We posted a report of the fatality on the ScotServe website . . . and we appealed for witnesses. Naturally, we also reported the fatality to the procurator fiscal. Those are the laid-down operating procedures, so don’t question me, question the senior command if you’ve got a problem.’
‘I question them all the time,’ Pye replied. ‘In fact I’ve just come from a meeting with my big boss where I asked him how a man’s violent death isn’t automatically the subject of a major criminal investigation. He’s just gone off to ask your immediate boss the same question, and I don’t think he was planning to ask politely. Time to circle your wagons, Inspector, and cooperate.’
‘So how can I help?’ she asked, stiffly.
‘You can begin by taking me through the story. So far the only information I have came from the victim’s wife.’
‘You could have looked at the website . . .’
‘But we didn’t,’ Haddock said, ‘because we’re technically inept, and old fashioned enough to believe that there’s still room for common sense in the service.’
‘See when you’re back in uniform,’ she hissed, ‘and posted out here . . .’
‘If that ever happens,’ the DCI snapped, ‘he’ll be an inspector at the very least. You, on the other hand, will be lucky to be a sergeant, if you annoy me any more. Let’s forget what you did, and focus on what you should have done. Take us through what happened.’
Laird picked up a folder from her desk and found a document; she began to read through it, commenting as she went.
‘Deceased was found in Station Road, just past the fire station.’
‘Who found him?’ Haddock asked.
‘A passing motorist saw him and called 999. Deceased was lying on the pavement, against a stone wall and a traffic sign. Paramedics arrived, followed by a medical examiner. Deceased was removed by ambulance but he was DOA at the hospital.’
‘What about the attending officers?’
‘Sergeant Chocolate . . . that’s Sergeant Brown, and PC Raymond.’
Pye frowned. ‘When did they get there?’
‘A couple of minutes after the paramedics, and just before the ME.’ Inspector Laird seemed to wince, slightly. ‘They’d been attending a reported disturbance at a rugby club dinner in Aberlady, and there was no other patrol car available.’
‘So they got there more or less as Mackail was being removed.’
‘That’s right. They followed the ambulance.’
‘And he was found lying on the pavement, you said.’
‘That’s right too. He was still in the position he was found in when my officers arrived.’
The two detectives looked at each other; Pye raised an eyebrow, Haddock nodded.
‘So when did they realise it was a hit-and-run?’ the DS asked.
The inspector’s face flushed. ‘Not until he was examined at the hospital,’ she replied. ‘The admitting doctor suspected crushing injuries, and that was confirmed by a post-mortem.’
‘What about the medical examiner who attended?’
‘From what the lads told me, the paramedics had everything in hand by that time. The ME took a quick look but he didn’t do anything. He waved the ambulance off, more or less, and went back to being on call.’
‘At what point did . . . the lads . . . identify the victim?’
‘He wasn’t identified until the ambulance reached the hospital. By that time he was dead. His driving licence was in his wallet.’
‘Did they return to the scene once they realised what had happened?’
‘No. I ordered other officers to do a house-to-house first thing next morning.’
‘Next morning?’ Pye exclaimed, his voice rising. ‘Why didn’t Brown and Raymond go straight back there?’
‘They were called out to another road traffic accident on the A1, from the infirmary,’ Laird protested. ‘They were tied up with that for hours. That’s the resources we’ve got; that’s the real world.’
‘Okay, leave that to one side. You canvassed householders at the scene the next morning. Any response?’
‘A woman in a house in Old Abbey Road said she thought she heard a squeal of tyres, around eleven forty-five, but that was all.’
‘Did you order a forensic examination of the scene?’
‘No, I decided that too much time had passed.’
‘No you didn’t; you decided to keep the whole thing under the carpet. Your guys arrived, saw a man on the ground and assumed he was a heart attack victim or a drunk.’ The DCI paused for a second, then flew a kite. ‘On Monday morning, when Grete Regal was found in Garvald, who attended that scene?’
Laird reddened. ‘Brown and Raymond.’
‘No bloody wonder they were so quick to decide that one was a hit-and-run.’ Pye sighed. ‘So, now we have no