GRACE MONROE

The Watcher

Copyright

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

entirely coincidental.

AVON

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers 2008

Copyright © Grace Monroe 2008

Grace Monroe asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9781847560421

Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780007287628

Version: 2018-05-29

From Maria:

For my Mum and Dad who taught me what it is to be loved.

From Linda:

For Paul – who knows what matters.

Contents

Cover Title Page Copyright Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Chapter Sixty-One Chapter Sixty-Two Chapter Sixty-Three Chapter Sixty-Four Chapter Sixty-Five Chapter Sixty-Six Chapter Sixty-Seven Chapter Sixty-Eight Chapter Sixty-Nine Acknowledgments About the Author By the same author About the Publisher

Prologue

Edinburgh Castle Friday 21 December

When Katya Waleski stepped out of the Great Hall at Edinburgh Castle, she had less than fifteen minutes to live.

The castle ramparts were bitter but the chill went deeper than her bones. The north wind whipped and bit her bare shoulders; she shivered – not simply because of the temperature.

Her companion removed his custom-made evening jacket and placed it around her shoulders. Katya lengthened her spine like a cat and purred, more aware of the role she was playing than the man was of the performance he was receiving. Her wine glass was slippery with condensation; it almost fell out of her hand. Her usual poise had deserted her.

Katya gazed into his eyes, showing him white even teeth; for once the smile left her lips. The champagne bubbles tickled her nose, languorously she twirled her curls; it was not often she got paid to enjoy herself. Katya closed her eyes. For a few long seconds she held her breath as she savoured the champagne.

The biting north wind cut through her hair, a country girl. The stars shone in an almost cloudless black sky, the moonlight reflected off the snow, giving the castle battlements an eerie glow. It was difficult to walk on the cobbled stones; they were icy underfoot and the meltwater crept through her satin sandal. It was hard to keep her footing so she held on tightly to the arm of her escort.

She scanned the castle walls, peering into the shadows. Could she feel eyes upon her from somewhere in the distance? Katya was used to being ogled but this surely felt … different. A lone piper circled the half-moon battery, welcoming late comers to the ceilidh, serenading the lovers who sought intimacy in the ancient nooks and crannies of the castle.

Katya quivered at the caterwaul. You had to have the blood of the Celts in your veins to be stirred by such a noise. The lament merely made the fine hairs at the base of her neck stand on end.

The wind had picked up, and it blew a solitary cloud across the moon, the dense ground cover that hid his static body began to crackle and bend. Branches scratched his cheeks, his jaw tightened and his neck stiffened as the gale began to howl. He could see the clouds rolling in over the River Forth. It was going to snow. He rubbed his leg to ease the paralysing cramp.

The first flake fell.

Didn’t that just say it all, though? A snowstorm while he froze his ass off waiting for that bitch.

The Watcher dug himself in deeper; something large scuttled by his ear. They say in Edinburgh you are never more than thirteen feet from a rat. He disciplined his mind to ignore the different types of creepy-crawlies, which might, at this very moment, be crawling their way up his spine or nesting in his ears.

His eyes followed a couple as they left the castle early. The man staggered and leant on the railing of the wooden bridge; clutching on to the rails, the gentleman spewed his guts out. Flaming torches illuminated the massive stone statues of Scotland’s guardians – Wallace and Bruce looked down disapprovingly. Were these Protectors judging the drunk, who was now failing to heed the ‘don’t drink and drive’ warnings, or were they judging him? He sniggered at the thought.

The Watcher knows death stalks the castle ramparts.

‘The lovers,’ he spat out the words, were strolling hand in hand towards the battlements, their heads nestling together like two turtle doves. The man’s hand crept underneath the jacket and fondled her tight, high buttocks; he inched the dress up over her hip, and stroked her silky smooth skin. The Watcher held his breath. His tongue crept out of the side of his mouth, like a ravenous dog’s, flecks of spit formed at the corner of his mouth. With a life of its own, The Watcher’s cock stiffened, uncomfortably; he was forced to shift positions; the bed of leaves rustled beneath his weight.

With eyes only for each other, Katya and her beau strolled towards the cannons overlooking Johnston Terrace. ‘Love is blind’ hissed The Watcher. Using his top-of-the-range German night-vision goggles, and aided by the light reflected off the snow, The Watcher had a perfect view. He settled himself down to enjoy the show.

It’s freezing but Katya was hot; The Watcher could almost see the sheen of sweat on her skin as he licked his dry lips. She seductively slipped her lover’s jacket from her shoulders, mindful of the fact it cost more than she earns in three months, and she handed it back to him.

The Watcher held his breath as she used her lovely white teeth to undo her lover’s zip; the jacket is placed on his arm as he leant against the cannon to appreciate his girl. The red silk evening gown slipped easily from her shoulders, revealing full high virgin breasts; her head fell back in ecstasy. A tiny black dragon is tattooed near her nipple; it catches The Watcher’s throat when he recognizes it as Mushu, the dragon from Mulan. He shook his head – it would not save her tonight.

Her hands reached up to undo her lover’s black evening tie. He was more than willing to play ball; the tie lay around his neck as she opened his white pin-tucked evening shirt. The Watcher admired their hardiness – it is seriously cold. He shook his right leg to keep the blood flowing, and placed his free hand inside his trousers.

Raking her long red talons over the expensive evening shirt, his nipples stood to attention. It is not merely a natural reaction to the cold, the man was understandably aroused. He caressed her neck with light tender kisses, moving his mouth down until he found her nipple, her back arched in gratification.

Katya was a bad girl; her sensuous mouth was open wide with pleasure. The Watcher strained to hear her moan, as he stroked himself faster and faster. Yes, Katya was a very bad girl.

Her lover could bear no more. The tent pole in his trousers said everything, The Watcher understood as he observed him lay the jacket on the barrel of the siege cannon. Gallantry is not dead, surmised The Watcher; the lover didn’t want Katya’s back to stick to the icy metal.

The sex did not disappoint The Watcher; Katya’s hands quickly undid her lover’s trousers as they fell without hindrance to his ankles. Grudgingly, The Watcher conceded his rival was a handsome specimen; no one complained about the cold now – not even The Watcher.

They were good enough to be professional, The Watcher thought as she wrapped her long Eastern European legs around the man’s waist. She panted, he could see her breath move in and out of her mouth like exotic smoke, and her back inched along the cannon as her lover thrust himself into her.

It was hard for The Watcher to remain still; he squirmed in the undergrowth, unable to satisfy himself. The moonlight caught the girl’s red hair; it seemed to sparkle with excitement, her body shone with sweat, the curves glistening.

The sex was vigorous and uninhibited – in spite of himself, The Watcher felt a reluctant twinge of admiration for her lover. He bit his tongue as the girl slid further along the barrel, blood trickled out of the side of his mouth as a naked Katya finally reached the mouth of the cannon.

Taking out a camera, he caught Katya’s final throes of ecstasy, her back bucking in pleasure as she slid off the end. Her lover reached for her as she tumbled over the ramparts.

The Watcher was helpless – he could not stifle his cry: it was not supposed to happen like that. Shock heightened his senses, and he saw in slow motion Katya’s body bounce off the volcanic castle rock. Her head cracked open as it hit the first rough edge, marring her once beautiful features. There will be no open coffin for the mourners; like a rag doll she rolled and bounced, each bump shattering another bone. There is no hope for the once lovely Katya.

The police found Katya in a ditch at the foot of the crag and tail structure known as Castle Hill. On her scraped and scuffed body a message could be discerned.

A bloody prophecy:

more will die

Chapter One

Lothian and St Clair W.S. Offices Saturday 22 December, 8 a.m.

It was the last Saturday before Christmas, I hadn’t bought a single present and this year I had sworn it would all be different. I’d even imagined stringing popcorn on a real tree, yet here I was spending another weekend working in the office. And on the front page of the Evening News was a photograph that made my heart race and my breath catch in my throat.

Another dead girl had been found.

The story had filled the papers for months, endless column inches, always featuring those painfully ordinary photographs of the murder victim. You’ve seen them. The school portraits with the stray piece of hair sticking out that makes you ask why someone didn’t smooth it down. That picture. The one every parent is forced to buy. When you see it on top of a fireplace a slow smile of nostalgia crosses your lips. But when the same image is on the front page of the Evening News, your heart stops, and you look twice. On a second glance you take in more, the bad posture, the shy smile, the timid eyes … and your imagination takes you to hell.

The hell she suffered in her last moments.

I brought the newspaper over to the window with me. Sipping on the freshly made espresso, with two sugars, I dipped a biscotti whilst I read aloud to Lavender Ironside, official holder of all things to do with power in both the office and my life.

‘Reign of terror on city streets.’

‘Everyone is running scared. Eddie’s trying to impose his own personal curfew. He maybe doesn’t have as much sway as he’d like on the entire population of Edinburgh, but he’d lock me up if he could,’ she said. As the words came out of her mouth, I could almost hear her regret them. She loved it when Eddie was masterful; Eddie Gibb, my court assistant and Lavender’s fiancé. Recently, however, his attentions had been for another reason, and we both knew it. Lavender’s surprise and very much unplanned pregnancy of recent months had ended in a miscarriage. Both she and Eddie had been delighted at the thought of a baby cementing their unlikely love – we all had; and we’d all had to deal with the consequences, which included an even more protective Eddie. I found it hard to talk to Lavender about the baby. We had always looked out for each other but this was one area where I just didn’t know what to say. She knew I wasn’t the motherly type really, but I had looked forward to being an auntie, even if not by blood – and I always wanted for her what she wanted most. That I couldn’t do anything to fix this for her was horrible – for both of us.

‘You know the media have named him “The Edinburgh Ripper”,’ I said, returning to the much easier subject of murder.

The tally of dead girls was rising, and the authorities didn’t seem any nearer to catching him. Of course, I had my own explanation for the inept police investigation – DI Duncan Bancho. Duncan Bancho and I had history, none of it was good. In the recent past he had had me arrested and held on suspicion of attempted murder. I wasn’t blameless. I tried to get him thrown off the force for corruption.

I cleared my throat and read aloud again, unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

‘“We’re doing all we can,” said DI Duncan Bancho, officer in charge of the investigation for Lothian and Borders police. “We lost valuable time because no one reported that the girls were missing.”’ I put the paper down.

‘“We’re doing all we can”!’ I banged my head lightly against the window. The news of the girls barely registered at first – the police went through the motions but the media waited until there were enough deaths to get them excited. The death of a prostitute is regarded as an occupational hazard, and the clear-up rate is the lowest of any homicide – so I wasn’t buying his PR statement.

The first murder in July had only just made the inside pages of the tabloids, but by the time the second body had been found, three weeks later, rumours were circulating.

‘To get Bancho’s attention the killer had to send him a text – of course Bancho ignored it,’ I snarled.

Lavender was ignoring me – this was a well-rehearsed rant of mine against my least favourite policeman. As I’ve said, DI Bancho and I go back a long way.

‘So what made Bancho sit up and do something? Finally, do something?’ I asked myself more than her. ‘When the killer put the finger of another victim under his windscreen wiper?’ When this occurred, the hunt was on for the body of the third dead girl. It was during the festival so the papers were playing it down. None wanted to spook the wealthy tourists because of three dead whores.

Lavender took her coffee cup and joined me at the window.

‘Before you start,’ she said, ‘I know there are ninety unsolved murders of prostitutes in the UK.’

‘Don’t believe the crap!’ I retorted. ‘The bit about “decent women are safe”. If a man will murder a prostitute, no woman is safe from him. It didn’t keep “decent” women safe from the Yorkshire Ripper, did it? Peter Sutcliffe just moved on from prostitutes to students.’

‘Fine.’ She saluted me quickly, a parody of a soldier obeying an order. ‘Change the subject.’

We stared in silence from the office window to look at Edinburgh Castle. It was a dark winter’s morning and I could see police in their luminous jackets climbing on the Castle Rock. Halogen lamps lit what appeared to be a crime scene with an ethereal glow, and a deathly silence hung over Johnston Terrace, the street below the castle façade. Police scurried around in last night’s snowfall; they were the first to walk on the pristine surface, and their footprints were like blemishes.

I’d heard a news flash on Radio Forth that another body had been found; they didn’t give out any details, and I suppose they were waiting until the family was informed. I often came into the office on a Saturday, as did Lavender – we made the most of the quiet and could run through work much quicker than on weekdays, but today a cold silence fell over us as we watched the depressing scene.

Incongruously, just out of sight on the other side of the rock, Edinburgh’s Christmas festivities were gearing up for another fun-packed day. In a few hours skaters would be falling, racing and spinning on the temporary ice-rink in the city’s famous Princes Street Gardens. Wurlitzers would boom out hits from twenty years ago and overexcited children clutching candyfloss would be trailing behind the parents on a mission to buy last-minute gifts at the German market. Whatever had happened on the rock, for most life would go on, especially at Christmas.

