved in this type of shit, wouldn’t you kill to keep it quiet?”
Burns shook his head, trying to get to grips with it all. He pushed down his fury that McGregor was involved in this. That could wait. Right now, he needed answers.
“So you’re saying that Mark Hayes looked after this site, and panicked when you accessed it?”
“It fits with what Eddie told us,” Susie said, nodding. “He said his employer was angry at him for a previous mistake he made, that he thinks Coulter was killed purely as a warning to him not to fuck up again. If his boss finds out that we’ve accessed this site, can you image how angry he’ll be then? I would say Hayes probably had good reason to panic.”
Burns took a moment to calm his raging thoughts. Then a memory hit him. “Hold on, you said this was also connected to what happened to Rab MacFarlane. How?”
“That’s my fault,” Doug said, his voice flat and cold. “I asked Rab to ask around about Redmonds’ possible links to Dessie Banks after the raid on the Falcon’s Rest.”
“And?” Burns said, unable to keep the sharp glint of excitement out of his voice.
“And he found a link, alright,” Doug said, looking past the screen to something only he could see. It all made sense now. Almost. “But not the one any of us was expecting. Seems Redmonds was using the Falcon’s Rest as a venue to indulge his amateur filming enthusiasms. And someone didn’t want us knowing that. Someone who has a vested interest in keeping all this quiet.”
Burns glanced back at the printed out photograph Doug had handed him, then to the screen. He was starting to see it now. It made sense. Jesus. It was obvious, really. He suddenly saw John Wallace in his mind again, making the Call me sign.
Doug shut the laptop, pushed it to Burns. “So, what do we do next?” he asked.
Burns felt the anger flare in him again as he looked down at the reporter.
“‘We’ are going to do nothing,” Burns said, straightening up and glaring at Susie. “You’re not going to write up one word of this – clear, McGregor? If you do, I’ll have you done for perverting the course of justice and tampering with police evidence before you can squeal NUJ. Fuck knows you’ve caused enough problems by handling material evidence as it is, but if I find out that you’re sniffing around this…” He jutted his jaw to the laptop.
Doug held up his hands. “Look, I get it,” he said. “You don’t like me. But credit me with some fucking common sense, will you? There’s kiddie porn and fuck knows what else on that site. Getting to who is responsible for that is a little more important to me than a fucking byline. I’ll write what I want to write when I think it’s time to write it. In the meantime…” He heard his voice rise in anger, saw Susie give him a warning glance. Didn’t care. “In the meantime, DCI Burns, I’ve laid enough of the pieces out for you here, how about you go and do your fucking job? Inveresk is just up the road. Pretty sure even you could find it from here.”
Burns took a step forward and Doug shot up from the couch. He bunched his fists, embracing the pain in his hand and arm. He’d attacked a man, been throttled by a gangster, followed, chased. If this cunt Burns wanted to have a go after all he’d done to try and help him, so be it. Fuck it.
“Sir, Doug,” Susie said. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Boss, Doug has already agreed to keep this quiet for the m
oment; I say we believe him. We can take the laptop and drives into evidence now, then set up the interviews we need to.”
Burns stared at Doug for another moment, his eyes dancing from the little shit’s jaw to temple to throat. All the places he wanted to hit.
“Fine. Get all this logged. We’ll get a formal statement from you” – he pointed a blunt finger at Doug – “later.”
Doug nodded then Burns turned away, already fiddling with his mobile. Behind him, Doug and Susie shared a glance. So far, so good.
Doug just hoped Susie didn’t see in his eyes what he was planning next.
54
Susie followed Burns on the short drive to Inveresk, mind racing as she drove. She had been so intent on what she and Doug were going to tell Burns – about making sure he believed their version of events – that she hadn’t thought about what the next step would be. She should have seen it, though; interviewing the Leonards was the obvious move. She just wished it wasn’t in front of Burns. She understood the context of the picture Colin had managed to salvage now, but how could she confront the Leonards, especially Alicia, with that whilst Burns was in the room?
