Chapter 35
EDINBURGH
Det Supt Rob Cross reclined the passenger seat a bit more, hiding his face behind the B-pillar as he rolled the window down. ‘See? This is why smoking in the summer is okay. Nobody would look twice at a car with its windows rolled down.’
‘Unless there was the barrel of a gun sticking out of it,’ Lucy Warren said.
‘What are the chances of that happening in Morningside?’ Cross took a puff on his cigarette and blew the smoke out, nipping the ciggie as Lucy pulled into the car park of the psychiatric hospital.
She parked the car and they got out after the windows were rolled up.
‘I’ve been here that much recently, they’ll think I’m a fucking patient,’ Cross said, pulling his jacket on.
‘It’s the hairstyle, sir, if you don’t mind me saying.’
‘I do mind; what do you think the chances are of you getting a good annual report this year?’
‘As I was saying, you’re too smart, suave and sophisticated for anybody to think you’re a nutjob.’
‘Too much, Lucy. There’s a fine line between impressing the boss and being an arse-licker.’
‘Really? Arse-licker? And you don’t want your wife to find out you’ve been smoking again?’
‘That’s blackmail.’
‘I expect an A-Plus on my annual report.’
‘You got it, sister.’
They made their way up to Gabriel Kane’s level, Cross popping a couple of mints and offering one to Lucy, who informed him where he could shove his manky mints, despite his assurances that he had just bought them and hadn’t fished them out of his office wastebasket.
‘Some day you’ll be gagging for a mint, and don’t come running to me when you are,’ Cross said.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’
They were shown into the conference room and didn’t have to wait long before Kane was escorted in, the two orderlies waiting outside.
‘Why do they need two to escort me along here?’ Kane said, tutting and sitting down.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Cross said. ‘Maybe because you fucking kill people by pushing a huge gravestone on top of them?’
‘There are no gravestones in here,’ Kane said, sitting down. ‘Miss Lucy. How are we today?’
‘Peachy,’ Lucy said.
‘Good good.’ He stretched his back. ‘I must be getting old. The back isn’t as supple as it used to be.’
‘Just wait until we get you a lovely new bed, with hardly any springs in it,’ Cross said.
‘Robert, you really need to try anger management. You’re driving yourself into an early grave. Maybe you and I could have a one on one sometime?’
‘I don’t think you would want to be in a room with me on your own, Kane.’
‘That just proves my point about you needing therapy.’
‘I get therapy every night when I go home and see my dog.’
‘Really? What kind of dog do you have?’ Kane asked.
‘Never you fucking mind what kind of dog I have.’ Cross locked eyes with Kane, thoughts of his dog jumping into his mind, and what he would do to Kane if the lunatic ever laid his hands on his boy.
‘Just making conversation, Robert. I’m an animal lover, believe me. Save a dog or a busload of nuns about to drive over a cliff? No contest.’
‘Not a religious man, then?’
‘I love animals more than humans, more like. But let’s get the party started. Did either of you bring any snacks? I’m feeling a bit peckish.’
‘Ivy Jack and Marianne Taylor are guests of honour. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about them?’ Cross said.
‘I thought we had done this one to death, if you’ll pardon the pun.’
‘Now is not the time to get flippant, doctor,’ Lucy said.
‘What else do you want to know?’ Kane said.
‘You seemed to be at a loss when we spoke last,’ Cross said. ‘Then you told us what you knew about Ivy and Marianne. Which we now know was total pish. Why was that?’
Kane smiled. ‘When you’ve killed as many women as I have, you sometimes get the little details mixed up, that’s all.’
‘Why did you choose them?’ Lucy asked.
‘Because of going into the bookshop. You know I was in there as you have that lovely portrait of me courtesy of the CCTV.’
‘You went to a bookshop to buy a book to leave with your victims,’ Cross said. ‘You then murdered women associated with that same bookshop. You’re a lot smarter than that. That was a huge risk you took. Why not kill somebody random?’
‘I don’t do random,’ Kane said, and Cross could see the man’s jaw tighten, like he had made a mistake and he knew it but it was too late to backtrack.
‘You once told us you picked them at random. Now it’s every one of your victims was planned out…’ Cross said. ‘Which is it?’
Kane smiled and shrugged. ‘I didn’t say every one was random, did I? I meant it’s fifty-fifty.’
‘Did you choose that bookshop in particular?’ Lucy asked.
‘I just happened to go in one day and saw Ivy and Marianne chatting and I thought, hmm, they would make nice victims.’
Cross gave a brief laugh. ‘Belligerent as ever. However, my bosses upstairs want me to convey a message: if you think we’re fucking about when we say you’ll have privileges taken away, think again.
Starting today, you’ll have your books taken away and you’ll have zero access to any more.
We know you foam at the mouth when the volunteer comes round with your library books, but foam no more.
’ He looked at Lucy. ‘What’s his name again? This volunteer?’
‘Dermot Hume.’
‘Hume. Yes, we’ll tell him to bypass your room, Dr Kane. No more books.’
‘I’m telling you the truth, Mr Cross. They were picked at random, then I studied them, that’s all.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know what else to tell you.’
‘What is Ivy’s brother’s name?’ Cross asked.
‘She doesn’t have a brother. She has a sister called Alice. I remember now; they lived in Liberton.’
Cross stared at him, observing his eye movements, looking for any tics or shifts that might reveal his true feelings. There was nothing. He looked dead behind the eyes.
‘Can I still have my books?’ Kane asked, like a lost little schoolboy.
‘It’s your lucky day,’ Cross said, standing up.
Outside in the corridor, the two attendants escorted Kane through to his wing. Cross watched through the wired glass door windows as the volunteer, Dermot Hume, approached Kane and gave him a paperback book.
‘He almost pissed his pants when we said he couldn’t have his books,’ Cross said.
‘Did you believe him when he said he picked women at random and then studied them?’ Lucy asked.
‘Did you?’
‘He has that uncanny knack of being convincing.’
‘Let’s leave the sad bastard to his manky paperbacks. At least he doesn’t get hardbacks. He’d have some bastard’s eye out with one of those.’