by Ed James
"Libel?"
"You're insinuating we're in some sort of relationship?" Colin pinched his face tight.
"Aren't you?"
Neither spoke.
Cullen leaned forward in his chair. "The barman in CC Blooms seems to know you."
Colin gulped. "What we choose to do with our own time is none of your concern."
"No, it's not."
"This is harassment."
"This is a murder inquiry. Mr Tait is using you two as an alibi."
Tim patted Colin's shoulder. "It's okay, Colin." He smiled at Cullen. "Yes. We're a couple. We've chosen to keep it secret from our work colleagues. That's a private matter."
"I see." Cullen flicked back a couple of pages in his notebook. "Can you confirm Mr Tait's alibi? He says you were with him from early on Monday evening through to Thursday morning."
"That's true." Tim nodded. "You don't need to wonder what we saw in young Gavin, do you?"
"I can imagine."
"We'd taken some time off work to relax with him. We'd been out drinking in bars and clubs then we… had fun with him before we collapsed at dawn."
"Three nights in a row?"
Tim grinned. "Viagra's a wonderful thing."
***
Cullen slumped in a chair near the front as the Incident Room filled up for Cargill's briefing.
Caldwell sat next to him. "What's up with you?"
Cullen looked up. "Nothing."
"Yeah, right. You look like you've been told you're working with Irvine again."
"I resent that." Irvine glanced over, mouth pounding on chewing gum.
Caldwell leaned in close. "Seriously, what's up?"
"Do you honestly think I'd want to tar you with whatever brush I've been tarred with?"
"Look, I said I'm sorry. I was in a bad mood and I shouldn't have reacted like that."
"Okay, apology accepted."
"Tell me, then."
Cullen slouched back. "I've spent a fun afternoon visiting CC Blooms, Cafe Habana and Planet Out. At least I now know the Outhouse isn't a gay bar."
"What were you doing?"
"Checking an alibi."
"I see what you meant about your cowboy stuff, Scott. Christ."
"Yeah, yee-ha."
"Did you confirm it?"
"Aye." Cullen sighed. "CCTV backed up the story this rent boy gave me. Some lawyers who work for Campbell McLintock were buggering him all week."
"Were you picking on homosexuals?"
"No. I swear."
Caldwell shook her head, albeit with a smile on her face. "Typical Cullen. Off trying to solve the case on your own and prove to everyone how much of a hero you are."
"That's not what I was doing." Cullen felt his ears burn.
Caldwell laughed. "Of course it is. You wanted to do exactly what you did in the summer in that distillery and prove to the powers that only Scott Cullen was right. Everyone else was wrong."
Cullen shrugged his shoulders. "There might be a bit of that."
"More than a bit." Caldwell folded her arms.
Cargill called the room to order, the assembled officers quickly settling down.
Sharon arrived just after Cargill started, giving him a little wave from the back of the room.
Cargill led them through updates on the major strands of investigation - to Cullen, it looked like the rest of them had experienced the same sort of day he had. Nobody had come up with any new information, no new leads. Sharon's investigation into the Rangers connection proved it was just innocent football club supporting.
Cargill looked at him. "The only update I haven't got is yours, DC Cullen. Would you care to pass it on to the assembled officers?"
Cullen cleared his throat. "I have been in Ravencraig, checking out local background on the victims. As some of you know, I used to be based in Bathgate and know Ravencraig pretty well. I've retained a snou- sorry, CHIS in the town who passed on a lead, which I then investigated. It initially looked promising but unfortunately proved ultimately fruitless."
Cullen was embarrassed he'd almost used the word 'snout', like he was in The Bill. Covert Human Intelligence Source sounded much more modern, even if it's the sort of phrase Cullen would mark Turnbull down for using in a briefing.
Cargill smiled. "Can you give us some more detail, please?"
