Broken Skin Part 17

'I'm sure it's nothing, he-'

'You have to find him!'

Trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice, Logan accepted the plastic bag with his gift-wrapped elephants inside it and promised to do what he could.

27.

Two hours later Logan marched into the Globe Inn on North Silver Street, pulled a stool up to the bar and ordered a pint of Stella and a cheese and onion toastie. 'You know,' he said, as the barmaid went off to phone his order through to the kitchen, 'she's doing her nut in down the morgue. It's upsetting the corpses.'

Colin Miller, golden boy reporter on the P&J, tireless campaigner against Grampian Police in general and Detective Sergeant Logan McRae in particular, turned a bleary, bloodshot eye in his direction and told him to f.u.c.k off. He wasn't a tall man even by PC Rickards' standards, but he more than made up for it in width. What had been a lot of muscle was beginning to soften and settle into middle-aged spread on the father-to-be. His usual suit was missing replaced by jeans, heavy tartan shirt, scuffed leather jacket, and the heady stench of alcohol. He clasped the pint of beer on the bar in front of him with black-gloved hands. There wasn't so much as a flash of gold or silver about the man. Not like him at all. And he hadn't shaved.

'Come on, Colin, she's worried about you. You don't come home all night; she thinks something horrible's happened.'

'Aye? Like f.u.c.kin' last time, you mean?' The words were slurred and broad Glaswegian. He held up his hands, wiggling the fingers so Logan could see the joints that wouldn't move any more. The rigid parts showing where prosthetic plastic replaced flesh and bone.

'Colin, she's worried about you.'

'None of yer b.l.o.o.d.y business. Interferin' wee f.u.c.k.'

Logan sighed. 'Look: I'm sorry, OK? For the thousandth time: I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to happen. It wasn't on purpose. What the h.e.l.l else am I supposed to say?'

'How 'bout you don't say another f.u.c.kin' thing.' Miller stood, threw back the last mouthful of beer, and banged his empty gla.s.s down on the bar top. 'I don't f.u.c.kin' need you, "Mr Big Police Hero",' poking Logan in the shoulder. 'So just sod off an' leave me alone.' The reporter turned on his heel and staggered into a marble-topped table, before righting himself and lurching towards the toilets.

Logan pulled out his mobile and called Isobel back, telling her, 'He's OK. Just a bit drunk.' Then hanging up before she could start asking questions or hectoring him. Just to be on the safe side, he switched the thing off again.

The cheese toastie arrived just as Miller came marching back to the bar and ordered another pint of heavy and a double Highland Park. The whisky glittered like amber in the gla.s.s as it was set before him.

'How about I call you a taxi and get you home?'

'How 'bout you f.u.c.k off instead?'

Logan picked up his toastie the pale bread imprinted with a scallop pattern of golden brown and broke it on the diagonal, fingernail-crescents of white onion poking out between the slices. 'Here.' He slid the other half over to Miller.

The reporter stared down at the triangle of bread. 'This doesnae make us f.u.c.kin' even.' But he picked it up and ate it anyway, carefully wrapping the half toastie in Logan's napkin, so as not to get any grease on his gloves. Fastidious even while pished. 'How'd you know I'd be here?'

'You're not the only one who finds stuff out for a living.'

'Yeah. Suppose not...' There was a pause, broken by someone putting an old Deacon Blue song on the jukebox. They listened in silence. 'I'm no' ready for a bairn.' Miller said at last, squinting one-eyed at his own ragged reflection in the mirror behind the bar. 'Can barely look after myself...' he paused, rolling the empty whisky gla.s.s back and forth in his gloved hand. 'And Izzy Jesus, she's terrified of no' workin' any more. That they'll get some other bird in tae hack up the deid bodies while she's away bringin' up junior. She'll no' see her beloved morgue ever again...' A thoughtful pause, then a mouthful of dark brown beer. Then a belch.

'Come on, you'll make great parents.'

Miller didn't even look up. 'What the h.e.l.l would you know?'

'True.' Logan smiled. 'But it's what you're supposed to say, isn't it?'

The reporter nodded, swaying on his bar stool. 'Aye...'

'Come on, Colin, time to go home.'

Logan called for a taxi and poured the reporter into it, flashing his warrant card at the driver before he could start moaning about not wanting to clean vomit out of his upholstery. He needn't have worried: as soon as Miller's head hit the seat he was out like a light, snoring gently as they drove the five-minute trip to Rubislaw Den. At the other end, Logan paid the man and hauled Colin out into the overcast afternoon.

