by Lynne McEwan
‘All your redundancy money from Milton McConnell went into this place, we haven’t got the cash to expand.’
‘Don’t call it that.’ His voice was rising now. ‘It wasn’t redundancy.’
Shona looked at him, horrified. ‘But…’
‘I was sacked!’ he shouted, getting up and staggering towards the sink. She thought he might be sick but instead he turned to her. ‘The money was a pay-off to go quietly. Happy now? You’ve finally got it out of me.’
‘You,’ Shona stood up and pointed an accusing finger at him, ‘you promised, you swore on our daughter’s life you wouldn’t gamble. Now this? What did you do, Rob?’ She gripped the back of her chair and stood where she was. If she got any closer the urge to shake the truth out of him would be overwhelming.
Rob ran the tap and splashed water on his face. ‘The bank was co-mingling legitimate transactions of a pharmaceuticals company with fake client accounts. Used it to buy gold. Smuggled it out of the country. Untraceable.’
‘Money laundering?’ For a moment she was almost speechless. Her Rob was smart, he had more sense. ‘You knew about this and said nothing? Don’t you understand? You could have helped fund the drugs trade, or terrorism.’
‘They set me up. I signed off some of the transactions my team worked on before I realised what was going on. It was too late. I was in it up to my neck. I didn’t know what to do.’ He crossed back to the table and sat down, the cold water and the gravity of his situation having a rapidly sobering effect. ‘I wanted to go to the police, but I kept it quiet for your sake. You and Becca.’
‘My sake?’ Shona scoffed. ‘Don’t make this about me.’
‘But it is about you. You and Becca, that’s all it’s ever been about,’ he said desperately. ‘I’d lost my job, I didn’t want to lose my family. Threats were made. You were with the City of London Police. Do you think they couldn’t have falsified a bribe? Ended your career? We’re talking millions here. Don’t you think they had a few cops in their pocket? They’d have destroyed us both.’
Shona was shaking with anger. She felt utterly betrayed. She looked at Rob, unsure if she could even trust what he was saying.
She’d come from nothing; no money, no parents, no prospects, but she’d made something of herself. Rob had had everything; a private education, family money, good looks and natural charm, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from throwing it all away.
‘The gambling? How much?’ she said flatly.
‘The cards are maxed out, savings account’s empty.’ Rob chewed his lip and watched her expression closely.
‘The money for Becca’s future?’
His face twisted. ‘I’ll pay it back. Just need to sort alternative funds.’
‘How?’ she shouted. ‘How could you do this? Just when we were getting back on track.’ Her hands flew to her hair and she stopped dead. ‘The house? What about this house?’
‘It’s safe, it’s okay,’ he said, eager to placate her. ‘Joint names, couldn’t extend the mortgage without your signature.’
‘Oh, so you tried, did you?’ She advanced on him stabbing a finger in his chest. ‘You’d have us homeless, on top of everything else. What do you owe? Fifty, sixty grand? More?’
‘I’ll work to pay it back,’ he said. ‘I’ll get another job, I’ll get help. I promise. Please, Shona.’ He tried to hug her, but she pushed him away. ‘Just let me try. I love you, Shona.’
‘No!’ she shouted, the tears pricking behind her eyes. ‘You don’t do this to people you love. You’ve destroyed everything and made me an accessory to your crime. I was a DI in the City Police, no one will believe I didn’t know about this. Don’t you realise? I have to report this fraud.’
‘Don’t, don’t. I’m begging you, Shona. What’s the point? They’ll come after you.’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. Whichever gang Milton McConnell are in league with.’
‘Well, I’ve got news for you. My gang’s bigger than their gang,’ she said with a bravado she didn’t feel. She wanted to scare him; it was the only way she could think of to make him realise the depth of shit he’d landed them both in.
‘Look, just forget I told you. I’m drunk, don’t know what I’m saying.’ He tried a tentative smile. ‘It’s all my fault but I’ll sort it, I promise. Just go to bed, you look exhausted. I’ll sleep in a guest room. Here,’ he filled a glass from the tap and held it out to her, ‘get some rest.’
