by Ed James
Sharon laughed. "We didn't put it there."
Bain pointed at the body. "Jimmy, do you want to have a shufti?"
"Glad my years of training and experience have been reduced to a 'shufti'." Deeley grinned as he moved closer, before getting some instruments out of his bag and setting about work.
"Right." Bain looked over at Cullen. "What have you pair been up to?"
"We've searched the flat. There are two separate bedrooms and a bathroom, as well as the living room-kitchen."
Sharon held up the wallet. "We've got an ID. Kenneth Souness."
"Right." Bain looked at Anderson. "You're going to need a team in here. I want this place done by morning."
"Fine." Anderson stroked his thick goatee. "We're just about done at the bing anyway."
"Good." Bain nodded at Irvine. "Alan, I want you as crime scene manager here. Nice opportunity for you to show your quality. I've got a clipboard in the car and some forms, so you can get started now. I want us six signed in straight away. The plod on their way over can handle the outer cordon downstairs."
"Cheers, gaffer." Irvine's shoulders slumped.
"What about us?" Sharon folded her arms.
Bain looked out of the front window for a few seconds then turned around. "You pair can head off. I want you back in at seven, fresh as a pair of daisies."
"Out here?"
Bain shook his head. "Leith Walk. We've nothing else to get on with, other than making sure Anderson and Deeley are doing their jobs properly. You pair have found quite enough bodies for one evening."
***
Cullen tapped the driver's side window, pointing to Sharon's parents' house. "I hope they're getting on well inside."
Sharon yawned as she collected the coffee mug from the footwell. "I'm shattered."
"We really shouldn't stay long." Cullen checked his watch - quarter to eleven. "We've got to get back into work in eight hours."
"Aye, you're right, but we need to show our faces. Besides, I'm not thinking of doing that much sleeping."
Cullen smiled as they got out of the car. He'd never been out with anyone with as voracious a sexual appetite as Sharon - usually it was him that was the pest, but it was at least six times a week with her. Cullen knew officers who probably hadn't had sex that often in ten years.
She marched down the garden path and headed inside.
Their parents stood up as they entered the lounge, a small square room filled with settees.
Sharon sat on a dining room chair by the window. "Have you lot had a nice evening?"
"It's been lovely." Cullen's mum grinned.
Cullen's dad finished his can of beer. "I take it you pair have had a shite one?"
Cullen almost laughed at the scowl his dad got from his mum for the 'S' word. He sat on the other dining chair as their parents resettled themselves. "That would be a good way to describe it. Out in West Lothian. Dead bodies."
"Aye, pots of overtime." Sharon's dad rubbed his hands together. "I know how it works, Scott. You pair will have coined in a small fortune from it. Spending money for your holiday to Tenerife in January."
Cullen sighed. "Just over three months to go. I hate January in Edinburgh."
"We were there in the spring." Cullen's mum nudged his dad. "It was lovely, wasn't it?"
"You'll have a great time, son." His dad's phone rang. "That'll be the taxi. We're staying at the Holiday Inn Express at Ocean Terminal."
Cullen raised an eyebrow. "You could walk there in ten minutes."
"Walk through Leith at eleven o'clock at night? Are you mad?"
Sharon's dad raised a hand. "Hey, this isn't Leith. It's Trinity."
Cullen had to bite his lip and keep his eyes away from Sharon to stop laughing. Instead he checked his own watch again. "We'd best be going, too, seven a.m. start tomorrow."
Sharon's mother frowned. "Oh, just a fleeting visit?"
"Afraid so, mum. Got to make sure Scott doesn't sleep in again."
"We're heading back up the road tomorrow afternoon." Cullen's mother got to her feet. "Will we be seeing you?"
"I'll try and get some time." Cullen winced. "The way this case is going, though, I'm expecting to be out in West Lothian all day."
"Okay then." She looked at her feet. "Will you two be up for the weekend soon?"
"Think we're both off in a couple of weeks. Pencil it in."