Dr Isobel MacAlister's love nest was a lot bigger than Logan's one-bedroom flat. Three storeys of very expensive granite in Aberdeen's moneyed district, the road packed with flashy sports cars and huge four-by-fours. He rummaged about in Miller's pockets until he found the keys, then let them in through the front door.

A wailing chorus of bleeps erupted in the small hallway. Miller fumbled his way to a small side cupboard and punched in the disarm code. Zero Five One Zero. Isobel's birthday, fifth of October. Logan supposed it was her way of making sure the reporter never forgot.

'Got it put in ... put in after the thing...' Colin held up his hands and wiggled them at Logan again. 'Just in...' a small 'ulp'ing noise, a worried look, then a couple of deep breaths. 'Just in case, like.' He lurched off towards the kitchen, calling, 'Come on, got some ... Laga ... Lagavulinin, linin, in...' over his shoulder.

'You sure you wouldn't rather have a nice cup of coffee?' Logan asked, following him.

'Whisky, whisky, whisky...' Two tumblers came from the cupboard next to the kettle, ringing like tiny crystal bells as Miller fumbled them onto the kitchen table, then went hunting for the bottle. Logan stuck the kettle on.

'You know, Laz,' said the reporter, from the depths of the pantry, 'I used to ... used to really like you...' He emerged, twisting the cork off the top of a half-empty bottle of single malt. 'You was always a bit ... bit of an a.r.s.e, like, but you ... you was my mate.' He slumped into one of the chairs by the kitchen table, scowling. 'Why'd you have tae f.u.c.k it up?'

'It was an accident, Colin.' Logan raided the dishwasher for a mug, heaping it with instant coffee and sugar, before topping it up with boiling water. 'I never wanted it to turn out the way it did. You know that-'

'Tada!' The reporter whipped his right glove off, dropping it on the tabletop. The third finger was missing its top two joints, the pinky everything above the second segment. The stumps pink and shiny. 'f.u.c.king things itch ... itch like a b.a.s.t.a.r.d sometimes.' He screwed up one eye and peered at the bottle of whisky, carefully slopping a huge measure into each gla.s.s. Then pulled off his other glove, revealing another pair of shiny stumps, rubbing them against his stubbled chin.

Logan placed the coffee in front of him, but the reporter ignored it. Colin picked up one of the huge whiskies instead and held it aloft in a toast, 'Here's tae sunny Aber-f.u.c.kin'-deen.' He waited for Logan to raise the other gla.s.s then clinked them together. 'Sheep-s.h.a.ggin' b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!'

Twenty minutes later and Logan was locking Isobel's front door and popping the key back through the letterbox, leaving Miller snoring away on the couch in the lounge. Two things were certain: Colin would have one h.e.l.l of a hangover tomorrow, and Isobel would kill him. There but for the grace of G.o.d... Logan smiled and headed back into town.

He didn't even get as far as the Queen's Cross roundabout before his phone started ringing: an irate DI Insch wanting to know where the h.e.l.l he'd got to. 'It's my day off, sir, I'm-'

'Where are you?'

'What? Queen's Road, heading back into-'

'Hold on...' There was some muted conversation Logan couldn't make out, but finally the inspector came back on the line: 'Stay where you are, there's a patrol car coming for you.'

'But-'

'We're going to Dundee.'

Insch sat in the back with Logan, pa.s.sing him sheets from the Macintyre rape case while the dual carriageway south flashed past the car's windows. The traffic cop driving seemed to be making an attempt on the land speed record, overtaking everything else on the road: saloons, hatchbacks, sports cars, and lorries. 'I still don't see why we have to drop everything and rush down the road,' said Logan, accepting another victim statement.

The inspector scowled at him. 'You want Macintyre out there raping more women? Sooner we catch him the sooner he's off the b.l.o.o.d.y streets.'

Fair point. Logan scanned the statement, having difficulty taking it in. 'You sure we'll be back in time? Only I've got-'

'For the last time, yes! You'll make your b.l.o.o.d.y party. Now pay attention,' he poked the sheets in Logan's hand with a fat finger, 'Christine Forrester: Macintyre's last Aberdeen victim.'

Logan skimmed the form. 'Jesus.'

'He gets worse with every one.' It had taken the surgeons seven hours to st.i.tch Christine Forrester's face and neck back to something approaching normal. The attached photograph was enough to make Logan look away, not certain if he was feeling sick because of the picture, or because he was trying to read a whole case file in the back of a police car flying down the road at ninety miles an hour as the sun set.

