and Colin live?"
"He knows you live here. He knows Colin's got a house in Kings-barns, though he's mostly out in the Gulf. He says he traced you both via public records. Which is probably true. There's no reason why he should lie. I told him I didn't think you'd be very pleased to meet him."
"You're right about that at least. Maybe it would have been different if you'd managed to put her killer away. But I for one don't want to be reminded of that part of Rosie's life." He rubbed the back of his hand against his eye. "So, are you finally going to nail those fucking students?"
Lawson shifted his weight. "We don't know it was them, Brian. I always thought it was an outsider."
"Don't give me that shite. You know they were in the frame. You've got to be looking at them again."
"We're doing our best. But it's not looking promising."
"You've got DNA now. Surely that makes a difference? You had semen on her clothes."
Lawson looked away. His eye was caught by a fridge magnet made from a photograph. Rosie Duff's smile beamed out at him across the years, a needle of guilt that pierced deep. "There's a problem," he said, dreading what he knew would come next.
"What kind of a problem?"
"The evidence has been mislaid."
Duff pushed himself upright, tense on the balls of his feet. "You've lost the evidence?" His eyes blazed the rage Lawson remembered across the gulf of years.
"I didn't say lost. I said mislaid. It's not where it should be. We're pulling out all the stops to track it down, and I'm hopeful it'll turn up. But right now, we're stymied."
Duff's fists clenched. "So those four bastards are still safe?"
A month later, in spite of his supposedly relaxing fishing holiday, the memory of Duff's fury still reverberated in Lawson's chest. He'd heard nothing from Rosie's brother since then. But her son had been a regular caller. And the knowledge of their righteous anger made Lawson doubly conscious of the need for a result somewhere in the cold case review. The anniversary of Rosie's death somehow made that need more pressing. With a sigh, he pushed back his chair and headed for the squadroom.
Chapter 22~23
Chapter 22
Alex stared at the entrance to his drive as if he'd never seen it before. He had no recollection of the drive out of Edinburgh, across the Forth Bridge and down into North Queensferry. Dazed, he eased the car in and parked at the far edge of the cobbled area, leaving plenty of space for Lynn's car nearer the house.
The square stone house sat on a bluff near the massive pilings of the cantilevered rail bridge. This close to the sea, the snow was fighting a losing battle with the salt air. The slush was treacherous underfoot, and Alex almost lost his footing a couple of times between the car and the front door. The first thing he did after wiping his feet and slamming the door closed against the elements was to call Lynn's mobile and leave a message warning her to be careful when she got home.
He glanced at the long case clock as he crossed the hall, snapping lights on as he went. It wasn't often that he was home on a weekday in winter when it was still technically daylight, but the sky was so low today, it felt later than it was. It would be at least an hour before Lynn returned. He needed company, but he'd have to make do with the sort that came out of a bottle till then.
In the dining room, Alex poured himself a brandy. Not too much, he cautioned himself. Getting pissed would make it worse, not better. He took his glass and continued through to the large conservatory that commanded a panoramic view of the Firth of Forth and sat in the gray gloom, oblivious to the shipping lights twinkling on the water. He didn't know how to begin to deal with the afternoon's news.
Nobody makes it to forty-six without loss. But Alex had been luckier than most. OK, he'd been to all four funerals of his grandparents in his twenties. But that was what you expected of people in their late seventies and eighties, and one way or another all four deaths had been what the living referred to as "a welcome release." Both his parents and his in-laws were still alive. So, until today, had been all his close friends. The nearest he'd come to intimacy