given them a description.’
‘If he’s thinking straight,’ Pye countered, ‘he’ll have got off earlier, at Musselburgh if he’s going to his sister’s. Call him please, Mr Francey, then give me your phone.’
The fisherman dug out a scratched and battered mobile from his overalls, peered at it and poked it a few times, before holding it to his ear for a second then handing it over.
The DCI listened to it ring seven times, then change tone as it was answered. ‘This is Dino. Cannae talk the noo’, so leave us a message or call us later.’
‘And this is the police, Dino, one of the officers you pedalled away from. When you pick this up I want you to do one thing and one thing only. Go to your nearest police office and tell them that you’re wanted for questioning by Detective Chief Inspector Pye and Detective Sergeant Haddock, stationed at Fettes. Do it, and this morning might not go too badly for you. Ignore this message, and it will.’
He made a note of the number showing on the small screen, then ended the call and handed the phone back to Francey. ‘I want your address,’ he told him, ‘Dean’s address and your daughter’s address, plus any other places where he might go. If he calls you, tell him to hand himself in. Do not, repeat not, give him any assistance. If you do, we’ll know, for we’ll be monitoring your mobile. We’ll see you again, no doubt.’
He turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Haddock to note the addresses. It was only when they were both inside their car that the sergeant turned to him and said, ‘What were you on about there? We can’t monitor his mobile.’
The DCI smiled. ‘I know that, and you know that; but he doesn’t know it, and neither does his son. Come on, let’s pick up Maxwell from the police station, and have him introduce us to his girlfriend. We still need to get her fingerprints for the scene of crime people.’
‘Should we involve her parents?’
‘According to the boy, she’s eighteen so we don’t need to. Let’s print her and have Lucy Tweedie explain to them after the event.’
‘Maybe there’s one other thing we should do, Sammy. Dean Francey’s photo will be on file because of his convictions. I know Mr Skinner said he didn’t get a good look at the BMW driver this morning, but if we run it past him, maybe it’ll trigger something.’
Pye nodded. ‘We’ll do that; and something else too. We’ve both had a good look at young Mr Francey. The Fort Kinnaird security people said they’ve got some video of the driver hightailing it through the centre. Let’s access it and see if their running styles are similar.’
Twelve
‘I can’t be one hundred per cent certain,’ Bob Skinner began, ‘not as in under oath, but there is a very good chance that Francey’s our man . . . sorry, your man.’
‘Thanks, gaffer,’ Sauce Haddock said, over the landline in the North Berwick police office. ‘We’ve just looked at video footage we had sent to us from the car park and we’re agreeing with that. We had a better look at him than you did, and we’re one hundred per cent certain.’
‘What did I tell you about calling me “gaffer”?’ Skinner chuckled. ‘Those days are over.’
‘You’ll always be the gaffer to us, sir. You’d better learn to live with it.’
Replacing the handset on its cradle he turned to Pye. ‘He . . .’ he began, stopping when he saw that the DCI was on his mobile, and looking grim faced.
‘Indeed,’ he heard him murmur. ‘Yes, I’ve got that. Call me back when you hear more from the hospital. Thanks.’ He ended the call.
‘That was Jackie,’ he said. ‘She’s in the mobile HQ at Fort Kinnaird. She thinks we’ve identified Zena.’
‘She thinks?’ the DS repeated.
‘Provisional, but it looks likely. Just after nine o’clock this morning a woman was found by a cyclist at the roadside just outside a village called Garvald, out beyond Haddington on the other side of the A1 from here. She was unconscious with obvious head injuries. The bloke called the three nines, and she was rushed to Accident and Emergency. We attended too; the assumption was that she was a hit-and-run victim . . .’
‘Fucking assumptions,’ Haddock growled.
‘I know, but that’s how it appeared to the cops who attended. It was only when the ambulance got to the hospital that the woman was identified, through a debit card