'So,' he said, turning the eight-by-ten face down, 'why me?'

Insch grumbled something and pulled out a big bag of tiny gummy bears. 'I'd take Watson, but she had to go shoot her b.l.o.o.d.y mouth off to the papers. Now if I have her anywhere near the investigation everyone will say it's a witch hunt.'

Logan watched a handful of little jelly figures disappear, trying not to imagine them screaming as the inspector chewed. 'You're convinced it's Macintyre.'

'Course it's b.l.o.o.d.y Macintyre.' The words barely audible through all the dying bears.

Logan nodded. Insch was just like Jackie: unable to see past his own obsession. It didn't matter what the inspector said: it was still a witch hunt. He kept his mouth shut and went back to the case file.

Dundee's Ninewells Hospital was huge, a labyrinth of corridors and interconnected buildings, the familiar smell of disinfectant and the buzz of fluorescent lighting depressing the h.e.l.l out of Logan as he marched behind Insch down the stairs and along the corridor to the neurology ward. A middle-aged woman in white and green sat at the nurses station, peering over her specs at a clipboard festooned with forms, a huge box of chocolates lying open beside her. Insch helped himself to one, then said, 'Nikki Bruce?'

The ward sister looked up. 'You relatives?' her voice going up at the end in a cla.s.sic Fife lilt.

The inspector showed her his warrant card. 'Police, we-'

'Aye, I know. Nikki's expecting you.' She stood, only coming up to the middle of Insch's enormous barrel chest, and led them down the corridor to a small, private room. 'She's had a tough time of it a lot of pain. Don't tire her out.'

Helium balloons bobbed gently in the air-conditioning: glittering metallic things with teddy bears and kittens on them, GET WELL SOON cards pinned to the cork board over the bed, but no flowers. Nikki was propped up with crunchy white NHS pillows, her features hidden in the shadows, an intravenous drip in her arm and a pair of white iPod headphones in her ears.

Insch cleared his throat and sank himself into the high-backed chair by the bed the one for patients leaving Logan to fetch a creaky plastic seat from the corner. There was a flicker of movement, as if Nikki had only just realized they were there. Then she sighed and clicked off her music with a trembling, bandaged hand.

The inspector asked her how she was doing, in a voice so full of sympathy Logan almost didn't recognize it. 'I'm really sorry,' the big man said, 'but we need to ask you some questions. Are you still OK with that?'

A nod. As Logan's eyes adjusted to the darkened room, he could see the difference a couple of days had made. Nikki's bruises had blossomed until her whole face was puffy and dark, fresh surgical padding covering the wounds he'd read about on the way down, a faint tinge of yellow and tiny red dots leaking through the white gauze, marking the path of her attacker's knife. When she spoke her voice was small and painful, crying as she answered the inspector. Telling him about the birthday party at the nightclub, drinking too much. Not remembering anything till she was being sick in the taxi rank. Trying to walk home. The knife. His body. The blood... Her words made Logan feel ill all over again how the h.e.l.l could someone do this to another human being?

When it was over Insch apologized again, placed a hand on her shoulder and promised he'd do everything he could to catch the man responsible. Then they left her alone with her pain and her grief.

There was a man in a suit waiting for them at the reception desk: rough features and hands like shovels. He had CID written all over him. 'Well?'

Insch helped himself to another chocolate from the nurse's box. 'Nothing conclusive. But it sounds identical to Macintyre's MO, everything fits.'

'We knew that we told you that!' The man's Dundee accent coming out loud and proud. 'We didn't ask you down here to tell us what we already b.l.o.o.d.y know.'

'Listen up, Sunshine,' said Insch, stepping up close, using his bulk to force the man back a step, voice low and menacing, 'I've got six women in Aberdeen who've been attacked by this b.a.s.t.a.r.d. This is not a game, or a p.i.s.sing contest. Understand?'

'Who the h.e.l.l are you calling "Sunshine"?' The man bristled, shoulders back, chest out. 'It's Detective Chief Superintendent Campbell to you, or "sir", one of the two. Do you understand?'

Insch was starting to go scarlet, but he managed to say, 'Yes ... sir. Sorry, sir.'

'That's better.' DCS Campbell turned to Logan, 'That the case file?' sticking out his hand.

