10 Great Rebus Novels (John Rebus)

by Ian Rankin

  ‘The leopard changed its spots, Inspector. I know you policemen are dubious about such things. Every offender is a potential repeat offender. I suppose you have to be cynical in your job, but with young Aengus the leopard really did change.’

  ‘Do you know why?’

  Vanderhyde shrugged. ‘Maybe because of our chat.’

  ‘That night in the Central Hotel?’

  ‘His father had asked me to talk to him.’

  ‘You know them, then?’

  ‘Oh, from long ago. Aengus regarded me more as an uncle than anything else. Indeed, when I heard that the Central had been razed to the ground, I saw it as symbolic. Perhaps he did too. Of course I knew the reputation it had garnered – an altogether unsavoury reputation. When it happened to burn down that night, well, I thought of the phoenix Aengus rising cleansed from its ashes. And it turned out to be true.’ He paused. ‘Yet now here you are, Inspector, asking questions about long forgotten events.’

  ‘There was a body.’

  ‘Ah yes, never identified.’

  ‘A murdered body.’

  ‘And somehow you’ve reopened that particular investigation? Interesting.’

  ‘I wanted to ask you what you remembered from that night. Anyone you met, anything that seemed at all suspicious.’

  Vanderhyde tilted his head to one side. ‘There were many people in the hotel that night, Inspector. You have a list of them. Yet you choose to come to a blind man?’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Rebus. ‘A blind man with a photographic memory.’

  Vanderhyde laughed. ‘Certainly, I can give . . . impressions.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Very well, Inspector. For you, I’ll do my best. I only ask one thing.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I’ve been stuck here too long. Take me out, will you?’

  ‘Anywhere in particular?’

  Vanderhyde looked surprised that he needed to ask. ‘Why, Inspector, to the Central Hotel, of course!’

  ‘Well,’ said Rebus, ‘this is where it used to stand. You’re facing it now.’ He could feel the stares of passers-by. Princes Street was lunchtime busy, office workers trying to make the most of their limited time. A few looked genuinely annoyed at having to manoeuvre past two people daring to stand still on the pavement! But most could see that one man was blind, the other his helper in some way, so they found charity in their souls and didn’t complain.

  ‘And what has it become, Inspector?’

  ‘A burger joint.’

  Vanderhyde nodded. ‘I thought I could smell meat. Franchised, doubtless, from some American corporation. Princes Street has seen better days, Inspector. Did you know that when Scottish Sword and Shield was started up, they used to meet in the Central’s ballroom? Dozens and dozens of people, all vowing to restore Dalriada to its former glory.’

  Rebus remained silent.

  ‘You don’t recall Sword and Shield?’

  ‘It must have been before my time.’

  ‘Now that I think of it, it probably was. This was in the 1950s, an offshoot of the National Party. I attended a couple of the meetings myself. There would be some furious call to arms, followed by tea and scones. It didn’t last long. Broderick Gibson was the president one year.’

  ‘Aengus’s father?’

  ‘Yes.’ Vanderhyde was remembering. ‘There used to be a pub near here, famous for politics and poetry. A few of us went there after the meetings.’

  ‘I thought you said you only went to two?’

  ‘Perhaps a few more than two.’

  Rebus grinned. If he looked into it, he knew he would probably find that a certain M. Vanderhyde had been president of Sword and Shield at some time.

  ‘It was a fine pub,’ Vanderhyde reminisced.

  ‘In its day,’ said Rebus.

  Vanderhyde sighed. ‘Edinburgh, Inspector. Turn your back and they change the name of a pub or the purpose of a shop.’ He pointed behind him with his stick, nearly tripping someone up in the process. ‘They can’t change that though. That’s Edinburgh too.’ The stick was wavering in the direction of the Castle Rock. It rapped someone against their leg. Rebus tried to smile an apology, the victim being a woman.

  ‘Maybe we should go sit across the road,’ he suggested. Vanderhyde nodded, so they crossed at the traffic lights to the quieter side of the street. There were benches here, their backs to the gardens, each dedicated to someone’s memory. Vanderhyde got Rebus to read the plaque on their bench.

  ‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I don’t recognise either of those names.’