‘You’re not in much danger, Lav – Eddie never lets you out of his sight,’ I said, patting her on the shoulder, both of us knowing that I was referring to his treatment of her since the miscarriage without me actually saying anything.

‘Maybe. But you …’ She held my eye, and there was a lot of weight in the stare, ‘are too hard on Bancho. These girls are all from Eastern Europe – nobody seems to give a damn about them, so anything Bancho does has to help. Eddie worries about me, Brodie – but I worry about you. Look …’

She led me by the arm to look at the wall behind my desk. I keep it there because I hate seeing pictures of myself. However, clients enjoyed seeing evidence of past victories; it was good for business, so my personal preference was irrelevant.

Lavender tapped the glass of a particularly unflattering photograph; I was standing dressed in my leathers, next to my motorbike, ‘The Fat Boy’, arms crossed over my chest, looking mean. That wasn’t the problem – my helmet hair was bright red and frizzy, as if it had a life of its own. Lavender pulled the picture next to the front page of the article that showed the photographs of the Ripper’s victims.

‘See what I mean?’ She nodded, looking pleased with herself. ‘Apart from the fact that you’re way too old – you fit his profile. Our man likes redheads.’

‘My hair is auburn,’ I sniffed.

‘Mmmmn. Either way you need a bit of protection – it’s time you started speaking to Glasgow Joe.’ Lavender walked back to the window as if that was an end to the matter. Even if I didn’t want to admit it to her, I could see her point – she was getting married in two days’ time and the best man and the matron of honour weren’t speaking. In fact, I hadn’t spoken to my ex-husband for nearly six months.

I needed to change the subject.

‘And what are you doing in the office anyway – two days before you get married and just before Christmas?’

‘Unlike you, my presents were all wrapped before the start of November, and in case you hadn’t noticed …’ She waved her arm around. Lavender’s wedding had taken over the offices of Lothian and St Clair – the filing cabinets bursting with contact details for florists, dressmakers and limousines and the million other seemingly vital bits of the bridezilla armoury.

‘There’s something more happening up at the Castle Rock.’

Lavender pressed her nose to the glass.

‘Did you ever doubt it?’ Lavender asked, as her voice started to crack. ‘Another victim of the Ripper?’

‘No, no – it doesn’t have to be. Absolutely not,’ I said, too hastily. She was getting married in the castle and I didn’t want anything to spoil her day. Not even my feud with Joe. ‘It’s probably a suicide: single people get very lonely at this time of year.’

‘Speaking from personal experience?’ she quipped.

I turned my head, not willing to let her see just how close she was to the truth on both counts.

Chapter Two

Lothian and St Clair W.S. Saturday 22 December, 8.30 a.m.

‘Do you have a death wish, girl?’

Lord MacGregor shook his head in disgust and threw the weekend paper down on my desk. A silver foil container tipped over, scattering cold chicken and fried rice everywhere.

‘That,’ he continued, pointing to the offending article, ‘is professional suicide.’

Watching him out of the corner of my eye, I refused to turn round. I knew what my grandfather was referring to, and I didn’t want to face his anger. Maybe it had been a foolish move on my part; even he’d acknowledged I’d been keeping my nose clean and avoiding trouble until now. Plus I hated disappointing him, which was something I seemed to have a knack for.

‘What do you think about this?’ He picked up the article again, and threw it down in front of Lavender. She clapped her hands sarcastically.

‘Very dramatic,’ she said. ‘Maybe that’s where Brodie gets her antics from.’ Looking directly into his eyes she added: ‘They do say the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.’

Using her hand she cleared away the debris of my last night’s meal and threw it in the bin.

‘Seriously,’ said Lord MacGregor, shaking his head in disbelief.

‘Seriously, you’re a well-matched pair of drama queens!’ Lavender snorted and sat down in my seat, opening the offending article out in front of her.

Lawyer Could Force Judges to Declare They Are Masons

‘So you asked a judge if he was a Mason.’ Lavender rattled the newspaper noisily before placing it down on the desk again. ‘I hate to say it … but His Lordship has a point.’

Lavender had been told by my Grandad to call him by his Christian name, but she refused. He was now known to everyone in the office as His Lordship. Initially, it was her way of getting at him, but now they were allies. He had won her over and he was giving her away when she married Eddie on Christmas Eve.

I kept my back firmly to them; I wasn’t turning round to face their torrent of abuse, especially now I had admitted to myself they were right. The case had called six weeks ago in Edinburgh Sheriff Court, but we were still waiting for the judgement to be issued. Anyway, the action on the Castle Rock was revving up, and the rubber-neckers were gathering at the barricade.

‘We discussed this.’ Lavender inserted her face directly in front of me. ‘Are you stupid? It’s not just your livelihood on the line.’ I could feel her hot breath on my neck. She grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me round to face her; I didn’t feel it was a particularly good time to suggest she should perhaps be a little calmer on her wedding day. The consequences of my actions to Scots law were immense. If I was right, the decisions of every judge who was a Mason could be called into question if any party to the case was also a member of the Masonic Lodge.

It all boiled down to the fact that judges are supposed to be impartial, whereas Masons, by their oaths, have sworn to favour their brethren. If the ruling in this case was in my favour, the Edinburgh bar would be eating out of my hand, all bets were off, and lawyers could appeal a decision they didn’t like. Their fees would increase, and it would be new Mercedes all round. Of course, if it went against me – which, let’s face it, was likely – then the judges would really put the boot in. Lav was afraid that fees would go down but Grandad was pissed because he had ambitions for me to be a judge – and I’d just made that even more unlikely.

Lord MacGregor nodded approvingly at Lav, just wishing he’d had the courage to be so forceful – but my grandfather was too afraid of losing me; our relationship was too new and tentative for him to risk such behaviour.

My grandfather.

We had been reunited for just over two years. Weird is not the word for us lot – we make the Addams family look like the Waltons. Lord MacGregor, Grandfather to me and a retired High Court judge to everyone else, had rescued my birth mother Kailash from his son’s clutches. He continued to support her, even after she was charged with the murder of his only child. And if that isn’t Jerry Springer enough for you, my mother’s a dominatrix: a high-class one, very wealthy, but a dominatrix nonetheless. These are the family members who have the temerity to be annoyed when I make questionable decisions …

I kept up a wall of silence. It was the advice I would give to my clients. Say nothing – you can only hang yourself with your tongue. Lavender was persistent.

‘What planet were you on?’ she asked, poking me in the back with her finger.

‘When is it ever a good idea to ask a policeman if he’s a Mason?’ she continued.

I shrugged noncommittally.

‘Then you have to take it one step beyond the bounds of good taste …’

Lavender rolled her eyes and half turned to face Grandad.

‘… and suggest the judge cannot be impartial because he, like the police, is also a Mason!’

This conversation was embarrassing. I had been posturing in court like a little bantam hen and now that the heat of the battle was over I had to agree with them. It’s all well and good to have nice legal points, but it didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. I stepped out of range of her finger, and turned to face them.

I caught sight of myself in the wall-sized mirror that Grandad had installed so I could practise my jury speeches. Sticking my left hand on my hip, I walked forward, looking more like one of Kailash’s girls on a very rough day than a lawyer.

‘Consider the well-known penalties of the Entered Apprentice who vows to keep Masonic secrets under penalty of having his throat cut, or his tongue torn out and buried in the rough sands of the sea.’ I coughed for dramatic effect and held their eyes, just as Grandad had taught me. I could see he was impressed.

Lavender laughed in my face. ‘What a pile of crap,’ she said. ‘You know that’s just for effect – them and you – trying to make folk think that they’re all mysterious. It’s rubbish, Brodie – but it’s rubbish that you shouldn’t mess with, given how many top people seem to believe in it.’

‘Well – why do they say it if they’re not going to carry out the threat? Anyway, the Crown Office is issuing a written opinion, and it brought our client one step closer to a “not guilty”.’

I walked up to the mirror, not waiting to hear her reply. God, I looked terrible. I started to examine my saggy chin; when did those wrinkles appear? My so-called office assistant approached me. Her eyes were blazing, and holding my gaze she said, ‘You’re selfish, Brodie – it’s going to hurt when you have to think of someone else.’

‘That sounds like a threat,’ I said.

‘No – it’s a promise.’

Chapter Three

Girls’ Changing Rooms, The Meadows’ Pavilion, Edinburgh Saturday 22 December, 2 p.m.

It was hard to remain silent and he held his breath as he crouched low on the lid of the toilet seat. The girl in the next cubicle was called Rosie. He had heard another girl call for her and now he held the name to him. She sang a well-worn Christmas song under her breath and The Watcher smiled, imagining the song was for him. Certainly, this was shaping up to be his best Christmas so far.

For three weeks he’d staked out the changing rooms, and now he’d won a prize. Not that his previous visits were wasted – no, he’d put his time to good use. As he stared out through the peephole he’d prepared earlier, he reflected on just how good. Rosie continued singing as she washed her hands. The Watcher was pleased. Hygiene was important to him – too important, some people thought; but, as his mother always said, ‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness.’

Standing on her tiptoes, in a pink padded Playboy bra with matching knickers, Rosie leaned over the basin and applied a thick layer of lip gloss. She opened her mouth wide and ran her pink pointy tongue over her teeth. The Watcher shivered. Rosie hurried through to the main changing area. She was running late, so discarded her underwear as she went, throwing it over a railing. She removed her bra and put on a sports version. Bending over, she balanced on one leg, and pushed her foot into her football shorts. They had built-in underwear, so she had not put on her knickers, but he felt an irrational sense of disappointment in the girl. Perhaps her morals were not all they should be. And The Watcher didn’t like that; he didn’t like that at all.

‘For God’s sake, get a move on – do you want to miss the kick-off?’ A disembodied voice chivvied them all along, but Rosie was the only one he looked at. The voice was likely to be that of a chaperone, given that the whole of Edinburgh was on red alert with all the terrible things that were going on. If truth be told, it was making things difficult – but not impossible – for him.

Rosie refused to leave yet. She stood in the messy, deserted changing room, swivelling around looking for something, for someone. Looking for him perhaps? A smile cracked his face. He was the last person she’d want to find. Holding his breath, he then exhaled as the sound of her boot studs disappeared into the distance. The Watcher noted with regret that she had stopped singing.

Turning, he stared out of the hole he had cut in the thick frosted glass. Rabbit wire on the outside of the pane obscured his vision but he could see well enough. Well enough to note that Rosie kept glancing back at the changing pavilion. A cold chill of fear ran down his spine as she started to run full pelt to the man.

The Watcher knew who he was by reputation, and he knew that he should be afraid of him – but the path he had chosen did not allow for changes simply because there were obstacles. The big man in a kilt had his arms around Rosie, giving her a pep talk, dispelling her fears. Maybe the big man wasn’t that tough – it was good to know that he wasn’t infallible.

He had come to see someone else, he’d hidden overnight in the changing rooms and it had finally paid off. He’d waited three weeks to see her. The first week she’d had a knee injury, the second was an away game, but the third time was a trick. The girl was skinny; some people might say she looked undernourished. The Watcher didn’t fancy her chances of survival – she would be kicked off the pitch when the game started.

Actually, that could be a problem. The Watcher didn’t want her marked. That wasn’t part of his plan and his plan had been very carefully constructed. He was proud of the attention he paid to detail. A feeling of instant calm came over him as he watched her win the toss. This was going to be her lucky day. The girl was skinny and leggy – she might be ungainly but she was fast. Too fast? Would it be a problem? What if she got away from him? That wouldn’t do. That wouldn’t do at all.

He’d have to recheck his calculations; she couldn’t weigh more than five and a half stones. Too much anaesthetic could kill her, too little and she could escape. His plan did not allow for a runaway.

The big bastard was talking to Brodie McLennan. The Watcher knew who she was – in fact, if he was ever caught, he’d call for her to represent him. He shrugged off that thought – he wasn’t going to get caught. He was too clever for that. Patience ran in his blood and his genetic code told him: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. But he needed to move now – the girls had gone, the game was starting. The Watcher wanted to run but there was no crowd to lose himself in. Take a deep breath, relax.

That was why he had waited for her – she was worth waiting for.

He forced himself to walk slowly out of the changing pavilion unseen. A mother stood on guard fifty feet away, leaning against a tree having a sly fag – she smiled at him as he passed.

In these godless times, who takes any notice of a priest?

Chapter Four

The Meadows, Edinburgh Saturday 22 December, 2 p.m.

There was no escape from the relentless weather. Snow lay on the ground and the driving rain was turning it to slush. My face was numb and the shoes I was wearing were soaking wet. This was, quite undoubtedly, a huge mistake. What the hell was I thinking of when I agreed to spending a Saturday afternoon at a football match? Not even a proper one at that?

