'Andy, it's me. Listen careful y. I want you to find Pam. There's some pretty shocking news you're going to have to break to her.'
'Where are you, Bob? I know you can't be in the building, to have come through on this line.'
'I'm in Mitch Laidlaw's office, with Mitch, and with Alex. Now shut up and listen.'
Speedily, Skinner told Martin of his summons to meet the Secretary of State, and of his encounter in Committee Room One.
'Anderson set it up as a real Star Chamber,' he said as he finished,
'roping in Archie Nelson, with Jimmy and the Topham woman as his official observers.
'The bastard didn't have to play it like that. He could have called me in and shown me his evidence informal y; given me the chance to knock it on the head before setting up this very public inquiry.
This is the second Secretary of State who's crossed me up, Andy. I tell you, if I can, I'll see to it that he goes the same way as the other one.'
'Sure, Bob, but get yourself off the hook before you start to get even. Why's he cal ed in officers from England?'
'He's got to have at least a DCC in charge. I know all the chiefs and deputies in Scotland, so I guess he figured he had to be seen to be setting up an impartial inquiry.'
Martin snorted. 'So he's saying in effect that he has no faith in the honesty of any chief officer in Scotland.'
'That's one way of looking at it. In fact it's a point I should have made to the bugger myself. Tell you what. Have a word with Royston, and ask him, when this thing goes public, to try and work that line into the media coverage tomorrow. I smell another Scotsman leader coming on!'
'When will it go public?'
'Any minute now, I should think. Anderson won't hang about. So please, get hold of Pam, and tell her, before she hears it on the radio.
Then you'd better call Scott Rolland for me. Tell him that Pam'll take the Falkirk job, before he changes his mind and withdraws the offer.'
'Okay. Look Bob, I can't think of anything to say, except good luck.'
'Thanks, mate, but I don't need luck. I'm innocent, remember.'
He hung up and turned to face Mitchell Laidlaw. The chambers of Curie, Anthony and Jarvis were in one of Edinburgh's newest and grandest office developments, with a fine outlook across the Castle Rock and up to Princes Street. Laidlaw's room enjoyed the best of it.
It was furnished comfortably rather than opulently, but left visitors in no doubt that they were in the nerve centre of one of the country's leading professional firms.
'So, Mitch,' said Skinner. 'I know your firm doesn't get involved in criminal work as a rule, but nonetheless, wil you take me on?'
'Of course we wil. Bob,' nodded the ruddy-faced lawyer, looking more rotund than ever in his high-backed leather chair. 'From what you've told me this isn't really a criminal inquiry anyway. It's a sort of a half-breed, set up by the Secretary of State rather than the Lord Advocate, even if it does report to him.'
'I take it that Anderson has the power to do that?' the policeman asked.
Laidlaw smiled broadly across at Alex, who sat by the side of his twin-pillared partner's desk. 'What do you think, Ms Skinner?' he asked.
Alex flushed slightly, thought for a few moments, then launched into her reply. 'Basically,' she said, 'the Secretary of State can do what he bloody well likes unless statute or the courts tell him differently.
'From what we know of the way this investigation's been set up, I'd say that you could probably chal enge its validity before just about any Scottish judge and win the day. But what would that achieve?
You would be seen as trying to frustrate investigation of the complaint against you, and at the end of the day, Anderson would simply turn the papers over to the Lord Advocate and back off himself.
'So any court victory would be Pyrrhic. It would result in you becoming the subject of a ful -scale criminal investigation, and possibly even liable to arrest at a fairly early stage. That's what I think.'
'Couldn't have put it better myself,' said Laidlaw. 'Of course, if you could establish malice against you by Anderson, there might be grounds for another form of action. Is there a chance of that?'
Skinner shook his head. 'I can't say so, honestly. Andersen's just covering his arse, playing to his back-benchers.' He snorted. 'If there's any malice in evidence, it's borne by me towards him.'
Laidlaw spluttered. 'Let's not repeat that outside this room.' He swung round in his chair and leaned across the desk. 'Right, Bob.
I'l handle this matter personal y, with an assistant.'
The policeman nodded, and pointed towards his daughter. 'Yes,' he said, 'and she's sat there. I promised Archie that I wouldn't go 149 near any potential witnesses myself. But I want them to know who they're dealing with.'
'Pops,' Alex intervened. 'Are you sure about this?'
Mitch Laidlaw raised a hand. 'If he isn't, I am. I don't see anything wrong with a bit of personal involvement in these circumstances.
Also, if this does require detailed investigation by us… well something of your father must have rubbed off on you!
'One other thing,' he said. 'It may be helpful if we engage counsel at some point. Do you have any preferences, Bob?'
Skinner rocked his head back and stared for a while at the dappled ceiling, as if racking his brains. At last he looked back across the desk. 'You might think her daft, but of all the people currently available, the best criminal silk who ever cross-examined me is dear old Christabel Innes Dawson, QC.
'I often thought that if I was really in the shit, there's no-one at the Bar I'd rather have on my side. Wel I am now, she's stil listed as a practising member, and she stil has all her marbles.'
Laidlaw smiled. 'I've never instructed her,' he said, 'but I remember seeing her in action, when I was a student. A terrifying sight in ful cry, as I recal. If you want her, I'l have a word with her clerk today, to put down a warning marker.
'But meanwhile, let's the three of us have some lunch, before we head up to the Crown Office, to find out just what sort of battle the old lady is going to have to fight.'