The latest of these, the file on the unsolved murder of two teenage girls, still lay on his desk. He glanced at it, and was reaching for it, when the phone rang again.
"Yes, Neil," he said, knowing that it would be Mcllhenney on the other end of the line.
"Call for you, Boss.""On your number?" Almost invariably, calls for Skinner came through Ruth McConnell"s extension.
"Yes. Remember the lady you mentioned to me on Sat.u.r.day? It"s her. Do you want to talk to her?"
"Course I do. Put her through."
He leaned back in his chair, hearing the click on the line. "Hi Lou," he began. "What a surprise. Right on cue too; my day was beginning to drag.
What can I do for you?"
"Nothing, really. I just wanted to talk to you; to make sure you were all right after Friday night, I suppose. I guessed that you wouldn"t have given me this number if you didn"t want me to call, so . . ."
"Yeah, sure. But never mind how? am. Did you get back home okay?
A"d are you all right? It"s me should have phoned you, really, after chucking you as broad as you"re long down Regent Street."
Her deep throaty laugh sent a warm familiar feeling down his spine.
"You"re forgiven: just like old times in a way. I"m fine, honestly. You owe me a pair of tights and a cleaner"s bill for one Dior jacket, but apart from that... Tell me," she asked, with sudden concern, "did the police catch the man?"
"Hah! The police didn"t even believe that there was a man. There were no signs of a gunshot at the scene. The borough commander got very Humpty Dumpty about it."
"But that"s ridiculous! There was a shot. I heard it. I saw the car drive away, and I saw you chase it. I"ll b.l.o.o.d.y well call and tell them."
"No, Lou. You won"t. That would not be a good idea; not at all. Don"t you worry about old Humpty. He"s fallen off his wall since then; all the king"s horses and all the king"s men are looking for the bits, even now.
"As for the incident itself, I"m not worried about it. London can be a wild place at night; any city can. Chances are it was a random thing, some cowboy who gets a buzz out of scaring the posh people up the West End. It happens."
"Why don"t I believe you believe that?"
"Because of who I am, that"s all; it"s as likely an explanation as any."
"But not the only one."
"No, but really, Lou. Don"t concern yourself."
"Because big tough Bob can take care of himself? Sure you can; you always could, even at university. But I"ve read about you. I didn"t tell you on Friday, but I"ve followed your career ever since you began to get your42.AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN.
name in the papers. Remember Lucy, my sister? She was only a toddler when you and I were going out together, but she"s kept me in touch with your adventures over the years. I know about some of the sc.r.a.pes you"ve been in, like that time when you were stabbed and almost killed. You probably didn"t even know this, but while you were in hospital, your wife had a delivery of a bouquet of red roses. There was no card, but they were from me.
"You"re not a cat, Bob. You don"t have nine lives-. Too d.a.m.n right I"ll concern myself, even though I"ll concede that Friday night probably had nothing to do with your past."
He scratched his chin. "G.o.d, do that speech in an upstate New York accent and you"d sound just like Sarah."
"She"s welcome. I"ll tell you something, my love. It"s great to hav"r-a past with a man like you, but I don"t envy Sarah the present."
"That"s comforting to know. In that case you won"t want to have dinner with me again, when I"m in London after the New Year."
"I didn"t say that. Actually, you"ll have an opportunity before then; unless you don"t want to be seen with me in Scotland, that is. I"ve been offered the lead in a new movie, and it"s going to be shot in Scotland. I get to play a lady lawyer involved in some sort of shenanigans; I"ve only just been sent the script.
"I"m coming up to Edinburgh on Friday; I"m meeting the director and the executive producer in the Balmoral, then being driven round the locations."
"Okay," he responded. "If you"re free in the evening, let"s have dinner.
But why don"t we do it at my place? You can meet Sarah, and give her your sympathies. You can tell her about the roses too if you like. If you take the part, you"d better meet my daughter as well. She"s a lady lawyer; she"ll help you research it."
He heard her draw in her breath. "Are you sure about that? Introducing me to Sarah, that is."
"Sure I"m sure. Are you up for it?"
"Yes," she said, firmly, a decision made. "Thank you; I"d like that."
"Okay, it"s a date. I"ll collect you from the Balmoral around six.""Is this normal practice with you CID people?"
Ruth McConnell was bristling with anger as she stood on the pavement staring at the entrance to the Torphichen Place police office. As she turned her fury on Sammy Pye he had a mental picture of his toothbrush, standing alone in its gla.s.s beside his bathroom mirror.
"No, it isn"t," he a.s.sured her. "But different forces do things in different ways. These people are sticklers, and there"s nothing I can do about that."
She was only slightly mollified. "Okay, I won"t blame you. All the same, this is ridiculous. Telling me to report to them, indeed! Why couldn"t they have come to see me at home? That"s what you"d do in the same circ.u.mstances, isn"t it?"
Pye was inwardly thankful that he had not told her of the original request from the Strathclyde officers, that she be brought to their office. "Sure it is, love," he answered, "but like I said, I can"t speak for these punters."
She shook her long shimmering hair and straightened her back. "Oh well,"
she snapped. "We"re here now, so let"s get it over with. Then maybe I can get on with burying my poor uncle.
"Where do we go?"
T we to take you to Maggie Rose"s office." He held the door to the building open for her.
"Will you come with me when I see them?"
"I don"t think they"ll allow that."
She stopped in her tracks. "What? In that case I"m not going to speak to them. Take me home, right now."
"Ruthie," he pleaded. "Don"t be difficult. If I was them I wouldn"t want a man from another force sitting in either. But I"ve told you, it"s just a routine interview. So come on."
She shot him a look. "Okay. But you be here when they"re finished with
me.44.AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN."I will be, don"t worry. We"ve got a date, remember."
"What? Oh yes. We"ll see how I feel after this. Who knows, I might be right off policemen by then."
He knew that she was serious, as he led her up the stairway which led to the CID suite, rapping on the divisional commander"s door and stepping inside on her call. "Ma"am. Ruth"s here."
Maggie Rose looked at him, unsmiling, and at his companion as she stepped into the room. "That"s good; right on time." The red-haired detective superintendent nodded in the direction of two visitors who stood beside her desk, a man and a woman. "These are our colleagues from Strathclyde; Detective Inspector Mackenzie and DS Dell. People, this is DS Pye, and this is the lady you want to see."
She looked at them, her expression suddenly sharp. "This summons had better be justified, otherwise you might find yourself having to explain to Ms McConnell"s boss."