"Certainly." Cullen had to think things through for a few seconds, trying to work out exactly how much to reveal. He didn't want Irvine or Bain getting too much ammunition with which to wind him up, especially as he'd spent a couple of hours going round gay bars. "My CHIS gave me the name of a Gavin Tait, a former resident of Ravencraig, who now lives in Stirling."
Cargill wrote the name up on the white board. "And who is he?"
"Mr Tait is a former acquaintance of Souness. It turns out Souness once beat Tait up in the street, almost hospitalising him. The matter wasn't reported to the police, as Mr Tait didn't want his homosexuality to be common knowledge in the town. Tait had allegedly come on to Souness at a party a few years ago."
"This sounds like good work." Cargill nodded. "Is he a suspect?"
"Well, that's the thing. His alibi checks out. I validated it for the three nights in question. Mr Tait was at a series of gay bars in Edinburgh."
Irvine piped up. "Have you spent all afternoon talking to poofters?"
There was uproar in the room.
Cullen closed his eyes - he could have died of embarrassment.
"DS Irvine!" Cargill stabbed a finger in the air. The room fell into silence. "I will not tolerate homophobic comments like that."
"Who says I'm homophobic? I've just always wondered about DC Cullen's sexuality."
More laughter.
"Enough!" Cargill's eyes shot around the room. "DS Irvine, I want a word with you once this is finished." She looked back at Cullen. "Anything further, DC Cullen?"
"Just that Gavin Tait isn't a suspect any more."
"Okay, I think we're done here."
Cullen slumped back in the chair. "What a mess."
Caldwell leaned over. "Yee-ha."
"I've just given that twat a whole new set of jokes, haven't I?"
"Nightmare."
"Tell me about it. I should have briefed Caldwell before, but I couldn't find her."
Sharon sat down next to him. "Irvine was right out of order there."
Cullen spotted Irvine chatting to someone, looking like he was in no hurry to speak to Cargill. "I'll get him back, don't worry."
"Just don't go and throttle him."
"I'd never try to do that." Cullen winked.
"He was off being Bruce Willis again." Caldwell thumbed at Cullen. "Trying to show everyone how good he was. Hadn't told anybody what he was investigating."
"Oh, Scott." Sharon shook her head. "Is that true?"
"I wanted to make sure it was sound before I presented it to the brass, that's all." He caught Irvine walking over. "Here we fucking go."
"Didn't mean anything there, Scott." Irvine play punched his shoulder. "Just having a laugh, you know?"
Cullen ignored him.
Sharon pointed her finger at Irvine. "That sort of behaviour might be fine in the canteen but it's pretty stupid in a briefing."
Irvine's lips smacked together as he chewed. "Who cares? It was good for morale."
"Was it? Racism, sexism and homophobia have gone out of the window now. I've worked with you for years and, if anything, you've got worse."
"More's the pity."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you say about sexism and homophobia, it's certainly benefited the likes of DI Cargill." Irvine grinned as he glanced at Cullen. "Or should I say, Sharon, your ex-girlfriend?"
CHAPTER 21
Cullen shot to his feet, hands reaching for Irvine. "I've fucking told you."
Irvine stepped back, a smug grin on his face. "It's true!"
Cullen turned to Sharon. "Ex-girlfriend? What's he talking about?"
Shar
on couldn't look at him.
Irvine laughed. "He doesn't even know!"
Cullen stabbed his finger at Irvine. "Will you shut the fuck up before I kick the fucking shit out of you?"
Irvine swallowed and backed off a bit.
Sharon reached for Cullen's shoulder. "Scott, it was a long time ago."
"What was?" Cullen frowned - he didn't know what the hell was going on. He felt dizzy. Blood was rushing to his head.
Sharon took a deep breath. "I used to go out with Alison Cargill."
Cullen tasted blood at the back of his throat. He had to blink tears away.
He felt lost as he stared at Sharon - she'd lied to him. How could she? Why hadn't she told him? Was she really in love with him or was she fucking him about?
Irvine poured more chewing gum in his mouth.
