Autographs In The Rain Part 43

'Who is he?' he exclaimed. 'She got another man?''Shh, Dad,' whispered Lucy. 'No, that's not it.'

The old man's face seemed to brighten up. 'Ah, he's yours then,' he cackled. 'Lucy's got a fella.' The young woman flushed.

'No, Mr Bankier,' said Neil. 'I'm not so privileged. I work for Louise.

I'm responsible for her accommodation while she's in Edinburgh. I just looked in to check on her schedule for tomorrow.'

'Work for her, you say?' His voice, though wavering, still kept its cultured middle-cla.s.s Glaswegian tones. He waved his stick at Judd and Silver. 'Like these two?' Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, and he beckoned the policeman tfwards him. As Mcllhenney leaned over, Malcolm Bankier nodded towards Warren Judd. 'That wee chap there,' he hissed, loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear, 'watch him. Seen him before somewhere. Don't like him.'

Neil could think of nothing to say to fill the embarra.s.sing silence, but the old man did it for him. 'Thought I'd seen you before too,' he said.

'With Louise; long time ago, when she was a la.s.s and my wee Lucy was a baby. Not you though; someone else. Sorry.'

Lucy Bankier glanced up at her sister, who nodded. 'Come on, Daddy,'

she said. 'Lou says tea will be ready; let's go to the dining room.'

'She never said a b.l.o.o.d.y word,' Mr Bankier grumbled, but he allowed her to help him to his feet, and out of the room.

When they were gone Louise looked apologetically at Judd. 'I'm sorry about that, Warren,' she said. 'His memory's all over the place these days.

He hasn't a clue what he's saying.'

'Don't worry about it.' The producer laughed, but, it seemed to Mcllhenney, without real humour.

'I do though. For example, I worry for my sister, left in Bearsden to look after him. I give her nursing help, of course, but he goes through them at a rate of knots; I've had to move agencies twice. The Alzheimer's has changed his personality completely; for one thing it's made him a dirty old man ...

and I'm not just talking about his toilet habits.

'It makes me so sad; he's only seventy-five you know, and he wears a b.l.o.o.d.y nappy, yet there are men in their eighties who've as fit as fiddles.

This started off as one of his better days, too.'

'Well,' exclaimed Judd, brusquely. 'We'd best leave you with him, then.

As we agreed, don't you worry about tomorrow. Boy Wonder and I will take care of that. See you on Monday, to start the New Town shooting.' He turned on his heel and left the room, Silver in his wake.

AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN.'Your dad's not as wandered as all that, is he?' Mcllhenney murmured.

'He's right about friend Judd for a start.'

'He never did like Warren,' she snapped. He felt rebuffed; she saw it and apologised at once. 'I'm sorry, Neil; I'm just a bit touchy on that subject.'

'So'she, I reckon.'

'Don't take it personally.' Then she smiled. 'No,' she said. 'Take it personally if you like.'

She paused, and looked at him. 'You know who he mistook you for, don't you?' she asked.

'I can make a pretty good guess.'

'How much has Bob told you?'

'Very little; only that you two were close a long time ago. But last Friday night when we drove back from Gullane, I knew who you were talking about. He was the one, eh? The big hurt, twenty-five years ago.'

'Yup,' she admitted. 'And isn't it strange now, that Dad should mistake you for him, you two being such good friends and colleagues and everything.'

She sighed. 'Daddy was furious, you know; furious with Bob, when we broke up. I never talked about him afterwards, you know, but once when I was visiting home, when Lucy would be about fourteen, he said something, in front of her, about having seen him on television.

'I had to tell her the whole story. Until that moment I hadn't realised just how angry he had been.'

She laughed. 'And then, on Monday evening, when he called in, she was here, and they met. I wondered how she'd react, but you know, she just melted. She fell for him on the spot, just like me two and a half decades before her.

'I tell you, it's just as well he loves his wife, or Bob Skinner could do untold damage in my family still!'

He chuckled. 'Speaking of families, I must get back to mine. I gather that you've called off your meeting tomorrow.'

'Yes. Glenys and I are having another day with the script; the guys can finish the location recces. There's only one I want to do myself.'

'Where's that?' he asked.

'You'll find out,' she told him, mysteriously. 'On Sat.u.r.day.'190.AUTOGRAPHS IN THE RAIN.I I.56.'Where did you find her, Dan?' asked Andy Martin.

",'She turned up at her house in Coldstream, just after five o'clock. Two uniforms spotted her and detained her until McGurk picked her up and brought her up here to Galashiels. We're just about to question her.

'So far she's bra.s.sing it out, though: she claims she has no idea why we want to talk to her. McGurk was smart enough not to play along with her though. He's said nothing at all to her, other than that she's wanted for questioning. We've let her stew in it so far, but we're ready to talk to her now.'

'Have you seen her at all?'

'Not yet.'

'Has she seen a lawyer?'

'She was allowed to phone her lawyer in Coldstream. He's a real old country lawyer with more sense than to go anywhere near a criminal matter, so he's sent up the young lad in his office who does what little Sheriff Court work he has.

'He's just arrived, but he can see her at the same time as I do. Jack sneaked a quick look at him. He says he looks still wet behind the ears, but full of himself, puffed up like a rooster.'

'Nah,' said Martin dryly. 'There's a difference between a rooster and a lawyer.'

'What's that?'

'A rooster clucks defiance . . .'

The Head of CID cut across Pringle's laugh. 'What does McGurk think about the woman?'

'He reckons she's lying in her f.u.c.king teeth.' The superintendent glanced across his office at the sergeant. 'Mind you, Jack's still a bit upset, after finding that poor la.s.s. He's desperate to nail someone for it? I'll make up my own mind about her.'

'Go and do it, then,' p Martin. 'Just remember, though; McGurk

N.

192.

jdoesn't know as we do that it couldn't have been her hitting the girl on the tape.'