leave this task unfinished. Soon, surely it would be soon, she would find the man who had murdered Carol and bring him to justice.
She looked at the date on the digital clock by her bed. Tomorrow was the first of February. She would be meeting Barbara after the girl had finished work. But would the policewoman have anything worthwhile to tell her? She had kept one step ahead of Detective Superintendent Lorimer, thanks to her inside information, but she needed more than that. Perhaps it might be worth seeing if that woman called Doreen was around today? A couple of folded twenties could do wonders if you knew the right questions to ask. She keyed in the woman’s number and waited but there was no answer, just the usual recorded message.
‘Hey. It’s your friend here,’ she said as Doreen’s answering machine kicked in. ‘Can you text me if there’s anything interesting going on?’
She flipped the mobile phone shut. Maybe the woman was busy right now. Too early for trade. Then, just as she was about to put the mobile back into her handbag the vibration that signalled an incoming text made her take it out again.
MT U ON BIG BLU BUS 2NT
The woman who had befriended the prostitute looked at the message intently. Doreen was obviously in a situation where she couldn’t talk. But she’d picked up her voicemail nonetheless. The Big Blue Bus left the centre of town at midnight. If Doreen really had something to tell her then it might be worth her while making that particular trip.
‘What about the Big Blue Bus?’ Helen James asked. ‘You might want to talk to some of the volunteers. Probably not worth your while trying to ask the girls anything. They’re either out their heids or too pissed off with us coppers to gain anything at that time of night.’
Lorimer grimaced as he listened to the DCI’s advice. She was right, of course, and it was very much DCI James’s territory, after all. And he was tired, he had to admit that too. Another night spent away from home was not what he had had in mind. Still, now that James had suggested it…
‘Okay, I’ll ring up the contact you’ve given me, see if I can meet them in George Square tonight.’
Lorimer put down the phone with a sigh. He’d go home, have dinner with Maggie and then change into different clothes, things like his old donkey jacket and jeans that wouldn’t intimidate the street women. The Big Blue Bus only went around the city on certain nights and this Tuesday was one of them. So, if he wanted to push this line of enquiry on he had to take the opportunities as they arose.
CHAPTER 30
Red Square, some local folk had dubbed it, due to the red asphalt surface that had replaced the former tarmacadam and flower beds of the city’s central square. The city fathers had deemed it an improvement but Lorimer was one of many who dismissed that notion, remembering springtime outings as a boy when he had crossed the square and his senses had been assaulted by masses of pink, white and blue hyacinths wafting their heady perfume from the many raised flowerbeds dotted around the place. There was no such olfactory welcome tonight, just the leftover smell of home-made soup from the all-night van that served the down-andouts who came shuffling along for what might be their only decent meal of the day. Glasgow might have its fair share of social problems like homelessness and prostitution, Lorimer thought as he parked his car at the edge of the square, but at least there were those good folk who were willing to give up their time to help them. The thought made him feel at once guilty when he remembered his unwillingness to leave the warmth of his own home and somehow glad that he had come.
The street lights illumined the grand buildings on all four sides: the old Post Office that was still under renovation; the Millennium Hotel opposite, the Merchant’s House and of course the graceful Victorian façade of the City Chambers that dominated the whole square. Lorimer walked past the recumbent stone lions guarding the cenotaph and headed towards the Big Blue Bus whose interior lights showed that it was ready and waiting for its nightly passengers.
‘Superintendent Lorimer? Richard Allan. Pleased to meet you.’ The man with the beaming smile and outstretched hand was suddenly there as Lorimer approached the double decker bus sitting right