Sharon shot him daggers - they had precious few weekends together, the last thing she wanted was to spend it at his parents.
***
Cullen started over again.
Ross County, Inverness Caley Thistle, Elgin, Peterhead, Aberdeen.
Sharon was on top of him, grinding away, her hands pressing down on his chest. Going through the mantra kept the wolf from the door.
Arbroath, Brechin City, Forfar, Montrose, Dundee, Dundee United.
She quickened her pace, sliding up and down.
St Johnstone, East Fife, Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers, Dunfermline.
Her panting quickened. "I'm going to come, I'm going to come."
Cullen stopped his recital and quickened his pace, thrusting harder and faster beneath her. She leaned forward, her hard nipples pressing into his chest. His hands moved from her hips to grab her breasts, his eyes focused on the mole on her left hip, his favourite one. He closed his eyes and came, just as she buckled.
She put her head against his shoulder and bit. "Oh, fuck, oh fuck, oh, fuck."
They lay there for a minute or so, before she rolled off then snuggled into him.
"I love you." He kissed her on the head.
"I love you, too."
Cullen tied up the condom, not thinking about anything for once.
She leaned over. "You know something?"
"What?"
"You only tell me you love me just after you come."
"That'll be about ten times a day with you."
She laughed. "It took you a while the first time."
"And now I can't stop." Cullen pecked the top of her head. "Love isn't something us hairy-arsed Scotsmen are used to expressing."
"You shave yours, don't you?"
"Very funny."
"Not long before you move in, is it?"
"Three months. Just after Christmas, just before Tenerife."
"And you definitely told your flatmates?"
"Last week. Tom can't bitch too much because I've given him a fair amount of notice."
"He'll still bitch, though, right?"
"He hasn't spoken to me since." Cullen laughed. "I just hope the action doesn't stop when you've got me in your nest."
She propped herself up on his chest. "You really think that?"
He laughed. "Of course not."
"You'd better be joking."
"I can't see anything curtailing your sex drive."
She frowned. "Do you think there's something wrong with me?"
"No, I think I'm just too lovely for you to keep your hands off me."
She fell about laughing. "Aye, that's it."
He turned on his side and started stroking her. She'd lost a fair amount of weight in the fourteen months they'd been seeing each other, her slight paunch disappearing. He seemed to have taken it all - despite all the shagging, he'd put on a stone and felt slightly less than sexy. "Our parents seemed to get on well."
"Aye, almost too well. I hope they don't make a habit of it. It was excruciating at times. I'm glad poor Xander Aitken turned up when he did."
He slowly moved over to her, eventually lying on top, his cock not far from danger. "That's not a very nice thing to say."
"Maybe I'm not a very nice girl."
"Time for some discipline then."
Cullen reached over to his side of the bed and grabbed another condom.
Thursday
4th October 2012
CHAPTER 6
Cullen entered the lift and sipped from the Americano, still piping hot, gasping as he felt the inside of his mouth burn. "Bloody hell."
> "Oh, you poor lamb." Sharon patted him on the arm, lip pouting, as she pressed the button.
"Very funny."
"You look tired."
"I am. I couldn't stop thinking about work and this counselling."
"Even after all that exertion?"
"Feels like I've torn the foreskin."
She snorted. "Maybe you're allergic to the spermicide in the condoms?"
"Maybe. Look, it's fine. You don't want to go on the pill and I'm cool with that."
"Nothing to do with you being frightened of having children and wanting to maintain control?"
Cullen shrugged. "Maybe. It's just James I worked with in Bathgate, his girlfriend was desperate for kids and he wasn't. One day, she stopped taking the pill and hadn't told him. Too late then."
Sharon pecked him on the cheek. "I'm less desperate for kids than you are, Scott."
The doors opened and Cullen followed her through the first floor of the station to the Incident Room.
Bain stood at the front, ready to hold court, dark rings beneath red eyes as he drank from a can of Red Bull clone. There were over twenty officers in the room by Cullen's reckoning, including a few of the usual faces - DC Angela Caldwell sat off to the side, DC Chantal Jain and Irvine behind her.
