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‘Nah, I think you should answer it, pal.’ Ross fixed the DS with a glare, just as the buzzing stopped. There was a cloying silence as Ross eyed the man.
‘Ross?’ began Miles.
Ross didn’t take his eyes from Malky. ‘You’re a legacy northern constabulary man, that’s right, Malky, eh?’
Malky looked at Ross and Miles in turn. ‘Aye,’ he said, eyes wide, and face ghostly pale in the dark.
‘Ex-paratrooper as well, I’m hearing?’
‘Ross, what the hell’s going on?’ said Miles.
‘Served at this station, right? This tiny, wee place just here. Spent four years as the village bobby, no?’ Ross nodded towards the white building, which was bathed in an artificial glow from the scene lights.
‘Aye, but that was years …’ He stopped dead, just as the buzzing started up in his pocket once again.
‘Answer the fucking phone, Malky. Answer it fucking now, or I’ll get it out of your pocket and jam it up your bloody arse.’
Max and Janie suddenly appeared almost out of nowhere, Maxholding his phone up, the screen illuminated as it showed the number being called. ‘Your phone number, Malky. The same number that texted Gordy Malone, also known as Droopy, just a few hours ago, giving him the precise layout of this police station.’
Max and Janie each seized one of Malky’s arms, and Ross went to the man’s jacket pocket and pulled out the phone. ‘Hello, Max,’ he said.
‘Hello, Ross,’ said Max into the handset.
Miles just stood there, mouth agape, and looked at his DS. ‘Oh, Malky, what have you bloody done?’
64
‘HOW THE HELLdid you know it was Malky?’ said Miles as Max and Janie were escorting the handcuffed DS to a marked police car.
‘I didn’t. But it was either you, Malky or the DCC, and I didn’t think it was her, she’s too much of a nugget. Has Malky made any calls on the way up, or sent any messages?’ Ross said.
‘No, he was driving, so I think we can be sure he’s not tipped off anyone.’ Miles scratched his head, his face a picture of disbelief.
‘That’s a relief. We have to keep it that The Ace believes Frankie is dead.’
‘So, you suspected me?’ Miles’s voice was hard.
‘You and the DCC were the only people I told about the location, and I just couldn’t see it being her. I’m no’ keen, but she’s only just arrived, and my Met source assures me she had a reputation for being dead straight, if a little bit up her own arse.’
‘By Met source, I assume you mean Max?’
‘Aye well, he made the call, so I prefer “Met source, once removed”. So that left you, Miles, but I’ve known you a long time, and whilst you can be a bampot at times, you’re no’ a bent bugger. I figured that Malky would have access to your stuff, and I saw you writing down this location when I was getting a bollocking from you and the DCC earlier.’
‘I should give you a row for calling me a bampot, but in this instance, you’re correct. Fucking Malky Douglas, what was the ex-para thing?’ Miles scratched at his scalp; the stress was leaching off him almost in waves.
‘Malone was ex-para before the Legion, so I figured that it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they served together. Who knows what shite they got up to, eh? When I found out about the burner with the details of the station, I thought it had to be you, but I didn’t buy it, so I just wondered who else had access to your logs, and Malky was the only real choice. Norma quickly researched him, and found out that he’d served at Lochinver, and had been a paratrooper for a few years as a young man. It struck me then that he and Malone could have served at the same time, and you know how the airborne stick together.’
‘I wasn’t a soldier, so no.’
‘Two things drop from the sky, Miles. Birdshit and paratroopers. Anyway, enough blether, we need to crack on. Can we carry on with identifying The Ace?’ Ross sat on the wall, wincing.
‘How about Malky?’
‘We let the bugger stew in a cell somewhere and we’ll interview him when we’re ready, but he’s incommunicado, much as I’m confident that his contact is now leaking brains in a car over there. Even so, not so much as a bloody phone call, even though I don’t think he’s a link to The Ace. All the evidence is that Malone kept them unaware of each other, as both supplied this place.’
‘Yes, get on with it, you have a plan?’
‘I need to get together with my people, and come up with something, fast. The Ace will be expecting information, and the only person he or she would be getting said information from would be Malone.’
