The pub’s double doors flew open as a stag party burst in. Easy enough to spot the bridegroom-to-be, reduced to his underpants, shoes and T-shirt, the latter defaced by graffiti and egg yolk. Ransome angled his phone away from the fresh wave of noise.
‘Keep your eyes and your ears open, Glenn. Next day or so is going to be crucial. Believe me, Chib’s empire is ready to fall. Make or break time for you, my friend. You ready to ascend your boss’s throne?’
‘Ready for what?’ Glenn had pressed a finger to his ear, holding the phone more closely to the other. ‘I didn’t catch that, Mr Ransome. Too much noise. Hello? Mr Ransome?’ Glenn took a few steps back, the better to see the far end of the bar. But the detective had already headed out into the night.
28
It was eight o’clock on Wednesday morning before Mike got through to Chib. They arranged to meet at ten at the disused snooker hall. Mike had been cagey on the phone, keeping it short, intent on saving his fury for the meeting itself. But then he reminded himself who - and what - Chib was, and revised his strategy accordingly.
Chib was standing behind one of the unlit tables when Mike pushed open the door. The gangster’s face was in shadow as he rolled a series of reds against the opposite cushion, studying their trajectories and momentum.
‘What’s on your mind, Michael?’ Chib asked, his voice refrigerator cold.
‘I think you know.’
‘Let’s pretend I don’t.’
Mike slid his hands into his jacket pockets. ‘The warehouse is missing a few paintings, Chib. A dozen or more, as it turns out - which kind of blows our brilliant plan to smithereens. They may not have noticed the switch, but they know a robbery’s happened because they’re suddenly short twelve masterpieces!’
One snooker ball hit another and sent it spinning on its axis. ‘I saw it on the news,’ Chib intoned. ‘One reason I was off limits last night. If we’d met then, I might’ve been a bit hotheaded. Still can’t say I’m too thrilled about it, though . . .’
‘If you’d thought about it for one second . . . one single, solitary second . . . you’d have realised they were bound to do a full stock check.’ Mike paused. ‘Or did your four bright young things just get greedy and grab the oils for themselves?’
‘Sorry, Mike, I’m a bit confused . . .’ Calloway leaned down with his elbows on the rim of the table. His face was visible now, eyes peering up at Mike. ‘Didn’t you use those same four guys to cover the guards and the gatehouse? Leaving you and your friends to empty the vaults?’
Mike burst into an incredulous laugh. ‘You’ve had all night to come up with a story and that’s the best you can do?’
‘I’m tempted to say the same thing.’
‘You’re not seriously suggesting we lifted those paintings? Are we supposed to have tucked them under our jumpers?’
‘How would I know? I wasn’t there - but then neither were my boys. They were keeping an eye on the hostages while you went about your business. When are they supposed to have pulled off this miracle? Did they make themselves invisible so they could get past you in the vaults without anyone noticing?’
Mike thumped a fist down hard against the green baize. A cloud of dust flew from it. ‘Why the hell would we go to the bother of stealing paintings? We’d taken all the trouble of switching them so nobody would ever be the wiser!’
‘Maybe one of you got greedy.’
‘I would know if that had happened.’
‘Really? You were standing over your pals the whole time as they emptied their vaults?’ Chib was silent for a moment, then exhaled noisily. ‘You talk a good game, Mike. I could almost use someone like you on my team.’
‘This is crazy!’ Mike spun away from the table, running his hands through his hair, stopping just short of tearing out a few clumps.
‘I’ll tell you what’s crazy,’ Chib stated quietly. ‘Your pal Allan was paid a visit yesterday by Ransome.’
‘How do you know that?’
Chib was standing upright again. His grin just showed against the shadows, much like the Cheshire Cat’s. ‘I had Johnno tail the bastard for a few hours, wanted to know what he’s up to. Ransome paid a visit to First Caledonian Bank - I remember you telling me that’s where Allan works . . .’
‘It’s not a big deal - Allan called me at the time to tell me it was happening.’
‘And?’ Chib was slowly rounding the table.
‘And nothing - I spoke to Allan afterwards. It was a fishing expedition, that’s all.’
‘You sure about that?’
‘Look . . . is this you laying down some smoke? Right now, it’s these missing paintings I’m bothered about.’
‘Who else was in the warehouse?’
‘Westie and Allan.’
‘Not the professor?’
‘He stayed in the van - couldn’t risk him being ID’d.’
Chib was by now face to face with Mike. ‘What about afterwards? ’
‘How do you mean?’
Chib rubbed his jaw. He had neglected to shave for a couple of days and there was a rasping noise as his fingers crossed the greying stubble. ‘I’ve heard of it happen - a bank gets turned over . . . doesn’t have to be a bank, could be a petrol station, supermarket, anywhere really . . . Once the thieves have hoofed it, the staff call the cops, but then they’ve got that five- or ten-minute wait . . . all this stuff’s still lying around the place, and whatever goes walkies will be blamed on the robbers . . .’
Mike’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re saying the guards at the warehouse . . .? But wouldn’t the visitors see something?’ He shook his head slowly. ‘No, I’m not buying that.’