  ‘Mr Vanderhyde,’ said Rebus, ‘I’m beginning to suspect you got me to bring you here for no other reason than the outing itself.’ Vanderhyde smiled but said nothing. ‘What time did you go to the bar that night?’

  ‘Seven sharp, that was the arrangement. Of course, Aengus being Aengus, he was late. I think he turned up at half past, by which time I was seated in a corner with a whisky and water. I think it was J and B whisky.’ He seemed pleased by this small feat of memory.

  ‘Anyone you knew in the bar?’

  ‘I can hear bagpipes,’ Vanderhyde said.

  Rebus could too, though he couldn’t see the piper. ‘They play for the tourists,’ he explained. ‘It can be a big earner in the summer.’

  ‘He’s not very good. I should imagine he’s wearing a kilt but that the tartan isn’t correct.’

  ‘Anyone in the bar you knew?’ Rebus persisted.

  ‘Oh, let me think . . .’

  ‘With respect, sir, you don’t need to think. You either know or you don’t.’

  ‘Well, I think Tom Hendry was in that night and stopped by the table to say hello. He used to work for the newspapers.’

  Yes, Rebus had seen the name on the list.

  ‘And there was someone else . . . I didn’t know them, and they didn’t speak. But I recall a scent of lemon. It was very vivid. I thought maybe it was a perfume, but when I mentioned it to Aengus he laughed and said it didn’t belong to a woman. He wouldn’t say any more, but I got the feeling it was a huge joke to him that I’d made the initial comment. I’m not sure any of this is relevant.’

  ‘Me neither.’ Rebus’s stomach was growling. There was a sudden explosion behind them. Vanderhyde slipped his watch from his waistcoat pocket, opened the glass, and felt with his fingers over the dial.

  ‘One o’clock sharp,’ he said. ‘As I said, Inspector, some things about our precipitous city remain immutable.’

  Rebus nodded. ‘Such as the precipitation, for instance?’ It was beginning to drizzle, the morning sun having disappeared like a conjurer’s trick. ‘Anything else you can tell me?’

  ‘Aengus and I talked. I tried to persuade him that he was on a very dangerous path. His health was failing, and so was the family’s wealth. If anything, the latter argument was the more persuasive.’

  ‘So there and then he renounced the bawdy life?’

  ‘I wouldn’t go that far. The Edinburgh establishment has never bided too far from the stews. When we parted he was setting off to meet some woman.’ Vanderhyde was thoughtful. ‘But if I do say so myself, my words had an effect on him.’ He nodded. ‘I ate alone that evening in The Eyrie.’

  ‘I’ve been there myself,’ said Rebus. His stomach growled again. ‘Fancy a burger?’

  After he’d dropped Vanderhyde home he drove back to St Leonard’s – not a lot wiser for the whole exercise. Siobhan sprang from her desk when she saw him. She looked pleased with herself.

  ‘I take it the butcher’s wife was a talker,’ Rebus said, dropping into his chair. There was another note on his desk telling him Jack Morton had called. But this time there was also a number where Rebus could reach him.

  ‘A right little gossip, sir. I had trouble getting away.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Something and nothing.’

  ‘So give me the something.’ Rebus rubbed his stomach. He’d enjoyed the burger, but it hadn’t quite filled him up. There was a
lways the canteen, but he was a bit worried about getting a ‘dough-ring’, as he termed the gut policemen specialised in.

  ‘The something is this.’ Siobhan Clarke sat down. ‘Bone won the Merc in a bet.’

  ‘A bet?’

  Clarke nodded. ‘He put his share of the butcher’s business up against it. But he won the bet.’

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  ‘His wife actually sounded quite proud. Anyway, she told me he’s a great one for betting. Maybe he is, but it doesn’t look like he’s got a winning formula.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  She was warming to her subject. Rebus liked to see it, the gleam of successful detection. ‘There were a few things not quite right in the living room. For instance, they’d videotapes but no video, though you could see where the machine used to sit. And though they had a large unit for storing the TV and video, the TV itself was one of those portable types.’

  ‘So they’ve got rid of their video and their big television.’