She felt the impulse to smash it from his hand, but he was right about one thing. She was exhausted. Becca’s accident, the unresolved cases of Isla and Sami, the strain of keeping Baird at bay and now this. What had started as a trickle was now a deluge. It was like she was drowning, pushed further and further down by the weight of water.
She ignored the glass. ‘I’m going upstairs. I need to think.’ She looked him in the eye. ‘Tomorrow, you call the doctor. You’re an addict, Rob. You need help. You get an appointment and you tell him what you’ve done.’ He nodded eagerly, feeling he was making progress with her, but when he reached out to kiss her goodnight, she turned away and slammed the door behind her.
Chapter 27
‘Everything okay, boss? Becca all right?’ Murdo’s concerned face greeted her the next morning in the office.
‘Yes, fine. Busy night,’ Shona said distractedly. Her navy trousers and deep purple shirt were neat and pressed but her eyes were red-rimmed, and her dark bob was scraped back into a pony tail held in place by one of Becca’s hairbands.
‘You get called out on the lifeboat?’ Murdo looked set to launch into a lecture about burning candles at both ends.
‘No, no,’ she said, irritated by the interruption. She picked up a pile of papers on her desk, then put them down again. There had been something she wanted to check about the Isla investigation but Murdo had distracted her and now she couldn’t remember what it was. It had occurred to her, as she lay awake last night trying to grade her troubles into order of priority, but she’d omitted to write it down. ‘No, just sorting out things at home.’ She’d stood over Rob this morning, while he called his GP, but had said little else to him.
Murdo gave her a look which said that man of yours could do with sorting out for a start. Shona was aware that Rob’s currency had slipped in the eyes of her deputy since he’d found him in the pub after Becca’s accident. He’d said nothing, but a look from Murdo could say everything.
She stopped searching her desk fruitlessly for her lost thought. Murdo was watching her and frowning. ‘Do you need me for something, Murdo?’ The question sounded more exhausted than she’d meant it to.
He’d been leaning against the door frame but now stood upright and read from a Post-it note in his hand. ‘Just a wee thing. A Nathan Jones called. Said it was urgent you got in touch.’
Shona felt the gears of her memory, heavy with fatigue, slip and judder.
‘It’s a Gretna number,’ Murdo prompted.
It came to her. ‘Nathan Jones, the yard next to the Carmine warehouse. Where the pills were found.’
‘Okay, so, he wouldn’t say what he wanted. Will only talk to you.’
‘Murdo, I don’t have time for this today.’ She sat down, exasperated. ‘I’m picking up Becca from the hospital in an hour.’
‘That’s grand.’ Murdo smiled. He held the yellow Post-it note up. ‘Want me to deal with this?’
‘Yes. Please do.’ She began opening and closing her desk drawers. ‘Wait.’ She stopped and looked at him. ‘Could this be a change of heart from Jones? He must have seen the news about Op Fortress, how we rounded up the dealers. Maybe he feels safe enough to tell us something about the pills we found without fear of reprisals?’
‘Aye, mibbae,’ Murdo considered.
‘Go and see what he has to say, and Murdo…’ she hesitated. Right now, she felt like she was fighting a war on all fronts. She needed Murdo’s help. ‘Listen, technically we’re not pursuing the Isla Corr case, but I still think it
’s possible that yard is where she went into the Solway. If Jones should happen to mention anything…’
‘Aye, I know what you mean. It doesnae sit well with me that we never found out what happened to the lass.’ Murdo nodded slowly.
‘Take Ravi with you. As Family Liaison Officer he knows Isla Corr’s background best.’
‘Fine. Do you want me to pass anything onto Dan Ridley? Technically it’s Cumbria’s case.’
‘Just bring it to me. We’ll make that decision as and when.’
‘Righto. What have you lost?’ Murdo indicated her scattered papers and half opened drawer.
‘I can’t remember, but I’ll know when I find it.’ She smiled up at him. ‘Thanks, Murdo. Update me at home if Jones says anything interesting.’
