he'd used a condom. But Malkiewicz, Kerr and Mackie were all group O. So theoretically, it could have been one of them.
He really didn't think Kerr had it in him. But Mackie was possible, that was for sure. Maclennan had heard about the young man's sudden conversion to Christianity. To him, it sounded like a desperate act born of guilt. And Malkiewicz was another story altogether. Maclennan had accidentally stumbled into the issue of the lad's sexuality, but if he was in love with Gilbey, he might have wanted to get rid of what he saw as the competition. It had the ring of possibility.
Maclennan was so deep in thought, he was taken aback to find the service over, the congregation shuffling to their feet. The coffin was being carried up the aisle, Colin and Brian Duff the lead pall-bearers. Brian's face was streaked with tears, and Colin looked as if it was taking every ounce of his strength not to weep.
Maclennan looked around at his team, nodding them outside as the coffin disappeared. The family would be driven down the hill to Western Cemetery for a private internment. He slipped outside, standing by the door and watching the mourners disperse. He had no conviction that his killer was among the congregation; that was too glib a conclusion for him to be comfortable with. His officers gathered behind him, speaking softly among themselves.
Hidden by a corner of the building, Janice Hogg lit a cigarette. She wasn't on duty, after all, and she needed a blast of nicotine after that harrowing. She'd only had a couple of drags when Jimmy Lawson appeared. "I thought I smelled smoke," he said. "Mind if I join you?"
He lit up, leaning against the wall, his hair falling over his forehead and shading his eyes. She thought he'd lost weight recently, and it suited him, hollowing his cheeks and defining his jawline. "I wouldn't want to go through that again in a hurry," he said.
"Me neither. I felt like all those eyes were looking to us for an answer we haven't got."
"And no sign of getting one either. CID haven't got anything you could call a decent suspect," Lawson said, his voice as bitter as the east wind that whipped the smoke from their mouths.
"It's not like Starsky and Hutch, is it?"
"Thank God for that. I mean, would you want to wear those cardies?"
Janice sniggered, in spite of herself. "When you put it like that?
Lawson inhaled deeply. "Janice?do you fancy going out for a drink sometime?"
Janice looked at him in astonishment. She'd never imagined for a moment that Jimmy Lawson had noticed she was a woman except when it came to making tea or breaking bad news. "Are you asking me out?"
"Looks like it. What do you say?"
"I don't know, Jimmy. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to get involved with somebody in the job."
"And when do we get the chance to meet anybody else unless we're arresting them? Come on, Janice. Just a wee drink. See how we get on?" His smile gave him a charm she'd never noticed before.
She looked at him, considering. He wasn't exactly a dreamboat, but he wasn't bad looking. He had a reputation for being a bit of a ladies' man, somebody who usually got what he wanted without having to work too hard for it. But he'd always treated her with courtesy, unlike so many of her colleagues whose contempt was seldom far from the surface. And she hadn't been out with anyone interesting for longer than she could remember. "OK," she said.
"I'll look at the rosters when we come on tonight. See when we're both off." He dropped his cigarette end and ground it out with his toe. She watched him walk round the corner of the church to join the others. It seemed she had a date. It was the last thing she'd expected from Rosie Duff's funeral. Maybe the minister had been right. This should be a time for looking forward as well as backward.
Chapter 13~14
Chapter 13
None of his three friends would ever have described Weird as sensible, even before he got God. He'd always been an unstable mixture of cynicism and na-et? Unfortunately, his new-found spirituality had stripped away the cynicism without providing any complementary access of nous. So when his new friends in Jesus announced that there was no better occasion to evangelize than the evening of Rosie Duff's funeral, Weird had gone along with the suggestion. People would be thinking about