‘Bernard, take a proper helping, there’s plenty for all of us!’
He smiled at Kate, and tipped a sizeable portion of beef in black bean sauce onto his plate, then ladled a couple of spoonfuls of rice and a handful of prawn crackers on top for good measure.
‘Maitland always orders a mountain of food.’
‘Which he generally enjoys eating,’ muttered Maitland.
Bernard watched the happy couple on the sofa from his vantage point cross-legged on the floor. Not for the first time, he marvelled at Maitland’s ability to secure himself extremely attractive girlfriends. He’d moved seamlessly from the blonde and willowy Emma to Kate, who was curly-haired, curvy and possessed of a smile so warm it was a miracle that any man could restrain himself from hugging her.
Maitland, on the other hand, had features that stopped several feet short of handsome. Perhaps his countenance was attractive when the muscles were pulled into something other than a sneer, but Bernard saw other facial expressions so rarely he’d be hard pressed to comment. Maitland’s love life confirmed Bernard’s long-held view that there was no woman who could not be successfully wooed if you had enough height and enough confidence.
Kate picked up the bottle of red and tipped the remaining contents into Bernard’s glass. He murmured his thanks, and took a large mouthful. It tasted both smooth and expensive. Good food, great wine, and best of all a look of glowering hatred on Maitland’s face as he watched Bernard tuck in to the dinner he had paid for. It was almost pleasurable enough to make him forget that someone out there was looking for him, for reasons that he didn’t understand.
‘I’ll put these in the bin.’ Kate started to pick up takeaway cartons and plates.
‘No, let me.’ Bernard made to stand up.
‘Don’t be silly!’ She motioned to him to sit back down. ‘You’ve had a terrible shock. You take it easy.’
As soon as Kate was out of the room the look on Maitland’s face morphed from miserable to murderous. He unwrapped his long legs and aimed a kick in Bernard’s direction. ‘You could have stayed in a hotel you know,’ he hissed.
Bernard was hit with a redoubled willingness to help Kate, and get out of reach of her boyfriend’s foot. He picked up the remaining plates. ‘Not with some unidentified hard man looking for me.’ He backed out of the living room, with Maitland still glaring at him, and shouted back. ‘For all I know Alessandra Barr’s boyfriend wants to kill me. I mean we’ve both seen the photo of what he did to her.’
The living room held its silence.
‘Alessandra,’ said Kate. ‘Is that Spanish or Italian?’
Maitland pushed past Bernard and helped himself to a beer from the fridge. ‘We shouldn’t be talking shop.’
‘It is Italian, I think,’ said Bernard, ignoring him. ‘Which is interesting, now that I come to think about it. We haven’t really explored that angle. Maitland, do we have any contacts in the Scottish-Italian community that might know her? And it’s OK, I didn’t want a beer.’
‘It’s OK, you weren’t being offered one.’ He took a long drink. ‘Hmm, tasty.’
‘Maitland!’
He shot a sulky look at Kate, but opened the fridge. Bernard quickly retrieved a bottle of Bud before Maitland ‘accidentally’ shut his head in the door.
‘Italian-Scottish.’ Maitland’s expression changed to one of grudging acceptance. ‘Well for once, Bernie, I think you’ve come up with something that’s not totally a bad idea. There’s a guy I worked with when I was a cop who was Italian. Well, of Italian descent anyway. Jimmy Rossi. Give me two minutes.’
Bernard and Kate installed themselves in front of the TV. She flicked through the channels, but kept the sound muted, which Bernard took as a signal that she was really after conversation. ‘Sorry for ruining your date night.’
She patted his knee. ‘There will be plenty other date nights. Maitland would never have forgiven himself if anything had happened to you tonight.’
Bernard wondered, not for the first time, if Kate had an entirely accurate picture of her boyfriend. He also wondered how someone as intelligent as Kate – who was, according to Maitland, on course for a First in her degree – could possibly be gullible enough to swallow Maitland’s nice guy persona. Maybe the fact she was studying Divinity was something to do with it. She was probably pre-programmed to see the good in everyone, even Maitland. He forced his lips into a smile. ‘Well, he is very considerate.’
Kate settled on the TV news, and current affairs took up all of Bernard’s attention. The Virus was not the first item, which was good because there were obviously no heightened threats. It was also bad, because it meant that the Virus had slipped from being the lead item to being routine news to be fitted in between cabinet rebellions, trade talks and the And Finally heart-warming closer. Virus news coverage had passed from acute to chronic.