It was barely noticeable, but Glasgow Joe seemed to nod in my direction. Lavender elbowed me in the ribs. ‘See,’ she hissed, giving him an extravagant wave, ‘he’s willing to make up.’ Ignoring her, I turned my head to the wooden pavilion where a ragtag bunch of girls was snaking out of the dressing rooms. Their legs were already purple by the time they reached the touchline where, jumping up and down, they tried to get warm. They all seemed to shout towards Glasgow Joe, clamouring for his attention. The clever ones gave up and turned to Eddie instead. A wise move if they were trying to get tips – Eddie could educate them on every Scottish football move ever seen, whereas Joe, well, I’d seen Joe play. Even as a boy he was reminiscent of a giant redwood on the pitch, although he was handy to have in defence as long as you didn’t expect him to actually run with the ball. Eddie was the soccer coach for this bunch. He’d learnt early on that if he wanted to pretend he was coaching Inter Milan rather than this lot, then he’d have to supply doughnuts to keep their attention.

I dragged my thoughts away from Eddie and Joe to look at the kids on the pitch. To me it seemed obvious – there was one girl who was different, one girl who drew your eyes towards her. Thirteen years old and with the look of Bambi; she could have been made out of pipe cleaners. She appeared to have brought her own valet, Malcolm. He lied about his age. I reckon he was pushing sixty, and he was my mother’s ‘Girl Friday’. He looked after Kailash, he looked after me, and now it seemed he had another chick under his wing.

Her silver sparkly laces were untied; on cue, Malcolm came mincing to the rescue. The girl ignored him – but the opposition didn’t. Jeering, they laughed and pointed, as a wave of panic came over me. I knew what was going to happen. The Penicuik girls were strong and sturdy – even in a fair fight, Eddie wouldn’t stand a chance, and they had the girl with the Lurex laces in their sight.

‘God, it’s cold; doesn’t she feel it?’ Lavender shivered as she dragged me round to the other side of the football pitch. They were all there by now – Glasgow Joe, Kailash, Eddie, Malcolm, even Grandad, sitting on his shooting stick drinking hot coffee from a flask. As soon as I sniffed the caffeine I increased my pace. We all stood there, mesmerized, as the girl moved into action. As expected, she was captain of her team – unsurprising, because it was she who supplied the manager, the coach, and the strips, courtesy of Lothian and St Clair. The Penicuik captain towered over her as they tossed the coin, shorts flapping around the waif’s thin legs as she watched the coin spin – and won. Placing her boot on top of the ball, she ‘sorted’ her long hair; it was the most beautiful shade of auburn you could get outside of a bottle. I was only a little jealous. Holding it in place was one over-the-top pink fabric rose; I suspected Malcolm’s influence. I caught Kailash’s eye and we both shuddered. The girl wasn’t going to last two minutes.

We were wrong.

She ran in and out between the legs of the larger girls like a whippet. Taking them by surprise, she made a break and ran down the wing, scoring within the first minute. Grandad was on his feet screaming with pride – and probably heading for a heart attack at this rate. Who would give Lavender away then? The girl was running down the pitch, punching the air in victory; she lifted up her shirt to kiss it, revealing to everyone her thermal vest. Malcolm’s doing again, I thought. I could see the Penicuik girls looking, conferring, deciding how to get her. This time there would be no mistakes, no mercy.

My little sister, Connie Coutts, was going down.

Kailash was chewing on gum, her jaws mashing together furiously. I had never seen my immaculate birth mother indulge in anything so common. She caught me watching her out of the corner of my eye. ‘It’s hellish,’ she whispered. ‘I hate watching her – I’m a bag of nerves,’ she shrugged, as if being here, this whole scene, was the most natural thing in the world, but I knew her history and how much it had taken to get us all here.

Connie was berating her team-mates for not passing the ball, her face red with indignation, exertion and the energy of being a thirteen-year-old. My heart almost stopped as soon as I had the thought and made the connection. Kailash had been thirteen when she had given birth to me. Uncharacteristically, I placed my arm around her.

‘It would have been harder to watch me when I was that age.’ I squeezed her tightly to me, trying to make light of what had kept us apart since the day I was born and for many, many years afterwards. ‘I was shit.’

‘And selfish,’ butted in Glasgow Joe. ‘Always really selfish.’ He looked at me. ‘With the ball, I mean.’ I knew exactly what he meant.

‘Deciding to talk now, are you? Well, don’t bother sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted.’ I bridled, instinctively raising my chin. All the mothers were ogling him so we had an audience. He was wearing his kilt. The wind swung it round his legs, and the mums who’d seen the size of his feet were praying the wind would blow it higher.

‘Aw ref – are you fucking blind?’ Eddie shouted. I turned, following his line of vision, and, surprisingly, my attention was instantly there. Connie was down. Mud spattered her face and was mixed with the blood pouring from her nose. It looked like it must hurt like hell. She clenched her teeth around her mouth guard, keeping the hot tears away. Kailash started to run, but Malcolm placed an arm in front of her chest, barring her. She watched him run onto the pitch instead, healing bag in hand. Kailash remained quiet and a deep furrow creased her brow.

‘He spoils her, you know,’ I said to Kailash.

‘He’s allowed to. He raised her. Anyway, look who’s talking. I hope you haven’t gone overboard with a Christmas present? I’ve already warned Moses and Joe.’

‘Connie has enough stuff without getting more of it in a couple of days,’ I said, keeping an eye on what was happening on the pitch as I spoke. Relief washed over me. Connie’s Christmas present was a worry. It was too late for eBay and there were only two and a half shopping days left. I suspected that Joe and the crew were well organized, but I wanted to get her something special too. Perhaps now I could just pretend that I was more thoughtful by getting her a chocolate Santa and a bag of satsumas, making sure she didn’t get all materialistic. On the pitch, Connie was shrugging Malcolm off, back on her feet with a glint in her eye that suggested revenge was going to be sweet.

I could see Joe standing on the sideline like a silent assassin, giving the ref one of his special looks. I had come to know that look well over the last six months – it was unpleasant, to say the least. It told you in no uncertain terms you had fallen short of the mark, and no one blamed the ref when he succumbed to crowd pressure and pulled out a belated red card.

When I say no one, I’m not being strictly accurate. The girl’s father made a move to complain but backed down shamefully quickly when Joe pulled himself up to his full height and squared his shoulders. Glasgow Joe’s creed was written all over his face – no one messed with his girls. Kailash, Connie and Lavender are certainly in the gang; I’m not sure about myself these days.

Eddie and Joe ran along the pitch shouting tactics, encouragement – and taunts – when necessary. I’d seen managers and coaches receive touchline bans for less in the real world, but the officials here turned a deaf ear in spite of opposition protests. I wondered if Connie knew what was going on. She seemed oblivious, running herself ragged chasing a dirty ball on a muddy field; the enjoyment she was obviously getting was a mystery to me.

‘Joe’s got the trike,’ Lavender said, sidling up to me with the last of the coffee in the top of the thermos flask to warm my frozen fingers. ‘Connie and Joe are going Christmas shopping. I wish I’d thought of that … I still don’t know what to get her. I want it to be special – the first time that she really has everyone around her.’

I was always touched by the way Lavender had adopted my family as her own. Even Connie, the ‘newest’ member, was to be her flower girl.

Kailash had kept the existence of my half-sister Connie (then at boarding school in Switzerland) in the dark until she was sure that she and I had a chance of a relationship. I think she was right to do that really – apparently, most mother and adult-child reunions don’t have fairytale endings. Our bond is not one you’d find in a Disney movie but we rub along – although sometimes it feels more like grating. When Connie was finally brought into the picture, it actually made things easier. I had more of a family now than I’d ever dreamed of, even when I still thought that my adopted parent Mary McLennan was my birth mother and Kailash Coutts was just another pain-in-the-arse client I had to defend.

Joe edged nearer to us as his eyes scanned the skyline. In the distance, the hill of Arthur’s Seat was barely visible because of the low-lying cloud. He huddled into us close before pulling a rolled-up newspaper from his pocket. ‘Brodie, it’s time to stop being so daft,’ he said. I raised my eyebrow – in my mind, he was the one to blame and I most certainly hadn’t been in on any daftness. ‘Seriously, Brodie, there’s things going on that … well, things just don’t feel right.’ If I’d expected an emotional outpouring, I was disappointed. ‘Have you seen this?’ he asked, going back to the newspaper. It was the afternoon edition of the one we’d discussed in the office; the dead girl stared out at us from the front page, demanding justice.

‘Do you ever have the feeling you’re being watched?’ Joe asked, staring over his shoulder.

‘Joe – you might have red hair but you’re not the Ripper’s type: your family jewels rule you out,’ I replied.

‘I’m glad you remember, Brodie, but I wasn’t talking about myself. I meant you,’ he said. ‘Do you ever feel you’re being watched?’ he asked again. His face was weary and I no longer wanted to laugh. A cold trickle of sweat dribbled down my spine.

A primeval sense of wariness had me on edge. Joe was still scanning the horizon, and he wasn’t looking at the weather. I knew better than to laugh at him or dismiss his instincts. He held on to my arms, pinning them down at my side. The cold wind carried his scent to me and, as always, I cursed myself for responding. He noticed me involuntarily pressing up against him but said nothing. If I needed any convincing he was serious, that was it.

Pride comes before a fall, I know, but I shrugged him off. I didn’t know how to handle the new Glasgow Joe, the one who could resist me. I stomped round to the other side of the pitch; I didn’t need to glance over my shoulder to know Joe was watching me.

My smile fell.

Joe wasn’t staring at me – he was scouting the Meadows.

Hunting for the bogeyman.

Chapter Five

Cumberland Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 12.30 a.m.

The point of the stiletto blade nicked the underside of my chin. A dewdrop of blood dribbled down my neck. This couldn’t be happening. Please God, don’t let this be happening. Pure panic controlled my body. I wanted to scream but I was shamefully afraid. The knife meandered down my throat, slicing open the cosy grey tee shirt I loved to sleep in. It had once, in happier times, belonged to Joe. Darkness hid the face of my torturer but I knew who it was, and he wanted me dead.

The pain was slicing through me as he traced spirals with the blade. Opening my mouth wide to scream, a disappointing squeak came out. Gripping handfuls of the sheet, I tried to push myself up the bed. Perhaps if I could sit up, I’d be able to fight back. He second-guessed me and dug the point of the blade into my carotid artery. It danced as my pulse raced. I imagined a slow smile crossing his face. How had he gained entry? I’d recently been robbed and I’d installed new security; they promised me I was as safe as the Bank of Scotland.

I didn’t believe them and I hadn’t shared their faith. The satisfaction of being right did nothing for me. I-told-you-so doesn’t cut it when you’re staring death in the face. I refused to expire pitifully in silence so I shouted for the first person I could think of through the fear – Joe. I knew he wouldn’t make it in time but just saying his name made me feel better. At least I’d found the strength to call on him, I reflected as his name rang out through my bedroom. Then my reality shifted. I woke up. Sweat had drenched the tee shirt but otherwise it was undamaged; just another horrible dream and a lingering feeling that the man I needed wasn’t there.

I swung my feet over the side of the bed, and my toes landed in leftover pizza. The empty bottles of lager showed me just how much punishment I’d inflicted on my poor body – but I’d live. The phone was ringing in the hall. In an effort to get a good night’s sleep, I’d disconnected the one on the bedside table. Last night had obviously been a night of great decisions. I swore under my breath and trampled on the mound of clothes lying in a heap on the floor, smearing tomato sauce and cold mozzarella cheese on the LBD I’d bought last week from Harvey Nicks. Three hundred and fifty pounds I’d paid in the pre-Xmas sale, and now it looked like a window rag. The phone had stopped ringing. I surveyed the bombsite that was my room. My flatmate (and assistant) Louisa had called me Scrooge and then insisted on setting up a fibre-optic Christmas tree; its garish colours threw a macabre glow on the scene and didn’t add anything remotely positive.

Stumbling across to the dressing table I picked up a photograph. Why hadn’t I just thrown it out? The frame was a plastic snow dome; in the centre of the snowstorm Glasgow Joe had a huge grin on his face as he held me in a bear hug. He smiled like a prizewinner. We were on top of the Empire State building – I should have guessed what was coming when he took me there seven months ago. Bizarrely, Glasgow Joe adores the film Sleepless in Seattle.

Naturally, he’d taken me there to propose.

Again.

Being reasonably sane, I said no – on reflection, I did more than just say ‘no’. My exact reply went something along the lines of ‘when Hell freezes over.’ On the picture, I traced the contours of his face with my finger. It was the closest I had intended to get to the real thing, no matter how much Lavender pushed and shoved. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Joe, or even, God help me, not love him in that way. There were bigger problems this time – Joe wanted a baby. If there was one thing I knew, it was that there was bad blood in me, and that bloodline needed to stop when my candle snuffed.

It wasn’t just the need for a baby that had changed him in the past year or so. Joe’s paternal streak had been manageable until he met Connie – then he’d fallen hook, line and sinker. Nothing but the best for Connie. He was reliving our childhood, except that now he had money. Eddie and Joe had stepped in to manage the football team when none of the fathers would do it, and there was constant bullying until Lothian and St Clair provided the strips. Naturally, Connie had wanted to be sponsored by Joe’s pub, the Rag Doll, but Joe and Eddie didn’t feel that gave ‘their girls’ the appropriate image.

