‘You don't know how good it is to see you looking yourself again,' said Proud Jimmy. 'I don't mind telling you now that it scared me silly, looking at you lying there with that bloody great tube down your throat.'
It didn't exactly fill me with a hell of a lot of confidence,' said Skinner wryly.
`But you were out of it all, weren't you?'
Aye, most of the time, but once or twice I was aware of it. The memories are all coming back now, and one of them is of thinking, "Here, Skinner, this is not too clever." Still, as you say, it's all okay now, or it will be once my lung and my battered ribs heal up.'
For the first time in a week, Skinner was dressed in a shirt and slacks, and seated comfortably in a chair. On the television in the corner, the cronies of Last of the Summer Wine wandered soundlessly through their dales.
`Can you remember the attack?' the Chief asked him.
He flashed his silver-haired friend a slightly scathing look. Oh aye, only too well! Those three clowns!'
The one you hit in the throat; he's still in Ward 23, you know.'
‘life's a bitch, isn't it?' said Skinner. The girl isn't still here, though, is she?'
No. She's on remand on an attempted murder charge.'
‘Mmmm. I can't make up my mind whether she was more scared than vicious. I'm sorry I broke her wrist, whichever it was.'
`Listen man, if you hadn't, she'd have stuck that knife in you again, and we'd have been burying you on Friday, as well as young McGrath.'
Aye, I know, but… D'you not think we could drop the charge to serious assault?'
Sir James looked at him sternly. 'Absolutely no way. Whether it was premeditated or not, she was carrying a blade. You know the policy on that. She's going down for attempt to murder, and the Advocate Depute is going to ask for an exemplary sentence. That's cut and dried.' The frown was replaced by an amused chuckle. 'From the sound of you, this experience seems to have changed you. Is it going to be Gentle Bob, instead of the Big Man, from now on?'
`Hah’ Skinner snorted. 'I've come out of this with a new set of objectives, Jimmy. And when I achieve them, you'll see just how soft I've become.' He stared grimly at the wall for a few seconds.
`Talking about McGrath,' he said suddenly, 'Ali Higgins told me about Leona surprising them all, and putting herself up for the seat. She's a great wee woman, that one. Edinburgh Dean will do better with her than it did with her late husband, that's for sure!'
Now, now Bob of the dead, and all that.'
`You mean it ill becomes me in the circumstances?'
Proud Jimmy laughed heartily. 'Something like that, I suppose. Here,' he said, 'I'll tell you of someone who didn't share your enthusiasm for the Widow McGrath as a candidate: her agent, Marshall Elliot.'
Eh?'
`Yes. I was speaking at the funeral to Dame Janet, the Tories' head cheerleader in Scotland. She told me that Elliot had been spitting blood about it to her, on an Agent to Agent basis, last Friday afternoon before her adoption meeting. He said that he felt she was doing it from the wrong motives.'
And what did Janet feel?'
The Chief chuckled again. 'She said that deep down, every Agent feels that he can do it better than the candidate, or the MP. She said also that Elliot is the most fanatical Tory she's ever met, and that he'd been going out of his mind with worry because he was convinced that Roland McGrath didn't have the stuff to hold the seat at the next election.'
`No matter,' said Skinner. 'From what I've seen of Marsh Elliot, he's a good bloke.
Whatever his private view, he'll give her his very best in her campaign, I'm quite certain of that. Remember that guy I nicked last summer?'
The one who tried to kill you? Who could forget him?' `Well, I quite liked him, but I still put him away for life.' Proud Jimmy laughed out loud. 'Yes, and he sent you flowers and a
"Get Well" card.'
Skinner stared in astonishment. 'You're kidding,' he gasped.
`No. Sarah has all your cards at home. You'll find it among them. Anyway, to go back to Elliot for a moment, I think you're right in your judgement of him. I chose my word carefully when I said that he didn't share your enthusiasm for Leona. Dame Janet went on to tell me that they watched her together at the adoption meeting, and Elliot changed his mind on the spot. She won him over, convinced him that whatever her motives, she'll hold the seat.'
Too right she will,' said Skinner. 'That's not me revealing my politics,' he added, 'it's just a statement of fact.' Smiling to himself, he stood up and stretched, gingerly. 'Anyway, enough of the side-show. What about you, eh? Tell me, Chief Constable, when was it that you last arrested someone?'
`God alone knows,' said Proud Jimmy. He grinned at his deputy. 'But at least when I arrest them they're taken away in a car, not a bloody ambulance!'
`Still. Sir Stewart Morelli, and the whole surviving Noble family, save the cat: that's quite an afternoon's work. Andy told me all about it when he and Alex were in earlier. He brought me up to date on the whole investigation. I rather think we've got a problem — an embarrassment of suspects. You were dead right to pass it on to the Fiscal.'
Sir James grunted. 'Morelli. Bloody man! I don't really think he had anything to do with the bomb, but the circumstances indicate that he could have. You know, when I got down to London, he'd got some of his courage back and tried to bluster his way out. Tried to treat me like some backwoodsman. Talked to me as if I was one of his tame Generals!'
`Must be the uniform, Jimmy!'
`Maybe. He's got more respect for it now, anyway. I wound up telling him that he was a suspect and that I was a copper, and that whether or not we were both knights of the same order he was getting no fucking favours from me, and that he and Mrs Noble would be putting their weekend travel bags to good use by travelling up to Edinburgh, under arrest.'
Suddenly he gave a wicked smile. 'You're wrong about the cat, too. The woman insisted on bringing it with her.'
Skinner laughed out loud. 'So what did you do with them last night?' he asked. lock them up in cells in St Leonards?'
`Hardly. I wasn't that tough on them. In fact, I was probably too bloody kind in the end. I put them in rooms… separate rooms… in the Ellersley, with Donaldson and Mcllhenney as baby-sitters. The soldier, Noble's half-brother, spent the night in Redford Barracks, with Arrow and his sidekick.'
Idly, Sir James strolled across the room and picked a handful of green grapes from a bunch on Skinner's bedside cabinet. `Morelli was a deal less bumptious this morning,' he said. 'Arrow sent copies of the tapes of their conversation at Swinbrook to the Cabinet Secretary, as soon as they were transcribed. They can move fast when they like, those buggers in Whitehall. The new Secretary of State for Defence was appointed this morning
… a man from the Northern Ireland Office… and at the same time they announced that Morelli had taken early retirement, because of shock over the murders of Davey and Noble and over his own narrow escape.'
He paused. 'The two lovebirds didn't seem too friendly today, either. She had formed the impression, justifiably, that he was trying to wash his hands of all responsibility, at her expense.'
Is there a Lady Morelli?' Skinner asked. 'And is she aware of any of this?'
`There is, and she is now,' said the Chief. 'He's an evil little bastard, that Arrow, you know. Before we left London, he went to see her, explained the whole situation, and suggested that she should brief the family solicitor!'
‘Huh’ said Skinner, cutting short his sudden exclamation as his wound gave him a twinge.
'That's Adam behaving reasonably. Believe me, Jimmy, you really wouldn't want to know what happens when his evil side shows itself.'