The Dark Fear (9 page)

              ‘Yes, you can follow me there, if you’d like?’

              Dani was relieved to have a guide. She didn’t know the suburbs of Edinburgh very well.

              Millerhill cemetery was large. The plot they were heading for was near one of the tall, metal fences encircling the site. A busy main road ran past them, just beyond the fence, making it hard to hear what the priest was saying. All-in-all, the delivery of Alex Galloway’s final rights had been an ignominious affair.

              Rather than joining the family at a nearby hotel for the wake, Dani and James’ father ducked into a pub a few hundred yards along the road from the cemetery. The DCI was thankful to finally sit down with a glass of white wine. The whole affair had been singularly depressing.

              Jim sighed into his pint. ‘I managed to pay my respects to Loretta and the girls. I’m not really sure if they knew who I was.’

              ‘It was good of you to attend. How long ago did you defend Galloway?’

              ‘It was in the mid-nineties. Alex was accused of withholding evidence in a drug-smuggling case. It was a fairly simple brief. The police had made a few mistakes in the evidence chain. I got the charges dismissed within a few days.’

              ‘Which doesn’t mean that Galloway wasn’t guilty.’ Dani sipped her drink, feeling an angry knot forming in her throat. Jim Irving had been a very successful defence advocate before he retired. He was exactly the kind of person that police officers busted their guts trying to second guess. Even the most obviously guilty of villains had side-stepped prison time because of clever lawyers like Jim.

              ‘You know as well as I do that his guilt wasn’t relevant. The correct laws and procedures needed to be followed.’ Jim took a mouthful of his dark stout. ‘Unlike many of my other clients, Galloway was not involved in the murder or torture of people. First and foremost, he was a businessman.’

              ‘But he facilitated the production and distribution of class ‘A’ drugs. Just because he didn’t get his hands dirty, it doesn’t mean he wasn’t responsible for many deaths.’ Dani knew that for James’ sake she should let the issue drop. ‘How did you come to know Galloway in the first place? His case seems to have been a little trivial by your usual standards.’ Irving had been defending some of Scotland’s most notorious killers since the early 1980s.

              ‘Actually, he was an acquaintance of mine, which is why I took on the case back then and remained in loose contact with him afterwards.’

              Dani raised her eyebrows quizzically.

              ‘Our association involved James, in an indirect manner. Alex Galloway had a son of a similar age to James. He was called Gerald Cormac.’

              ‘Why didn’t the boy have the same surname as his father?’

              ‘Because Alex didn’t know the boy existed until after his tenth birthday. Gerald’s mother was an old girlfriend of Galloway’s, a childhood sweetheart. She’d never told him of the boy’s existence. Angela Cormac lived on one of the council estates in Currie. By the time the lad reached double figures she’d lost the ability to control him. Gerry had been expelled from three schools already. This was when Angela contacted Galloway in desperation.’

              ‘That must have come as one hell of a shock.’

              ‘Aye, it certainly did. But Alex came around to the idea of having a son. He’d been a wayward child himself and could identify his own characteristics in the boy. Galloway arranged for Gerry to be accepted into another couple of local schools, but none of them worked out. So, Alex decided to pay the fees for the Scott Academy. I expect he thought it might ‘civilise’ the boy. Gerry joined in the second year of the Senior Prep. He was in some of the same classes as James, mostly for Games and such like, not for academic subjects.’

              ‘So that was how you met him?’

              ‘Our paths didn’t really cross in those first few months. It was only after the accident that I came into direct contact with Alex.’

              ‘Accident?’ Dani’s mind suddenly returned to the evening they climbed the turret of Langford Hall, under the full moon, and James’ panic attack.

              ‘The third form took a trip to Dornie Castle. It was an entirely standard excursion. Four members of staff attended, along with a coach driver. Very sadly, there was some kind of scuffle at the top of one of the towers and Gerald Cormac fell to his death. It was the worst tragedy in the Academy’s long history. They’d never had to deal with anything like it before.’