* * *
When Shona arrived at the hospital, Becca was sitting on the bed dressed in grey tracksuit bottoms and a yellow T-shirt. Her long dark hair was swept up in a pony tail and her right arm was in a splint and sling. To Shona’s surprise Rob was next to her, holding her packed bag in his hand. Tommy McCall stood by the end of the bed, still in his blue overalls, feet planted apart and arms folded. ‘Thought I’d pop in and say hello.’ He was watching Rob with a canny eye. Shona wondered, with a stab of embarrassment, if he’d heard that Becca was due to be discharged and was making sure Rob turned up sober, and on time.
‘Looks like you have a choice of rides home.’ Shona hugged her daughter.
‘I’ll go with Dad if that’s okay?’ Becca said, getting up. ‘He’s got the nicest car.’
Rob looked relieved at this vote of approval. Shona said nothing. She had no wish to force a wedge between father and daughter, no matter what she felt about Rob herself. She knew he’d drive carefully.
‘I’ll try not to take that as an insult,’ Tommy huffed.
‘You can take me home next time,’ said Becca magnanimously.
‘Promise me there’s not going to be a next time, lassie,’ he said seriously.
‘I promise, Tommy.’ She shuffled forward and gave him a hug, ‘Thanks for everything,’
He patted her shoulder. ‘Off you go now, and stay out of trouble,’ he said, ushering them all out of the ward. He winked at Shona and mouthed, see you later.
Shona followed Rob’s car on the journey home. Ahead, she could see the outline of Becca turn and smile at her father from the passenger seat. She was unsure how much to say to Becca about her father’s problems. First thing she needed to know was their financial situation. Could they clear Rob’s gambling debts without losing the house? Who exactly did he owe the money to? She needed to know today where they stood.
After lunch Shona suggested that her daughter go up to her room and rest. When Becca protested Shona offered a bribe. If Becca did what she was told, Ellie could come over later and watch a movie. They could order in pizza. It did the trick. Shona helped her into bed and arranged a blanket over her. As she turned to go, she heard Becca say quietly, ‘Thanks, Mum.’
When she came back down to the kitchen, Rob was staring morosely into the dregs of his coffee mug. Shona crossed to the table and lifted the plates to stack in the dishwasher. ‘What time’s your appointment with the GP?’
‘Three o’clock,’ he said glumly.
Shona checked the time on her phone; it was nearly two. ‘Will you do me a favour before you go?’
‘Sure.’ He looked up with a flicker of interest. ‘What?’
She lifted his MacBook from the dresser and handed it to him. ‘Will you make a list of everything we owe, and who we owe it to? We need to know what we’re dealing with.’ She kept her voice level, her expression blank and deliberately used ‘we’ rather than ‘you’. It signalled support and she needed him in a positive frame of mind, with no excuse to storm off in a tantrum and miss his appointment. ‘Can you do that?’
‘Okay.’ His relief that he was getting off lightly was apparent. ‘I’ll just go into the office.’ He took the laptop from her. A moment later she heard the door close on the small room next to the kitchen where Rob kept a desk and a filing cabinet of B&B paperwork.
Shona cleared the dishes and made herself another coffee. Then she sat down at the kitchen table and prepared to make a list of her own. Isla’s file lay before her. It needed a full case review. Why was so little known about her movements in the last weeks of her life? Where hadn’t they looked? Who else could they question? What unpromising leads should be reassessed? When exactly was Isla last seen, and who with? She took a fresh sheet of paper and opened the buff folder in search of answers.
Forty minutes later, Rob came back into the hallway and stood by the kitchen door. He’d changed into a jacket and tie. ‘What?’ he said when she looked up at him. ‘I’m not going in there looking like an addict,’ he challenged.
Shona bit her tongue. But you are an addict, a gambling addict. The sooner you face it, the sooner we can deal with this shit, the shit we’re in up to our armpits, the shit you’ve landed us in, she wanted to shout in his face. Instead she forced herself to smile. ‘You look very smart. Good luck,’ she said, and meant it.
He nodded, mollified. ‘Thanks. Here’s what you asked for.’ He slid a sheet of paper, face down, onto the table like a schoolboy submitting below-par homework and stepped back quickly into the doorway.