The ad break came on and he realised that Maitland hadn’t reappeared. From the way she was staring at the door, Kate seemed to have the same thought. ‘Is Maitland still on the phone?’ she asked.
‘I’ll go and see.’
He knocked gently on the bedroom door. ‘Maitland?’
His colleague was sitting on the end of the bed, his phone in hand. ‘I think we’re in trouble.’
Bernard felt a sudden weakness in his legs. He sat down heavily beside Maitland. ‘Oh, God. Why?’
‘I’ve just had a very detailed family history of the Barrs. Apparently they’re a big Glaswegian drug family . . .’
‘How could you not know that? You were in the police!’
‘Yeah, for a whole eighteen months before I got seconded to the dead-end street of the HET. And I was based in Edinburgh. I could have told you who was dealing in Leith or Craigmillar but expecting me to know the ins and outs of the West Coast suppliers is a bit much.’
‘OK, sorry. I’m just feeling a bit nervous. I don’t like the thought of a major bunch of drug dealers visiting me at home.’
‘You’re fine. Stop worrying.’ His brusque reassurance was slightly undermined by him walking through to the hall and locking and bolting his front door. Bernard followed him but was shooed back into the room, and Maitland pulled the door shut behind them. ‘Kate doesn’t need to hear all this. Anyway, the Barrs. Or as they were originally, the Baresi family. Arrived here from the backwoods of Italy, and set themselves up in Glasgow back in the 1920s. The first thing Papa Baresi did was anglicise the family name, hence the Barrs.’
‘But Alessandra is a totally Italian name.’
‘I know. Old Man Baresi thought changing his name would make it easier to fit in, but from the sound of things their name was the only thing they changed. They kept all the Italian traditions, and later generations went overboard on the Italian first names.’
‘Why didn’t they change their name back to Baresi?’
‘I don’t know! This is all third-hand via my colleague; I’m not an expert on the history of the Glaswegian Italian community. But if I had to speculate, I’d say that because they did such a bang-up job of creating the Barr brand as being a bunch of nutters who would stab you as soon as look at you, they probably thought it was too good to waste.’ He stood up. ‘I’m just going to check that lock again.’
‘Oh dear.’ Bernard sat down again on the edge of Maitland’s bed, and tried to breathe. ‘I’m not sure that this is making a lot of sense. I’m getting the impression from our investigations that Alessandra Barr is a prostitute, working in Edinburgh. Doesn’t really fit in with her being from a big Glasgow family. Or with her being a prostitute.’
‘But the Glaswegians were looking to move into the East Coast drugs market – there was a memo or something?’
Bernard glared at him. ‘Yes, Maitland, apparently there is a memo.’
‘I’m going to have a look at that paperwork Police Scotland gave you as soon as I get back.’
Bernard realised to his extreme dismay that Maitland had just picked up his coat. ‘Back?’
‘Yeah, don’t wet yourself, but I’m going to have to escort Kate back to her halls.’
‘Oh.’
‘I’m not having her travelling back alone with these nutters out there. You’ll be fine here. Just be sure to lock the door behind us.’
‘Maitland, am I in danger?’
Maitland paused for rather longer than Bernard would have liked. ‘Short answer, Bernie, is that I don’t know. We need to get rid of that mad bat Carlotta tomorrow, then as soon as she’s out the door we’re talking to Police Scotland. We’ve got a contact for them, haven’t we, on those sheets you gave me?’
Bernard nodded.
‘We’re going to have to put your case on hold until they tell us it’s safe to proceed. Maybe they can get us some back-up, or something. Anyway, Paterson will be back soon and all this will be his problem.’ He stood up and shouted, ‘Kate, come on, I’ll see you home.’
Bernard hovered in the hallway as Kate pulled on her coat. She looked anxiously at the two of them. ‘Is everything OK? You two were closeted away in there for ages.’
‘Fine, yes, no problem.’ He attempted a smile. ‘Just work stuff. Sorry again about ruining your night.’
‘And again – don’t be silly. Goodnight, Bernard.’ She threw her arms round him in a bear hug, provoking a look of outrage from Maitland which under any other circumstances would have delighted him.
‘Lock the door behind us, and stay out of my room.’
Bernard nodded. ‘Be quick.’