              ‘James told me a little about the accident. He was up on the tower with them. Galloway must have been devastated, especially as he’d only just got to know his son.’ Dani finished the wine, feeling the need for another but knowing she couldn’t.

              Jim grimaced. ‘Alex Galloway was full of rage, which was frightening to behold. He wanted to know exactly what happened on that castle tower and why the two members of staff that were supposed to be supervising the group weren’t present when it occurred. Alex wanted their heads on a plate. Not literally,’ he swiftly added.

              ‘It was Galloway who got Gerry the place at the school. He must have felt partly responsible.’

              ‘I expect that was a factor in his distress too. I was friends with the Headmaster back then and several members of the governing body. They asked me to have a word with Alex, to explain the details of the incident to him and try to placate the poor man.’

              Dani nodded, beginning to get the picture – the old boys’ network had kicked into action to protect their precious school. It already smacked of a cover-up. She’d never have thought it was possible, but Dani was starting to feel some sympathy for Galloway.

              ‘I know what you’re thinking Dani, but you’re wrong. I was angry too. It could have been James who’d fallen from that tower. But I didn’t want the entire institution to suffer for the negligence of a few. I managed to persuade Alex to settle for the resignation of the two teachers involved in the incident. The school then set up a memorial scholarship in Gerry’s name and the new music block was named after him, it was the one subject that the boy was any good at. It still remains to this day.’

              They bought him off, Dani thought silently. She imagined how an ill-educated thug like Galloway would be very impressed by such a gesture.  

              ‘A few years later, when Alex found himself in a predicament with the police, he called upon my services again. Because I had a tenuous connection to the man, I agreed. It was actually quite a relief to defend a case that didn’t hold a life sentence in the balance.’

              And you owed him, Dani mused wordlessly. Alex was cashing in his chips. He hadn’t pursued the case against the Scott Academy, but now he was calling in the favour. Dani wondered how many other favours Galloway had called in with Jim Irving over the years. She found her respect for the man seated before her slowly ebbing away.

              He cleared his throat. ‘So, what about this lodge of James’? Linda and I have seen the pictures but haven’t managed to get down there in person just yet. Is it as much of a project as it looks?’

              ‘Oh yes,’ she replied, as cheerfully as possible. ‘But James seems really up for the task.’ Dani spent the remainder of their conversation discussing the state of the house. She made a point of not mentioning Alex Galloway again.

Chapter 16

‘I
’m really sorry to impose on you like this.’ James wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

              ‘Not a problem. We rather enjoy a project.’ Bill Hutchison rummaged around in one of the tea chests. ‘Ah, the cleaning stuff is at the bottom of this box.’

              ‘Great, I knew it had to be somewhere.’

              ‘Joy has brought her own gardening equipment. She likes to do things in a certain way.’

              James smiled broadly. ‘Joy can do whatever she wants out there. I’m not exactly the green-fingered type. This is the first time I’ve had a garden since I lived at home with my folks.’

              ‘It’s a lovely plot. It could be made quite magical.’ Bill picked up his mug and took a slurp of tea. ‘Has DCI Bevan moved her belongings in yet?’

              James sighed. ‘Dani lives in Glasgow. She’ll simply be staying here whenever she comes across.’

              Bill looked as if he were about to say something more but then seemed to think the better of it.

              ‘She’ll be here in a couple of hours, though. Dani went to the funeral of Alex Galloway this afternoon. The man’s death touches on the disciplinary case she’s currently handling.’

              ‘We read about it in the papers. He sounded like a thoroughly unpleasant chap. It’s a shame he was never brought to proper justice.’ Bill tutted loudly. ‘Overpaid lawyers keep these gangster types out of prison for far too long.’ The man glanced at his host, suddenly aware of who he was talking to. ‘Oh, I’m very sorry, James. I didn’t mean to cast aspersions on your family. That was most rude of me.’

              ‘Don’t worry, I’ve heard worse. It wasn’t a choice of career that I made for myself but I understand Dad and Sally’s work. Everyone deserves a decent legal defence, even the bad guys. It’s what makes us a civilised country.’