  ‘I’d guess to pay off a debt or debts.’

  ‘And your money would be on gambling dues?’

  ‘If I were the betting kind, which I’m not.’

  He smiled. ‘Maybe they had the stuff on tick and couldn’t keep up the payments.’

  Siobhan sounded doubtful. ‘Maybe,’ she conceded.

  ‘Okay, well, it’s interesting so far as it goes, but it doesn’t go very far . . . not yet. And it doesn’t tell us anything about Rory Kintoul, does it?’ She was frowning. ‘Remember him, Clarke? He’s the one who was stabbed in the street then wouldn’t talk about it. He’s the one we’re interested in.’

  ‘So what do you suggest, sir?’ There was a tinge of ire to that ‘sir’. She didn’t like it that her good detection had not been better rewarded. ‘We’ve already spoken to him.’

  ‘And you’re going to speak to him again.’ She looked ready to protest. ‘Only this time,’ Rebus went on, ‘you’re going to be asking about his cousin, Mr Bone the butcher. I’m not sure what we’re looking for exactly, so you’ll have to feel your way. Just see whether anything hits the marrow.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ She stood up. ‘Oh, by the way, I got the files on Cafferty.’

  ‘Plenty of reading in there, most of it x-rated.’

  ‘I know, I’ve already started. And there’s no x-rating nowadays. It’s called “eighteen” instead.’

  Rebus blinked. ‘It’s just an expression.’ As she was turning away, he stopped her. ‘Look, take some notes, will you? On Cafferty and his gang, I mean. Then when you’re finished you can refresh my memory. I’ve spent a long time shutting that monster out of my thoughts; it’s about time I opened the door again.’

  ‘No problem.’

  And with that she was off. Rebus wondered if he should have told her she’d done well at Bone’s house. Ach, too late now. Besides, if she thought she were pleasing him, maybe she’d stop trying so hard. He picked up his phone and called Jack Morton.

  ‘Jack? Long time no hear. It’s John Rebus.’

  ‘John, how are you?’

  ‘No’ bad, how’s yourself?’

  ‘Fine. I made Inspector.’

  ‘Aye, me too.’

  ‘So I heard.’ Jack Morton choked off his words as he gave a huge hacking cough.

  ‘Still on the fags, eh, Jack?’

  ‘I’ve cut down.’

  ‘Remind me to sell my tobacco shares. So listen, what’s the problem?’

  ‘It’s your problem, not mine. Only I saw something from Scotland Yard about Andrew McPhail.’

  Rebus tried the name out in his head. ‘No,’ he admitted, ‘you’ve got me there.’

  ‘We had him on file as a sex offender. He’d had a go at the daughter of the woman he was living with. This was about eight years back. But we never got the charge to stick.’

  Rebus was remembering a little of it. ‘We interviewed him when those wee girls started to disappear?’ Rebus shivered at the memory: his own daughter had been one of the ‘wee girls’.

  ‘That’s it, just routine. We started with convicted and suspected child offenders and went on from there.’

  ‘Stocky guy with wiry hair?’

  ‘You’ve got him.’

  ‘So what’s the point, Jack?’

  ‘The point is, you really have got him. He’s in Edinburgh.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Christ, John, I thought you’d know. He buggered off to Canada after that last time we hassled him. Set himself up as a photographer, doing shots for fashion catalogues. He’d approach the parents of kids he fancied. He had business cards, camera equipment, the works, rented a studio and used to take shots of the children, promising they’d be in some catalogue or other. They’d get to dress up in fancy dresses, or sometimes maybe just in underwear . . .’

  ‘I get the picture, Jack.’

  ‘Well, they nabbed him. He’d been touching the girls, that was all. A lot of girls, so they put him inside.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And now they’ve let him out. But they’ve also deported him.’

  ‘He’s in Edinburgh?’

  ‘I started checking. I wanted to find out where he’d ended up, because I knew if it was anywhere near my patch I’d pay him a visit some dark night. But he’s on your patch instead. I’ve got an address.’

  ‘Wait a second.’ Rebus found a pen and copied it down.

  ‘How did you get his address anyway? The DSS?’

