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CHAPTER EIGHT

H e wanted to run through the damned wall. Instead, Robert paced from one end of his living room to the other. ‘Are you sure he said that?’

Cheryl’s eyes were sombre. She sat cross-legged on his sofa, a bunch of papers spread across her lap. She’d been flicking through them for the last two hours.

Joshua sat on the floor, his back against the wall, nursing his bruised chin. ‘My wife’s going to kill me when she sees this. I wasn’t even on duty!’

‘Apparently, I let go of all my cop instincts when I gave Dickheadson my warrant card,’ Robert growled, stalking back to the other end of the room. ‘She was right there!’

Cheryl looked up at him. ‘Killers, criminals and con artists don’t walk around with a sign on their heads. Besides, they have a knack to convince you they’re right… I know .’

Robert shook his hands, as if he wanted to rip someone’s head off. ‘But I found her in the alley behind where Anne was killed. Why the hell would she have been there, dressed like she was?’

Joshua groaned, eyeing the semi-frozen packet in his hand. ‘She could’ve been a journalist? And, Cheryl, what do you mean you know?’

‘Still! They’re the worst scum on planet earth!’ Robert roared. ‘And criminals often return to the scene of the crime – it’s investigation 101.’

Cheryl gathered the papers together and placed them on the sofa to the side. ‘I’ve put away my share of criminals, that’s how I know. Anyway, what does everyone fancy for dinner?’

Seriously? That’s how easily she was going to shove it under the rug? His idiocy had cost him. Robert stopped pacing. ‘Wait, let’s talk this through again.’

‘But I’m hungry.’

Robert turned on Joshua. ‘You’re pressing frozen peas to your mouth – eat those!’

Joshua flipped him the bird in response.

Cheryl, ever the peacemaker, cleared her throat. ‘Harish Shah, the man loitering about the loos who you brought in for questioning for possessing a knife and obscene amounts of cash, says he was after the woman who set fire to his club. The same club that was on the ground floor of the building Anne died in.

‘Apparently, Shah had been after her at the airport, but she gave him the slip. As the police ruled the fire at the building an accident, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Some people have submitted videos to Glasgow Live and the Glasgow Times of the scuffle in the pub that they’ve passed on to us. A few managed to capture her face, and Shah identified her as the woman who’d set the fire.’

Robert hissed. ‘The woman I spent two hours talking to and sharing drinks with!’

Cheryl shrugged. ‘Shah hasn’t got proof apart from hearsay. But’ – she paused, waiting for Robert and Joshua to face her – ‘I reached out to Billy and Daisy. Both wanted to help their beloved Rob the Cop.’

Robert made it a point to meet up with Billy and Daisy during his usual patrols.

Billy had lost his wife, who he’d met when struggling to get clean from drugs. She’d died of an overdose unfortunately which had sent Billy spiralling back to drugs himself. But Robert believed in the philosophy that there was more to people than met the eye. And so he’d begun a conversation with Billy and found a heart of gold.

Daisy’d had a rough life, too. She’d been forced to make ends meet by doing things that barely landed in legal territory. For her twentieth birthday, Robert had paid for her part-time course studying economics at the University of Glasgow when the funding she’d applied for fell through.

For him, it was part of his remit to reduce crime.

‘I don’t want them getting into trouble.’ Robert stuffed his hands into his pockets. Especially when he wasn’t on the streets to rescue them.

‘They won’t. Billy and Daisy asked around for you.’ Cheryl held up the papers she’d been perusing. ‘We never got a visual of this woman at the airport. And now we have one. Since the case is officially cold and we’re doing this behind your boss’s back, we don’t have access to police resources.’

But they had a name: Nina Banerjee. And Cheryl had been able to discreetly find more details.

First off – Robert’s instinct had been partly correct. Nina was an investigative journalist. Freelance. She’d worked on some highly polarising pieces but never showed herself on camera. While she didn’t have particular allegiance to a single newspaper, she was based in Glasgow.