Sharon sat next to Caldwell at the edge of the table near the back and Cullen perched alongside.
Acting DC Simon Buxton barged in next to Cullen. "Morning, Sundance."
"I've told you before, not that name."
"Know what they say, Scott, best way to lose a nickname is not to rise to the bait."
"I'll bear that in mind, Budgie."
Buxton rolled his eyes. "Less of that."
"Do you prefer Britpop?"
"Bain can bugger off with that one."
Cullen reached over and patted Buxton's hair, short on top and at the back, the fringe at the front stuck between long side lappers covering his ears. "Paul Weller called and asked for his haircut back."
"Piss off." Buxton held up his phone, an over-sized Samsung. "Just found something you'll love. Turnbull's got a Twitter account."
"You're kidding me. Has Bain got one?"
"Just the boss for now." Buxton laughed. "Think it's some new initiative, using social media to help bring the community together. It was just starting to come in a few months ago - I would have been @LeithWalkPC4 if DCI Turnbull hadn't given me this Acting DC gig." He prodded the screen, before handing the phone to Cullen. "Here you go."
Cullen took the phone and looked at the stream of messages from @LeithWalkDCI, mostly retweets from open crimes posted by PCs on the beat in Edinburgh, Dalkeith, Ravencraig, Galashiels and others.
Buxton took the phone back. "Interesting how it doesn't mention Lothian & Borders. Future proofing."
"Still a good while before we have to deal with Police Scotland."
"You say that, but you were the one moaning about Bain and Turnbull carving out their corner of the empire."
"Yeah, well they are." Cullen took another drink of coffee, cooler now.
Bain cleared his throat. "Right, then, thanks for joining us. We've got two bodies found last night out in West Lothian."
He pressed a button on a clicker and the large screen behind him filled with the image of Aitken from his passport. "First, Alexander Aitken, known as Xander, is potentially death by misadventure, but potentially not - Jimmy Deeley will confirm later on today. He was found in a Range Rover at the bottom of a shale bing near Winchburgh. The car is a clear write-off."
He clicked again - Souness' face appeared. "The other one, Kenny Souness, is clearly murder. The body has a deep knife wound to the stomach and it looks like he bled to death, despite attempts to apply a bandage."
"We know next to nothing about these two, other than they were flatmates." He took another swig from his can. "The only useful information that's come back so far is that the interior of the Range Rover has been dusted for fingerprints. Anderson's team only found the prints of Xander Aitken and Craig Smith, the owner."
Bain flicked the ring pull as he stroked his moustache. "Now, the car was reported stolen on Tuesday. Just over twenty-four hours later, it turns up at the bottom of a bing with a body in it. I want to know what happened to that car."
He looked around the room, locking eyes with a few officers, Cullen among them. "I'm mobilising several strands to the investigation. First, I want the backgrounds of Aitken and Souness checked out. DC Cullen, can you take Aitken? DS McNeill, I want you take Souness."
Both nodded as the rest of the room looked round at them.
"Next, I want this knife looked into. DS Irvine will lead the search for it. Somebody's stabbed this boy and the knife isn't in their flat, so where is it? Also, I want a team going round the flats in that street." He pointed at Jain. "Chantal, I want you to lead the investigation into the stolen Range Rover. Start with this Craig Smith boy and see where you get to."
He stared at Caldwell and Buxton in turn. "Batgirl, Britpop, I want you pair to help DS Holdsworth finish setting up the Incident Room and start getting the case onto HOLMES. Okay?"
Both nodded.
Bain looked round the rest of the room. "All other officers, please report to DS Holdsworth who will allocate your actions. Dismissed."
Cullen finished the coffee then turned to look at Sharon. "Here we go."
"Thought the ice queen was supposed to be back in?"
"Back shift, wasn't it? Gives Bain seven hours to fuck this up before she comes in."
She laughed. "I need some breakfast. You coming?"
"Aye, could do with a roll. I wasn't hungry when I started that coffee but I am now."
