Hunter nodded and examined the cuticles of his nails he had been picking. He glanced up at Grace again. “The one solid thing from this though is that it reinforces my belief that these two are guilty of some involvement in their daughter’s death. Not one of them has shown any sorrow or remorse.” Leaning forward he continued, “Unfortunately a jury won’t convict them for that. I hate to say this but we’re going to have to release them on bail.” He spread his hands flat over his blotter and pushed himself up off his desk. “Come on, no time for dwelling on our misfortunes. We owe this to Samia if nothing else. We’ve still got to find the white van. If that was used to dump Samia’s body — and my guess from Mohammed’s reaction, and comments, that it was — then it should have some forensics.” Hunter headed back towards the doors. “And we’ll also seize Mohammed’s and Jilani’s mobiles before they leave. With a bit of luck once the techies sprinkle their magic dust over them it might give us the two names of the faces from the e-fits.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DAY TWENTY FOUR: 16th September.
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“I’m glad you accepted my invite,” Michael Robshaw said on a soft note and watched for a reaction as he gazed into Dawn Leggate’s hazel eyes. He noted that tonight their colour was accentuated by the application of a thin line of brown eyeliner to her bottom lashes.
He had managed to get a table at The Stables restaurant; telephoning that morning immediately after Dawn had accepted his invitation to dine. He had booked one of the tables where there was the view into the old cobbled courtyard.
As he held her gaze Michael also registered the colour of her upper eyelids as well; a dusting of two tones of brown powder to the eyelids; not too dark, not too light, and her face had a thin layering of tan foundation. He couldn’t help but think how that little bit of make-up had enhanced the prettiness of her features; she hadn’t worn any make up on her first visit to his office four days ago.
“I’m glad you invited me.” She pulled away from his gaze and lifted her wine glass. She took a sip of her chilled Pino Grigio. “You know what it’s like staying in a motel. No matter how nice they are you can’t beat your own home. It’s nice to have a friendly face to talk to.”
At that moment, for no reason, a feeling of embarrassment welled up inside him. He feared that he had stared a little too long into her eyes. He dragged back his gaze, took a swig of his beer and said, “I thought you were down here with your DS?”
“He’s gone back to Stirling to brief the team. Now that it looks as though Billy Wallace and Rab Geddes are down here, they’ve assigned me six officers to see if we can track the pair down. He’ll be back down tomorrow with the team.”
“Sorry I can only supply one officer to you, but as you know we’re up to our necks with our own murder. The person you’ve
got though is local and a good detective to boot.”
“Will they report back to DS Kerr?”
“No the officer is from our Intelligence Unit. I’ve briefed him and told him the importance that he only discusses things with your team for the moment.”
“Good. I’ll keep you up to date with everything. By the way do you think I got away with it the other day when Kerr asked me all those questions?”
“Not one bit. Hunter doesn’t miss a trick. He knows you’re hiding something just like he knows his old man is holding back.” He set down his pint. “Anyway why hasn’t Jock said something to him yet, especially after this latest incident — the severed fingers left as a warning?”
“When he came up and gave us the background to all this he said he’d like to tell his son himself and in his own time. He said he had a special relationship with him and wasn’t quite sure how to break it to him just yet. He wasn’t sure how he was going to react. I think he’s hoping we can get these guys and that will be the end of it all — but I’m afraid it will only be the beginning — they’ll want their day in court and the media circus are going to love this story. And that’s if we get to them before they get to Jock. Billy and Rab are real nasty pieces of work — pure evil. I’ve already told you how they tortured those retired detectives before they killed them. I offered to move him to somewhere safe but he said no. So I’m juggling four of the team with obs on his house and his gym. It’s not a perfect situation with those resources but we’ll try and cover as best we can and hopefully catch them. One thing is for sure, Jock is going to need as much support as possible and the sooner he tells his son the better.” She set down her glass and gently stroked her fingers through her mane of auburn rinsed ginger hair.
Michael found himself staring again and he had to mentally check himself. You daft pillock, she’s only agreed to go out for a meal. Behave yourself you’re acting like a love sick teenager.
“What’s Hunter like? Is he a good cop?”
“Very — one of the best I’ve worked with. Completely dependable and a good DS as well — can get the best out of anybody. Sails a little bit close to the wind sometimes but he’s good at covering his back. I’ve had to pull him up a couple of times when the District Commander has got a whiff of his antics, but I always back him and give him a little rein because he always gets results. He’s never let me down yet.” He took another drink of his beer and picked up the menu. He was feeling hungry.
He scanned the selection; he could only just make out the choices without his reading glasses. “Have you decided on what you want to order?” Michael waved the menu. “I can recommend the mussels as a starter. Cooked in brandy and cream — I had them a couple of months ago.”
“Yummy sounds good. I’ll give them a try.”
“I’ll tell you this for nothing,” continued Michael setting down the menu, “Hunter will be devastated when he finds out this business with his old man. I do know how close he is to Jock. I’ve drunk in their company and trained with the pair of them. I’m shocked myself about what’s gone on. Until you turned up at my office and we had that conversation the other day I had no idea about Jock’s past.”
“Oh well c’est la vie. Anyway less of the job talk for now and let’s order I’m ravenous.”
Michael watched her long fingers clasp the wine glass and set it against her ruby glossed bottom lip whilst she scoured the menu. He realised it had been years since he had felt like this.
The conversation flowed easily as they ate, Dawn occasionally falling into fits of giggles as he regaled her with some of his faux pas early on in his career. Inevitably as the evening went on some of the chat focussed on aspects of their job before finally coming around to their personal lives.
Michael opened by explaining that he had been divorced for eight years. “I was furious at the time because I never saw it coming, but when I look back on it now I can’t blame her. I suppose you could say I’m married to my job, and I do love it. I’ve always been a detective and I’ve just never taken my foot off the pedal. Even when we went on holiday with my son and daughter I couldn’t wait to get back to work. The worst thing I had to reconcile myself with after the split — and I’ve managed to do it slowly over the years — is that deep down I know I’ve brought this all on myself.”
“Do you still see your ex and the kids?”
“Yes. She’s remarried now. But to be honest, we probably see more of each other than when we were married. I get the odd invite to go round for a meal. And I also get to see the kids as much as I want. They’re teenagers now and I keep telling myself to ease off the job otherwise I’m going to miss the best times of their lives.”
“So why don’t you do it. What’s stopping you?”
“I’ll let you into a little secret. I’ve put myself forward for a Detective Chief Superintendent’s post which I know is coming up at Headquarters. It’s less hands on, I know, and more nine-to-five but I can officially retire in three years time with a thirty year pension and I’ve promised myself I’ll go and spend more time with my son and daughter and pick up my life again.” He picked up the bottle of Merlot he had ordered with their meals, saw that it was still half full; they had talked more than they had drunk, and replenished their glasses. “Now I’ve told you my deepest darkest secrets what about yourself?”