Logan looked at Insch, got the nod, and pa.s.sed it over. 'From the victim photographs it looks like he's escalating. Won't be long until he kills someone.'

'Brilliant,' said the DCS, skimming through the folder, 'you Teuchter b.a.s.t.a.r.ds train him then let him loose down here. Thanks a f.u.c.kin' heap...'

'You know,' Logan was probably going to regret this, but someone had to say it, 'it might not be Rob Macintyre. It could still be a copycat.'

Campbell turned a cold eye on him. 'Really, Sergeant? Any other startling insights you'd like to share with us?' Logan could think of a few involving the DCS, his mother and a horse's a.r.s.e, but he kept his mouth shut. 'Aye,' said Campbell, slapping the Macintyre file shut and stuffing it under his arm, 'thought not. Well, we'll take it from here, and if we need anyone to state the b.l.o.o.d.y obvious I'll give you a call. Meantime, try and keep your raping wee s.h.i.tes to yourselves. Understand?'

Insch looked as if his head was ready to pop as he said, 'We'll do our best.'

The road back to Aberdeen was one long stretch of dark, winding dual carriageway and it flashed past at the same speed as before twenty miles over the legal limit as PC Stirling Moss put his foot to the floor. 'I'm sorry,' said Logan as they roared past an eighteen-wheeler on its way north to Asda, 'I was just trying to be objective.'

Silence. Then, 'I don't need you undermining me in front of craggy-faced d.i.c.kheads like Campbell!'

'I wasn't trying to-'

'It was Macintyre, OK? You saw what he did to that girl. She's twenty-three and he's scarred her for life. Not just on the outside. What he did to her will never heal.'

Logan couldn't think of an answer to that, but then Insch didn't seem to want one. The inspector folded his ma.s.sive arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Up front, the driver clicked on the radio and seventies rock and roll sounded through the car as it ate up the road and the miles from Dundee.

Jackie didn't appear back at the flat until nearly quarter to eight. She stomped her feet in the hallway, muttering curses under her breath, clambering out of her huge padded jacket then draping herself over the radiator, complaining about the weather. 'Not supposed to snow till the weekend...' Her nose was AFC-red. 'Make us a cup of coffee, will you?'

'Where have you been? It's nearly eight!' Logan followed her through into the lounge where she kicked off her shoes and stood with her back to the electric fire, holding one foot inches from the glowing bars. 'You'll get chilblains.'

Jackie didn't seem to care. 'Steel was looking for you. Something about a PF review for the Morrison case tomorrow?'

'Wonderful.' So much for a day off. 'Anyway, come on, you need to get a shift on if you want a shower before we go: taxi's booked for eight.' He picked up her discarded boots and carried them through to the hall, calling back over his shoulder, 'Got a card and a sort of elephant wind-chime thing.'

'Oh Christ, that's not tonight, is it?' There was a pause and then some swearing. 'Why the h.e.l.l does it have to be tonight?'

'Because it's her birthday. Let's not do this again, OK?'

'I was only saying.'

Shaking his head, Logan left her to it and went to get ready.

Twelve minutes past eight and a car horn brayed from the street outside. Logan peered through the curtains: there was a taxi sitting in the middle of the road. 'About b.l.o.o.d.y time. Jackie, you ready?' No reply. He picked up the parcel and birthday card, then stuck his head out into the hall. Empty, but he could hear her in the bedroom, talking to herself. 'No, I can't. Got to go to this stupid b.l.o.o.d.y birthday thing... no...' Logan's hand froze over the doork.n.o.b, listening. 'Yes... Look I was at it all last night, and the night before. I'm knackered, OK?' A longer pause, then, 'Nah, he doesn't suspect a thing. Look, it'll have to be tomorrow... Yeah, me too.' The phone beeped as she hung up.

Logan backed away, staring at the half-open bedroom door.

Another honk on the taxi horn and Jackie emerged into the hall, pulling on her coat. She froze for a moment, seeing him standing there. Then said, 'Well, come on then, thought we were in a hurry.'

The birthday party wasn't as horrible as Logan had been expecting: it was much, much worse. Jackie kept checking her watch, as if she had somewhere better to be, and Logan watched her grumbling her way through the party like a spoiled child.

How long had it been going on her and the man on the phone? How long had she been lying to him? Sneaking around behind his back. Janette's fictional break-up, the rehearsal on Sunday that wasn't: lies.

What was it Ronald Berwick champion housebreaker had said? 'Never trust a woman, they'll f.u.c.k you over every time.'

LIES.