  ‘No, the files said he had a sister in Ayr. She told me he’d had her get a phone number for him, a boarding house. Know what else she said? She said we should lock him in a cellar and forget about the key.’

  ‘Sounds like a lovely lass.’

  ‘She’s my kind of woman, all right. Of course, he’s probably been rehabilitated.’

  That word – rehabilitated. A word Vanderhyde had used about Aengus Gibson. ‘Probably,’ said Rebus, believing it about as much as Morton himself. They were professional disbelievers, after all. It was a policeman’s lot.

  ‘Still, it’s good to know about. Thanks, Jack.’

  ‘You’re welcome. Any chance we’ll be seeing you in Falkirk some day? It’d be good to have a drink.’

  ‘Yes, it would. Tell you what, I might be over that way soon.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Dropping McPhail off in the town centre.’

  Morton laughed. ‘Ya shite, ye.’ And with that he put down the phone.

  Jack Morton stared at the phone for the best part of a minute, still grinning. Then the grin melted away. He unwrapped a stick of chewing gum and started gnawing it. It’s better than a cigarette, he kept telling himself. He looked at the scribbled sheet of notes in front of him on the desk. The girl McPhail had assaulted was called Melanie Maclean these days. Her mother had married, and Melanie lived with the couple in Haddington, far enough from Edinburgh so that she probably wouldn’t bump into McPhail. Nor, in all probability, would McPhail be able to find her. He’d have to know the stepfather’s name, and that wouldn’t be easy for him. It hadn’t been that easy for Jack Morton. But the name was here. Alex Maclean. Jack Morton had a home address, home phone number, and work number. He wondered . . .

  He knew too that Alex Maclean was a carpenter, and Haddington police were able to inform him that Maclean had a temper on him, and had twice (long before his marriage) been arrested after some flare-up or other. He wondered, but he knew he was going to do it. He picked up the receiver and punched in the numbers. Then waited.

  ‘Hello, can I speak to Mr Maclean please? Mr Maclean? You don’t know me, but I have some information I’d like to share with you. It concerns a man called Andrew McPhail . . .’

  Matthew Vanderhyde too made a telephone call that afternoon, but only after long thought in his favourite armchair. He held the cordless phone in his hand, tapping it with a long fingernail. He could hear a dog outside, the one from down the street with the nasal whine. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked, the tick seeming to slow
as he concentrated on it. Time’s heartbeat. At last he made the call. There was no preamble.

  ‘I’ve just had a policeman here,’ he said. ‘He was asking about the night the Central Hotel caught fire.’ He hesitated slightly. ‘I told him about Aengus.’ He could pause now, listening with a weary smile to the fury on the other end of the line, a fury he knew so well. ‘Broderick,’ he interrupted, ‘if any skeletons are being uncloseted, I don’t want to be the only one shivering.’

  When the fury began afresh, Matthew Vanderhyde terminated the call.

  7

  Rebus noticed the man for the first time that evening. He thought he’d seen him outside St Leonard’s in the afternoon. A young man, tall and broad-shouldered. He was standing outside the entrance to Rebus’s communal stairwell in Arden Street. Rebus parked his car across the street, so that he could watch the man in his rearview mirror. The man looked agitated, pumped up about something. Maybe he was only waiting for his date. Maybe.

  Rebus wasn’t scared, but he started the car again and drove off anyway. He’d give it an hour and see if the man was still there. If he was, then he wasn’t waiting on any date, no matter how bonny the girl. He drove along the Meadows to Tollcross, then took a right down Lothian Road. It was slow going, as per. The number of vehicles needing to get through the city of an evening seemed to grow every week. Edinburgh in the twilight looked much the same as any other place: shops and offices and crowded pavements. Nobody looked particularly happy.

  He crossed Princes Street, cut into Charlotte Square, and began the crawl along Queensferry Street and Queensferry Road until he could take a merciful (if awkward) right turn into Oxford Terrace. But Patience wasn’t home. He knew Patience’s sister was expected this week, staying a few days then taking the girls home. Patience’s cat, Lucky, sat outside, demanding entry, and Rebus for once was almost sympathetic.

  ‘Nae luck,’ he told it, before starting back up the steps.