WITH THE phone in the office set to divert calls to Sholto’s mobile they went downstairs to The Northern Song to get something to eat. The lunchtime rush had passed so they could sit at the table at the back and Mr. Yang brought their food to them, otherwise they could speak without fear of being overheard.
“You better start by telling me everything you remember about the Short case because I know nothing.”
Sholto nodded. “I don’t know a lot, to be honest, just what I read in the papers at the time. She was a twenty-year-old girl on a night out in Whisper Hill, nothing remarkable in that, drinking and the like, was spotted in Misgearan and a few hours later she was dead. They found her body the next morning; a train driver saw it from his cab so it can’t have been hidden. It was dumped behind the fencing round the back of Misgearan so there was some attempt to keep it out of view.”
“Tipped over the fence?”
Sholto shook his head as he stuffed some sweet and sour into his mouth. Darian was thinking of a person trying to lift a body over the ten-foot corrugated iron fencing behind Long Walk Lane, something that couldn’t be done subtly.
Sholto, chewing rapidly, said, “No, it was over the line on the other side, I think. They didn’t say that publicly, but they were looking for witnesses who might have seen anyone on Border Street, other side of the tracks, and the train driver who saw her was heading north to Three O’clock Station so I guess must have been on the left side of his cab, easier to spot her at speed. If we can get more information from the cheerful Miss Vicario we’ll know for sure.”
“You think Misgearan matters?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Short was drinking there on the night, and last I heard the police hadn’t identified everyone she was drinking with. Given Dockside station’s relationship with that place I would guess they’ve gotten every slice of information possible from the staff. We can also assume old lady Docherty would rather be roasted over a spit than install any cameras in the place and the boys from Dockside would probably agree with her.”
“If the cases are linked then it rules out Vinny.”
“That’s an if. Sometimes one case leads to another, or gets tangled in another, without them being directly related. I know you want them to be linked because it would make the Sutherland boy front-runner. Before Simon leapfrogged over him Vinny was a prime suspect, and you want it to be anyone else, but Vinny is still number two on that list with the potential to reclaim top spot. I like Vinny, he’s a nice guy, but never forget that nice people can do terrible things, too.”
For a few seconds the only sound was that of eating until Darian said, “How do you know she’s Miss?”
“Who, Short? She wasn’t married, didn’t have a boyfriend at the time either, they don’t think.”
“No, DC Vicario, you called her Miss Vicario a wee while ago.”
“Did I? Well, she’s not ringed, so I’m guessing. Is her marital status of any personal concern to you or was that question just professional interest in the accuracy of my statement?”
“Just curious about how well you know her.”
“Less well than you and not nearly as well as I’d like, and I don’t mean that in a smutty way because Mrs. Douglas is more than enough for a timid man like me. Vicario is smart and we know she’s brave because she was willing to put herself in the middle of the Corey investigation. Just the sort of cop that would be a useful ally to have.”
“You always said to steer clear of cops. I’m getting mixed messages here.”
“Steer clear of the ones that don’t like you, try and get a good relationship with the ones who do. Never personal, always professional. Simple enough.”
“She seems easy to talk to.”
Sholto said, “Says the man hoping to talk to her a lot more. You do like the strong and playful types, don’t you, Darian? I’ve warned you a hundred times and a hundred times again, nothing personal with cops. Forget about anything unprofessional, okay, she has far more important people to talk to right now than you and, well, maybe even me.”
“You think they’ll get anything out of Sutherland?”
“They’ll need to be more than smart and brave to manage. With all those lawyers around him he might be able to get out of that place in one piece, and you can be sure there’s already a lot of pressure on Dockside to let the boy go. The Sutherland machine will be turning every cog at a furious pace to get the political help it needs. The bra is a heavy piece of evidence, but it might not be enough on its own to weigh down a member of that family.”
Darian said, “He seemed vulnerable. Surely he’ll fall apart if he’s guilty.”
“No, think about it, if he’s guilty then he isn’t really vulnerable at all. If he’s guilty then all that stuff about never leaving the house was invention, and the Simon Sutherland we met is just a character he’s dedicated most of his adult life to playing. Why would anyone go to such freakish lengths? Maybe to cover up the despicable things they like to do when no one’s watching. That’s the sort of character that belongs in a dodgy thriller movie and he’ll have no problem handling the police.”
Darian thought about that for a while before he said, “The story about leaving the house might still be true, and the compulsive hoarding. He didn’t throw the bra away when he knew it would be seen and implicate him. He’s a rich young man who could pay for help. Simon Sutherland doesn’t need to go outside because Will Dent can trawl the streets for him, pick out the girls and do the dirty work of getting them back to the house. Was Ruby-Mae murdered at the track or somewhere else?”
“Well, that’s another interesting question I don’t know the answer to. We’ll need to find that out as well. We’ll also need to find out if Dent’s thirst has ever brought him as far north as Misgearan on a cold January night for a dram or three. Time for us to start poking our noses around again.”
Sholto paid for the meal before they left; no matter how often Mr. Yang tried to give them a discount for their loyalty Sholto always paid full price for the things he loved.