neither of you tell me about what was happening tonight? Okay, I get that you might need Danny’s help with whatever you’re planning, Rachel, but you could have told me.’
She looked at him, a faint smile playing across her lips.
‘Boys and their egos,’ she teased and she rolled her eyes. ‘It’s not Danny I need, you idiot. It’s you.’
Tony brightened briefly before confusion set in again.
‘I need help from someone I can trust,’ she explained. ‘I can’t do this by the book and I can’t ask anyone from the job. And you . . . bizarrely, you have a knack for this. When the sniper was taking out the drug lords, you saw things we missed and you instinctively knew what to do. You knew how to join the dots. I need that now.’
Tony nodded, appeased but still uncertain.
‘It’s just that I’m not sure you’re capable of doing everything that’s needed on your own, so we need Danny to help you out,’ she continued. ‘He’s been round the block and you always say he’s the smartest man you’ve ever known. Every cop I know in Strathclyde who knew Danny says he was top drawer. We need him. I need both of you.’
Both men just looked at her, waiting for the punchline.
‘Danny, my dad had a suspect for the killing. It was never anything firm but his nose told him this guy was involved – a student teacher named Laurence Paton. He hung about the scene when they did a reconstruction a year later and admitted he’d been in the area at the time of the killing. He was nervous, evasive. My dad liked him for the murder but never had any evidence to link him, so nothing was ever done. He had Paton in a couple of times under the pretence of interviewing potential witnesses but nothing.’
Danny listened intently, saying nothing.
‘On the anniversary of the killing, we went to the Lake of Menteith and made a few waves, asked a few questions, unsettled some dust. Then we went to Paton’s house. I made sure Paton knew I was there even though he couldn’t have known who I was. Three days later, Paton falls off a ladder while doing DIY outside his house and dies on the spot. What does your copper’s nose tell you about that, Danny?’
The older man took a long draw on his beer and let it swill around his mouth, savouring the taste and buying himself time to think. He drew the back of his hand across his mouth and looked at Rachel.
‘It stinks,’ he told her. ‘I was never one for coincidences.’
‘Nor me,’ she agreed.
Danny chewed on his bottom lip as he considered the options and tried to second-guess what her plan was. Whatever it was, he knew he would agree to it. His blood was already racing and he hadn’t felt that in a while. It felt dangerous and good. It felt alive.
‘So what is Central saying?’ he asked her.
‘Not much. They are insistent it was an accident. Say they have a witness that corroborates it. They say there’s nothing to prove Paton had anything to do with the lake killing and I need to keep my nose out of it.’
‘Then you’d better do that,’ Danny mused. ‘We, on the other hand . . .’
She smiled, grateful that he understood.
‘I’m going to ask this for the last time,’ Tony grumbled. ‘What do you want me and Danny to do?’
‘If Laurence Paton killed this girl, then I want to find something to prove it. I want you to find something. As I said, I need you to do this for me.’
‘And how am I going to do that?’
‘I want you and Danny to break into Paton’s house. I want you to search his home, hack his computer – whatever it takes. I want you to find me proof that my dad was right and Paton killed the Lady in the Lake.’
CHAPTER 18
Tuesday 4 December. 1.00 a.m.
Winter and Neilson parked quietly on Sutherland Avenue, a good few hundred yards away from the corner where it adjoined Wallace Place. Danny had instructed Tony to try to get halfway between the street lights to make best use of such darkness as there was. They quietly got out of
She looked at him, a faint smile playing across her lips.
‘Boys and their egos,’ she teased and she rolled her eyes. ‘It’s not Danny I need, you idiot. It’s you.’
Tony brightened briefly before confusion set in again.
‘I need help from someone I can trust,’ she explained. ‘I can’t do this by the book and I can’t ask anyone from the job. And you . . . bizarrely, you have a knack for this. When the sniper was taking out the drug lords, you saw things we missed and you instinctively knew what to do. You knew how to join the dots. I need that now.’
Tony nodded, appeased but still uncertain.
‘It’s just that I’m not sure you’re capable of doing everything that’s needed on your own, so we need Danny to help you out,’ she continued. ‘He’s been round the block and you always say he’s the smartest man you’ve ever known. Every cop I know in Strathclyde who knew Danny says he was top drawer. We need him. I need both of you.’
Both men just looked at her, waiting for the punchline.
‘Danny, my dad had a suspect for the killing. It was never anything firm but his nose told him this guy was involved – a student teacher named Laurence Paton. He hung about the scene when they did a reconstruction a year later and admitted he’d been in the area at the time of the killing. He was nervous, evasive. My dad liked him for the murder but never had any evidence to link him, so nothing was ever done. He had Paton in a couple of times under the pretence of interviewing potential witnesses but nothing.’
Danny listened intently, saying nothing.
‘On the anniversary of the killing, we went to the Lake of Menteith and made a few waves, asked a few questions, unsettled some dust. Then we went to Paton’s house. I made sure Paton knew I was there even though he couldn’t have known who I was. Three days later, Paton falls off a ladder while doing DIY outside his house and dies on the spot. What does your copper’s nose tell you about that, Danny?’
The older man took a long draw on his beer and let it swill around his mouth, savouring the taste and buying himself time to think. He drew the back of his hand across his mouth and looked at Rachel.
‘It stinks,’ he told her. ‘I was never one for coincidences.’
‘Nor me,’ she agreed.
Danny chewed on his bottom lip as he considered the options and tried to second-guess what her plan was. Whatever it was, he knew he would agree to it. His blood was already racing and he hadn’t felt that in a while. It felt dangerous and good. It felt alive.
‘So what is Central saying?’ he asked her.
‘Not much. They are insistent it was an accident. Say they have a witness that corroborates it. They say there’s nothing to prove Paton had anything to do with the lake killing and I need to keep my nose out of it.’
‘Then you’d better do that,’ Danny mused. ‘We, on the other hand . . .’
She smiled, grateful that he understood.
‘I’m going to ask this for the last time,’ Tony grumbled. ‘What do you want me and Danny to do?’
‘If Laurence Paton killed this girl, then I want to find something to prove it. I want you to find something. As I said, I need you to do this for me.’
‘And how am I going to do that?’
‘I want you and Danny to break into Paton’s house. I want you to search his home, hack his computer – whatever it takes. I want you to find me proof that my dad was right and Paton killed the Lady in the Lake.’
CHAPTER 18
Tuesday 4 December. 1.00 a.m.
Winter and Neilson parked quietly on Sutherland Avenue, a good few hundred yards away from the corner where it adjoined Wallace Place. Danny had instructed Tony to try to get halfway between the street lights to make best use of such darkness as there was. They quietly got out of
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