              Bill nodded but said nothing. He’d had a brush with Sally Irving-Bryant QC in the courtroom and it hadn’t been pretty. Justice had certainly not been served on that particular occasion. But Bill sensed that the young man before him wasn’t cut from the same cloth as his sister. He appeared to have integrity.

              The side door creaked open and Joy entered, her hair swept back from her face and a grubby old apron tied about her middle.

              ‘Can I get you a cold drink?’ James asked solicitously, pulling out a chair.

              ‘That would be lovely, thanks. It’s quite hot in the sun. I’ve found something rather exciting. Would you like to come and see?’

              James handed her a glass of juice. ‘Of course.’

              They followed Joy back out onto the lawn. The side plots had been cleared of weeds and the earth turned over. Joy kept walking until they were amongst the thick tangle of trees and brambles which provided a barrier between the garden and the woods.

              ‘Here,’ she pointed upwards.

              James could just make out a dirty wooden structure, half-hidden amongst the branches of a large oak tree.

              ‘It’s a tree house,’ said Bill. ‘There must be a rope ladder around somewhere too.’

              ‘It’s very high up.’ James felt his stomach churn.

              ‘How thrilling,’ Bill continued. ‘Is there a step-ladder we could use to reach it?’

              ‘There’s one in the garage.’ James’ tone lacked any enthusiasm. ‘The structure probably isn’t very stable.’

              ‘It looks fine to me.’ Bill strode off to fetch the ladder, returning a few minutes later. He propped it up by the trunk of the tree. ‘Hold the base, would you?’

              ‘Be careful, Bill!’ Joy called up behind him.

              The man laughed heartily. ‘I’ve climbed a lot higher than this in my time, dear! Remember when I re-tiled the roof of our house in Ardyle? And that was with thirty mile an hour winds battering me from the west.’

              James shuddered at the thought.

              ‘It’s beautifully made.’ Bill suddenly disappeared from view. His head poked out a few moments later. ‘Jamie and Ben would love this! Oh, here’s the means of escape.’ He threw out a twisted bundle of planks and rope which miraculously unfurled into a sturdy ladder, reaching right down to the ground.

              ‘Oh, good,’ James muttered dryly.

              ‘I won’t come down that way. I don’t expect it was constructed to hold my weight.’

              When Bill was back beside them, James said, ‘a family owned this place for over twenty years. The tree house must have belonged to the Gascoignes.’

              ‘I’d say it was probably handmade. The dad must have been a DIY type.’

              Joy brushed her hands down her apron. ‘Well, it’s here and ready for the next generation. Now, let’s stop for a break. I’ve brought some cakes and biscuits that I baked with Louise yesterday. If we head back to the kitchen, I’ll dig them out.’

*

James noted how the Hutchisons spent the following few hours making the inside of Oak Lodge look as homely as possible. Joy had even brought a pair of floral curtains to put up in the master bedroom.

              ‘It’s an old pair we had in the living room, before we re-decorated. I expect they aren’t to your taste but they’ll do for the time being,’ she had said.

              Actually, James thought they were rather nice. He noticed the Jenner’s department store label on the lining when he helped to hang them and realised they were very good quality.

              By the time Dani arrived, there was a fire burning in the grate and a fresh coat of paint on most of the walls. James had ordered a takeaway curry for them all, which Joy was plating up as Dani entered the kitchen.

              ‘Goodness, what a transformation.’ She dropped her briefcase in the boot room, taking a seat at the wooden table. Bill automatically poured her a glass of wine.

              Dani helped herself to a poppadum. She was absolutely starving. ‘I hope James has thanked you for all your hard work.’

              ‘Of course I have,’ James announced, entering the room after taking a shower, his damp hair standing up in tufts. ‘But Bill and Joy have demanded payment in onion bhajis and saag aloo.’

              ‘How was the funeral?’ Bill asked, unable to contain his natural curiosity.

              ‘Very quiet. I suppose Galloway’s associates knew the church would be crawling with cops and stayed away.’