her to manage my affairs, and she feels that everything I’m owed is partly hers. But I don’t need it from Gloria; with David’s salary we’re not short.’
She tugged on Haddock’s hand. ‘Tell Gloria to come and see me, please. I’d like that. I don’t know many people, and I don’t want to be left alone, with nobody but Ingrid till David gets back. If I am I’ll think about what’s happened.’ A look of concern came into her eyes. ‘This couldn’t be about David’s job, could it?’
‘Not a chance,’ Pye assured her. ‘The Ministry of Defence ruled that out. The people who have anything to gain by exerting pressure on a submarine officer know that it wouldn’t work, because they couldn’t get to him, under any circumstances, as we discovered when we tried.
‘We don’t know who was behind this, Grete, and I won’t promise that we ever will, but I do promise that we’re doing our damnedest to find out.’
He looked at his watch. ‘Our time’s up,’ he said.
She tried to nod, but found it impossible because of the tubes that fed into her neck. ‘Tell the surgeon lady, and Ingrid, that I want to sleep. Especially Ingrid,’ she croaked. ‘I can take no more of her today.’
‘We’ll do our best,’ Haddock chuckled.
She smiled again. ‘You’re nice, both of you. I’m glad you came; you make me feel safer.’
They were at the door when she called after them, using all her strength. ‘Can I see her?’ she asked. ‘Can I see my baby?’
‘As soon as you’re well enough,’ Pye replied, ‘we’ll take you to her.’
Forty-Six
‘We’ve got to stop these late finishes or our other halves will get suspicious,’ Haddock laughed, leaning against the high back of the booth.
‘I thought I was here to stop yours being suspicious,’ Pye retorted.
‘Not quite, gaffer. Okay, Macy and I did have a wee thing for a while, after we left school . . .’
‘Were there any girls in your class that you didn’t shag?’ the DCI asked, casually.
‘Most of them, and only the one while I was still there. Macy was a couple of years later, when we were students.’
‘And of course you told Cheeky about her, in the spirit of full disclosure.’
‘Of course.’
‘And you’re worried about her finding out that the two of you have met up.’
‘I told her!’ Haddock insisted.
‘And she said, “Oh yes, Sauce, that’s nice.”’
‘She did. And then she said, “Can I come too, I’d like to meet her,” and I said, “No, it’s business,” and she went a bit quiet. So I said, “It’s all right, Sammy’s coming too.” And here you are.’
‘Very convenient,’ Pye murmured. ‘Now you won’t have to worry about getting on the wrong side of her gangster grandpa.’
‘I’ve never worried about that. Did I tell you we’ve been invited to his wedding?’
‘No, you didn’t. That’s a surprise, isn’t it?’ Pye exclaimed ‘There’s a lady as brave as you, to be marrying into the Dundonian criminal family from hell.’
‘Yes, and you know her. Remember the woman we nearly locked up last year, in the Cramond Island business?’
The DCI’s orange juice stopped halfway to his mouth. ‘What? Mia Watson? Bob Skinner’s . . .’
‘The same; the big man’s fling from the nineties, his teenage boy’s mother.’
‘So that means,’ Pye gasped, ‘that Grandpa McCullough, the notorious Grandpa McCullough, is going to be Bob’s son’s stepfather?’
Haddock beamed. ‘Exactly: the son who’s doing time for culpable homicide. How will he go when he gets out? Will Bob train him as a Jedi, or will the Dark Side of the Force get him?’
‘See you guys and your Star Wars analogies!’ Pye spluttered. ‘I’m still looking for whoever it was christened me Luke Skywalker.’
‘Don’t look too hard,’ the DS chuckled. ‘Everybody knows it was Mario McGuire. Anyway, you love it, admit it.’
‘It gets a laugh, I’ll grant you.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Where is this girl?’
‘She’ll be here, worry not.’
Two minutes later she was: the double doors of Bert’s Bar swung open and a stocky red-haired woman stepped in from William Street. She was wrapped up against the cold, in a thick woollen coat, a snood and a Cossack hat, and she wore boots that were as black as her long skirt.
‘Macy!’ the DS called as she looked around. He stood and eased himself out of the confines of the booth. ‘What are you having?’
‘Gin and tonic, large, ice, no lemon,’ she said, her eyes on the other man, who was still seated.