Shame burnt Cullen's face. Irvine had known for a long time and he was going to spread it around. Here's Scott Cullen and his dyke girlfriend!
Cullen bit his lip and tried to breathe. The Incident Room was slowly clearing. He glowered at Sharon. "I'll see you on Monday."
***
Cullen sank the rest of his third pint of Staropramen.
He couldn't believe it. Could not believe it.
Sitting in the window booth of the Elm, he looked across Leith Walk at the station, watching the rush hour.
How could she?
She'd lied to him. He knew there had been a falling out, but she'd never gone into any detail about it. She'd told him they'd fallen out because Cargill threw her under the bus over something. That was most likely a load of shite. Now he knew it was much more than that - they'd been an item.
Cullen thought back to Sharon's parents' house - the photo of her with short hair. She didn't tell him she'd had a lesbian phase. Quite a lot of people experiment in their teens, not their twenties.
Their whole relationship was a lie. She was gay. She'd been stringing him along. All that sex - her on top of him grinding away - he might as well have been some female rugby player with a strap-on.
The Butch nickname - had Bain been in on it? Were they all laughing at him?
In January, he'd grabbed Irvine by the throat in a car park in Haddington because he'd called Sharon a dyke. Fucking hell.
What a fucking mess.
He went and ordered another pint.
The barman put the fizzing pint on the bar top. "Rough day?"
"Something like that." Cullen handed over the money.
"Every day's like that for me, pal."
Cullen collected his change and headed back to his seat in the window. It had started raining.
"Thought I'd find you here." Sharon sat down across from him. "I'm sorry."
"Are you?" Cullen avoiding looking anywhere near her.
"I'm sorry, Scott. I really am."
"Seems like everybody knew except me."
"What do you want me to say?"
Cullen took a big drink. "Just tell me what happened."
"Look, Scott, I was young and confused."
Cullen finally looked at her.
Her make-up was streaked with tears and a poor patch-up job had been attempted.
He looked away. "Not that young."
She sighed. "I'd… dabbled at university. With men and women. I think I'm bisexual but it's been a long time since I've been with a woman."
"Was Cargill the last?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Is that the truth?"
"Yes."
"I'm struggling to believe anything you say right now."
She took a deep breath. "We went out for a few months, Scott, that's it. I just realised I wasn't interested in the whole lesbian scene. That's why I asked to work for Bain when Wilko moved on."
"So Turnbull knew before I did?"
She reached over to grab his hand. He pulled it away. "Scott, come on."
"Come on, what?" He took another drink and slammed the glass down. "I've been lied to, Sharon. Irvine and Turnbull and God knows who else knew before I did. You've kept things from me. I can't trust you any more."
She took a deep breath. "I understand."
"You told me she made you take the blame for something you didn't do and that's why you fell out. Is that true?"
"It is true." She brushed the tears away from her eye. "She made a mess of her statement on a case. She made me take the blame for it."
"Made you?"
"I told our DI I'd made the error. It tore us apart. That's why we fell out. She didn't care about me, she was just after her own career."
"If she hadn't done that, you'd have still been together, right?"
"No. There were other things. Besides, I was getting fed up with her. I needed a man not a woman."
Cullen slumped back, unsure what to believe. He felt the acid in his stomach burn. As the tears came back, his nose started running. He felt another surge of anger rise up. "All that shite I went through about Alison, you just wouldn't let it lie. And now I find this out?"
"Scott, that was different."
"How? How was it different? I shagged a girl before we started going out. You might not have been happy about it and I wasn't proud of it, but I let you know that."
"Are you sure you're not homophobic?"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this. It's nothing to do with it being a woman. It's because you lied to me. It could've been Irvine and it would've been exactly the same." He sunk the rest of the pint and put his jacket on. "It's over, Sharon."
He got up and left her there, sobbing into her hand.
CHAPTER 22
"That's pretty fucked up." Rich shook his head. "Worse than even my private life."
Cullen tried to laugh. "I suppose I'll be staying in the flat."
