"I'll bring in David Candela if and when we have to, but I don't want to trouble him at this stage. And anyway, there's no guarantee that he'll know every spouse of every business associate. We do have one secret weapon, though."
"Who's that?"
"My mother-in-law," Maggie Rose answered with a smile. "Mrs. Christina McGuire. She was on the guest list, and although she didn't attend, she knows just about everybody who's anybody in Edinburgh on a business or social footing. She's agreed to look at all the faces we can't identify. There won't be many left after that, I can promise you."
"In an ideal world," Steele went on, 'we'll be left with just one unidentified face. Correction, in a truly ideal world we'll spot someone who isn't on the list but who is on a Special Branch file … that's why Alice Cowan is here, by the way… and we'll have our prime suspect."
He leaned forward on the table, showing Maggie his clean, sharp profile, and making her think, unexpectedly, of Paula Viareggio. "The tapes we're really interested in," he said, 'run for about an hour and a half, from the arrival of the first guest, through the incident, and thereafter. They come from four different cameras. I've had them copied, and enhanced as far as is possible… which isn't very much … and I've split them into six lots. We'll each have a video player, we'll each have a different section of tape and we'll each have a complete set of mug-shots, with a name along side it. With all of us working at it, Ms Rose and me included, it's shouldn't take too long.
"So let's get at it, and see if we get lucky."
Nineteen
Bob Skinner felt his spirits rise as he saw his daughter walk through the domestic arrivals gateway of the Edinburgh Airport terminal building, towing her cabin luggage behind her on its small wheels. She had that effect on him every time he saw her; she was a beacon of light within him, and had been since the moment of her birth, around a quarter of a century before.
Every time they were reunited after a separation, he saw something new about her; on this occasion he thought of the movie Lord of the Rings, and of Liv Tyler. Yes, put some bounce into the actress's hair and she definitely had a look of his Alexis. Maybe that was why he had seen the film three times. Quickly he wondered whether that made him look like Ms Tyler's father, but decided that there was no way he would pass for a seventies rock star.
Alex ran up to him and hugged him, letting the small suitcase find its feet beside her. "Oh, I am so glad to see you," she exclaimed. "I know we had that net meeting chat from the States, but I still didn't know how you'd be." She stood back and gave him an appraising, up-and-down look. "And you're great. Is this pacemaker nuclear-powered or what?"
He laughed. "If it is, it's like your tongue. Shut up, girl and let me look at you."
"But I mean it," she insisted. "You're glowing with health."
"I've been working on it," he admitted. "I'd been getting sloppy before the incident, but I'm back in top shape now."
"So what do these idiots mean, saying that you can't go back to work?"
"That's what your boss is going to ask the court, if they persist in it."
"They'd better not then; Councillor Maley and her pals don't want to mess with the might of Curie, Anthony and Jarvis, and especially not with Mr. Laidlaw."
"They especially don't want to mess with me, but that's tomorrow's agenda. In the meantime, let's go over there and have a coffee. There's something I have to talk to you about. Have you got any other luggage?"
Alex shook her head, making her shoulder-length hair ripple and shimmer in the neon light of the arrivals hall. "No. I've got the power suit packed in here. I'm only up for a couple of days, remember."
"Yeah. Sorry it's so brief. How are you liking London anyway?" He picked up her bag by its handle and walked her towards the escalator.
The cafeteria space on the first floor was always less crowded, even on a Sunday morning.
"I like the professional atmosphere, and the people I'm with, but I'm not so keen on the city. You spoiled me, Pops, bringing me up in the country. How's Andy?" she asked, abruptly. "And the baby?"
"And Karen," he reminded her. "They're tip-top, all three of them.
Andy's looking at home in Tayside already, and Karen's enjoying being a mum. You know, I still don't think you were very clever the way you went about it, but I reckon that breaking off your engagement has turned out to be the best thing you could have done for him."
"I think I should be offended by that," said his daughter they walked towards a table by the window.
"Don't be. It was the making of you too. It was all fine at the time, but really, you were infatuated, and long-term, Andy was looking for something you weren't ready to give him."
She reached up and patted his cheek as he laid down her bag. "You're a fine one to be lecturing me about relationships, Pops."
He gave a half-snort, half-laugh. "You could be right. Cappuccino?"
"No, latte."
"Okay." He wandered off to the coffee booth and returned with a cafe latte and a tall beaker of Coke for himself.
"So," said Alex heavily. "What gives with you and my stepmother? I called her last night, you know, to ask after my various small siblings. She sounded strange, and awkward in a way that I've never known Sarah to be before. She and I have always really been two girls together; we've got on like a house on fire. Whatever you've done, you've really upset her, Pops."
"Did she say anything to you, about us?"
"Not really. I had a feeling that there were things she wanted to say, but stopped herself short. Maybe she thought I'd automatically take your side."
"And would you?"
"Yes, of course. But I'd try not to let Sarah know that. Come on, tell me; what's up?"
"Simple. She thinks I should be there supporting her, I think she should be here supporting me."
"Against the powers of darkness, in the shape of Councillor Maley and her faction?"
"That's part of it, yes."
"Then it's rubbish. You've never needed anyone's support against the likes of her. You're just putting it that way to cover your guilt over leaving Sarah with the kids in the States and charging back over here like a mad bull."
"Did Sarah suggest that to you?"
"No. She didn't have to. I know you even better than she does, Father. I know exactly how you feel and how you think. But I'm a woman too, so I know what Sarah's feeling."
"Listen, girl," he retorted, 'my job's under threat. These people are trying to use my condition to get rid of me. What else could I have done but come home to deal with them?"
"If you want my legal opinion, it'll cost you dinner tonight, in the Roseberry."
In spite of his indignation, Bob grinned. "Deal."
"First, you could have sought two objective medical opinions in the USA, ideally from practitioners who are consultants to the county or state police. Assuming they certified you fit, you could have instructed Mitch Laidlaw to present them to the police authority and to demand that you be returned to the duty list immediately, with a
Supreme Court interdict in his hand if necessary. That done you could have phoned Uncle Jimmy and asked him to put you on compassionate leave."
"Mmm. And you think that would have worked, do you?"
"You could have instructed me, never mind Mr. Laidlaw, and it would have worked. If you'd passed the medical, under the present rules the Court would have given you the interdict and Maley's lot would have been held in contempt if they'd gone against it.
"It's still not too late to change your tactics though," she pointed out. "Why not set up a full medical examination by two independent cardiologists up at the Murrayfield? If they clear you, my boss can go to Maley and demand your reinstatement, or by-pass her even and go straight to the chair of the Police Authority." Alex smiled, and put her hand over his. "That would be the sensible way of doing it. But you are you, Pops, and when it blew up I'd never have expected you to react in any other way than you did."