The phone started to ring again. Whoever was calling was bloody persistent. Normally it would be annoying, but tonight I needed the diversion.

I knew who it would be. When Lavender got engaged she insisted I employ him full time. He needed a regular wage and I – apparently – needed to get a life. Now that I had someone to share the custodies with, I wasn’t on call 24/7. In fact, Eddie did more than his fair share, and, as Lavender made up the work rota, it meant one of two things – either she had gone off Eddie and wanted him out of the house as often as possible or, alternatively, she wanted me to make Eddie a partner. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which one she was angling for. Which was just as well, because by the time I reached the telephone my head was beginning to thud.

‘Brodie?’

It was a voice I knew well. My heart sank. Trouble was in the offing. No one makes social calls past midnight. I’d expected St Leonards police station, the central holding station for the city, and I’d got Malcolm. I didn’t bother to ask him what it was; he was hysterical and not in a mood to listen, preferring to blurt everything out. ‘Derek’s been arrested and it’s all my fault,’ he gasped through tears. Dismal Derek is Malcolm’s partner. At fifteen years his junior, and although no spring chicken himself, Derek has played Malcolm for a fool. I doubted very much that Malcolm was to blame for Derek’s incarceration. Another thing I knew for sure was the last lawyer Derek would ask for would be me.

‘What happened?’ I asked, thankful he couldn’t see me rolling my eyes, and almost smiling at the irony that all calls would lead to St Leonards after all.

‘We had a tiff.’ Malcolm sounded embarrassed, which was just as well because I suspected he was underplaying what had gone on. He knew my views on domestic abuse – abusers aren’t looking for a marriage licence, they need a dog licence. He started to sob, big heart-rending sobs. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me up there in the cold early hours of the morning holding his hand and telling him everything was going to be all right.

‘Hold on. I’m coming,’ I told him.

‘Brodie, I came out in such a rush I forgot my angina tablets, I phoned Moses and he’s picked them up. I said you’d stop and collect them.’

‘Okay, keep calm … I’m coming.’

I owed Malcolm big time; he’d patched me up physically and mentally on more than one occasion. I needed to get to St Leonards quickly but I’d never get a taxi at this time of the night or year. I pulled back the curtains and saw the cobbles shining with ice. Despite that, I still decided to take the Fat Boy. This decision was influenced by the fact I could see exactly where my leathers were. I stumbled around, pulling on my trousers, and accidentally bumped into one of the grotesque decorations Louisa had put in my room – a fat dancing Santa. A nasally sound that was meant to be Elvis singing ‘Lonely This Christmas’ echoed around the room.

That finally got the attention of the man in my bed. He sat up and scratched his head.

‘Please tell me we did?’ he said – though it was clear from the look on his face that he remembered all too well.

Jack Deans was back in town.

Chapter Six

Cumberland Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 1 a.m.

‘All I knew, Brodie, was that I missed you.’

Jack Deans. Investigative reporter, ex-rugby player, and my booty call, was getting serious.

‘I missed you, Brodie.’

‘Yeah. You said.’

I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get ready to leave for the police station. As usual I couldn’t find anything and I was making another promise to myself to be more organized.

‘You’re a bloody infuriating woman, do you know that?’

‘So people keep telling me.’ I pushed my feet into my bike boots.

‘You make me so mad but all the time I was in Darfur, I wanted to talk to you, to run stories past you, to get your opinion – even if the only one you ever seem to have is that I should shut up.’

He looked at me, waiting for an answer or encouragement – I couldn’t give it to him. The safest way was to continue ignoring him. I rifled through a bag searching for my keys – Malcolm was waiting and I needed to see Moses on my way to St Leonards.

He sat up in bed and a shaft of light came in the window. He was tanned, lean and, in this light, without my contact lenses, did a fair impersonation of George Clooney’s less attractive brother playing a war correspondent.

‘Brodie – this has been going on too long … Is there any point in me taking all this crap from you – always ending up back in your bed?’ I wanted to object to his use of the word ‘always’, but maybe he had a point. I thought I was safe with Jack; Mr Deans was definitely not the marrying type. Was I wrong? It’s sod’s law. Whenever you’re not looking for commitment they come running – it’s the same principle as buses.

‘I’ve spent the last few hours watching you wrestle demons in your sleep, wanting to hold you and make it all better, and knowing there’s no point in me even trying. That’s not my job is it? That’s for Glasgow Joe to do.’

He was trying to look all appealing and sad, but that was never really the type I went for. I liked him rough and uncommitted, and I liked him knowing where the door was as soon as we’d finished having sex. He wasn’t playing ball at all.

‘Brodie …’ he began. Again.

I held my finger up to him. ‘Uh! No!’ I barked, as if he was a leg-rubbing puppy (which was a pretty accurate description, come to think of it). ‘There was never a point when I said I wanted to hear another word from you, Jack.’

‘You weren’t complaining a couple of hours ago,’ he replied, predictably.

‘Oh, shut up – that wasn’t talking, that was grunting. And you may have noticed you did a hell of a lot more of it than me, so don’t go thinking you’ve waltzed back into town like bloody Casanova.’

‘I got a call. A personal one.’

I didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow of interest, finding my cuticles much more interesting instead.

‘From your Grandad. He had a bit of news for me – namely that you and Joe were definitely over, and if I came back, I might find myself in with a shout.’

‘Lovely,’ I hissed. ‘Did he offer you a dowry as well?’

‘The timing was perfect – the Sudanese government was throwing me out anyway. And I got here in time for Christmas.’

He pulled on a red Santa hat that lay on the floor.

‘How about we give it a try?’

I slammed the door on my way out.

Chapter Seven

Susie Wong’s, George Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 1.25 a.m.

I’d ridden the Fat Boy thousands of times – I needed the instant focus that comes over me when I kick-start the engine. I wanted the answers to some questions and the first one was – how drunk was I when I dragged Jack Deans back to my bed? Sadly, I couldn’t have been that bad as I seemed fine to drive – I’d have to just put it down to bad judgement. Again.

I had other things to bother me – I had to get to Malcolm and had been delayed by the festive scenario I’d just left behind in my flat. A chill had settled in my bones; I hoped it could be explained away by the fact that it was minus two degrees. The pavements were slippery and young girls teetered down the street singing Christmas songs.

Following Malcolm’s instructions I headed off to meet Moses en route to the police station. The Christmas lights were up in George Street and it was quite a show, classier than the Blackpool illuminations – I didn’t like to admit it, but they always made me feel good. Moses Tierney, leader of the Dark Angels gang, and my most important client, had opened a new club there. I walked into Susie Wong’s and saw him immediately. As usual he was dressed in full-length black leather coat, leather trousers, black silk shirt and handmade boots. He was leaning on his ebony walking cane surveying the scene when I got there. He raised his cane in salute to me but kept his eyes firmly on the queue. Very few people in Edinburgh know he is the owner; they dismiss the presence of the Dark Angels as the hired muscle, but Moses is shrewd. I’d never underestimate him.

‘Have you got Malcolm’s pills?’

‘They’re just coming.’

The burglary skills of the Dark Angels come in handy sometimes.

‘Business is good,’ I commented, shaking my hair, trying to get the knots out of it. Moses turned to me and said, ‘Appearances can be deceptive,’ before turning away. I followed the line of his eyes. A large queue had formed outside the club where two young Dark Angels were out of uniform. The Dark Angels were a brand. They marketed fear in the city, instantly recognizable from their platinum-white hair and ashen skin. Both sexes wore black from head to toe, including nail varnish. Mascara was optional for the men; immaculate grooming was not. They scared lots of people, but I loved them. Moses had looked after me for years – many of them without me knowing it – and, along with Kailash, had saved my life. He wasn’t a criminal to me; he was a guardian angel.

‘What are you up to?’ I asked. Moses didn’t reply: too busy directing operations. It was a game that we often played – I had to see if I could figure out his scam, even although we both knew that, as soon as I did, I’d have to leave. It was bound to be illegal. I scrutinized the two Dark Angels. They were beautiful – but that was generally the case. The boy was around seventeen and wore a 1920s evening suit, with tails and a white tie. A battered brown leather suitcase was open on a table. It contained his props. He pulled out two scimitars. To prove the sharpness of the swords, he went up to a man in the crowd. Grasping hold of the man’s tie in one slashing movement, he cut it in two. The man’s face fell and the crowd stepped back uneasily. They all agreed it was sharp.

‘He’s going to fix the guy’s tie, isn’t he?’ I was nodding in Moses’ face as I asked.

‘No.’ Moses turned his mouth down and shook his head.

‘That tie is silk, Moses – you can’t let them go around destroying customers’ clothes. In case it hadn’t occurred to you, it’s bad for business.’ My tone of voice was getting higher. Grandad was coaching me to speak low and slow like Ingrid Bergman, but right now I was doing a fair impression of Betty Boop.

‘Do you really think I’d let someone as ugly as that in my club? Anything that happens in the queue will only be to punters that the bouncers won’t let in.’ Moses laughed, as if I was the one who had lost my marbles. The performance was hypnotic. The magician’s assistant had ignored the cold and was wearing a pink tutu. She looked like a malevolent Tinker Bell. It wouldn’t be fair to say that all eyes were on her colleague, because she was a beguiling sight. It was true that eyes, particularly male eyes, were on her, but they definitely weren’t watching the hands that were picking their pockets. It was just as well they wouldn’t miss their wallets until they tried to pay for the taxi home.

‘Here.’ Moses handed me a bottle of pills, which he’d just been given. I shuddered. The news that I was buying drugs would be all over the ‘steamie’; Moses’ reputation as the main supplier of ecstasy was well known. I wanted to rattle them and shout ‘angina pills’, but who would want to believe that?

I’d seen enough. I was tired of the generic Christmas music that was pumping out of the open door of the club and, as usual, Moses’ addiction to crime disheartened me. ‘There’s no need for that petty theft,’ I told him. ‘You’re making enough from your legit businesses.’ I moved to put my helmet on.

‘How do you know what’s enough? Do you have any idea how much it’s cost me to put this place together?’ he said, shrugging his shoulders as if speaking to a child. ‘The fucking smoking ban has made it impossible to turn an honest buck.’ We were staring at the hapless smokers as they talked, huddled around an ineffective patio heater. ‘Even the brothels have been hit – has Kailash not told you?’ He looked into my face, expecting confirmation.

‘We don’t talk about her business,’ I said, tightening my lips to give him a warning look; sadly, subtlety is lost on Moses.

‘Illegal brothels are setting up everywhere,’ he said, as if hoping I’d be sympathetic. He was so wrong, but as usual couldn’t read my face, so continued. ‘They’re bringing in girls from Thailand, Poland, Romania. Sex slaves, Brodie – the bosses don’t pay them a penny!’

‘What do you want me to say? You want my sympathy? Is that it? All brothels are illegal in Scotland, Moses, not just the new ones – the fact that they get called saunas doesn’t give them any legitimacy.’ He looked at me blankly; morality wasn’t something he could understand.

‘You should take an interest, Brodie; after all it’s your inheritance. Well, yours and Connie’s. What have you got her for Christmas?’

He wasn’t remotely interested in what I’d bought Connie for Christmas – which was just as well: he was too interested in his own gift. ‘I’ve imported the latest games console from Japan – it isn’t even out here till next autumn.’

‘Great. I hope it isn’t knocked off,’ I said churlishly. He tried to look hurt – and failed miserably. Moses was anxious for me to go, a sure sign he was up to something. I held my breath and watched where he was deliberately not looking. Then I spied them, just around the corner where a smaller queue had formed in front of Blind Bruce and a new member of the gang. I winced as I looked at Bruce – he, and his sightlessness, were kept around as permanent reminders of what happened to Dark Angels who crossed Moses. He had deliberately blinded Bruce after he had questioned the authority of the Dark Angels’ leader, cut out his eyes as easily as peeling a banana.

‘Who’s that?’ I pointed to the new guy.

‘He’s the chemist.’ The fact that Bruce was now the one holding the street drugs only emphasized that he was an expendable – probably the most expendable – member of the gang. Moses Tierney has a flair for the dramatic, one that’s shared by the rest of the Dark Angels.

‘What’s his name?’ Moses was staring in the opposite direction, which was interesting – maybe he was embarrassed about selling drugs on street corners after all. ‘You know,’ I continued, ‘I’m not going to give up; and if he keeps standing there, I’ll be representing both of them, him and Blind Bruce, in court tomorrow anyway.’ Moses looked disappointed. He was hiding something – we were both sure I didn’t want to know, but it had gone too far now.

‘If I tell you, will you go?’ he asked, and I nodded. ‘His name’s Cal.’ I sniggered and flicked my eyes over the new guy. There was something different about him; for a start I could see the roots of his ginger hair, but he was also wearing a Breitling watch which, from where I was standing, looked authentic. I was surprised to see that he wore handmade brogues, of the type that Grandad wore. Odd.

