'This is getting to be a habit,' said Skinner, hanging up the phone and turning to choose a tie from the half-dozen or so that he kept in Pamela's wardrobe. 'Telephone calls from David Hewlett two mornings on the trot.'
She stopped in the act of fastening her skirt, and looked across at him. 'That was the Secretary of State's office? D'you think he's changed his mind about…' She paused.
'About giving me the bul et, you were going to say? No chance of that. He's already made the announcement, although he may have to find another replacement for me, even after my chat with Jock Govan.'
'He wouldn't offer it to the Chief would he?' asked Pam.
Bob laughed. 'Do not be daft, my dear. Jimmy's a career administrator; never served in CID in his life. He's a better politician than Anderson, but he knows bugger all about security. Anyway, not even our Secretary of State would be crude enough to offer my Chief a job that I'd been fired from. A refusal often offends, as they say: he wouldn't invite it.
'No, if he'd asked my advice, I'd have told him to recruit my pal Haggerty from Strathclyde. Wil ie's a bit of a hairyback, but he's a bloody good copper, and he knows everything that's going on through in the West, where you'll find most of the organised crime and terrorism in Scotland.'
'What did Hewlett want, then?'
'Anderson wants to see me again, apparently. Ten o'clock this morning, St Andrew's House.'
He looked in the mirror, to straighten his tie, then picked up his jacket from the bedroom chair, over which he had draped it the night before. He was frowning as he fol owed Pam through to the kitchen. 'Wonder what the hell it could be about?' he asked himself aloud.
'Didn't Hewlett say?'
'He said that he didn't know.'
'And you believed him, after what happened yesterday?'
Skinner nodded, as he poured cornflakes into two bowls, and reached into the fridge for milk. 'David's one of the good guys. He wouldn't tell me an outright lie. He said "I don't know what it's 140 about", not "I can't tel you", and I take him at his word. Anyway,' he said, 'I can usually tell when someone's telling me porkies.'
'So what do you think it might be about?'
'Could be one or two things. A terrorist whisper from down South, although I'd probably have heard about that too. An attack of nerves over arrangements for his Party's conference in Glasgow this autumn, although Haggerty's well in control there.'
Skinner shook his head. 'I could guess al morning and stil get it wrong.
'Anyway, enough about me.' He spooned up some cornflakes. 'I've got some news for you. I spoke to Scott Rol and yesterday afternoon, the chief in Central. He has a pregnant detective sergeant in his drugs squad, based in Falkirk. She goes off on maternity leave in eight weeks, and her job's yours if you want it.
'It'd be a secondment at first, but the woman's told him that if everything's al right with the baby, then she'l be resigning. What d'you think?'
She stared at him. 'Why didn't you tell me this last night?' she asked.
'I was too steamed up over Anderson. Also, I thought you looked tired. Didn't want to put you off your sleep.'
She smiled. 'I suppose I was. Probably something to do with the way the'day began.' She hesitated. 'It sounds good. But do you think I'm right for drugs work?'
'You want to make a difference, don't you?'
'Yes.'
'Then, you're right for it. Look, this job isn't about going after Colombian cartels. They don't stretch as far as Falkirk. There wil be sharp-end stuff, but it is educational too: police-community liaison, schools visits, that sort of activity.'
She pushed her cornflakes to one side, stepped up to him and slipped her arms round his waist. 'What do you think I should do?'
'Not what I think,' he said firmly, 'what you want.'
'But it'd make life easier, long-term, for us both?'
'Yes, but stil, the only factor is whether you'd be happy in the job.'
'When do you have to tell Mr Rolland?'
'Today, if possible, but I can stretch it to next week.'
Pam shook her head. 'No. Tell him, "Yes please, thank you very much". And thank you very much too.'
He smiled. 'De nada," he said.
'No,' she contradicted him. 'It's not nothing. It's a lot.' She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly very serious. 'Bob, I want to be legit, as far as you're concerned… as far as we're concerned. The companionship principle only holds good for a while. Like the girl whose 141 job I'l be taking in Falkirk, I want to have a baby too, before it's too late. And I want to have it with you.
'I know this might be breaking an unwritten rule between us, but I have to say it. Anyway, you're a smart guy, you must have figured it out: I love you.'
He stared down at her.
'Taken your breath away, copper, have I?' she whispered.
He nodded. 'Just a bit. I'l tell you what. Tonight, let's ditch our minders, and let's go somewhere different, a hotel, maybe; somewhere down in the Borders. Peebles Hydro, if we can get in. Let's do that, and let's talk about long-term, and what it means.'
'Agreed. I've never been to Peebles Hydro.'
'Okay. Be ready to leave at six. By then, I'l have found out what the bloody hell my ex-boss wants.'