Alicia Leonard. For years, Susie had been known as the woman who ended her marriage. The stupid slut who tempted a senior officer and left Alicia to pay the price. She knew differently now, but the knowledge didn’t make the prospect of meeting the woman any easier.
They walked up to the front door, Burns’ anger evident in his determined march and the hunch of his shoulders. He was pissed off, and Susie had no doubt there would be hell to pay later on. She just hoped what happened next would lessen the impact of it a little.
Alicia Leonard appeared at the door before the echo of the bell had faded. Her skin was tight and flushed, patches of hectic colour glowing behind her make-up. Her hair was pulled back in a severe bun, and her green eyes flashed as she took in Burns and then Susie.
“I don’t know who you think you are, DCI Burns,” she said, “demanding that I cut short a meeting with the Chief Constable and the Board to meet you here. But I’m sure you’re about to give me a very, very good explanation.”
Burns’ face twitched in a tight smile as Susie saw his grip tighten on the brown envelope he held. “Mrs Leonard, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but this is urgent. And relates directly to the death of your ex-husband. I apologise for disrupting your schedule, but I think you’ll understand why this couldn’t wait.”
Leonard stared at him for a moment, then turned and headed into the house, beckoning them to follow. They headed for the living room at the back of the house, the same room Burns had been in with Eddie only a few days before. Leonard took up a place in front of the massive fireplace, as though she was posing for a picture. She didn’t ask them to sit.
“So, what’s all this about?” she asked.
“Is your husband joining us?” Burns asked, making a show of looking around the room.
“No, Michael has meetings in town, but then, as I know you already had an appointment to meet him at his office, I’m sure you’re already aware of that. I saw no point in disrupting both of our days with this nonsense.”
Burns nodded in agreement. Made sense. And it kept him out of the way while they were discussing delicate matters. Nice move. Appear to be the considerate wife and keep the husband in the dark at the same time.
On the drive up here, Burns had gone over dozens of ways to handle this in his head. She was, after all, a member of the Board. On first names with the Chief Constable. She was also a massive pain in the arse and, as Burns now knew, a liar.
Fuck it.
“Mrs Leonard, when I was here previously, you said that the last time you saw Mr Redmonds was at John Wallace’s leaving party. Is that correct?”
He saw something in her chin tighten. “Yes. As I told you at the time: when I realised he was there, I left quickly. We didn’t really speak.”
Burns nodded. “I suppose you didn’t need to speak much there,” he said, more to himself than Leonard. “After all, you would have had plenty of time to chat and do whatever else it was you were doing with him when you met him later that night at the Falcon’s Rest in Morningside, isn’t that right?”
Leonard blinked as though she had been slapped, eyes darting between Burns and Susie as the colour drained from her face. “Wh… what?” she whispered. “What exactly do you mean by…?”
Burns waved his hand, time to push it a little. And hope what that little shit McGregor had told him was true. “You know exactly what I mean, Mrs Leonard. We have information that Mr Redmonds was given exclusive use of a suite at the Falcon’s Rest by the owner of the establishment. And the owner, being a cautious sort, gave us a description of a woman Redmonds would frequently visit with. Tall, blonde with hints of grey, striking green eyes. Sound familiar, Mrs Leonard? Not that we really needed the description, the CCTV we’ve been provided has some good shots of you.”
“How dare you,” Leonard whispered. “This is preposterous. Leave. Now. And you can rest assured, DCI Burns, I will be raising your scandalous accusations and slurs with the Chief Constable immediately.”
Burns shrugged, fought back the sudden urge to smile. “Fine, call Chief Montrose right now. And while you’re on the phone, you might want to mention that I showed this to you as well.” He handed her the envelope Doug had given him.