I had to go. As I opened the throttle along George Street I felt as if strange eyes were upon me. I tried to shake off the uncomfortable feeling and hoped that I was just picking up on the air of panic in the city.

Perhaps I had just outstayed my welcome.

Chapter Eight

George Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 1.25 a.m.

He stopped whistling to himself when he saw her – he knew it was her even before she took her helmet off. When she shook her curls free, he felt that she was toying with him but he was still mesmerized. His jaw was tight and his neck stiffened. He’d show her and then she’d be sorry.

The Christmas lights shone on her face and The Watcher was pleased that Brodie no longer looked tired or edgy. He hoped this situation would continue. Nothing wrong with a false sense of security – he needed a few more days to bring his plan to fruition. The thought of his plan excited him.

Her long auburn hair spilled around her shoulders in a whirl of tendrils. He cursed the fact that she was wearing her leathers but he could still imagine her body underneath them. He had a very good imagination.

He sniffed the cold night air – just on the periphery he imagined he could smell her. It felt as if she had been talking to that delinquent forever. What did she see in him? Didn’t they know what time it was? It was way past a good girl’s bedtime. A slow smile broke out on his face and reached his eyes. Tapping his fingers on the lamppost he bit his lip to cool his impatience – it was not yet his time.

A pretty girl like Brodie McLennan shouldn’t be left alone in a city like this when the Ripper was on the loose. A discreet laugh escaped his lips. Passers-by probably wondered what his private joke was, but it would remain private; that was the whole point of secrets. The Watcher liked secrets.

The Harley growled into life but she didn’t drive off. He was torn; it bothered him when she talked to Moses Tierney but at least he knew where she was. The Watcher knew that Tierney wanted her to leave; he kept looking over Brodie’s shoulder as if he was expecting someone he didn’t want her to see. When she finally did leave, The Watcher would have to find her again and that wasn’t always easy. He held his breath as he saw her drive off into the night. Resentment tightened the knot in his stomach – he couldn’t follow her yet.

Five minutes passed before Tierney’s mystery guest showed up. The Watcher wasn’t pleased. The rumble of a bike engine had quickened his pulse for a moment. She’s come back. But it wasn’t Brodie. Glasgow Joe got off his trike and started snooping.

The Watcher disappeared into the shadows to wait.

Chapter Nine

St Leonards Police Station, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 1.35 a.m.

St Leonards police station was aglow. The artificial Christmas tree twinkled as its lights flashed on and off – it was enough to cause a punter to have an epileptic fit. As usual my timing was impeccable. I was parking the Fat Boy just as the meat wagon arrived with its cargo of petty criminals, herded up from the city streets. Normally, it’s a wonderful opportunity to score new business, but Sergeant Munro was hovering and I knew he would do anything to thwart me. Did that man never sleep?

The lager louts were drunker than usual, filled with Christmas cheer and all manner of illegal substances; there were many well-kent faces in the crowd.

‘Brodie, darlin’ – you look beautiful! Gies a kiss for ma Christmas!’ I could always rely on wee Billy Palmer for an arrest and a compliment; the effect of the latter was shattered seconds later when he threw up in the gutter. The other prisoners laughed and jeered.

‘Better out than in, son, that’s what I always say,’ said Sergeant Munro. Billy Palmer lifted his head and wiped his face on the sleeve of his grubby hoody. Ever the gallant, he blew me a kiss – he used the hand which had L.O.V.E. tattooed on the knuckles.

It was a right rogues’ gallery tonight. I’d represented most of these wasters at one time or another over the years. Shuggy McAllister was dragged along by Sergeant Munro – right through the diced carrots and custard or whatever it was that had been in Billy’s stomach. Shuggy was a small-time crook who had ideas above his station, and was fussy about his appearance. Lifting his foot, he tried to wipe the sole of his shoe on Billy Palmer’s back.

‘Palmer – ya dirty wee bastard!’ McAllister shouted. ‘D’you ken how much these fuckin’ boots cost me?’ The officers in charge weren’t expecting it. McAllister broke free and kicked Billy Palmer full in the face. There was a crack, and then the sound of a jaw breaking carried far into the night. It was always like that; the atmosphere could turn on a five-pence piece. It was always wise to watch your back.

‘I’m sorry – I didnae mean it, man!’ Billy Palmer screamed his apology through bloodstained teeth as he cowered in the gutter. His eyes held mine, beseeching me to get him out, but he was already on bail so it was Christmas in Saughton Prison for him. I didn’t think Santa would bring him anything other than another beating from Shuggy McAllister.

The situation was quickly under control. The noise had alerted Malcolm who had been inside the station keeping warm. Sergeant Munro had made him a cup of tea. Their association went back years, to the times when Malcolm himself was getting lifted for lewd and libidinous behaviour. Malcolm teetered out on the toes of his patent pumps, watching where he stepped and ignoring the fracas – it was nothing he hadn’t seen many times before.

‘Honey! You came!’ In the best tradition of a drag queen he extended his arms and hugged me, holding on as if he’d never let go. I didn’t mind; he smelled a lot better than Billy Palmer.

‘Come here,’ I said to him gently. ‘Let me see what damage that bastard has done this time.’ I pulled Malcolm under the nearest streetlamp. Gingerly, I touched his blacked eye. ‘What’s this – has your mascara run?’ I ran my fingertips over his swollen lips; tears of shame filled his eyes.

‘I was going to say that you could do with some leeches – but I forgot you married one.’ Malcolm is a Beaton, a family known throughout Scottish history as healers. As he himself said many times, ‘Life in Glasgow was tough for a pansy.’ He went to Amsterdam and honed his skills, patching up people who preferred not to go to a hospital. That’s how he met Kailash.

It was hard to tell that he was upset, apart from the tears, because his face had been so frozen by Botox and Restylane fillers. Blowing his nose noisily into an immaculate handkerchief – Malcolm prided himself on his whites – he began to speak. I tried to listen, even though I’d heard it all before.

‘This guy has no right to hit you,’ I said, when he drew breath.

‘Brodie, he doesn’t mean it. I probably started it anyway and annoyed him with something I said or did.’ He tapped me on the shoulder, trying to soothe my anger. The more I looked into his broken face, the angrier I got. He’d tried to patch it up with heavy foundation and concealer, but that just made it worse.

‘He’s insulting you, Malcolm, not the other way round. Fat bastard that he is – he’s never been any good.’ I shrugged Malcolm’s hand off me; he had to be made to see that this was unacceptable.

‘I’m sorry for calling you out, Brodie, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. He gets loaded then he loses his temper, that’s all. This time the neighbours called the police.’ Malcolm kept patting his hand on the left side of his chest, checking his heart to see if it was still beating – perhaps he thought it was broken. Pulling his arm, I led him back into St Leonards.

‘Just take a deep breath and relax. I’ll check with Sergeant Munro and maybe they’ll let me see him.’

Sergeant Munro busied himself with paperwork. It was a game he liked to play with me: how long could he ignore the daft wee lassie? He was the only one enjoying it.

‘Sergeant Munro,’ I said, smiling – we may have had a longstanding association but neither of us liked it. I even lifted and lowered my lashes very slowly. I’d read in Cosmopolitan that men find it irresistible; the journalist who wrote that clearly hadn’t come across the good sergeant.

‘Miss McLennan.’ He stared down at the paperwork. ‘Your colleague, one Mr Edward Gibb, has already visited your custodies and you’re not getting to see Billy Palmer for another six hours.’ He smiled ingratiatingly – he liked to smile at me when he was winning.

‘I wanted to check the status of Derek Brown. I—’

He interrupted me, unable to hide his delight; he didn’t even have to check his paperwork. ‘Derek Brown has asked for another solicitor. In fact, he said – wait a minute, I wrote it down somewhere … I quote: “If that miserable bitch Brodie McLennan comes here, tell her I wouldn’t let her represent me if she was the last lawyer in hell.”’ Sergeant Munro grinned but Dismal Derek’s insults were like water off a duck’s back to me. However, I needed to get more information so that Malcolm could sleep tonight.

‘I take it he’s appearing in court tomorrow? Who’s his lawyer?’ If I found that out then Malcolm could speak to them in the morning.

‘Ricky Gordon,’ said Munro.

A snort of laughter came out of my nose. It was quite embarrassing, but must have just been nerves. ‘Ricky Gordon doesn’t do criminal work because of his stutter.’

‘Well, he’s doing it tomorrow – I’d get there early or God knows what time you’ll be out of Court One. I’ll get Malcolm a taxi – he needs his bed,’ he said.

No man is all bad, even Sergeant Munro, but there were a few that seemed to be devoid of anything positive – the Ripper, for one. The atmosphere in the station was tense; all the officers were working overtime trying to catch the Ripper, yet the people in the cells were the usual suspects. A young Polish police officer shouted that Malcolm’s taxi was here. Lothian and Borders police needed foreign nationals as constables to deal with the immigrants – not that I’d ever represented a Polish plumber. I wondered if it was just another PR exercise by the Scottish government.

My nemesis, DI Bancho, appeared, holding the door open for Malcolm. He looked like shit: heading up the investigation into the Ripper murders was taking its toll. I decided it wasn’t just Sergeant Munro who could have his fun – baiting Duncan Bancho always made me feel better.

Chapter Ten

St Leonards Police Station, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 2 a.m.

The five dead girls stared at me and I stared back.

Lips were silenced and eyes deadened. They all wanted to know one thing. Who will speak up for me?

What could I do? I wasn’t their lawyer. The dead don’t have lawyers. But though I’d gone into the operations room originally to goad Bancho, the dead girls had silenced me. I felt as if a freezing-cold cloak had been thrown on my back, and I shivered. The silent mouths asked me a new question: What will you do if he’s caught? Will you speak for him?

The operations room was a mess. Bancho’s cheeks were heavy and drawn, his skin bleached by exhaustion. He walked up to the wall that held the chilling photographs and tapped it reverentially. ‘They talk to me too,’ he muttered, scratching his head and turning to make some coffee. I didn’t bother to deny what he’d said. Waiting for the kettle to boil, he massaged his temples, trying to ease the pressure that was building. All the time he gazed unblinkingly at that wall. The wastepaper basket was overflowing, and an empty box of paracetamol was on the top. If I’d had any I would have given him some of mine. Wonders never cease – me feeling sorry for DI Duncan Bancho.

The desk was littered with crumpled paper that Bancho had discarded. Police reports, details of autopsies, newspaper clippings, buff-coloured folders with spurious leads – everything was laid out for the world to see. If it was an indication of the state of his mind, then no wonder he had headaches. I wanted to help. In spite of my revulsion, I wandered back over to the wall. The families of the victims who could be traced were located in Eastern Europe, Romania, Poland and the Ukraine. A map on the far right contained red dots to indicate the place of origin of the victim. Another map of the city of Edinburgh contained black dots to show where the bodies had been found. To my untrained eye, there seemed to be no obvious link.

For identification purposes, the relatives had been asked to provide a recent photograph. The before shots were more distressing than the after ones. The beautiful faces were arranged in chronological order according to the date of death, not the date they were found. These girls hadn’t been reported missing. No one was looking for them – the discovery of the bodies was more a case of luck than judgement. A macabre beauty pageant was lined up on the wall. The girls had taken time to look pretty for their days at weddings, parties, graduations – and they did. I felt old just looking at them. All the victims were redheads, all different shades of red, and haircuts of every description.

Catalina was the first victim, found on 3 July; her hair was a cascade of curls. Florenta, whose body was discovered on 24 July, had her auburn hair cut short into an elfin style that emphasized her eyes; whereas Bianca, whose body was located on 20 August, had hair that fell poker-straight to her waist. Two of the victims had no before photographs. In direct contrast, straight below the glamour shots, the bare, smashed bodies of the murdered girls had been photographed one last time. Blu-Tack held the unnerving, inexcusable gallery to the wall. There wasn’t much room left.

‘If the Ripper continues with his killing spree, they’re going to have to give you a bigger room,’ I muttered.

Bancho had written the girl’s name and age, if known, where and when the body was found, and the pathologist’s estimated time of death. Catalina had lain undiscovered for months. The Ripper, annoyed at being ignored by the police, had cut the index finger from Bianca, the third victim, and placed it under Detective Bancho’s windscreen wiper. When Bancho had been given the case months earlier, there had been a fanfare of publicity – he was Lothian and Borders’ blue-eyed boy because he’d been seconded to the FBI for six months. He was trained in profiling techniques, but this was his first serial killer.

The two unknown victims were particularly heartrending. Their families didn’t even know that they should be grieving. In the last six months, five bodies had been found, in various locations. After the first one, the Ripper made sure to place the bodies where a member of the public would find them. Now, he was becoming increasingly reckless.

