Death of an Addict (16 page)

‘Our American friends have just come in.’ Pieter waved. ‘And there’s a thin man in a black suit leaning against a pillar at the back. Take a look, Hamish, and see if you
recognize him.’

‘Which pillar? Where?’

‘At the back, to the left of the exit.’

Hamish looked and then looked quickly away. ‘It’s the Undertaker, Lachie’s man. I wonder why he’s so obvious. He must know I would recognize him.’

‘They probably want you to know you’re being checked up on. Good. Then on the way out, we’ll stop at various tables.’

‘Surely these drug people will be mighty suspicious of anyone muscling in on their territory.’

‘Amsterdam is not their home ground, not the ones you’ll meet. They’re here to see to shipments.’

The conjuror finished his act to a spattering of applause.

‘How long do we sit here for?’ asked Olivia, ignoring the compère’s patter. ‘I’m getting bored.’

‘Just a little longer,’ said Pieter.

‘I’m hungry,’ complained Olivia. ‘I haven’t had any dinner.’

‘And I didn’t have any lunch either,’ said Hamish.

‘No, you were eating the fair Anna,’ said Pieter, and laughed.

‘Cut that out, now,’ snapped Olivia. ‘Remember Hamish is supposed to be my husband. I don’t like coarseness.’

‘Then don’t look at the stage,’ said Hamish.

But Olivia looked. Two men and a woman were engaged in complicated sexual acts.

‘Aren’t you enjoying it?’ she asked Hamish.

‘I’m not a voyeur,’ said Hamish, averting his eyes from the stage. Pieter ordered more drinks after the cavorting threesome had been replaced by semi-naked showgirls. Hamish
sipped his drink cautiously. He was beginning to feel the effects of champagne on an empty stomach.

‘I think we should leave now,’ said Olivia, much to Hamish’s relief.

They all rose. As Hamish passed Anna’s table, she looked up at him and gave him a glad smile.

Hamish cut her dead. He was supposed to be with his wife. Also she had left him with a bill for fifty pounds, which he would somehow have to explain away on his expenses. Anna’s face fell.
Hamish felt like a heel. But didn’t the silly girl know what an awful sort of existence she was on the threshold of?

Pieter stopped by the Americans’ table. Then he introduced them to a party of Turks and then some Spaniards before leading them towards the exit. There was no sign of the Undertaker.

‘Do you know,’ said Pieter outside, ‘how the Spaniards are shipping cannabis into Britain?’

‘No,’ said Olivia.

‘They put the cannabis resin into onions. So when Customs and Excise see a truckload of onions, they simply look for the man with the dart.’

‘The dart?’ asked Hamish, his eyes roaming up and down the cobbled street.

‘A man carrying an ordinary dart, you know, darts? Like in English pubs? Well, he simply stabs this dart into the sacks of onions until he finds the hard onions and he knows he’s got
the right sack.’

Olivia shivered. ‘Let’s eat.’

‘I’ll take you back to your hotel. Probably safer for you to eat in your room. I have business.’

He flagged down a cab and gave the driver instructions. Hamish looked wistfully out at the night lights of Amsterdam. ‘I wish we didn’t have to eat in the hotel.’

‘We’d best do as we’re told,’ said Olivia. ‘What a cold night it’s turned out to be.’

Hamish noticed that her attitude towards him had thawed.

Once in the room, they ordered steaks to be sent up. Olivia switched on the television set and they ate and watched the news. Then they watched an American sitcom and drank coffee and there was
a friendly atmosphere between them when they both went to bed. Hamish smiled in the darkness. Soon it would all be over. Soon he would be back at his police station.

Rain was drumming down on the car park at Inverness Airport when they arrived. They got into the Mercedes and Hamish set off on the drive back to Strathbane. ‘So do we
just wait out the rest of the week?’ he asked.

‘I think we should try to speed things up,’ said Olivia. ‘We’ll go and see Lachie tomorrow and tell him to tell Jimmy that the consignment is on its way.’

For some reason, Hamish suddenly found his thoughts turning in the direction of Chief Inspector Blair. He wondered if Blair had got wind of what he was up to. He knew Blair hated him.

‘I’ll be glad when this is over,’ said Olivia suddenly.

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling about it. Things have been running a bit too easily, apart from your gaffe in Amsterdam.’

