‘I think it may be the new guy.’
‘New guy?’ McIlhenney fired back. ‘What new guy?’
‘The guy who told us all to meet him.’
‘When?’
‘Wednesday, in the morning, day after Jock tells us we’re closed for a while. I get a call at home from a man. He says I am to meet him in the Bruntsfield massage parlour, twelve o’clock, and that all the other managers will be there. I ask him who the fuck he thinks he is; he says he has a message for us all from Tomas. Now I don’t know at this time that Tomas is dead, but I do know that if Tomas says “Come”, you fucking do it.’
‘So you went.’
‘Too fucking right.’
‘Why Bruntsfield?’
‘Because it’s the biggest place, maybe, I dunno. Anyway, I go and the other guys are there, except Linas. I ask Marius where he is and he says Linas is a fucking idiot, he hasn’t turned up. Then this man shows us a piece of paper; it’s from Tomas and it’s signed by him.’
‘How did you know it was genuine?’
‘It was written in Lithuanian. The fella was Scottish. It was addressed to all us managers and it said that he has decided to get out of the business and that there’s a new owner. When we read it, Marius asks him, “Is that you, the owner?” He says no, but that we should treat him as if he is if we want to stand any chance of keeping our jobs. Then he tells us that we stay closed until he says to open again; he says if anyone asks, we say it’s as a mark of respect.’
‘This man,’ said McGuire. ‘What’s his name?’
‘He didn’t tell us, we didn’t ask.’
‘You didn’t ask?’
‘No, because when one of the guys says he’s going to ask Tomas about this, he tell us that Tomas is dead, and that if we don’t believe him we should check the papers in an hour or two. That shut us all up.’
‘This was at midday?’ McGuire murmured, almost to himself. Luksa nodded.
‘The man,’ said McIlhenney. ‘Describe him.’
‘Tough guy.’
‘So are we, but you wouldn’t be able to trace either of us on that description.’
‘He’s tall, but not a giant, maybe one metre eighty-five. Heavy built, big chest, thick waist.’ He rubbed his face. ‘Big chin, dark; maybe needed a shave, like me, or maybe that’s how he was.’
‘How was he dressed?’
‘Jeans, red and white shirt. . jacket with no sleeves. OK, that’s all I remember, other than reading in the paper yesterday that Tomas was dead right enough. That’s all I know now, all I can say. Honest. You tell the other man I’m sorry I no’ tell him this. And please God, don’t let the lady die. I pray for her, honest.’
‘You’d better do that,’ McGuire rumbled. He glanced out of the window, then grinned. ‘Heaven be praised!’ he exclaimed. ‘Look, Arturus, you’ve had an answer already.’ He pointed, in the direction of a female figure, walking down the slope from the main entrance to the headquarters building. She was stocky, and wore police uniform.
Luksa’s mouth dropped open. For a moment, he started out of his chair, before thinking better of it and subsiding. ‘You two are bastards,’ he hissed.
‘Oh yes,’ said McIlhenney, ‘we surely are. Now,’ he continued, looking at his watch, ‘I reckon we’ve waited long enough for Ken Green. We don’t need him here to charge you, and that’s what we’re going to do, formally, with the attempt to murder Superintendent Mary Chambers, in your house, yesterday evening. You’ve already been cautioned, and we don’t require you to say anything at this stage. You’ll appear in Edinburgh Sheriff Court this afternoon, where we’ll ask that you be remanded in custody. Mr Green can make his way there, or his firm can send a substitute. Failing that, you can be represented by any other solicitor you choose to instruct, or by someone appointed by the court, if that’s what you prefer.’ He pressed a button under the table; a few seconds later the door opened and two escort officers entered the room. ‘Take him back to his accommodation,’ the detective superintendent ordered, ‘and have a secure van standing by ready to take him up to Chambers Street. The fiscal’s expecting him in the cells there in fifteen minutes.’ He gazed at Luksa as he was pulled to his feet. ‘Some advice, pal; you keep your fucking mouth shut from now on, and do exactly what Ken Green tells you, unless he’s decided he wants no part of you.’
The Glimmer Twins sat in silence for a few seconds after the door had closed behind the prisoner. ‘That was good thinking,’ said McGuire at last, ‘feeding him that nonsense about hidden arterial bleeding. You almost had me believing you; yes, it was worthy of the big fella himself. Are you going to tell him we got more out of Luksa than he did, or will I?’
‘I think neither of us will brag about it.’
‘Maybe not, maybe not.’ The chief superintendent frowned. ‘But our friend Arturus really is truly stupid. He fancies himself too. Know who he reminds me of? That Spanish barman in Hotel Babylon, on the telly. Mind you, was that description he gave us familiar, or was it not?’
McIlhenney nodded. ‘The boy’s not a Dandy reader, is he? Otherwise he’d have mentioned Desperate Dan too. It’s a spot-on match with the one Montell got from the receptionist.’
‘Absolutely, and he gave us lots more than that. The letter Desperate showed the managers: the one from Tomas. How did he get that? Assuming it was genuine, that is. Maybe Valdas wrote it.’
‘I don’t buy that. No, Tomas Zaliukas wrote it, he gave it to Desperate and then went up Arthur’s Seat and killed himself.’
‘Then get someone back into his house,’ said McGuire, ‘to copy all the files off his computer then look for one that’s in Lithuanian and was created on or before Tuesday evening. If we get a result, find a translator.’
‘But how did he know him in the first place? Who is he and what’s the connection?’
‘Wait a minute, though,’ his friend countered. ‘We know who the new owner was. It was Laima, Valdas Gerulaitis’s wife.’
‘And now fellow pork scratching. You’re bloody right. And Tomas changed his will in her favour just before he died. So what was her connection to Desperate?’
‘Christ knows. Do we know how the will read before that?’
‘No,’ said McIlhenney, ‘but I’m sure we can find out.’
‘Have McGurk and Sauce do that; Alex should be able to help them. Meantime that leaves us with this guy Marius. Thanks to our friend we can now have a serious talk with him about trafficking young women for prostitution. He’s not going to like that at all.’
‘Can we prove it, though? Anna might have identified Valdas and Linas, but did she ever see him?’
‘Time will tell,’ said the head of CID, ‘but right now I just want to find out what he knows. We need to trace the rest of those girls. They’re my greatest worry, mate; they might just have become too much of a liability. I’ll tell you what; you’re on a roll, so you take Marius, but don’t delegate it to Becky, you go for him yourself. You’re doing that, I’ll go up to the Sheriff Court and make sure that our friend Luksa’s remand hearing goes according to plan.’
‘OK.’ The superintendent frowned. ‘You know what’s liable to happen with him, don’t you?’
McGuire nodded, sagely. ‘Sure, I can read that script. A good QC will portray him as a frightened man, cornered by police who invaded his home without a warrant, picking up the first thing that came to hand and lashing out blindly. Charlie and Mary will be good witnesses, and the forensic backs them up, but when Luksa’s lawyer offers a guilty plea to a charge of serious assault, the Crown Office will take it. Unless Bob leans on them.’
‘He won’t though; I reckon he’ll be more likely to pass word discreetly to the judge, whoever that is, that he’s not pleased. In that case Luksa’ll still be looking at a right few years inside, and maybe a fine alongside that.’