‘You must have learned something with the FBI,’ I said. My shoulders hunched instinctively and it sounded like a criticism. It wasn’t the tone I was looking for, but old habits die hard …

‘The FBI have unsolved cases too,’ he said snippily. ‘The Ripper has chosen these girls carefully. At the moment only he knows the reason – but he’s marked them with a signature that keeps changing.’ DI Bancho turned to look at me. ‘He hunts his prey – knows all about them. At the moment he’s scouring the brothels of Leith but, as I’ve said, the bastard keeps changing.’

DI Bancho and I stood in front of the photographs, a heavy silence between us as we stared at the girls.

‘What’s his signature … you’ve said it’s changing … how did it start?’

‘With Catalina you can see her body is badly decomposed, but he’s cut off her feet and hands to stop her escaping. Then he sewed her eyelids open using heavy black twine. Florenta got the same treatment, but look here.’ He tapped an eight-by-ten photograph. ‘He tore her tongue out by the root. Finally he cut her throat from ear to ear.’

‘What about this one?’ An unknown girl, her mouth twisted into an obscene scream, stared at me.

‘I told you he varies it slightly … he’s taken the skin off her left knee. And this one …’ He pointed to the other unidentified victim. Her breast had been cut open and her heart removed. Bancho coughed. ‘The media didn’t dub him the Ripper – that’s what he calls himself. These aspects of his signature, along with the torn-out tongue, are taken directly from the history books.

‘There’s also speculation that the original Jack the Ripper was a Mason; he scrawled an incriminating message on the wall at the murder scene. The chief constable at the time rubbed it out and that’s why he was never caught. It’s no secret there are some pretty powerful Masons in this city. How often have there been calls for public declaration of membership among police and the judiciary? You can see why I am trying to keep this secret – especially after your recent publicity stunt.’

He offered me a Mars bar from a stash of sweeties in his desk and I couldn’t resist. I always use food as comfort; it was late and we were both sick and exhausted. A sigh of weariness escaped from his lips as we stared at the dead girls. Christmas was coming but to Bancho and me, the season of goodwill had never felt further away.

‘What do they look like to you?’ His finger reached out to touch the portrait of Bianca Kowalski, the third body to be found. ‘They’re all redheads for a start – foreign—’

‘So far …’ he said, interrupting me. I looked back at the gallery of death, recalling the training that Patch, my Professor of Forensics, had given me.

‘Good nutrition in childhood has strengthened her bone structure – see the Slavic high cheekbones – but her mother worked in the fields, I’d guess. Her dress is cheap but she’s copied it from something like American Vogue. It’s bloody sad – she was the prettiest girl in the village, probably dreamed of something more. I bet that all she wanted was to get out, away from the arranged marriage, anything to escape. Jesus, the price was too high,’ I said the final words under my voice. I had to admit that it made me sad and the words slipped out as I thought about the girls.

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ Bancho’s shoulders slumped, and he turned away from the girls to place his cup down.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I thought the papers had named him the Ripper for no good reason … but I suppose he is following Jack the Ripper’s signature to an extent.’

‘The media would have a feeding frenzy over the tongues,’ said Bancho, shuddering. ‘I mean, they’re torn out by the root … well, it’s obviously difficult so he helps the separation along using a serrated knife … he wants it to look like it’s torn out.’

I turned to another part of the wall, on which was a printed, blown-up image of a text message. I’d heard about it at court, but I thought it was an urban myth. Unfortunately, for Bancho, it was not.

Hi i’m jack c ur still having no luck finding me

i respect u duncan but ur boys are letting u down

u have no chance of catching me

warn the whores i will strike again and again

‘How did that go down in the canteen?’ I asked, turning to face him.

‘Depends who you speak to,’ he said, scratching his head. ‘Some of the older men are saying that I sent it to myself.’

‘Meaning that they think you’re a big-headed bastard?’ I said. It raised a weak smile on his face.

‘That, I can handle. Others, including most of my superiors, think I’m being taken for a ride. I’ve overheard whispers as I pass – “He’s just like that detective in charge of the Yorkshire Ripper murders in the eighties – the fool’s being hoaxed by some prankster.” I swear the next one to make comments like that gets punched, no matter how many stripes on their shoulders … Fortunately, they can’t pull me off the case because of the fuss they made about me going on that profiling course at Quantico.’ DI Bancho tightened his jaw, and rolled his tongue along his lips.

‘Maybe both schools of thought are right,’ I said. It was out before I could give it any thought. Christ, even Bancho needed some sympathy. He rolled his eyes like he gave a fuck about my opinion.

Bancho’s mobile rang and I strained to eavesdrop. I could make out parts – the constable on the other end was excited and shouting loudly. Bancho made noncommittal noises and tried to calm the man down. ‘I need you to stay calm, Constable McLeod. We’ve had tip-offs before … Yes, we’ve had what we thought were reliable tip-offs before too.’ Bancho sighed and punched his ‘loudspeaker’ option so that I could hear the words he had probably heard many times before. Bancho’s ego was such that he felt the need to justify himself, particularly to me, one of his harshest critics.

‘But this is the real thing, boss. We can’t move on him for a couple of hours because he won’t be in place until then – but, after that, it’s fucking guaranteed. You’ll have your man. The Ripper’s yours … boss.’

‘I’ll be with you in an hour,’ Bancho said, closing his phone. Despite his words to the other man, he rubbed his hands together. How many times has he really been down this road before? I wondered, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

Chapter Eleven

St Leonards Police Station, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 3 a.m.

DI Bancho couldn’t wait to get rid of me; he practically threw me out of the operations room. I assumed that the detective inspector didn’t want to make a phone call to his boss until he heard me clumping up the stairs in my heavy bike boots. I jumped up and down on the bottom step and he thought I’d left. He hadn’t even bothered to close the door, although in his defence the office was down in the bowels of St Leonards and it was very late.

I peered in the open door. He was holding his breath. Opening his bottom drawer, he pulled out a can of Arrid Extra-Dry, sprayed each armpit and sighed. Whatever it was he wanted to do, he was putting it off. He looked nervous, his forehead shiny with sweat.

Bancho’s eyes kept returning to the phone, as if he was afraid to make the call. Who could have that effect on him – the chief constable? Maybe he had to phone in the details of the search. If I’d had my way he’d be serving a seven-year stretch in Saughton Prison this Christmas, and if Bancho had won, I’d be eating my turkey in Cornton Vale with the rest of the women prisoners. It was no wonder we could barely be civil to each other. We’d both been wrong but neither of us was prepared to forgive and forget. No, I didn’t want to admit I owed Duncan Bancho any favours. Maybe we were experiencing something of a truce but there was a long way to go before we buried the hatchet. His fingers trembled as he reached out to make the call. Stress, nerves or drink? I couldn’t blame him if he had a tipple off duty; he was under a lot of pressure to deliver the Ripper. His call was answered immediately. It was on loudspeaker so that Bancho could use his computer and what I heard next was one reason why you should never poke your nose in where it doesn’t belong.

‘Glasgow Joe … it’s me … We’ve got the bastard. We’re gonna get him today at first light.’ DI Bancho panted as I held my breath, trying to keep quiet – he played with the cord on the telephone. He waited, presumably for praise; none came. Instead, Joe embarked on his own interrogation.

‘What was Brodie doing there? Why didn’t she leave with Malcolm? If she was with you – I hope you weren’t daft enough to show her the site.’ There was more than a hint of a threat in Glasgow Joe’s voice. What website? I was now going to make it my business to know.

DI Bancho didn’t question how he got his information – it was one of the things that made Glasgow Joe unique. ‘Do you think I’m stupid?’ DI Bancho asked. Joe didn’t answer him. Bancho turned from the phone and stared at his computer. I couldn’t see what was on the screen.

‘Are you on “The Hobbyist” now?’ Joe asked, accusingly. ‘It was part of our deal you’re supposed to keep track of site traffic and note their threads.’

‘I’ve got a WPC on it full time. Remember, I was the one who told you that Brodie was being mentioned.’

Joe was silent.

I wanted to leap out of my hiding place there and then. Why was I on some website and why it was so important that the police were spending scarce resources monitoring it? Not to mention why these two bastards were keeping me in the dark about it. But I would learn more if I kept quiet. It would also have been slightly embarrassing to have been caught spying on Bancho.

‘There’s no more mention of her – I’ve just checked. Nothing since that first mention at the end of July,’ Bancho wheedled.

‘You shouldn’t need reminding – that site is supposed to be checked at least every two hours. These guys have time on their hands right now – most of them have finished their work for Christmas and their wives are too busy shopping to notice they’re not there.’

The edge was taken off the detective inspector’s high spirits. He stared at his unpolished shoes, it was lucky that he couldn’t see his face in them; his skin was flushed with embarrassment. Bancho hesitated before he flipped open the buff-coloured file in front of him.

‘I’ve got the photograph in front of me. It’s from the usual source; I think it’s enough to go on. Why do you think he posted it to you at the Rag Doll?’

‘I dunno. He obviously knows I’m involved – I’ve been hanging out in every brothel in Leith.’

‘Not true – you’ve been in every slave den in Leith,’ DI Bancho said as he walked towards the wall and pinned up another photograph. I couldn’t get a clear view of it, but it was obviously a man and it looked professional, not knocked off on a camera phone. The first photograph of the Ripper. I decided to wait until Bancho went to the toilet and sneak in to see the monster. He hesitated, glanced over his shoulder and then put the image back in his pocket. I retreated to the shadows.

‘Has Jack Deans been snooping?’ Joe’s voice was casual, as if he didn’t care what the answer was. Bancho didn’t look as if he was fooled – and neither was I. But I was surprised.

‘He’s been in touch – tried to pretend he left Darfur because the Sudanese government was going to throw him out – the truth is that sly bastard couldn’t keep away from the biggest domestic news story in years. I hear he’s still chasing awards,’ said Bancho.

‘Vain bastard!’ Joe grunted. I could hear he wanted to ask more; maybe he was sniffing around to see if Jack and I were together. The reception was bad and I knew that Joe would have taken this call outside. He couldn’t risk anyone knowing he was a police informer. Regardless of the circumstances, that would be the end of his reputation in Edinburgh’s criminal underworld – there were no exceptions to this most basic rule, even if he did like to keep a foot in both camps.

I could hear tiredness in his voice; he’d been running around trying to keep me safe. I knew the way his mind worked and felt like a bitch. He would see the threat; every victim would wear my face.

‘Are you properly prepared?’ Bancho asked.

‘Calm down, we’ll nail the bastard. Every criminal messes up. It’s a myth serial killers are smart – how difficult is it to top a wee Romanian girl?’

‘But it’s been in the papers, Joe. Apart from this photograph, there have been no real leads. The photo could be dodgy. How come this guy has the camera at the exact moment?’ Bancho coughed. ‘It makes you think.’

Joe was right, the only reason serial killers got away with murder was faulty witness reports.

‘You remember our deal?’ Joe’s voice rang out in the dim room. Most men were too frightened to renege on any deal with him, and Bancho was no exception.

‘It’s not that easy to just give you five minutes alone with the Ripper – people will notice his injuries.’

‘I promise I’ll be careful, although I don’t feel good about this dawn raid. The Ripper’s not dangling on our hook yet – in my opinion your overtime budget isn’t going to get cut in the near future.’

‘You’re filling me with confidence.’

‘If you see Brodie – make sure she’s safe. The snow’s started and if I know her she’ll be on the Fat Boy. Don’t let—’ Glasgow Joe didn’t get a chance to finish.

‘I’ll pick you up at the casino in an hour – and by the way, I’m not a nursemaid.’

Bancho’s eyes flickered; it had been a long time since he’d interrupted Joe; he switched the phone off and grabbed his coat. As he left I pushed myself into a corner.

I should have known by now to expect anything of Joe, but even I was stunned by the extent of his collusion and involvement with Bancho, not to mention Bancho’s subservient attitude. Who was running this investigation?

I ran up the stairs as if there was no tomorrow. For the dead girls – there wasn’t.

Chapter Twelve

Edinburgh’s Old Town Sunday 23 December, 3.30 a.m.

I lifted my face and let the fat snowflakes fall onto it, feeling each one cold and clean upon my skin. I was worn out and felt like crap. I stuck my tongue out to catch a speck; it melted immediately but didn’t make me feel any cleaner. The cobbles were covered with a layer of white; it gave the streets an innocence that I’d lost long ago.

There’s nothing like confronting death to fire up your will to live. The roads were lethal and I didn’t fancy spending Christmas in an intensive care unit. Lavender would kill me if nothing else. Snow lay on the Fat Boy too. He was staying where he was, and I’d have to get a taxi home. Easier said than done – the clubs were emptying and the narrow streets of the Old Town were filled with prime examples of binge Britain. Young girls staggered down the road arm in arm, thinking that there was safety in numbers. It made sense to me in the absence of any other option, so I fell in behind them as they lurched and reeled up St Mary’s Street.

The sound of a horn made me jump. My heart raced as I turned and saw Bancho kerb crawling. Putting on my best smile, I hopped in – he’d obviously been bullied into this. As I’d overheard, he was on his way to pick up Joe at the casino to go on the dawn raid. A blast of warm air counteracted the chilliness of his welcome. Glancing at him out of the side of my eye, I put the seat belt on. The wheels skidded as Bancho drove off in the direction of my house; he was obviously in a rush to get rid of me.

