nnie Irvine sat perched on the edge of a desk, listening as Lorimer updated them all on the case.
'You've all had a chance to see the images and as you can see m those I have selected,' the DCI turned to indicate the wn-up photographs on the board behind him, 'there was defihely something going on between Scott and his ex-wife.'
Annie took a deep breath. The pictures spoke for themselves: was a clear case of stalking as far as she was concerned.
'Why would he stalk his ex-wife?' someone asked, putting nie's thoughts into words.
'What motivates any stalker?' Lorimer returned. 'The profile re building up of Scott is of someone who led a very private of existence. According to the girlfriend she says she had ver been to his house.'
'Someone had,' Cameron interjected. 'What about that bed?' 'We'll come to that in a bit,' Lorimer said, acknowledging the tective sergeant's point. Tut I think it may be very pertinent to our to see what sort of man Scott really was. He had a casual relanship with Frances Donnelly, was friends with his work colleagues t he doesn't seem to have given anything away to any of them ut himself, does he? And stalkers are notoriously private people.'
Annie shuddered, remembering the disgusting letters, the used condoms and filthy underpants deposited in her parents' garden and the shadow that had seemed to follow her every day on her way to university. Derek had been too clever for them to pin him down, to find enough evidence to link him to the stalking campaign that had lasted for more than three years. But it had given Annie one thing: her resolution to join the police force had sprung from a determination to see that other women were given more protection by the law.
'Did she know she was being stalked?' DC Fathy asked.
'Now,' replied Lorimer, 'that's a good question. None of the photographs indicate that she was aware of him. But the dates on the photographs show that he was following her on a regular basis, so, perhaps she knew what was going on.'
Too bloody right she did, thought Annie bitterly, edging herself off the desk and leaning against it, arms folded. But she kept her thoughts to herself, waiting for another officer to suggest as much.
'If she did know, why not contact the police?' Fathy asked.
'It's not an offence yet,' Annie couldn't stop herself blurting out. 'The proposed amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill hasn't been put through our Scottish parliament. So the laws around stalking on this side of the border are still the same. Stalkers can only be charged with a breach of the peace. If you can make it stick!' she added passionately.
There was a sudden silence in the incident room and Annie listened, hearing her own breathing come thick and fast. It was the nearest she had ever come to admitting these horrible things from her own past and she reddened as she imagined what her colleagues might be thinking.
'Thank you for that DC Irvine,' she heard Lorimer say at last.
'And it is good to be reminded of the way such matters are currently !IIII dealt with. If stalking does become a statutory offence we might alleviate quite a lot of the suffering that women – and some men – currently endure.'
As Lorimer's blue gaze fell on her, Annie felt that he was looking right inside her. Could he guess at the years of persecution she had been subjected to? Or was that penetrating look simply a mark of respect for an officer who had done her homework? 'These photographs are only suggestive, not proof, of the fact that Scott may have been stalking his ex-wife,' Lorimer continued, addressing the room. Tut if Marianne Scott was indeed the target of a stalking campaign, then perhaps we have found a possible motive for Scott's murder.'
He looked around at them all in turn, his gaze coming to rest on Annie.
'One way or another, it is more important than ever to locate Marianne Scott. And her brother.'
There was a murmur of agreement and Lorimer nodded at the policewoman briefly before addressing the team once more.
'We're still waiting for fingerprint results from the SCRO to establish the identity of whoever came back to Scott's house.' He paused. 'Someone made up that bed. Was it the ex-wife? A neighbour who did it out of a sense of compassion? We need to find out who had a spare key to the house and I'm afraid that means going back over old ground; asking the neighbours, talking to Frances Donnelly and the human resources people at the call centre. Maybe even Paul Crichton,' he added as an afterthought. 'This could be nothing or it could give us more of a clue to Scott's background and why anyone might want to have him killed.'
'It's still being regarded as a hit, then?' DS Wilson asked.
'It looks that way,' Lorimer replied. 'It has all the hallmarks of a professional killing.'
He turned to where Omar Fathy was sitting. 'DC Fathy suggested a trawl of the students at Glasgow University,' he began.
'Any student in the first or second year whose Christian name is Marianne. Registry found nothing, but I suggest that for a time we bypass the red tape and begin to ask questions elsewhere and show people this photo of Marianne Scott.'
'Most of the students are still on holiday, sir,' Cameron pointed out.
'That's true, but the admin staff don't take long summer breaks, do they?' Lorimer asked. 'What I'm proposing is for a search to be made at departmental level. And while you're at it, ask around at the students' union, the clubs and societies, the list of accredited landlords who let out rooms during term time.'
The DCI's face hardened. 'Somehow this woman has managed to slip through our net. What should have been a relatively simple task to find her has become hugely complex.'
Annie listened as her boss handed out new actions to members of the team.
She wanted to shout above his voice, make herself heard, but was too afraid that everyone would see this thing that she had succeeded in hiding from them all.
Detective Constable Annie Irvine had been a stalker's victim.
And she knew fine why it was proving so difficult to locate Scott's ex-wife.
The policewoman turned her gaze to the photographs of the red-haired woman striding along various city streets.
You don't want anyone to find you, Annie whispered to herself. But I understand. I promise you, I understand.
'You okay?' Fathy asked as they trooped out of the incident room.
'Aye, fine,' Annie replied.
'Well you don't look fine,' Fathy persisted. 'How about a coffee before we tackle Frances Donnelly again?'
'No, you're okay. C'mon. Sooner we get this over With sooner we can give the boss something to go on, eh?'
