Chapter 10

REID AND HARRY spent long hours at the High Street office that evening going over how to reconfigure the operation in light of Ramsey’s death, and as a secondary goal, to figure out whether, or perhaps more to the point, how, DC Parson’s death was related to Ramsey’s. Having both the man being watched and the man watching him turn up dead was more of a hard lump of coincidence than either of them could swallow.

The search team had found Parsons’ body hidden in some brush along a road not too far from where he’d been stationed to keep an eye on the Ramsey house. According to the report Reid got, it looked as if the young constable been hit by a car—a victim of either a deliberate or accidental hit-and-run. Reid leaned heavily to the deliberate.

Reid’s desk phone rang. He answered, not very surprised to hear DI Lawrence’s angry voice on the other end.

“Not only did you get one of my lads killed but you’ve left me the dirty task of dealing with his family. Thanks ever so much, Superintendent.”

Reid restrained himself from saying what he wanted to say, that whatever had happened to Parsons could, at least in part, be traced back to DI Lawrence’s irresponsible manner of managing his team. If Parsons had been expected to check in periodically throughout the night, when he failed to do so, someone would have gone to check on the lad. Maybe he could have been saved if he’d gotten medical attention in time.

“We’re all grieved by the loss, Mark. I’ll talk to Parsons’ family if you’d prefer.”

Reid could almost see the other man’s surprise through the telephone.

“Yes, well, maybe that would be best. I’ve a lot to do here trying to keep the rest of my people calm. They’re blaming you, of course.”

Of course they are, Reid thought. With DI Lawrence’s encouragement.

“What exactly am I being blamed for?”

A pause, then Lawrence spit out, in a voice that held more bluster than sense. “It’s your operation, isn’t it?”

As the Reid family’s longtime cook would say, that was the outside of enough. He heard the snap in his own voice. “Actually, the surveillance portion was yours, as I recall. I’d hope that in the future, you’d make sure your surveillance teams have a check-in and back-up routine. But I don’t see that this discussion is getting us anywhere. Give me the family’s contact information and I’ll reach out to them. Have they been informed of his death?”

“Yes.” The sulk in the CID officer’s tone was unmistakable.

“I’ll make a visit.” Not that anything he said could make things better, Reid thought. Nothing could blunt the tragedy the young man’s family was living right now. Reid thought about all of the young people killed and injured in the Heidelberg bombing and their families. If he wasn’t able to stop the next attacks, the death toll would be unimaginable.

The mood at High Street was somber. No one complained about working late on Sunday, but then they never did.

Allison, back from the Ramsey office search and a quick visit to a pub to reward her team, was still shaken by the news about Parsons that had greeted her on her return. She was working with Frank to set up two crime boards—one for their eyes only, and one that could be used when DI Lawrence or his people were around. Reid was not going to let Lawrence damage this operation any more than he already had. If there were more screw-ups, they would be his own.

Implementing the plans they’d developed, Harry, earbuds tucked in, sat in front of the computer screen. His fingers flew along the keyboard and he bounced in his seat, presumably in accompaniment to the music being pumped into his head. Harry Ross haled from a lower middle class family in Dundee, but had as much confidence as if he’d been descended from the Royal Family. After serving in the British Army’s Special Forces, he’d joined the Glasgow police. When he’d heard about Reid’s task force, he’d shown up one day at Reid’s first makeshift office in the basement of SCEDA headquarters to sell himself as a prospective team member. Reid quickly ascertained that the young man’s cocksure attitude was justified, and Harry soon became Reid’s de facto second in command.

Harry pulled the earbuds out. “Guv, got a moment? I’d like to show you the extra security I’ve set up for our ESI.” More and more, electronically stored information had become the heart of any investigation, and it most especially was for this one.

Reid went over to Harry’s computer station to watch, taking a place next to Oscar.

“Enlighten me.”

Harry beckoned to Allison. “Come on over here, little bird, so I don’t have to repeat myself.”

Allison sighed in obvious exasperation at the appellation, but nonetheless joined them.

Reid inclined his head toward Frank. “You, too, Frank. We all need to know what’s what.”

When Frank maneuvered his wheelchair over to the computer, Harry began. “I’ve set up the site to look like whoever gets on with the password they’ve been given has full access. What DI Lawrence and his minions won’t know is that certain passwords open up a broader version of the site. He doesn’t get one of those passwords, of course, and won’t even be able to tell that more information is here, but hidden.”

Reid nodded. “I want you to make sure the firewalls are impenetrable from outside our team—no one, no matter how high up, gets access to our files. Von Zandt obviously knows we’re on to him, and if he was involved in what happened to Ramsey and Parsons, I’d guess that somehow he found out that Ramsey was talking to us and decided to stop him. Parsons was most likely collateral damage.”

Harry said, “I’m guessing either whoever killed Ramsey spotted Parsons, or Parsons spotted them.” Harry’s conjecture made sense, Reid thought, but there was another possibility. “They might have known about the surveillance and known to look for Parsons.”

“The leak?”

“Aye. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the leak is somewhere higher up the chain. Maybe from the reports that we’ve been sending to the brass at CID. McMurty’s given the okay to stop the reports, and we’ll keep things closer to our vests.”

“If the leaks were coming from someone getting into our computers, that’s not going to happen anymore. No one will get in but us now, guv. I’ve sewn it up tight as a virgin’s…” Harry stopped, glancing at Allison. “Tight, anyway.”

Allison rolled her eyes.

Reid pretended not to notice Harry’s slip or Allison’s reaction. “I want you all to assume that he or someone on Von Zandt’s behalf may try to get to one of us, either by bribery or by threats, to get information or to dissuade us from what we’re doing. If anyone approaches any of you, I want to hear about it immediately.”

Harry narrowed his eyes at Allison. She glared back at Harry, giving a little warning shake of her head, and Reid wondered again if assigning her Harry as a mentor had been a good idea.

Reid watched the exchange. “Something you want to say, Harry?”

Harry feigned nonchalance. “I was thinking if they tried threats on anyone, they’d try the bird first.” He gestured toward Allison, who swatted his hand away.

“Sod you.” The coarse words coming from Allison only elicited a grin from Harry.

“Stop it, you two. This is extremely serious.” After quick apologies were mumbled from both transgressors, Reid went on. “It could be any one of us. I want you all to be especially mindful of your personal security. If they’re murdering witnesses and cops, they’re taking this investigation very seriously and very personally. Harry, I’d like you to help Allison get firearms qualified as soon as possible.”

The red haired man’s mouth went agape, and alarm flashed in his eyes. “She’s a baby, guv.”

“She’s police. Start tomorrow.” Unlike in some other countries such as the United States, not all police officers in Scotland were firearms qualified. That qualification was limited to those officers who were actually expected to have a need to carry or use a firearm. The regulations kept getting tighter and tighter, but because of the unique character of the High Street taskforce, Reid’s people were approved for firearm qualification eligibility. Allison was the only one on his core team not yet qualified.

Allison’s face could hardly conceal what seemed to be something between excitement and a smirk. Reid wanted to smile at her youthful enthusiasm, but didn’t let himself. Frank, however, smiled widely. Oscar, who was almost as good a shot as Harry, just watched.

Reid made sure his voice carried the seriousness that his message implied. “All of us need to be careful. These people are not to be taken lightly and they most definitely do not like what we are doing here. I do not want any of you to end up like DC Parsons.”