"That not a bit soon?"
Cullen shrugged - he couldn't see himself moving out of the flat, or going to Tenerife. He took a long drink of St Mungo Lager, burping afterwards. "I just can't believe this is happening."
Cullen's mobile sat next to Rich's Samsung Galaxy S3, ringing on the table, the volume muted. The display flashed up Sharon's name and number. He let it ring out.
Rich nudged the phone. "Is that her?"
"Eleventh call."
"You should speak to her, you know."
"She should've spoken to me. She should've told me the truth."
It rang again - he let it ring out again.
Rich waved his hand in front of Cullen's face. "I said, do you know a Keith Miller?"
"Aye. Why?"
"That's the copper who was killed by the Schoolbook Killer, right?"
"Aye."
"Someone at the Argus is writing a book about him."
Cullen looked up. "Who?"
"Just some bloke in features. He was trying to get a hold of that Alison girl you shagged."
"Alison Carnegie. Keep him away from her."
"Don't worry, Skinky, I will."
Cullen folded his arms. "Have you heard anything about these stabbings out in West Lothian?"
"Not my bag. I'm covering the Parliament just now. West Lothian's a different desk."
Cullen finished his pint. "Another?"
"Mm?" Rich was leching again, at a tall bloke walking past, mainly at his arse.
"Stop it."
"Homophobe." Rich grinned.
Cullen flared his nostrils. "Don't. I'm not in the mood."
Rich held up his hands. "Okay, tonight you have permission to be a redneck homophobe. I'd prefer it if you didn't veer into sexism or racism at the same time."
Cullen picked up his glass and mobile and headed to the bar, waiting a while before he could order. He got another two calls from Sharon which he let ring out. He stabbed the decline button on the second call, making him feel slightly better.
The display lit up again - Tom. "You on your way?"
"Aye. Get us a St Mungo."
"Will do."
Cullen took the three stein-style glasses back to their booth.
Rich was sitting in the
middle of the arc, finishing off his last pint, staring in the direction of the arse he'd spotted earlier.
A rough-looking ned had planted himself at the far edge from Cullen, carrying a Sainsbury's orange plastic carrier bag, eyes darting around the bar.
Rich took his pint. "The things I would do to that arse."
Cullen leaned over to Rich. "Who the fuck is that?" He pointed at the end of the booth.
Rich glanced over at the ned. "Didn't spot him." He called over. "Excuse me?"
The ned nodded. "What you saying, pal?"
"Could you go and sit elsewhere, please?"
The ned shifted round the booth. "What you saying?"
Rich rolled his eyes. "My friend's just broken up with his girlfriend and he's not in the mood. Could you just go and irritate someone else?"
"I'm not hurting anybody, pal. Just resting my pegs here. Had a busy day."
"Can you go and rest them elsewhere?"
The ned stared at him. "Are you saying I can't sit here? It's a free fucking country, pal."
"You've not got a drink, so I'll get the barman to chuck you out."
The ned leaned over and looked Rich up and down. "Think you're something, pal?"
"No, I don't. Just kindly fuck off and leave us."
The ned raised his hands in the air. He shook his head then collected his bag and headed off. He slinked over to the bar, where he stood next to a woman sitting on a stool. Her handbag sat on the bar top, just out of her line of sight as she talked to a friend. He inched closer to the bag.
"Fuck it." Cullen walked over to the bar manager he'd clocked earlier. "Excuse me!"
The manager was pulling a pint. "What is it?"
Cullen whipped out his warrant card. "There's a man over there." He pointed to the ned, the bar manager's eyes following the line of his hand. "He looks like he's going to steal from your customers. If you don't chuck him out, I'll nick him. Not going to look good for you."
"Cheers, son." He put the half-poured pint aside and headed through the hatch in the bar.
Cullen walked back to the booth and sat down.
The bar manager threw the ned out, protesting his innocence before eventually giving up. He turned left at the front door and walked down the lane, flicking the v's at them as he passed.