‘I’m sorry about that,’ said Hamish ruefully. ‘I thought I had landed lucky at last. I could even see us married. I would never have believed I could be so naive. If you
see any of the prostitutes in Strathbane, well, they’ve practically got labels round their necks screaming prostitute. I meet the girl of my dreams and then she says, “Leave the money
on the table as you go out.”’

‘Pieter did say she was a happy amateur, but she won’t be happy for long.’

‘She told me she was a student.’

‘Student of what?’ commented Olivia dryly. ‘A lot of these silly girls just drift into it. It can start with a simple date with an older man. He gets the wrong end of the stick
and pays up. Girl is mortified, then she giggles about it a bit with her friends, and the money comes in handy. Who knows? Maybe Anna was a student, and recently, too. It seems a harmless way of
making a bit of money on the side. Some pimp starts to sit up and take notice. He acts as the john, introduces her to dope, gets her hooked and then puts her on the street.’

‘Perhaps she’ll just stop.’

‘I doubt it. Are you so lonely, Hamish, that you should want to marry some girl you had just met?’

‘I suppose I’m a romantic.’

‘You’re in the wrong job. A lot of the men down in Glasgow consider me cold and harsh, but I have found that any sign of softness is taken as a come-on.’

‘I’m glad I’m not a woman,’ said Hamish, negotiating a hairpin bend.

There was a companionable silence and then he said, ‘I wasn’t making a pass at you in the bed at the Grand. I really wasn’t.’

‘I believe you, but I’ll get us a room with twin beds this time so there will be no . . . awkwardness.’

‘You were saying you had a bad feeling about this job,’ said Hamish. ‘You know something? I cannae help worrying that too many people at headquarters know about it.’

‘Only the top brass, surely.’

It’s the top brass I’m worried about, thought Hamish.

The following day, Hamish and Olivia held a secret meeting with Chief Superintendent Daviot and Kevin and Barry on the moors high above Strathbane.

‘We have decided on a further cunning plan,’ began Daviot. Hamish suppressed a groan. ‘We have a yacht registered to you, Hamish, the
Marie-Claire
, a ketch. She will
only be carrying one kilo of heroin. This, you will say, is to prove the quality of the stuff and to make sure the landing place is safe. We will let that deal go through. Then you will promise the
rest of the shipment. They will be lulled into a false sense of security. On the second delivery, that is when we will pounce.’

‘I don’t like the delay,’ said Hamish. ‘I’m always frightened that the longer we wait, the more chance there is of word leaking out that the whole thing is a
scam.’

‘Chief Inspector Chater?’ asked Daviot.

‘It sounds all right to me,’ said Olivia. ‘With so few people knowing about it, I can’t see anything going wrong. We’re going to Lachie’s tonight. When will
we say the first shipment is due to arrive?’

‘Say two days’ time. That should speed things up enough for you, Macbeth.’ Not ‘Hamish’ this time. The super was obviously disappointed in what he saw as
Hamish’s sad lack of enthusiasm.

‘Very well, sir,’ said Olivia. ‘We will do what we can.’

‘Let’s hope the weather’s all right,’ said Hamish. ‘Who will be skippering the ketch?’

‘A police officer from Inverness. And the crew are policemen as well.’

‘Will they be armed?’ asked Hamish.

Daviot looked at him impatiently. ‘There will be no need for that. Jimmy White will not be expecting them to be around.’

‘On the contrary, sir. I would think that any drug baron would expect a crew bringing in heroin to be armed.’

‘I don’t believe in guns,’ said Daviot severely. ‘Guile is the answer. Just do your part, Macbeth, and leave the rest to Chief Inspector Chater.’

‘Won’t it look odd my wife going along as well?’ asked Hamish.

‘You’ll think of something,’ said Daviot crossly. Why couldn’t Macbeth show some
enthusiasm
? ‘You can hardly leave the senior officer on the case
behind.’

What was that American phrase? thought Hamish. Amateur night in Dixie, this was it.

‘And what do we do when we know the landing place?’ asked Hamish.

‘Olivia will contact us. The first shipment, we will have men observing. The second shipment we’ll seize them.’

‘Very good, sir,’ said Hamish in a hollow voice.

‘Well, I’ll be on my way.’ Daviot cast a stagy look around the moors. ‘Coast’s clear.’

Hamish watched his retreating figure. ‘Now I know why so many top policemen are Freemasons,’ he said ‘They like playing games.’

‘Show respect,’ snapped Olivia.

‘I don’t like it at all,’ said Hamish wearily.