We stopped at the top of St Mary’s Street, and a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature ran down my spine.

‘What did you think of the City Wall verdict … did it make you proud?’ Bancho asked, exhaling noisily. He watched as I gave my reply.

‘No.’

On the corner with the Royal Mile sat the City Wall pub, implicated in one of Edinburgh’s most notorious murders. Two young girls, Alice Parks and Jane Derren, had been bound and raped then murdered after they had left the pub. The police had investigated the case for thirty years until advances in DNA techniques allowed them to bring in Andrew Saunders.

‘Did you think Alice and Jane got justice?’

‘No.’

‘You’re bloody right. We brought her killer to court; he was a convicted double killer and paedophile – yet he was found not guilty. Nine days of evidence, and thirty years of painstaking detective work down the toilet … why did the prosecutor close the case without putting the DNA evidence to the jury?’

There was no answer. All I knew was the law must be above suspicion – which was why I’d asked if the judge was a Mason in the earlier case. People make mistakes – there must be no suggestion it’s not a mistake.

‘You know what the tragedy is, Brodie – we had the evidence to nail him … It just wasn’t put forward in court.’

Bancho drove at speed. He couldn’t leave the scene of the City Wall fast enough.

‘It could happen again, Brodie. When I catch the Ripper there’s always a chance he could walk free because of a smartass lawyer – we both know that lawyer could be you. Would you sleep at night? Would you?’

He was looking at the City Wall pub in the rear-view mirror. His eyes showed that the old case still haunted him. ‘Nobody cares.’ He ran his fingers over his mouth as soon as he spoke; perhaps wishing he could take the words back. ‘We couldn’t get justice for Alice and Jane and they belonged to the city – what chance does someone like Bianca have?’

His nicotine-stained fingers kept pulling on his hair, and clumps came away in his hand. I hoped for Bancho’s sake that this alarming moulting had occurred because he hadn’t brushed his hair and not because of a failure to control his stress; otherwise he’d be as bald as a coot come Christmas morning.

‘No one cares about these girls,’ he said again. ‘Not their families, government, no one.’ His voice was rising. I could see he wasn’t taking me home. That was unfortunate, because I wanted to check out this ‘Hobbyist’ website as soon as possible.

‘The media just think these girls are prostitutes – even if they were that’s no excuse – but they were double-crossed, Brodie; told that they were coming to the West to go to college or to model, and then ending up as sex slaves.’ Bubbles of spit were forming at the edges of his mouth as he turned into Danube Street and stopped outside Kailash’s establishment. He leaned over and opened the door for me to get out. The snow was still falling heavily and I wasn’t even home yet. ‘Do you know that the American government doesn’t have a charter against people trafficking? You’d think Uncle Sam of all administrations would be against slavery – well, they all speak a good game but that’s as far as it goes. Bush said in 2002 that there would be zero tolerance and a bill was drafted, but defence contractors objected. The British government is just as bad.’

I thought he was going to leave me alone in the snow; I was bored and just wanted to get home – but no such luck. He got out of the car and grabbed my arm, dragging me to the front door of Kailash’s place. I don’t choose to frequent my mother’s brothel or her casino, but Bancho wasn’t giving me any choice in the matter.

It was a while before the door was answered, which gave me plenty of time to inspect the Christmas wreath in front of me. It was extravagant, expensive and unique – just like my mother. I was touching the blue thistles that were intertwined with holly, when Kailash opened the door.

‘Well, well, well – to what do I owe the pleasure?’ Kailash’s tone was sarcastic and acerbic. She wasn’t talking to Bancho, she was talking to me. It was a source of great annoyance to her that I had difficulty accepting her choice of profession. I’d hoped that when Connie went to a day school in Edinburgh, Kailash would change her ways. She certainly didn’t need the money. Her casino and property developing companies more than paid for her hairdressing bill, which wasn’t insignificant. Kailash said that I just didn’t understand her – kids were supposed to say that to their parents, but, actually, she was spot on.

My heart sank as she pulled me inside the large Georgian hallway. With one swift kick of her Manolos, she slammed the door shut in DI Bancho’s face.

Quality time with Mummy.

Just what I needed from Santa.

Chapter Thirteen

Danube Street Casino, Stockbridge, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 4.10 a.m.

I knew that my scuffed bike boots were leaving dirty marks on the plush red carpet, but I guessed that Bancho’s banging on the front door had been much more unsettling for the high rollers. Anything that took their minds off the tables was bad for business, and that made it Joe’s business.

The hum of conversation and the shuffle of cards had slowed due to the late hour. It didn’t take too long before Glasgow Joe was at my side. He’d approached Kailash with an idea for online gaming; the costs were low, and their profits phenomenal. Against all odds they worked well together.

We weren’t really back to chatting – a few minutes spent on a muddy pitch watching Connie couldn’t make up for what had happened; Joe’s a proud man who didn’t take rejection well and that was without him knowing that I’d slept with Jack Deans. Again.

He blamed me. Well, that’s always easier. We’d got on great until he wanted more – Joe always wants more.

I pulled a battered black-leather wallet out of my jacket and handed him £500 in fifty-quid notes. I always kept a sizeable quantity of spare cash on me – it made me feel safe. Growing up we never had grubby fivers lying around. Joe crooked his index finger and called over a waitress. He placed the money on her tray, and, after a few moments, she brought back the chips. As I took them, Joe quietly suggested that I try out the poker table, before heading for the front door where Bancho was still creating merry hell. I turned and watched as the door was opened – if the policeman was surprised to see Glasgow Joe in full Highland evening dress, he didn’t show it.

‘Have you got a warrant?’ Joe asked, his tone cool and measured. I wasn’t fooled. Despite apparent hostilities, these two were working together, creating a convincing charade to fool the rest of us.

‘No. It’s a friendly visit – I can get one, though, if that’s your last word on it,’ replied Bancho.

Their play-acting was pathetic. Joe reached out into the cold night air and hauled Bancho in off the street. It looked impressive, especially to the punters who were growing a little uneasy. Manhandling the police in front of witnesses was an Oscar-winning bit of theatre.

I wandered through the casino. It was packed with judges, football players, businessmen and wealthy tourists, all desperate to get a last bit of freedom before being shackled to their families for Christmas. I craned my neck looking around for someone – a friend, an acquaintance, but there was no one, so I turned my attention to the tables. I knew that Joe was probably watching me on the surveillance system. The clientele watched me too as I walked around. I contravened every dress code the casino had – my leathers were filthy, still covered in midges from the summer, but the pliable leather clung to my arse in what I’d told myself was a most appealing way. Maybe that would distract them all and I’d walk out of here a millionaire.

Pulling out a chair, I joined the poker table playing Texas Hold ’Em. In for a penny, I thought as I took my jacket off too. I wasn’t wearing a bra because I hadn’t exactly dressed up when I left the flat, and the only one that wasn’t grey was lying on the bedroom floor after Jack had taken it off me, but maybe that was a good thing – more distraction for the saddos around the table.

I kept my face blank as I clasped my cards up from the table. Pocket-Rockets – a couple of aces. I was in good shape. The player across from me, in a bespoke evening suit, white tie, and with the obligatory female companion looking over his shoulder, chucked another grand into the pot. The dealer knew my credit was good at his table, so I decided to play on – thirty minutes with Bancho had reminded me to live for today, but I’d make this my last hand, win or lose. To my surprise, the other player at the table raised too. His toe tapped constantly, he wore a cowboy hat and was difficult to read. In spite of his porky butcher’s fingers, he shuffled his chips deftly.

‘Two thousand more,’ he said, evening off the two stacks of black chips and pushing them into the pot. It was the right bet and it should have scared the third player away. Unfortunately for him, the third player was me and I was just riled.

‘I’m in,’ I said, pushing one pile of eight black chips into the pot.

‘You’re bluffing,’ the fat cowboy puffed, gulping air as his eyes flicked over me.

‘Play and see,’ I shrugged. I was sure that Joe would be laughing out loud if he was watching. The fat man looked convinced that all he had to do was push in his remaining chips, and he’d take the hand.

‘Yours,’ he snorted, flicking his cards over. A pair of sixes.

‘You were right,’ I told him as I flicked over my two aces. A roar went up as the dealer pushed a mountain of chips my way.

A bit of luck at last – I wondered how long it would hang around for?

Chapter Fourteen

Danube Street Casino, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 4.40 a.m.

Glasgow Joe leaned in to kiss me as he stopped to check that I was all right. The money in my pocket made everything all right. He swept me up and turned me round as I threw the cash in the air. The notes whirled around us like a snowstorm – I was Kailash’s daughter. I knew how to put on a good show for the punters.

Bancho came out of the security room. With only an hour to go before his planned raid he was edgy. The smile slid from my face, and I bent down to pick up the notes, carefully collecting them and putting them in the old wallet.

‘Get Kailash,’ barked Bancho. ‘I want to see the dungeons – rumour is that she’s got slaves.’

‘Arsehole – come back with a warrant,’ I hissed.

‘What does Kailash want?’ Joe turned around to find her. She was leaning against a colonnade, her jet hair curled expensively around her shoulders, and a sheer black Dolce&Gabbana dress clinging to every curve.

‘I’ve never denied owning slaves, Duncan, but there’s quite a waiting list. See Malcolm; he’ll put your name down.’ I was jumping from foot to foot, but Kailash locked eyes with me and it was a look that told me to calm down. ‘There are a lot of exhibitionists in tonight – the thrill of being observed by a real policeman means I can push the price up,’ she purred. She turned on her heels – he was being given one chance at what he wanted. If he failed to take it, Kailash would shut the doors faster than a Venus flytrap. Everyone concerned knew there was no way Bancho would get a warrant to inspect these premises – the powers that be had no idea who the police would find there or what the tabloids would make of it; they themselves kept Kailash out of the courts because they spent so much time there.

On the other hand, the Ripper’s victims seemed to be plucked from the city’s disenfranchised community of foreign, probably illegally trafficked prostitutes. Sex slavery. Perhaps, despite their unconventional ‘partnership’, Bancho didn’t trust Joe to check out Kailash’s operation with the same dedication he applied to brothels in Leith.

‘I’m coming!’ Glasgow Joe shouted. ‘I hate watching these fucking deviants getting their arses skelped,’ he muttered under his breath, and scratched his head as if such behaviour was beyond his comprehension. I knew it was. Joe’s sexual taste didn’t run along these lines; he was strictly a meat and two veg kind of guy. He grabbed my arm. ‘Don’t act smart down there – Bancho’s been mouthing off to the authorities that Kailash has sex slaves. I’ve told him he’s wrong but she feels insulted. She’s ready to knife him, Brodie, so we don’t need you shit-stirring as well. I don’t think it would be so easy to get Kailash off another murder charge.’

I pulled free. But I went along with their game, even though they didn’t know I was in on it. ‘It wasn’t so easy for me the first time,’ I growled, rather content that we were now back on an even keel and old habits of bitching at each other were to the fore again.

The dungeons were full tonight with ‘customers’ cramming in one more whipping before the traditions of Christmas demanded that they stay with their families. The dungeons were rooms with bars on them like the type you would see in a Wild West jail. It was a great design. Most fetishists were happy to share their perversion within their private world, and Kailash could check the employees were safe.

‘What’s the score here?’ I asked, pointing to a middle-aged, lumpy woman who was painting liquid latex onto a man. ‘And what’s with the straws?’ The man had thin tubes for breathing protruding from his nose. The dominatrix overheard me and proceeded to demonstrate by putting her thumbs over the bottom of the straws. Her victim, who was in chains, his hands manacled above his head, struggled. She took her boot and jammed the pointed heel into his bare foot. I winced. The man screamed silently, unable to make a noise because of the gag.

‘That’s enough, Betsy,’ Glasgow Joe warned as the male slave passed out.

‘This is what I mean, Joe – how can you say she doesn’t have more information about foreign sex slaves?’ Bancho hissed.

‘Because Betsy is married to a solicitor from Melrose – he’s a misogynistic bastard according to her, so she comes up once a month and spends his money here in the shops during the day and then helps out here at night, earning a bit of pin money that he knows nothing about. The slaves are quite happy to cooperate with Betsy.’ Glasgow Joe sounded tired as he explained matters.

‘Anything you need to ask about – ask me,’ said Kailash, who was standing behind Bancho long before he had any idea that she was there.

‘That girl there looks Eastern European,’ he said, squinting his eyes at her. The one he was talking about was a stunning dominatrix who would have been at least six feet tall in her fishnet-stocking soles. Tonight she wore over-the-knee latex boots with seven-inch heels. I winced when I saw the nipple clamps.