Shona turned the corner up briefly, saw a row of numbers and dropped it again. Her heart pounded in her chest. Jesus. That much. ‘Let’s take this a step at a time,’ was all she could manage to say.
Once he’d gone, she gathered up her cup. Her hand was still shaking as she switched the kettle on. She went out into the hall to listen for Becca. All was quiet. The office door was open, and Rob’s dirty coffee cup sat on his desk. When she picked it up, the sharp, smoky smell of whisky stung her nose. Liquid courage. She pulled apart the desk and filing cabinet until she found the bottle, and marched back to the kitchen then emptied it, threw it in the recycling. Hiding from gambling in alcohol wasn’t going to help. The doctor’s surgery was a short drive away in Dalbeattie. She wondered how much he’d had to drink. If Rob lost his licence… stop, stop, she told herself. He’s an adult, his mistakes are his own.
She took a glass of squash up to Becca, who was still fast asleep, then stood for a moment looking out from the panoramic window in the lounge. The days were already shortening. The trees on the far side of the estuary were a bright patchwork of orange, reds and gold. Their reflection lay like a fiery quilt upon the surface of the water. In a few weeks the winds would strip them bare. In a month or so, the trees would become a line of black tracery, stark against the vivid winter sunsets. Below, she could see the small boats rocking gently on their moorings, their noses all turned towards the incoming tide, like creatures scenting the wind. The thought that she might lose all this caused a pain in her chest so sharp that she gasped. She put a hand on her racing heart until the colour and sway and peace of the seashore infused her with calm again. She would fix this. This was her anchorage, she wasn’t about to give it up without a fight.
Shona returned to the kitchen and by the time she heard Rob’s car on the drive she had a list of action points in the Isla case neatly inked in her precise handwriting on the cover sheet of the file. Rob came in looking calm and relieved. The doctor was referring him for CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which was the best option for gambling. He’d given him some contacts he could talk to straight away. Rob had already called one who advised him to register online to self-exclude himself from all bookmakers and casino organisations, web-based and bricks-and-mortar. ‘Can’t even get into a bingo hall now,’ Rob joked. It felt like a small step forward.
‘We need to talk about the B&B business,’ Shona said. ‘Maybe we should close for a bit, till you feel better?’
‘We can’t, we need the money,’ said Rob, flatly.
‘Is the insurance paid? Can we even feed the guests?’ Shona said. Detective Superintendent Munroe had offered her time off to be with Becca – should she
take it and look after the guests? It took a millisecond to realise how impractical that was. They’d need to bring someone in to cook and they couldn’t afford that. Her colleagues at Dumfries CID would likely have several cases of poisoning to investigate if she took charge in the kitchen.
‘Thing is, Shona, it’s not up to us,’ Rob said quietly.
‘What do you mean?’ Shona had the creeping sense that a wave was looming that she couldn’t see.
‘The interest rates on what’s owed are crippling. If those loans aren’t cleared quick, I’ll be declared insolvent.’
‘But you’re a banker, what do we do? Can you ask Sandy for a short-term loan?’
Rob shifted uncomfortably. ‘Already had one. Times are tight for him too. Anyway, I don’t see Caroline agreeing to any more.’ He came towards her and took her by the shoulders. ‘But don’t worry, Shona. I’m so grateful for your support. I’ll fix it, don’t worry.’ He was so earnest that she could see he really believed it himself. She shook herself free.
‘One thing you need to understand, Rob,’ she said, ‘is you need to complete your treatment and face up to your financial responsibilities, then we’ll talk about whether this marriage is working for both of us.’
Shona’s phone rang and she saw Murdo’s name. Rob was staring at her as if he couldn’t comprehend what she’d said.
‘I have to take this.’ Shona went into the utility room and closed the door.
Murdo’s voice was low and serious. ‘Really sorry about this, boss, but you need to get over here.’
Shona listened with a frown to the brief details. ‘Okay, I’m on my way.’ She picked up her jacket and car keys and went back into the kitchen. Rob was still standing where she’d left him. ‘I have to go. Can you keep an eye on Becca?’ For a moment he said nothing, then he nodded. She went out and started the car. As she backed out of the drive she caught a glimpse of Rob standing at the kitchen window watching her go.