She took it, confusion diluting the fury in her gaze for a moment. Then she reached into the envelope and slid out the picture. When she saw it, she started to shake and, for a moment, Burns thought her knees were going to go. Beside him, Susie watched Leonard’s reaction with a mixture of savage pleasure and guilt. She knew this moment all too well. Had felt the same mixture of violation and rage and incomprehension when Doug had shown her what was on the flash drive. But, despite that, she couldn’t feel any sympathy for Alicia Leonard. Not with what she knew now.
“Tell me, Mrs Leonard,” Susie said, “for what possible reason would your ex-husband have an intimate picture of you and Mr Leonard together in his possession? And why does the date stamp on that image go back to 2008, before Mr Leonard said you and he met?”
Alicia Leonard looked down at the picture, shaking her head. It made sense to Susie now, but she knew she couldn’t explain to Burns. Redmonds hadn’t used her merely as a fucktoy, that was almost incidental. It was revenge. Plain and simple. He had taken the picture of Susie naked and exposed – with a video of Alicia and Michael fucking in the background – not for his own gratification, but as a message.
You can fuck around, I can too, he was saying.
Alicia Leonard looked up, teeth bared white and almost feral behind the crimson smear of lipstick around her mouth as her veneer of composure cracked and crumbled. “How dare you? I’ll have your job for this, you little prick, I’ll –”
“We also found the website, Mrs Leonard,” Susie said, cutting her off. “‘All the Devils’, very colourful. There are several images of you and your ex there, along with the more unsavoury material. Is that why you killed him? Because he had threatened to expose the website and your affair when the questions about his links to the Falcon’s Rest and Dessie Banks began after the raid?”
“Wait, what?” Leonard said. “You think I killed Paul? No! No, I couldn’t, wouldn’t. Yes, okay, we would see each other at that place. And yes, we would sometimes share pictures. But kill him? Why would I, why would you think I…?”
“So you’re telling me that if we check the CCTV from your gate system, we won’t find a record of Mr Redmonds visiting here the night he died?”
Alicia whirled away, heading for a drinks tray in the corner of the room. Her hand was shaking as she sloshed a large measure of something amber into a crystal glass from an ornate decanter. For such a desperate action, the sip she took was incongruously elegant.
“No, well, I… Yes, he was here that night. Michael was working late,
you see? I was here alone. Paul was hysterical when he arrived. He’d obviously been in a fight, he was black and blue, and he was yammering on about losing a picture and his key to the website. But kill him? No. I wouldn’t. Couldn’t…” Her voice trailed off and she stared into the glass, looking for an answer.
“So if you didn’t kill him, who did?” Susie asked after exchanging a glance with Burns to make sure he was happy with her taking the lead. She wasn’t buying this. There was something she wasn’t telling them, something – someone? – she was hiding.
“I… I don’t know,” she said, the fury now absolutely drained from her voice. “Please, that’s the truth. Yes, I was seeing Paul – even after the divorce we just couldn’t help ourselves. Yes, he was here that night. But he was alive when he left here, I swear.”
Susie thought it over. Easy enough to check. If there was a record of him arriving here, then there would be a record of him leaving. But it begged the question, where did he go after he left her?
“Mrs Leonard… the website,” she said. “We know that it was administered by a Mark Hayes. We also know that there are images of you, Paul and others on that site. Could he have gone to see one of them after seeing you that night, warn them as well?”
Alicia Leonard looked at Susie as if seeing her for the first time. “Wait,” she said. “Who are you? I never got your name.”
Susie felt something hot and noxious course through her. She locked her eyes with Leonard, determined to look the bitch in the eyes. “Drummond,” she said, her voice low and even. “DS Susie Drummond.”
The glass was flying through the air almost before Susie had time to register it. She ducked away, the crystal shattering musically on the wall behind her, the sound quickly drowned out by Leonard’s rising scream.
“Fucking bitch,” she spat, her lunge forward brought to a sudden halt as Burns grabbed hold of her shoulders and pulled her back into a bear hug. “You fucking whore! You’re the reason he’s dead! You’re the cause of all of this. I’ll kill you, I’ll fucking kill you!”
All the Devils Page 23
