Blood Whispers by John Gordon Sinclair Page A

hang up. Sit back and watch her panic.
    Engjell stared distractedly out of the window.
    It felt good knowing that at any time the lawyer could be destroyed. No guns, no weapons, just words! ‘I’ve been watching you.’
    Engjell pulled the computer closer again, tapped at the keyboard and waited for the search engine to come up with the results. ‘Cornton Vale women’s prison, Stirling.’
    It shouldn’t be this easy.

Thirteen
    ‘Can you make out what they are saying? The sound’s not great.’
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘It’s pretty obvious from the state of the guy to her left – who we presume to be Kaltrina’s father – that they’re not sitting there having a cosy about the weather,’ said David, screwing his face into a frown. ‘Whatever they did to him, these guys weren’t messing around: what a state!’
    Keira turned her face to Janica Ahmeti. ‘We need to know what the mother is saying.’
    ‘The girl has seen this?’ asked Janica.
    ‘Not yet. She’s being transported from Stirling to the police headquarters in Pitt Street; we’ll meet her there in about an hour. D’you need to watch it again?’
    ‘No, I got it.’ Janica then repeated the message back. First in Albanian: ‘ Stop çfarë jeni duke bërë, Kaltrina. Nëse ju nuk e bëni . . . ata do të vrasin babait tuaj. Pastaj – në qoftë se ju ende vazhdojnë të tregoni gënjeshtra – Ata do të më vrasë .’ – then in English – ‘Stop what you are doing, Kaltrina. If you don’t they will kill your father. If you still continue to tell the lies – they will also kill me.’ ‘The next bit sounds like, “ Ai është në rregull ” – “He’s okay”, but it could be just, “ Be okay”. There’s a noise on the first consonant. It’s either, “ Ai është në rregull ” or “ Te jetë në rregull ”, I’m not sure.’
    Janica and Keira were standing around David’s computer, watching a grainy, blown-up version of the video that had been recorded on the phone left on Keira’s desk.
    Even with the windows fully open and a fan blowing in the corner the office was too warm. The fan only circulated the hot air to other parts of the room.
    Keira pushed back from the desk and headed over to stand in front of it.
    ‘What are you thinking?’ asked David.
    ‘It’s going to thunder,’ replied Keira distractedly.
    David looked to Janica, then back at Keira. ‘You still got the heebies about last night? Forget it, nothing was stolen.’
    ‘What happened?’ asked Janica.
    ‘Nothing.’
    ‘I’d say it was a pretty big “something”,’ continued David. ‘Some freak broke into her apartment and sprayed eau de BO everywhere, then left without so much as one stolen object. He was still in the apartment when she got home.’
    ‘My God! Did you see who it was?’
    ‘No. I’m not even sure it happened. It was a long day yesterday . . . I was tired . . .’
    ‘What did he spray?’
    ‘He didn’t spray anything. Not only does David’s mouth run away with him sometimes, but he’s prone to exaggeration.’
    ‘You said this morning that you could still catch the guy’s scent.’
    ‘I didn’t say he’d sprayed anything.’
    ‘Could have been a cat burglar,’ said David with a grin wider than the lame gag warranted.
    But Keira wasn’t in the mood. ‘Copy the video and send it over to Patrick Sellar’s office. Recorded delivery so that he can’t deny having received it. Then make another copy and take it there yourself as back-up.’
    David got up from behind his desk and headed for the door. He was used to Keira covering all the angles. If she wanted Sellar to have a copy of the tape then there had to be a good reason.
    ‘Sure. I’ll sort that out.’
    After David had left the room Janica looked over at Keira. ‘He is studying to be a lawyer?’
    ‘He probably has a better grasp of the law, and – more importantly – how to apply it, than anyone in this practice, but he’d rather spend his time