“I’m fine with the port. Go on. The Royal Hotel?”
“It was a typical December evening in Edinburgh. Cold, damp and dreary and looked as if it would be either raining or snowing for the next two years. They had a live band on. They were awful, but most of the guests were so drunk they didn’t seem to notice. I don’t drink much and there’s nothing worse than watching drunk people when you’re stone-cold sober. I’d had enough and I was about to slip away when I spotted a man sitting with a group of people at the bar.”
“Danny?”
“Danny. He was staring at me. He wasn’t making any attempt to hide it either. I must admit, I thought he was rather nice but I wasn’t up for being chatted up, so I left anyway.”
“Then what happened?”
“He must have followed me, because he caught up to me in the car park. He said he’d noticed I wasn’t enjoying myself and asked if there was something wrong. He seemed genuinely concerned. Not creepy, just nice.”
“They’re all like that in the beginning. It all changes when they’ve got what they’re after.”
“We chatted in the car park for a while. I remember the rain started to come down harder and he offered me his coat. I told him I had to go and he asked me for my phone number.”
“Just like that? And you gave it to him?”
“Danny was different. He made me feel different. Anyway, I gave him my number and thought nothing more of it.”
“But he phoned you?”
“The very next day. I’d worked overtime and I told him I wouldn’t be finished until after ten but that didn’t seem to bother him. We met at a bar that stayed open late and we talked all night. Danny listened. He seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. We were married within a year.”
Alice poured another glass of port and sighed.
“What happened after the wedding?”
“That’s enough of my woes.” Taylor said. “It’s your turn. Tell me about Stanley Green.”
“It’s pretty much the same story. Stanley swept me off my feet at a dance. Milly was there too, but Milly was the shy one. It’s a miracle she ever found herself a husband. Stanley promised me the earth, I believed him, and we were married a month later. My family told me it would be a disaster — that’s why none of them came to the wedding — but I thought it was a whirlwind romance. Prince Charming, eh?”
“Do you have any children?”
“No. Stanley said they’d only bugger things up. Those were his exact words. I thought he would change his mind as he got older but he never did.”
“What did Stanley do for a living? Where did he work?”
“This and that. He never really talked much about what he did and I knew better than to ask him. There was always food on the table and I never went without. He’d be gone for days at a time. Work, he used to say. The days turned into weeks, then months and in the end he would disappear for years. The last time I set eyes on Stanley Green was ten years ago.”
“But you always took him back?”
“At first I did. I knew what he was up to, but I used to fool myself into thinking, ‘He always comes back to me in the end, so I must be important to him.’ I pretended everything was all right. It was Milly who used to have to pick up the pieces when he left. I was a mess the first few times.”
Taylor glanced at the clock on the oven. It was almost midnight.
“Is that the time?” She finished the cold tea in her glass. “I have to be up in five hours. I’d better go to bed.”
“Are you sure you won’t have a drop of port? It’ll help you to sleep.”
“I’ll sleep just fine.” She remembered the pills, still in her jacket pocket.
“I enjoyed the chat,” Alice said. “It’s nice to have someone to talk to again.”
“For me too.”
“You know what, Detective Harriet Taylor? You and I have more in common than either of us realises.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Taylor arrived at the station fifteen minutes early. She wanted to make a good impression on her first day in the new team. DCI James was already there, talking to PC Thomas White by the front desk. Thomas looked terrified. He was a good head taller than the DCI from Exeter but he stood with his head bowed.
“Good morning. Bright and early.” James had spotted her. “Good. There’s time for a quick cup of coffee before we get cracking. We’ll meet in my office. We won’t be disturbed in there.”
He meant Killian’s office. James walked off to the canteen and she didn’t feel like joining him. She’d made up her mind to commit to the investigative work but other than that she didn’t want to be chummy with the new gang.
“Morning,” Thomas said to her. “I believe you’re part of the A team?”
“I won’t ask what the ‘A’ stands for. I didn’t ask to be part of this. I suppose everybody’s going to snub me from now on?” she said.
“Only the morons. I say good luck to you. Get this murderer banged to rights. It’s still all over the papers, you know.”
“I’m sure it will be for a while yet. I suppose I’d better go and introduce myself to the A team.”
Killian’s office door was shut. Killian had usually left it open. Taylor didn’t know whether to knock, but she did anyway. Inside, the skinniest woman Taylor had ever seen was sitting behind Killian’s desk. She was wearing a pair of rimless reading glasses. DI Jane Carrick, Taylor thought.
The other two people in the room could not have been more unlike each other. One was completely bald. He had a nasty scar on the top of his head. His eyes were set far too close together and his nose was a button in the middle of his chubby face. The other was dark-skinned and pensive-looking, with green eyes and a full, almost feminine mouth.
“You must be Harriet,” DI Carrick said. “Good to have you on board. I’m DI Jane Carrick and this is DS Paul Southern and DC Phil Brown.”
Rather to Taylor’s surprise, Brown was the bald chubby man and Southern the wistful-looking one.
“The DCI will be along in a short while,” Carrick told her.
“Nice to meet you all,” Taylor nodded at them.
“This must be a far cry from the bright lights of Edinburgh,” Southern said. He seemed quite pleasant, she had to admit.
“Much quieter, but I like it here,” Taylor said.
DCI Warren James announced his presence with a cough. Carrick stood up and James took the seat behind the desk.
“Close the door, please,” he said.
Taylor closed the door. She immediately felt claustrophobic. It was as if the air was being sucked out of the room. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you all right?” James asked her.
“I’m fine.” She concentrated on the blind behind Killian’s desk. It hadn’t worked properly for months but Killian hadn’t bothered to get it fixed.
“Please sit down,” James said. “Before we begin, for the benefit of the new member of the team there are a few things to clarify.” He stared at Taylor.
“Firstly, I expect everybody in this room to give their all. Nothing less than one hundred percent is acceptable. In return, you will receive certain concessions. I’ve headed up a number of investigations and I’ve found that a few ground rules make all the difference. So for one thing, from now on, we don’t mention rank.”
Taylor frowned. “We don’t mention it?”
“Communication on a team tends to be more relaxed if we all work on a first name basis. You are Jane, Phil, Paul and Harriet. Understood?” Everybody but Harriet Taylor nodded their heads.