‘Contessa.’ Kailash beckoned the girl, who flicked the black eight-tongued whip over her client’s butt before she left the cell. He squealed and I looked twice at him. I thought I recognized him, but it was hard to make out his features. He squirmed in the corner, presenting his naked, flaccid butt – Joe shuddered and I couldn’t blame him.

Contessa, gripping the whip, marched over to her employer. ‘He wants a word with you,’ Kailash inclined her head in DI Bancho’s direction, and then started to laugh softly with Joe. I’d met her before – she was notoriously bad-tempered and born for this sort of work. It was unlikely that any attempt at questioning by the police would go down well.

But the Ripper had pulled off what years of community vice work had failed to produce: cooperation. A sex worker from Eastern Europe she may be, but Contessa knew that this time police officers, even ones as smelly, dishevelled and desperate as Bancho, were on her side against a common enemy. They huddled in a corner as I waited for the explosion that never came; instead of kicking the detective’s butt (which I was secretly hoping for), Contessa kissed Bancho on both cheeks before returning to her dungeon.

‘I’m done here,’ Bancho said, walking up the stairs. Turning he faced me, ‘And you? You can walk home.’

Silently, I wished them good luck at catching the Ripper.

Chapter Fifteen

Princes Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 3 p.m.

The boots bit into my ankles, and it was with throbbing feet that I puttered over to the side, hands flailing wildly as I tried to stay upright on the ice. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl were singing ‘Fairytale of New York’, and it rang out around Princes Street Gardens. Connie had dragged me down to Winter Wonderland – the most romantic outdoor ice-skating rink in the world.

I’d found out that ice-skating is a dangerous business as soon as I’d started. I was certain I’d cracked my coccyx from the last fall. Jack was waving a Kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut all wrapped up in a hot-dog bun – the temptation was too much to ignore. Unable to stop, my body slammed off the barriers, every bone rattled. Winded, I reached out and snatched the sausage out of his hand.

‘Mind my fingers.’ Jack flapped his hands theatrically in the air. ‘I got mustard and ketchup – I don’t know which you prefer.’ I didn’t get the chance to find out; the hot dog was teetering on the edge of my lips when a shower of ice came down on top of us. ‘Connie!’ I screamed as she dug her blades into the ice and came to a sliding stop, shaving the top layer of the rink off and depositing most of it on Jack Deans – the residue ended up on my hot dog.

‘Whaaat?’ Her eyes widened with innocence as Jack wiped the melting chips of ice from his face. ‘When you said a friend was coming Christmas shopping with us, I thought you meant Joe – why is he here?’ Connie turned her back on Jack, ignoring him completely as she continued whining in my face. ‘He’s not coming to Lavender’s wedding, is he? Promise me he’s not coming – cos I don’t want Glasgow Joe to be in a mood, I’ve been looking forward to this wedding for ages.’

‘Lavender only set the date six weeks ago,’ I told her. (I didn’t want to point out that we had all only known her for about five minutes; it might sound like I was surprised at how little time it had taken her to become part of the group. Truth be told, I was – and a little jealous, as I wasn’t that sort of person myself.) Taking advantage of her change in mood, I was in the process of escaping, gingerly. I inched along the barrier; luckily, Jack walked beside me – anywhere he was, Connie was sure not to follow.

‘Ten quid says that by the end of today she’ll be eating out of my hand,’ he whispered to me. We both half turned and watched her skating backwards, arms stretched out like the wings of an aeroplane, the point of her tongue poking through her teeth in studied concentration. He’d raised one bet I didn’t want to win.

We left the rink. Next on the itinerary was the Edinburgh Ferris Wheel, adjacent to Sir Walter Scott’s monument in Princes Street Gardens. The shrine to Scott resembled an illuminated wedding cake – wedding cake always makes me sick, and not just because I hate fruitcake. I was trying to overcome my fear of heights by confronting it. Standing in the queue with jostling, excited teenagers, it felt like one of my dumber ideas. Connie refused to allow Jack to come on with us, hissing that he would unbalance the basket and make it unsafe, cleverly playing on my weaknesses. Her behaviour towards Jack was outrageous really; I was looking forward to getting her on my own to tick her off or bribe her. I hadn’t yet decided which tactic would be the most effective.

As soon as the wheel swung into action, I knew my scheme was flawed: fear of heights can be dangerous. I remembered reading on Wikipedia that acrophobics have the urge to throw themselves off high places despite not being suicidal – I’d soon find out if I fell into that category or not. It seemed an especially bad idea when the wheel stopped at the very top; I hadn’t noticed that the wind had got up until then. Connie leaned over the edge and the basket swung round and round. I got the same feeling when I watched the part in Carrie when she was prom queen one minute, then the next covered in pig’s blood. Everything is fine, breathe deeply and just look down, I told myself. I could see the Princes Street shoppers a hundred and fifty feet below me. They swarmed like ants in and out of stores, desperate for a last-minute bargain and oblivious to the drama of me, terrified, playing out above them. Connie was leaning out of her seat and shouting and waving.

‘Cal! Cal!’ she shouted for some reason, flailing her arms around – a lunatic oblivious to her own safety. A chill ran down my back like an ice cube. I tried to grab Connie and get her to sit down but I was afraid that any sudden movement would send her over the top of the ferris wheel. I had seen too many disaster movies; racing thoughts showed me Connie tumbling through the air until she landed, a broken doll gone from my life forever. I didn’t know that there was a feeling around that made you think that your heart could puncture your ribs at any moment – until then. A mouth as dry as a desert river bed meant I couldn’t scream her name. If loving a child gave you this much fear, I was glad I had decided to remain childless – Connie was more than enough.

Shuffling along the seat redistributed the weight in the basket, causing Connie to lean out even more. Sensing my discomfort she was playing up. ‘Cal – look up! It’s me, Connie!’ Her voice had risen by several octaves. By this time, other passengers had begun to notice she was in danger of falling. Out of the corner of my eye I could see them pointing with one hand and covering their mouths in disbelief. I’d had enough and lunged and grabbed the back of her coat, breaking two fingernails in the process. Roughly, I hauled her in.

‘What the hell are you doing? Do you have a death wish?’ As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized I sounded just like Grandad.

‘Are you blind, Brodie?’ She took a deep breath and waited for my answer, which wasn’t forthcoming. ‘Didn’t you see him? Cal?’ She nodded expectantly, waiting for recognition as we finally got off the ride. The blank look on my face finally registered with her and she rolled her eyes at me. ‘He’s a friend of Moses’ and if we hurry we’ll catch him!’ She grabbed my arm and pulled me, leaving Jack to follow. I could tell Connie was getting on his nerves. I wasn’t sure if she was intent on getting rid of Jack, or if she truly had a crush on this Cal guy. I thought it best to check it out because there was no way she was dating a Dark Angel. I realized again I was acting like Grandad – he hated me going out with Glasgow Joe, but surely that was different?

Princes Street was still busy. Six Russians from the St Petersburg Brass Band were playing a quick march, which was exactly what Cal did when he saw us coming. I recognized him at this distance; he was the guy selling drugs with Blind Bruce in George Street outside Susie Wong’s. Oddly, a woman in her fifties held his arm. It took me a few minutes to work out that she was probably his mother – even Dark Angels have mothers.

The young man was well away by this time, but I had other plans than following a spotty youth anyway. I wanted to relive my childhood through Connie. It was a long shot, but everyone else had bought her a fantastic present and I didn’t want to look like Scrooge, so I reckoned that, if I dragged her around Jenners, with Jack behind us still, perhaps I could see what made her eyes light up. Visiting Santa had been a tradition that Mary McLennan and I had. She took me to see him on two separate Saturdays because I refused to believe he would remember what I wanted. Connie was almost as tall as me and wearing about a ton of lip gloss and I doubted I could make her go to the grotto under any circumstances. We wandered around for a little while and I tried to see enthusiasm at every opportunity – but with Kailash and Malcolm there for her every whim, and a whole new ‘family’ dancing at her feet, Connie was never going to get thrilled about a cuddly toy or a pair of slipper-socks.

Chapter Sixteen

Princes Street, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 3.40 p.m.

The hunched babushka leaned on her walking stick, bundled up against the cold, wearing every article of clothing she owned. Her grey-coated tongue played with her false teeth. Mashing her jaws together, she moved the dentures in and out to pass the time. The Watcher sniffed and got the smell of stale urine on her – he was disgusted, but the old woman was safe from him.

Last-minute Christmas shoppers moved like shoals of fish, endlessly weaving in and out. The windows of department stores were filled with golden tinsel, and expensive dresses that would cost less than half that price in three days’ time. The babushka stood in the centre of the pavement, craning her neck, hunting for something, someone – the good citizens of Edinburgh gave her a wide berth but she’d found her mark.

The Watcher giggled to himself: Who knew that he had so much in common with peasants? Actually, on second thoughts it was an unpleasant idea.

The old woman reached out and grabbed Brodie McLennan. Clawing on her clothing, she demanded help. The babushka’s voice was guttural, low, like a cat ridding itself of a hairball. He shuddered. Her gnarled hands waved a piece of paper in front of Brodie. The Watcher squinted. It was a photograph she was brandishing – it was impossible to tell but he imagined that he knew the face.

Sniggering, as Brodie spoke slowly and deliberately, it was obvious to The Watcher that the hardhearted bitch was trying to palm the babushka off with enough money for a cup of hot chocolate and no more. Brodie raked through her pockets, coming up with some loose change, which the old woman took and secreted in her bag, but she held on tight to Brodie – this was not an end to the matter. Jack Deans tried to pull Brodie away, but Connie spotted his move; she was having none of it. Suddenly, the old woman’s plight became the most important thing in the thirteen-year-old’s life. Testily, she slapped Deans’s hand and pulled Brodie over to the babushka.

Deans pulled out a well-used wallet and handed Brodie a ten-pound note. ‘It’s really not going to work, Brodie,’ The Watcher heard him say. ‘She’s oblivious to my charms.’ Brodie shrugged her shoulders. ‘Fine – you’re right. I just think you could try a little harder.’

The Watcher smiled slowly, satisfied that Brodie had been hoodwinked – it made him feel safer. He moved in even closer. He needed crowds – it was easy to get lost in them. An electric shock passed through him as he crept nearer still. Close enough to see that Jack Deans wanted rid of the precocious brat as soon as he could. Connie was obviously cramping his style. He giggled to himself again – in a way, he was about to do Jack Deans a big favour.

The cold damp air was making Brodie’s beautiful red hair curl into a rumpled, just-crawled-out-of-bed look. The Watcher licked his lips and flexed his fingers; he was itching to make his move. He could feel his impatience growing. Closing his eyes, he centred himself – act in haste, repent at leisure. Another of his mother’s maxims. For several long seconds he breathed deeply, consciously relaxing every muscle in his body. The rattling tin broke his state. His eyes flashed open and the Salvation Army officer stepped back. She saw something that gave her pause and caused her heart to race a little; withdrawing the tin she scuttled away.

The Watcher ran, sprinted around the corner – but it was too late. Brodie, Connie, Jack Deans, and the babushka were disappearing in a taxi.

She was getting away from him – again.

Chapter Seventeen

Danube Street Casino, Edinburgh Sunday 23 December, 5 p.m.

Glasgow Joe opened the front door of the casino to us, looking surprised, to say the least – and he didn’t like surprises. He always said he’d never met an assassin who did, which was fair enough. Not that he was in that line of business any more, of course – he’d given that up for me. The fact that I’d brought Jack Deans with me was obviously another source of displeasure. Joe flicked his eyes over his so-called rival, and I could almost hear him thinking that Deans was too bloody smooth by half. In fact, I’d been wondering myself whether Jack hadn’t been scrubbing himself up a bit better since he’d returned – maybe it was my imagination, but I thought his hair had fewer grey streaks in it than before.

‘What are you looking at?’ I said, ignoring the fact that he was Kailash’s partner in the casino. In spite of Kailash’s protests to the contrary, she was considering dumping the brothel end of her business and concentrating on Internet gambling while still perfecting it in the real world too. The billions-a-year in profit made from online betting was too much for her to resist – she wanted a piece of the pie and had decided to share it with Glasgow Joe. The initial income was set to their quadruple projected forecasts. Joe was going to be rich soon, very rich, but all the money in the world wouldn’t solve the problem he was clearly having seeing me with Jack.

‘Members only,’ he snarled, sticking out his hand in front of my companion. The two men stared, digging into each other. Joe’s eyes were stained with insomnia. Jack was the only one who was smiling, and he smiled like the cat that had the cream – in Joe’s mind the bastard probably had. I was annoyed at both of them – and myself.

‘I told him you wouldn’t let him just walk into your casino!’ shouted Connie, stirring from the back of the line where she was jumping with glee at the thought of Jack being blackballed. Joe was trying to teach her about good sportsmanship, something he knew little about, so, reluctantly, he stepped aside and let Jack in. It was an upmarket establishment, though. How would we explain the smelly old bag lady beside us? ‘She’s with me,’ Connie piped up, as she pushed the crone inside the hallway, obviously having fallen for whatever story she had been fed.

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