Blood Lines Part 25

'Your mouth's full of s.h.i.te, Moses,' Tanya replied, c.o.c.king her head towards me. 'She's a lawyer; she'll not let you near me. They've got rules.'

I reached over and grabbed her T-shirt.

I could feel the bones of her chest against my fingertips. I stood up and picked her up with one hand she only weighed about six and a half stone but the action still stretched me.

'My bosses in the Law Society keep telling me that there are rules to follow as well, Tanya. I don't listen to them either. I'm facing at least fifteen years for stuff I didn't do, I can take a bit extra for roughing you up. Now look at me and listen.'

With my free hand I pushed her face in front of mine so that she was forced to look into my eyes. Addicts hate to look you in the eye because their confidence has gone. I pointed to Moses without looking at him. 'I'm his witness that you struck the first blow and he thought you had a knife. Now answer his questions and be quick about it.'

The Leither was coming out in me now that my back was against the wall. After days of being at the mercy of others, it felt great, even if I was picking on the weakest in the pack.

'Tell me about these boats,' I said.

'They're fishing boats.'

'Where from?'

'Peterhead.'

'What are they bringing in?'

'What do you think? It's not f.a.gs.'

'Tell me the types of drugs they're hauling.' I resisted slapping her as I said it.

'Heroin from Pakistan.'

'Nothing else?'

Tanya shook her head emphatically. Maybe she thought that if she dramatically denied everything, we would believe her. Moses looked perplexed. He didn't supply heroin or crack cocaine on moral grounds. So whoever was muscling in on his supply chain got their recreational drugs from somewhere else.

'Who's the Mr Big, Tanya?'

Tanya laughed so hard at Moses that she fell off her chair. The drama-queen act was wearing thin.

'Oh, you crack me up, you do. What's with the lingo, Moses? Been watching too many cop shows? And are you expecting me to do your job for you now? Work everything out for poor wee Moses? I'd heard you'd gone soft. I never believed it until now.'

The overacting victim turned in a second and spat at him. A greenish glob of mucus left a snail-like trail down his face. Moses took a paper handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped it away. He didn't retaliate, which made a shiver run through me. The last time he had seemed to be calm in the face of insults, he had moved on to slicing a man's eyes out I wondered whether this silence was more than him just losing his bottle? It would be hard either way. If Moses had lost his guts then what would I do?

Suddenly, I remembered the guru who ran this place and the 7.99 piece of advice he'd given me.

WE ARE ALL ALWAYS AFRAID.

BUT SOME HAVE THE COURAGE TO ACT.

I picked Tanya up by the scruff of the neck and threw her against the wall. It didn't really hurt her but it was theatrical to watch I've had years of being a drama queen, just ask Joe, and I wasn't prepared to give up my t.i.tle yet.

'He might have lost the lead out of his pencil, Tanya, but I'm just getting mine.'

I thought about throwing in a 'b.i.t.c.h' to sound suitably tough, but even though my mind was working fast with all the adrenalin, I wasn't quite quick enough to get my dialogue perfect.

Tanya's face was squashed against the wall. I hissed into her ear.

'Who is the Mr Big, then, Tanya, if you don't mind the cheesy terminology?'

Obviously, she did, because she didn't reply.

I leaned my shoulder against her we were close enough for me to smell her last cigarette.

'You'd better start talking, Tanya,' I warned her, 'or you'll be out of here so fast your a.r.s.e won't have time to hit the pavement before you're back in Cornton Vale.'

I leaned against her again. The good thing about her completely ignoring me was that I couldn't be that heavy, otherwise she would be capitulating and screaming in pain. Even then I was thinking of diets how b.l.o.o.d.y pathetic was that?

'Okay, I'll tell you. Just get off me, you fat b.i.t.c.h.'

She'd found my weak spot. So I leaned in once more, just for good measure.

'You've got it all wrong both of you,' she hissed, moving away from the wall and smoothing herself down. She looked no worse than if she'd had an uncomfortable night's sleep. I would make a pathetic bouncer.

We stood shamefaced on the thick-piled carpet as she circled around us, the playground bully, taunting us for our stupidity.

"'Who's the Mr Big? Who's the Mr Big?" a.r.s.eholes.'

This was her moment, and we had to let her have it. Although it had to be said that we were kind of at a loss for words.

'There is no Mr Big.'

Moses and I could forget being Butch and Sundance, we couldn't even make it to Thelma and Louise.

'Okay,' interrupted Moses. 'We get it you're so smart and we're so dumb. Just tell me who it is before I break your irritating scraggy junkie neck.'

She stared him out.

'I've seen your sort before, Moses Tierney,' she finally said.

I doubted it, but said nothing.

'You're pathetic. You know nothing about me, about my life.'

Again, she was wrong she couldn't imagine in her worst nightmares what Moses had been through. Neither could I, even though I knew some of the story.

'And you know nothing about what I know. So, I'll give you a free bit of help I don't know who Mr Big is. Now, can you p.i.s.s off and leave me alone?'

'If you're lying to me, Tanya, I'll come back and get you,' Moses informed her. 'You obviously don't know what happens to people who cross me, people who disrespect me. You lie I get hacked off. I get hacked off you hurt.'

Tanya couldn't have looked less bothered.

'Oh boo hoo, Tierney. If you two idiots have spotted I've got smack in here, I don't suppose it'll take the staff long to catch on. I know I'll get kicked out at least in Cornton Vale I'll be safe from your pathetic threats and c.r.a.p double act. Now p.i.s.s off before I get you thrown out for upsetting me.'

Pathetically, we were happy to oblige.

Chapter Thirty-Six.

'Slow down you're going too fast, Brodie!'