'You think she had a key to his house?' Fathy asked as they descended the stairs to the back door.
Annie shrugged. 'Doubt if she'll let on until we can tell her that fingerprints have been found.'
'Well, maybe it was her,' Fathy went on. 'And another thing.
We don't know for sure that it was Scott behind that camera.
Maybe it was his girlfriend?'
Annie looked at him in disbelief then shook her head. 'No chance,' she said at last. 'That was Scott all right. Anyhow, why d'you want to make it more complicated than it already is?'
Fathy opened the door and stepped aside, saying nothing.
'Right, Sir Galahad,' Annie grinned suddenly, her good mood restored. 'Let's get going.'
Lorimer put down the phone. It was all set, then. By the end of this week he would be appearing on national television, appealing for information on the case, asking for Marianne Scott to come forward.
If they hadn't found her by then, he reminded himself.
He heaved a sigh. Was she a frightened woman? And if so, who did she fear? Not her husband: he was dead. Her brother, then?
But the photograph in Brogan's flat scotched that idea. The two of them had been close. Well, was she avoiding detection because of something else? Her whereabouts had been unknown for much longer than the short time since her ex-husband's death, he reasoned.
Had she only gone into hiding since that event, then the finger of suspicion might well have fallen on her.
Had she been stalked by her ex-husband? Almost certainly. Lorimer frowned as he remembered DC Irvine's impassioned little speech. She was well up on the law concerning stalkers. A coincidence? Or had she been involved in something personal?
Lorimer tried to recall a case that might have sparked off such outrage in the time that Irvine had been in the force – and under his command – but nothing came to him. Well, if she had a friend who had been stalked, she might tell them about it. It was her business, he reminded himself.
The telephone ringing cut off his thoughts, as it so often did, and he picked it up, giving his head a shake as though to clear his mind.
'Lorimer.'
'Call for you, sir. From a call box. Putting you through, now,' the operator said.
'Detective Chief Inspector Lorimer? I have some lovely news for you, sir.' The voice on the line was definitely that of an Asian, Lorimer realised. Second generation, perhaps, but still with echoes of another tongue. Hindi? Urdu? 'To whom am I speaking?' he asked, but the voice on the other end simply chuckled.
'You know who this is. Just listen, Chief Inspector. You want to find Billy Brogan?'
Lorimer picked up a pencil ready to jot down the information as the man continued.
'Here is where he has been seen,' the Asian said. 'Someone from Glasgow spotted him.'
Lorimer listened carefully, his eyebrows rising in surprise as the details were given.
Lovely news, his informant had said. Well, maybe it would be if he could verify that it was true, his more cautious self reminded him.
'Jaffrey? Is that you? How did you get this information?' Lorimer asked. But the click at the other end told him the question was destined to go unanswered.
'Hello?' he said. 'Hello…?' but even as he spoke, Lorimer knew that the call had been terminated and he was left with a feeling of frustration that whoever had been in touch knew an awful lot more than he was letting on.
'Call box from the south side of the city, sir. Pollokshields. We're pinpointing the location as I speak,' the operator informed him.
'Okay. And we'll need to run a check to see if there are any CCTV cameras nearby. But I have a feeling this chap's been taking no chances,' Lorimer sighed. What was Jaffrey hiding? And how on earth did he know about Brogan?
They might well find out which particular call box had been used. But by the time they did their caller would have slipped away into the area that had been largely taken over by the Asian community, mingling with his own folk. Glasgow had become home to many different races, some fleeing oppression in their homelands, many integrating well alongside the Glasgow people. And certain areas had become enclaves for them. But this man might well be on the shady side of society, Lorimer told himself. How would he have been able to supply this kind of information? Why else would he have failed to give his name? Surely that had been Sahid Jaffrey, one of his occasional informants? Who else could it be?
He studied his computer screen; in a couple of minutes he would have the number of the hotel he had just been given, then he could verify this information. And if it was correct, his next call could be to the Spanish police.
'Billy Brogan's been seen in Spain,' Lorimer was standing opposite Superintendent Mitchison who was leaning back in his chair, regarding the DCI with only a faint interest.
'We have his hotel room number and an officer from the local police who is going to see if they can apprehend him on our behalf.'
And the caller was anonymous,' Mitchison drawled.
'Yes, sir, Asian. Educated voice. Spoke clearly. Asked to be put through to me so he obviously knew who was in charge of the case.' Lorimer crossed his fingers behind his back. There was no way he was going to reveal his sources to Mitchison.
'Reads the Gazette, then. Or watches the evening news on television,'
Mitchison said in a dismissive tone that set Lorimer's teeth on edge.
'Well, Brogan can't get very far on an island, I suppose,' the superintendent continued. 'And if he's your prime suspect, then perhaps you'll have this case wrapped up before the week's out.'
He smiled, baring a set of perfectly capped teeth. 'Once Brogan is extradited from Spain there will be no need for your little performance on Crimezoatch, will there?'
Lorimer refrained from answering. The man's dislike of him was palpable and the less fuel he gave him for stoking the flames of his enmity, the better.
As he left the superintendent's room, Lorimer managed to smile. Brogan was almost in their clutches! Perhaps by this time tomorrow he would be facing the drug dealer in one of the interview rooms, asking questions about the deaths of three men.
His eyes narrowed as he recalled that Asian voice. Someone in the city knew all about Brogan and was grassing him up. And if it was Jaffrey, why was he doing this? Somehow that question took the edge off his present excitement. There was more to this than he could read right now But would Brogan be able to supply the full story?