After the airport incident and what had happened in the pub, she’d be foolish not to be on the run. And, like most criminals, she’d make the mistake of sticking to Glasgow where she’d expect to have a home advantage.

He wasn’t letting her get away again. ‘I’ll talk to Billy and Daisy – see if they’ve heard of her. Find out where she is.’

‘No, you’ll leave the latter to the police, Robert.’

He didn’t even bother duelling with Cheryl about it. He simply rolled his eyes. ‘I heard you’ve got some Yorkshire puddings. How about I chop some veggies to roast and we grill those steaks you marinated?’

Joshua all but jumped up from his cross-legged position on the floor. ‘About damn time! I think my stomach ate itself. I’ll help.’

Knowing the topic was closed and that she’d been vetoed, Cheryl let it go. If there was one thing about embracing emotions, it was that you also went at things you believed in with zest and passion. And Robert wouldn’t rest until he found the wee bitch and brought Anne the justice she deserved.

After Cheryl glanced into Robert’s pantry and scowled at his abysmal selection of wines, she announced she was heading out to pick up some messages.

The moment the door shut behind her, Joshua looked up from where he was skinning the potatoes. ‘What’re you going to do?’

Robert frowned at the steaks he’d removed from the fridge. ‘Thinking what I should season them with.’

Joshua rolled his eyes. ‘I’m here instead of enjoying a meal with my wife on my day off. Humour me.’

After a beat of silence, Joshua cursed under his breath. ‘Beth keeps commenting on how I’m always working, but I’m trying to be there for you. I can’t if you don’t open up, though.’

‘You should spend time with her.’ No matter how much Robert wished he’d just faced Anne’s tears, he couldn’t take anything back now. She was gone, leaving only regrets in the place of those lost moments.

Joshua didn’t say anything – he simply picked up another potato and began chopping it up into squares. ‘You didn’t answer my question. What’s the plan?’

Robert turned on the oven adjusting the knobs for the grill. ‘I’m not allowed to be back at work, and the last thing I need is for Dickheadson to hear I was asking questions. But I’ll speak to Billy and Daisy nevertheless. I miss them.’

Joshua dropped the potatoes on a tray. ‘Who do you think Shah is? Do you buy his “my club caught fire” stuff?’

‘Have you ever noticed how fire ovens work?’ Robert stared at the preheating grill. ‘The area nearest to the fire burns first, cooks first. So if, like he said, Nina set fire to his club, the fire would’ve started in the basement. But I saw that building. The top floor looked to be worst off.’

Joshua frowned. ‘Aye, but if we leave the oven burning for a while, the entire steak would cook.’

‘Aye, but I saw the structure today, remember?’

Joshua turned to chopping carrots. ‘Hard to forget given you ran into the perp and all.’

Robert rolled his eyes. ‘The middle of the building wasn’t as badly burned.’

Joshua gathered up the peelings and dumped them in the bin. ‘You believe it was staged, then?’

‘Anne didn’t die from a gas-pipe explosion, Josh.’ Robert moved towards the cabinets they kept their spices in and brought out some mixed herbs, paprika and salt. He scattered them over the veggies, then drizzled some oil on the mix. ‘If fire burned just the top and the ground floors, could it have been an accident?’

Joshua grabbed the oven mitts and shoved their steak and veggie trays inside the oven. ‘That’s a good question that Dickheadson won’t like you asking his detective pals.’

Robert snorted. According to that bastard, Robert had no potential for detective work. Screw him.

‘You’re right. As Cheryl said, we can’t access police files. But what I can do is use my own methods to find intelligence. No restrictions, protocols or need to go step by step to gather evidence. Discipline… I’ll show that bastard discipline.’

Joshua shook his head, then met Robert’s eyes. ‘You’re walking into fire.’

A little fire couldn’t stand against his promise to find Anne justice. ‘Nina Banerjee can’t stay hidden forever. Eventually, the rat is too tempted by the cheese.’