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‘Not me, Ross. Can’t someone from the MIT do it?’ Max shook his head.
‘What? Biggest collar of your life and you don’t want to charge him?’ said Ross. ‘How about you?’ He turned to Janie.
‘Nah, I’m good. If MIT are doing the paperwork, then they can charge.’
‘What?’ Ross looked at them both, perplexed.
‘Who told Droopy about the debrief site?’ said Max.
‘We all saw the message. It was Townsend,’ said Ross.
‘Aye, but who told him?’ said Janie.
The silence in the room was total and complete.
‘Ah, bollocks. Anyway, that can wait. Let’s get back to Tulliallan, get our stuff and piss off. The Chief wants to see us before we go. Tea and medals, and all that shit.’
The Chief was sitting in the conference room next to DCC Campbell, as Max, Janie and Ross walked wearily in and sat.
‘Thanks for coming in, guys. Great work, I mean it. Really great. I’ve actually just had a message from the First Minister to express her shock at the arrest of the Crown Agent, but also adds her thanks and admiration for all your hard work.’ The Chief looked at each of them in turn, his face full of pride.
Max, Janie and Ross just looked at each other, a knowing smile passing among them.
‘Nae bother,’ said Ross, shrugging, but wearing a huge grin.
‘At least it’s clear about the motivation for Townsend wanting them dead. He’d only been in the job for a few weeks, and his face was going to be regularly in the papers, so he wanted all those links to his dirty past obliterated. I still can’t get my head around the fact that he’d have three people killed just to protect his career.’ Macdonald shook his head in disbelief.
‘Any skeletons in your cupboard, boss?’ said Ross with a snigger.
‘Piss off, DI Fraser.’
Ross chuckled and rubbed at his bristly chin.
‘So, we’re all wrapped up, then?’ said Macdonald as he stood and poured out three coffees from a flask on the table.
‘Well, almost,’ said Max.
‘What?’ said Macdonald, a confused look on his face.
‘Townsend texted Droopy about the location of the debrief. We still need to find the source of that leak, but it can wait a wee while. We all need some kip.’
‘Any ideas?’ he said, sitting down, concern in his voice.
‘Well, it shouldn’t be too difficult to pin down. The list of people who knew at that precise moment was really limited. The NCA escort team didn’t even know the full location, as it was drip-fed during the journey. Miles knew. You knew, ma’am. You knew, sir, and the NCA head of the PPU would have been aware. Of course, we all knew, so I’ll be looking at you, Craigie,’ said Ross, and Max and Janie both chuckled.
Ross continued, apparently in full flow, ‘I’m sure with a load of phone work, computer downloads, internet traffic, keyword searches, we’ll get to the bottom of it. I have Norma working on it all now, so it shouldn’t be too much to find out. You know what she’s like when you set her a difficult task. She’s bloody relentless, dog with a fucking bone.’ He paused to sip from his coffee.
‘Well, it’s still really disturbing. I want a clean bloody sheet after all the issues. Louise, are you okay?’ Macdonald turned to the DCC who had suddenly gone the colour of alabaster.
‘It was me,’ she said, her lip quivering.
‘What? What are you talking about?’ said Macdonald, eyes wide.
‘I told Finn. After our meeting in here with Miles and the others. I met up with Finn later, and he asked me, but I didn’t know he was what he was. Oh my God, what have I done?’ she said.
‘Louise, I don’t understand. Why did you meet with the Crown Agent outside of the working day?’ said Macdonald.
They looked at her face, pale and shaking, no longer the spiky, confident leader, but a broken woman.