‘You’d rather convince yourself it was me?’ Mike could feel the man’s breath on his face - garlic had played some part in the previous evening’s meal. There was a hint of milky tea, too - breakfast, probably. ‘Only three of my guys,’ he went on, ‘were in the actual warehouse, meaning they must’ve taken - what? - four paintings apiece. What in God’s name were they wearing - tents?’ Chib offered a cold chuckle. ‘No, my friend, this was down to your lot, and I’m sure if I ask them nicely, Westie and Allan will spill their guts - literally, if need be.’
‘What about asking your own guys first?’
‘I don’t need to.’
‘Wouldn’t be the first time a small-time crook had given in to temptation . . .’
Their mutual staring contest lasted twenty seconds, Chib the first to blink as he reached into his jacket for his phone. Mike concentrated on keeping his breathing steady, his demeanour solid. Not much sleep last night - too many questions. Of course he’d been turning over some of the same suspicions Chib had just voiced. Little phrases had kept recurring . . . no such thing as the perfect crime . . . honour among thieves . . . traitor in the ranks . . . Chib’s eyes were on him as he punched in some numbers. Mike knew he was right - no way those four had been hiding anything under their jackets, and nowhere in the back of the van to stash so many extra paintings, sketchpads and illustrated books. Mike needed to think, needed to talk to Allan and Westie. He’d decided not to call them straight away, see if either decided to call him first, as soon as they heard the news. Not a peep. On the other hand, maybe they were just following orders - Gissing’s orders: lie low . . .
‘Glenn?’ Chib was saying. ‘I want you to round up Billy, Kev, Dodds and Bellboy. Get them round to the snooker hall pronto.’ As he snapped shut his phone, Mike’s sounded. Westie’s number on the screen.
‘Mind if I take this outside?’ he asked Chib.
‘Someone I shouldn’t know about?’
‘Just personal,’ Mike said, hauling open the door. Outside on the pavement, he took a few deep gulps of air as he answered the call.
‘Hello?’ he said, wondering whether to expect Westie himself or the girlfriend, Alice.
‘Mike, is that you?’ Westie’s voice.
‘What can I do for you?’ Mike asked.
‘I just wanted to . . . I want to sa
y sorry . . . I’d no idea Alice was going to send you that text. And it stands to reason she didn’t really mean it. We don’t . . . I don’t want any more money. Or a painting, come to that. I’m quite happy with everything.’
He didn’t sound it. ‘You’ve got enough paintings, then?’
‘I suppose so.’ Westie sounded confused.
‘And how many’s that, Westie?’
‘What do you mean? Just the DeRasse - you know that, Mike. So are we okay now, yeah?’
‘I’m not sure, Westie.’
‘See, I’ve got a favour to ask.’
Mike’s shoulders tensed. The street was mid-morning quiet: a newsagent’s at the corner, a second-hand shop still waiting to open. Tenements across the way, but no one at the grimy windows. ‘I might not be in the mood,’ he told Westie.
‘I can appreciate that, Mike. But I’ve apologised now, so maybe you can . . . you know . . .’
‘What?’
‘Get Calloway off my case!’ The words were just short of a scream, so that they came over in a distorted crackle.
‘I wasn’t aware he was on your case.’
‘You didn’t send him round here to scare me off?’
Mike’s brow furrowed. ‘What’s he been saying, Westie?’
‘He wants me to do more fakes for him - loads of them. And I’m scared, Mike - scared to say no, but scared of what’ll happen if I say yes.’
Mike had turned round to face the windowless snooker hall. It was called Diamond Jim’s, the paint peeling from its signage. Had there ever been a Diamond Jim? And if so, what had happened to him? ‘Why does he want them, Westie?’
‘You think I was going to ask? He’s a monster, Mike, everybody knows that. He threw a guy off the Scott Monument once.’
‘Threatened to,’ Mike corrected him. ‘Did he tell you what paintings he wants?’
‘I don’t think he knows yet. Says they’ve got to be like the ones we took - you know, unlikely to be posted missing.’
Mike found himself nodding. ‘Have you seen the news, Westie?’
‘Christ, no - has something happened to her?’
Mike wasn’t really listening. He’d spotted a bag of rubbish in the pend that separated the two tenement blocks. It had burst open and a rat was feasting on the contents, slithering over the remains of takeaway meals and beer cans. It dawned on Mike that he was a very long way from home. Westie had called Chib a monster - hard to disagree. And after all, wasn’t Edinburgh the very city that had spawned Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Mike placed a hand against the snooker hall’s dank, defaced wall, and felt it leave a thin residue all across his palm.
A hellish spot, he thought to himself.
So why go back inside? Why not run for it and try to forget that he had once known anyone called Chib Calloway? Somehow he didn’t think it would be that simple. And the first to flee . . . well, they would become the prime suspect, wouldn’t they?
‘What?’ he asked into the phone. Has something happened to her? Westie had asked, and now he was saying something else.
‘Alice,’ the voice repeated, cracking with emotion. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do . . .’