CHAPTER 7
"Here, Sundance."
Bain. Shite. What now?
Cullen put his roll down, took a deep breath and turned to face whatever nonsense Bain was going to put his way.
It was Buxton.
"Simon, would you bloody stop doing that?"
"Should have seen your face." Buxton sat down next to Cullen. He nodded at the black mobile on Cullen's desk. "Finally arrived then?"
Cullen picked up his iPhone 5. "Couple of days ago. Had to make sure my flatmate didn't nick it."
"How does it compare to the 4?"
"Better."
"Really? You look a bit disappointed with it."
"It's fine."
"I remember getting the first one. It just blew me away. I think Apple have lost the wow factor, though."
"You think?"
"Makes me think of that argument I lost when I got this." Buxton tossed his Samsung in the air and caught it. "Not a patch on this baby."
"Look at the size of it. It's a phone for the long-sighted. My dad would love it."
"Whatever." Buxton pocketed the phone. "Oh, some boy from the Complaints was after you."
"Muir?"
"Aye. What has Bain done now?"
Cullen laughed. "He's innocent for once."
"I said you'd give him a call."
"Brilliant."
"Should I have told him where to go?"
Cullen sighed. DS Simon Muir of Professional Standards and Ethics. The Complaints. "The boy's a wanker. He sent me a chaser to an email and copied in his boss and Turnbull."
Buxton took a bite of his Lorne sausage roll. "How long have you been ignoring it for?"
"A month."
Buxton laughed.
"I've been busy."
"A likely tale. What was it about?"
"Nothing, really. Just some case last year. Cop booted the fuck out of a suspect."
"That's a relief. I thought it would be about that Keith Miller."
Cullen struggled for breath for a few seconds. "Why do you think that?"
"Heard Bain blaming you for his death."
"Wanker."
Caldwell slammed her tray down, the cup of tea and bowl of porridge bouncing with the impact. "Scott, do you need any help looking into this Aitken guy?"
Cullen shook his head. "Bain
told you to work with Holdsworth. I'm not getting in the way."
"That's the problem."
"It's a nice opportunity for you to work closely with him, Angela." Sharon sat down with more grace. "Now you're a full DC, you'll be looking to impress the brass, maybe beat Scott here to a DS position."
Cullen wagged a finger. "That's not funny."
"I complained to Bain before the briefing." Caldwell stirred maple syrup into her porridge. "He said it's a key activity of being a DC which I worked hard to get. Then he told me to shut it."
"I can well imagine." Cullen bit into his roll.
"Were you lot out at the crime scene last night?" Caldwell took a mouthful of porridge.
"Yes." Cullen put the roll down and chewed. "Nothing much to see."
Buxton chuckled. "Other than finding that second body."
"Yeah, well, we shouldn't have been there." Sharon stabbed a fork into her fruit salad. "The warrant hadn't properly come through."
"What did you get up to on your day off yesterday?" Cullen looking over at Caldwell. "Was Bill off too?"
Caldwell made a face. "Don't start. We had a nice day down in Northumberland."
Buxton slurped at his coffee. "Holdsworth caught me in the corridor just before the briefing. He said they've got another DS starting today."
Sharon frowned. "Are you sure?"
Buxton nodded slowly. "Catriona Rarity. She's from Strathclyde. Paisley, I think."
"She'll fit in with Bain, then."
Cullen finished his coffee and loudly crumpled the cup. "Great."
Sharon raised an eyebrow. "Here we go again."
Cullen chewed another mouthful, catching his cheek between his teeth. "I'm being serious here. That's the second new DS in the last few months, after bloody Methven came in. Why am I not in consideration for it?"
Buxton made eyes at Caldwell. "We'd better get downstairs, Angela."
"Oh, right. Aye."
They got up and left them to it.
Sharon pinched her nose. "Scott, we've been over this. Did you speak to Turnbull?"
Cullen didn't say anything for a few seconds. He'd meant to, but he just hadn't managed to find the time. Or pluck up the courage. "No."