Olivia suppressed a qualm of unease. She had, she remembered, considered the whole business at the beginning quite mad. ‘We’ve got our orders,’ she said briskly.
‘We’ll go to Lachie’s tonight.’

They entered Lachie’s that evening, flanked by Kevin and Barry. ‘I see Bob over there,’ said Hamish. ‘I wonder why he didn’t demand payment for
the introduction.’

‘He did,’ said Olivia. ‘Kevin paid him out of the kitty when you were in with Jimmy White.’

They asked at the bar for Lachie, and after a short wait, the Undertaker appeared.

‘Enjoy your stay in Amsterdam?’ asked Hamish.

The Undertaker gave a thin smile. ‘We always check up. Lachie’s waiting.’

Lachie rose to meet them when they walked into the office.

‘Great to see you, Hamish, my man. I think we should have a wee talk in private. Your lady and friends can wait at the bar.’

‘My wife is my business partner,’ said Hamish. ‘She stays.’

Hamish slung his coat from his shoulders and sat down after pulling out a chair for Olivia. ‘I think the time has come when we prove our good faith to each other. My boat will land a kilo
of heroin. You name the place, you check the quality. If all goes well, we’ll land the rest of the stuff at a second meet.’

‘Right you are,’ said Lachie. ‘Jimmy’ll be up from Glasgow tomorrow. Meet him here about the same time. Let’s have a drink. On the house.’

‘Verra kind,’ said Hamish, his accent becoming more Highland with nerves. ‘But we haff urgent business to attend to.’

He stood up and slung his coat over his shoulders.

‘Aye, see you,’ said Lachie, although his eyes slid curiously to Olivia.

* * *

Back in the hotel room, Hamish said, ‘You should have kept your tarty image, Olivia. Lachie found it odd that you should be my business partner.’

Olivia was wearing a tailored suit and subdued make-up. ‘Also,’ Hamish went on, ‘you’ve got to act the part from the inside out. You were emanating an atmosphere of
senior police officer, Olivia. It’s a wonder he didn’t look down to see if you had big boots on.’

‘You’re the one who has to act the part,’ said Olivia.

‘He’s right,’ said Kevin. ‘I thought myself you were looking a bit severe.’

Olivia capitulated. ‘Oh, well, I’ll do better tomorrow night.’

‘Fancy a drink in the bar downstairs, Hamish?’ said Barry.

‘Aye, that would be grand.’

‘I have some phone calls to make,’ said Olivia. ‘You go ahead.’

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen plastic tartan,’ said Hamish, sitting down on a tartan banquette. ‘Isn’t this hotel awful?’

‘The whole of Strathbane is awful,’ said Kevin. ‘All that lovely highland countryside all about and this town sitting in the middle of it like some great
excrescence.’

They ordered whiskies. ‘The thing that’s bothering me,’ said Barry, leaning forward, ‘is that Superintendent Daviot. He’s like a wee boy playing at cops and
robbers. And the men on the boat ought to be armed.’

‘Aye,’ said Hamish. ‘I don’t like this idea of two shipments. One would have nailed them, quicker and safer. Olivia’s not stupid. Why didn’t she
object?’

‘Because she got where she is today,’ said Kevin, ‘by agreeing with everything the higher ranks said or told her to do. And it’s landed her in some hairy situations
before. She knows if she starts sticking pins in Daviot’s plans, then he’ll report her as an officer who is awkward to work with.’

Hamish looked around the bar. He was wearing his dark glasses just in case he saw a familiar face, but there were few people in that night.

He stayed talking to Kevin and Barry for about an hour and then they all went upstairs to their respective rooms.

‘You took your time,’ said Olivia when he walked in. ‘And you smell of whisky. I hope you’re not turning out to be a drunk.’

‘I only had a couple,’ protested Hamish. ‘I can nurse a drink for a pretty long time.’

‘Why is it always just a couple? That’s the sign of a drunk, Hamish.’

Hamish repressed a sigh. Frosty Olivia was back again.

The fact was that Olivia was as nervous as Hamish over the forthcoming operation, but could not confide in him. She had got this far in police ranks by never criticizing a superior officer to
anyone.

‘Chust a suggestion,’ said Hamish tentatively.

‘That being?’

‘I didn’t like the look in Lachie’s eyes when I said you were my business partner. We’re going to have to look as if we’re in love.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, it figures that a man who was besotted with his wife would take her everywhere.’

She sat frowning for a moment and then said, ‘All right. We’ll try that.’

‘Do you know what it’s like to be in love, Olivia?’