‘How do you mean?’
‘I had a go at her last night . . . about her sending you that text, and Calloway and everything . . . She walked out, Mike. She’s been gone all night.’
Mike swore under his breath and rolled his eyes heavenwards. ‘You’ve got to go after her.’ He spoke quietly and calmly into the mouthpiece, despite his pounding heart. But he noticed that he was having to hold the phone in both hands to stop it being shaken out of his grip. ‘You’ve got to bring her back, sort things out between you, get her to see sense. She knows everything, Westie - and she’s got less to lose than the rest of us.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘If she goes to the police, there’s practically nothing they can charge her with.’
‘She wouldn’t do that.’
‘And if she’s feeling like you’ve turned against her . . . well, what’s to stop her trying a spot of blackmail again?’
‘She won’t . . . not now she knows Calloway’s involved.’
‘She might. So here’s what you have to do, Westie - you call her, text her, go knock on her friends’ doors, any family, that cinema she works in - you track her down and then you drop to your knees and tell her you’re sorry. She’s got to come back, Westie. She’s got to.’
There was silence on the line for a moment, then the sound of sniffles being wiped away. ‘I’ll try, Mike. What about Calloway?’
‘First things first, Westie. Let me know, soon as you find her.’
‘Find who?’ Chib was standing in the doorway to Mike’s left. Mike ended the call and thrust the phone back into his jacket.
‘Nothing,’ he lied, making a show of checking his watch. ‘You reckon your lads will be here soon? I have other business . . .’
‘They won’t be coming, Mike.’ Chib looked up and down the street as if for witnesses. ‘I changed my mind. We both know this has nothing to do with them. But from the sweat on your face and the way your hands are shaking, I’d say it could have something to do with that call you just took.’
‘It was from Westie,’ Mike confessed, rubbing at his forehead. The day was muggy. His shirt was sticking to his back.
Chib thought for a moment, then offered a smile. ‘He told you about my little scheme?’
‘Bit late to start replacing the missing paintings, I’d’ve thought.’
Chib shook his head slowly. ‘You’re not even close.’
‘So what are you up to?’ Mike folded his arms, trying to control the tremors.
Calloway sniffed the air as he considered his answer. ‘Seems to me,’ he eventually offered, ‘we’re all up to something, Mike - even you. That means there’s going to be winners and losers. Want to take a bet which side I’ll be on? Now come back indoors and we’ll grab a couple of cold drinks.’ Chib was holding open the door. Mike stared at it. A scene from Goodfellas flashed through his mind - the hero’s wife, offered a fur coat by the bad guy. All she had to do was walk into the warehouse and pick one out . . .
‘I’ve got to be going.’
Chib seemed to read his thoughts. ‘Of course you do, Mike,’ he said quietly. ‘But do me a favour, will you?’
‘What’s that?’
A dark smile spread across the gangster’s face. ‘Tell Westie I hope Alice comes home . . .’
29
‘Took your time,’ Ransome complained into his phone. He was at his desk, doing some actual real work for a change. That was exactly how DS Ben Brewster had put it: actual real work. Sarky little bastard. But now Glenn had called, and he had some information for him.
‘I’ve got good news and bad,’ the voice rumbled.
‘I always like the bad news first, Glenn - that way there’s something to look forward to.’
‘Chib had you tailed yesterday.’
Ransome’s grip on the receiver tightened. ‘Why didn’t you warn me?’
‘Johnno’s just told me . . .’
Ransome wondered if Johnno had been there when he’d visited First Caledonian’s HQ. Had to give the man credit: Ransome hadn’t spotted him.
‘What time was this?’
‘About eleven till three.’
Meaning Chib probably now did know Ransome had paid Allan Cruikshank a visit. That might work out okay, actually . . . Chib turning the screws one side of the banker, Ransome the other. ‘So what’s the good news?’ he asked.
‘I’ve got four names for you. Chib told me he wanted to talk to them, then changed his mind. I reckon they’re the ones he was recruiting.’
Glenn recited the names while Ransome jotted them down. ‘So who are they? Bellboy’s the only name I seem to know.’
‘Same here.’
Ransome sighed loudly. ‘Okay then, here’s an easy one: where’s Chib now?’
‘Diamond Jim’s in Gorgie.’
‘The snooker hall?’ Ransome tapped his pen against his notepad, thanked his CHIS, and ended the call. Complaints were rising into the air - someone in the crowded office had farted. Clipboards were being waved like fans; groans and pleas to try opening a window. The smell hadn’t reached him yet, but if he rose to leave he knew he would get the blame, so he held his ground and studied the names on his pad.
Billy, Kev, Dodds and Bellboy. Bellboy was a hard wee bastard. The others would be pals of his; known to local coppers, no doubt. Add Mike Mackenzie and Calloway himself and you had a posse big enough to pull off the heist. ‘The gang’s all here,’ he muttered to himself. He still wasn’t sure about Allan Cruikshank and Professor Gissing. Oh, he reckoned they knew about it - knew all about it. Mackenzie would have taken them into his confidence, bragging, showing off.