I refused to listen to Moses. I wanted to get back to Edinburgh fast and he was a lousy pa.s.senger on a bike, whether I went fast or at a snail's pace.

He just didn't get it.

I loved the twisting country roads that led from Tanya Hayder at Castle Fearns back to Edinburgh, but, like most men in my experience, he couldn't follow me. Lavender was great as a pa.s.senger. When I leaned into a corner, she came with me. Once she even fell asleep on the back of the bike; not something even I've been able to achieve.

Moses was another story altogether. When I leaned into a corner, he went the other way trying to straighten me up. Instead, we almost came off. This didn't help his nerves.

'I swear I'm never getting on this b.l.o.o.d.y bike with you again, Brodie,' he screamed in my ear. 'My a.r.s.e is numb and my coat is covered with dirt and s.h.i.t from the road I'll never get it clean.'

'Stop moaning; you own a b.l.o.o.d.y launderette and dry-cleaner's, you soft get! Have you figured out who Mr or Mrs Big is yet?'

We were approaching Biggar, a pretty market town in the Borders about twenty miles from Edinburgh. We'd left Tanya over an hour ago and we still weren't any closer to figuring out who the mystery mover was. The Fat Boy was attracting attention, as usual. I had slowed to thirty miles an hour to go through the centre of the town. It gave the pedestrians a chance to gawp at the Harley, which looked pretty magnificent.

Joe why did every thought lead back to him? had fixed the oil leak in the engine. He'd also had all the chrome on Awesome shined to within an inch of its life, restoring my beloved bike to his glory days. I tried to persuade Moses to wave back at the children along the route who were desperate to catch our attention, but he didn't want to play.

'Sulking's no good we're still no nearer finding out who's behind this,' I shouted at Moses, trying to be heard over the engine.

'Alex Cattanach knows who's behind it,' he shouted back.

'If you'd seen her, you'd know that she's not in a fit state to talk about anything.'

'I thought you said that she was going to be given electric-shock treatment, not drugs, because that was the only thing that worked?'

'The only thing that might work. Moses, I don't think she's got a s...o...b..ll's chance in h.e.l.l of ever making it back to the real world.'

That thought depressed me. To make matters worse, the skies opened and a heavy summer shower fell on us. I had an open-faced helmet on and the rain was splashing in my eyes making it difficult to see. Luckily, Moses was too busy moaning about his boots getting soaked to notice that I was having difficulty handling the bike.

At the moment, Alex Cattanach's recovery was my only chance. Even if she did recover, I couldn't see why she'd want to do me any favours, given how much she'd hated me before the attack. In fact, in her madness, the only thing anchoring her to reality was her hatred of me.

We struggled on.

The rain was coming down so heavily it was almost like a flash flood. Just outside Edinburgh's city boundary, I pulled over to the side of the road and suggested that we take shelter under an oak tree. Moses was only too delighted to jump off the Fat Boy. The Pentland Hills behind us were lost in mist.

'Sorry about this, Moses my boy's built for the long, dry roads of California, not the c.r.a.p of Scottish weather.'

'Spare me your petrol-head nonsense, Brodie. You going to break into a Beach Boys' number next?'

'Just hurry up and get under here before you catch your death there's nothing worse than a summer cold,' I told him, sounding like Mary McLennan.

We slumped miserably against the thick, gnarled trunk. Moses placed his foot on a raised root. In spite of the fact that he was now making a valiant effort to get on with it, he was sadly out of place. Dark Angels don't do countryside or daylight very well. It was a good job there was no mirror nearby; the rain had caused Moses' mascara to run, giving him panda eyes. I knew it wasn't a look he would appreciate so I kept quiet.

'There are things that are worse than a summer cold, Brodie,' he pondered.

'Okay,' I indulged him. 'What's worse than a summer cold?'

'Him.'

Moses pointed to the police car that was parked behind Awesome in a lay-by. Duncan Bancho was out of the car, clearly having recognised the bike, and was scanning the surrounding area, looking for me.

'Trying to catch me having a p.i.s.s behind a hedge, Duncan?'

Peggy Malone, who had been driving, sn.i.g.g.e.red behind her man. Moses. .h.i.t me in the ribs with his elbow.

'DI Bancho. How's it going? Can we do anything to help you?'

'You're as bad as one another, Moses,' he answered. 'She's a cheeky cow, and I'm not fooled by your offer of useless a.s.sistance. Is this your bike?' he asked officiously.

'Cut the c.r.a.p, Duncan, you know it is.'

He lifted his boot and kicked the brake light with such force that the Fat Boy fell on his side.

'No rear light, Miss McLennan you've got seven days to hand in your driving licence and insurance details to the nearest police station.'

Peggy Malone wasn't smiling now. She shrugged her shoulders at me; there was nothing she could do. I hadn't expected her to. I tapped Bancho's shoulder and faced him up.

'Why don't you go after the people who are really committing crimes, Duncan? Find out who was blackmailing Alex Cattanach about a p.o.r.no video she'd made. Another thing you could do that would be a bit more useful is to find out who's bringing heroin into Peterhead on fishing boats. Don't know? Maybe it's about time you did.'

He pulled away from me; I was so angry I was almost spitting.

'Don't forget,' he sneered back at me, 'hand those doc.u.ments in within seven days.'

Without looking back, he jumped into the pa.s.senger seat beside Malone. We stood and watched them disappear, then Moses playfully punched me in the shoulder and jumped up and down.

'That good cop, bad cop routine of ours is really effective. But you're getting to be a real bad a.s.s, Brodie; I've never been the good cop before.'

'Rubbish! You're always crawling to cops scared they might get you on something if you don't at least look like you're co-operating. Anyway, it only works if we get results, which we didn't how come he was out here?'

'He must have been following us.'