And then he smiled. 'Mind you,' he chuckled. 'We picked a winner.'
The divisional commander nodded. 'You sure did. Appropriate or not, it was good work, and I wish I had thought of it myself. I think Maggie would have, if she wasn't out of action.'
'How is she, by the way?' asked Skinner.
'She's coming on. While you and Steele were chasing that woman all over Edinburgh, I was visiting her. She's giving Mario a hard time — poor bugger doesn't have a moment to sit down — but she is taking note of the surgeon's warning about keeping her arm immobilised until it's had a chance to heal properly.'
'That's good. Talking about hard times, I had one myself on Saturday after we were finished with Dr Gopal.'
Untypically, Mackie laughed. 'Did you really take the baby on surveillance, boss?'
'Sure I did; he loved it, too. A real bonding experience, it was. Just like Gopal and his sister, I hope.'
The superintendent's normal expression was restored at once. He swung round in his chair, frowning up at the DCC. 'Do you think he'll succeed?' he asked.
'In the short term, I'm sure he will. He's had the courage to take her this far, so I'd expect him to make it the rest of the way. Beyond that though, it'll be up to the girl.'
'What about the father? Will he take her back?'
'Not a chance, according to Surinder. He said that his mother will be out on the street too, if the old man ever learns what she's done.
No, the girl — her name's Ayesha — will live with him once she's better; but given the hours he works…
'Well let's just say it could be touch and go for a while yet.'
Mackie nodded. 'I guess so. We'll help her in the only way we can.
Steele's gone to find the boyfriend. I've told him to throw the fear of Christ Almighty into him, plus a few other deities as well. If we can keep him away from her for good, then her chances will be better.'
'I hope he gets the message,' said Skinner quietly. 'Because if there was a next time, I'm pretty sure Surinder would kill him, and he sure isn't worth that.'
'No.' The two detectives sat in silence for a while.
'So,' exclaimed the DCC, at last, 'back to basics: the Weston investigation.'
'Yes, boss. Not one of my great successes.'
'Not a failure either, Brian, by any measurement. You've taken it as far as anyone could.'
'But come up empty, apart from a DNA trace, and a possible print from an envelope, with no one to match either.'
'No one for now. Maybe for ever. Who knows? Time will tell, and that's how I want it left. I've spoken to Andy about this. Maybe, at first, his line on this was a bit harder than ours but now he agrees.'
The superintendent looked up. 'Close it, boss?'
Skinner shook his head. 'No; not formally. Leave it open, but just let it lie, until the Fatal Accident Inquiry. For now it's used up all the resources we can justify. Once the jury records its verdict, we'll see where we go from there.'
'They'll say unlawful killing, won't they?'
'Maybe. It depends on the evidence that the Fiscal chooses to lay before them. He may just present them with cause of death, without going into missing syringes and complications like that.'
'The family aren't pressing for full disclosure,' said Mackie. 'That's for bloody sure.'
'In that case, I'm more convinced than ever that we've fulfilled our public duty. There may be another lead out there, Brian, one that will lead us straight to the person who injected Mrs Weston. But there's no more we can do; if we find it, we'll have tripped over it rather than unearthed it through orthodox police work.
'So call this one a job well done, regardless of the outcome, and concentrate on the rest of your workload.' He turned towards the door.
'Now I must get on with mine. See you.'
'Hey boss,' Skinner stopped and looked round as the superintendent called after him. 'Did you enjoy yourself: back on the street on Saturday morning?'
He grinned. 'Did I ever!'
48
Neil Mcllhenney was in the Chief Constable's outer office, casually conversing with Gerry Crossley, as Skinner stepped in from the Command Corridor, having called in on ACC Elder.
'Morning, Gaffer,' said the sergeant. The DCC nodded an acknowledgment.
The big chap's jacket s hanging on him a bit, he thought.
'Go on in, Neil,' he said, following his assistant through the door.
'How goes it?' he asked, as he sat behind the big desk.
'Quiet weekend, sir,' Mcllhenney answered, leaning across and laying a folder before Skinner. 'What there is of it is in there.'
'Ah, I didn't mean that. First things first, man. How's Olive? Sarah said that she was in bed when she brought kids home.'
The big sergeant leaned back in his chair, wearily. 'Yes, that's right.
She was asleep in fact. She's a lot better this morning; in fact, she insisted on getting up to give Lauren and Spencer their breakfast. But the weekend was pretty rough. Ach, she was sick from the moment we got back on Friday evening right through till Sunday afternoon.
'We had a bit of help on Saturday, though. A woman from a medical charity came in to see us. A nice lady. Her outfit works with the hospital in supporting out-patients; not just cancer, all sorts. By the time she arrived, I was fair glad to see her.
'I tell you, boss, I can't thank you enough for looking after Lauren and Spencer. I would not have liked them to see that.'
Skinner winced, in spite of himself. 'We'll have them next weekend too, if you want.'
Mcllhenney shook his head. 'Thanks; I appreciate that too. But our nurse said that she should be all right after the second treatment. It's only a top-up, and the drug they use is easier on the patient. On top of that, the visitor we had — Penelope dark, she said her name was reports back to the hospital, and that helps them judge the amount of anti-sickness medication they need to give.'
He sighed, heavily. 'Can I ask you, sir: how was Lauren over the weekend? Our Spence is on the young side to understand it all, but my wee lass was about twenty when she was born. I worry something hellish about the effect this could have on her.'
'And you know what, Neil? She's worried in just the same way about you.' The sergeant closed his eyes, and for just a second, his chin looked as if it might wobble, but then his whole jaw tightened in a resolute line.
'She had a wee moment over breakfast on Saturday,' Skinner went on, quickly, 'but she and Sarah went away and had a woman to woman talk, and she was fine after that. She's a great kid; they both are.'
'Aye,' said their father. 'They are that.'
He pulled himself up in his chair. 'Anyway, boss,' he said briskly, 'to business. If you look in that folder you'll see it's a succession of nil returns from all over the country.
'I spoke to Mario over the weekend…' he laughed, unexpectedly.
'The pair of us, bloody nurses, eh. Can you imagine that? 'He told me that Neville did have to check one bloke out last week, but that he was okay.' The big sergeant chuckled again. 'So much so that she went out with him.'
'Bloody hell!' Skinner gasped. 'She's what?'
'It's okay, boss; calm down, calm down. Mario said that he read her the Riot Act, or his version of it, about secrecy; about keeping her mouth shut on the job, so to speak. She was quite offended about that, apparently. He did also double check the guy himself, just to be sure: he's absolutely squeaky, no doubt.'
'Nonetheless,' Skinner growled, 'she shouldn't let her work cross over into her private life.'
'Maybe not, sir. But haven't we all done it, to an extent. And the guy was only really a suspect because she saw him limp.'
A smile flicked at the corners of the DCC's mouth. 'As long as that's the only way she saw him,' he muttered.
'For sure, I reckon,' his executive assistant retorted. 'According to Mario, he turned out to be gay.'