Free Thursday legends - Skinner 10 by Quintin Jardine Page A

were
last night.'
    Proud
Jimmy had driven off, secretly pleased by the opportunity to be a detective, a
job he had never done during his long and distinguished police career. As the
car turned and disappeared from his sight, it was Skinner who had been left
feeling useless. He would have liked nothing more than to go back to North
Berwick and take part in the house-to-house canvass, or to beat Mario McGuire
to the punch by beginning the trawl through Smith's Special Branch career, but
he knew that he had to take the advice he had given the Chief about
interference in the investigation.
    So
he had gone home, switching himself off from the murder hunt as best he could
by taking Mark and James Andrew to the busy beach, swimming with them in the
incoming tide, and towing them along in their yellow inflatable dinghy.
    He
had expected to find Sarah at home when they returned but, instead, Alex was in
the kitchen, feeding her baby half-sister from a carefully prepared bottle.
'Any word from your step-mother?'
    'Yes,
she called from her car. She was on her way to catch Maggie at North Berwick
with the p.m. report.'
    Now,
in the evening, he waved to the boys from the doorway. 'Time's up, lads.' Jazz
looked at him, angrily; for a moment he thought
that they were in for a crying match. But Mark spoke quietly in his adoptive
brother's ear as he helped him down from the top level of the colourful
climbing frame, and the toddler nodded, breaking into a smile as he ran towards
his father.
    Different
boys in many ways, Bob
mused, yet they couldn't be
closer. Blood brothers, you might say, without the blood link.
    Sarah
was in the nursery, settling Seonaid down for the night, as he ushered the pair
towards the shower. She had come home, just after seven, and had gone straight
into the bath - her routine after a post-mortem examination - after seeing Alex
off to Edinburgh, and her Saturday night date with a couple of girlfriends.
    'Our
older daughter seemed pretty bubbly tonight,' she remarked. 'I think seeing
Andy again may have had something to do with it. You don't suppose there's a
chance ...?'
    He
shook his head, firmly. 'Not a prayer. It's good that they can be friends, but
what happened will always prevent them from being as they were. I know Andy
almost as well as I know her; he thought she was perfect, and it nearly broke
him when he found out that she wasn't.
    'Twice
now, that's happened to him with women. No wonder he's back to playing the
safety in numbers game.'
    'Is
he?' Sarah asked, surprised.
    Her
husband chuckled, quietly, careful not to disturb the baby. 'Is he ever!
Christ, this morning, I tried phoning him just after seven, after I heard
mention of an incident at North Berwick on the headlines. He wasn't in. But
last night he turned up at the crime scene with Karen Neville driving him, and
they left together.'
    'That
doesn't mean anything.'
    Bob
tapped the side of his nose, knowingly. 'Trust me, I'm a detective. Those two
are of the same spirit; both determined not to be tied down in case they get
hurt again. I tell you, my love, Andy's black book is legendary. I even know
someone who's keen to get in it.'
    'Who's
that?'
    'Ms
Ruth McConnell, no less. Just lately, since her big romance split up, I've
caught her giving Andy the odd thoughtful glance.'
    'If
that's right, will you warn her off?'
    'Do
you think she'd thank me? Do you think it's any of my business?'
    'She
is your secretary.'
    'So?
Does that give me seigneur rights, or what?'
    'It
had better not!' She was smiling, but he changed the subject nonetheless:
dangerous ground, still, for them.
    'What
about Alec Smith then?' he said. 'You still haven't told me about the autopsy.
Christ, autopsy indeed ... listen to
me, picking up your Americanisms.'
    Sarah
stepped out of the nursery, switching on the baby alarm, but leaving the door
ajar also. Bob glanced into the bathroom, where Mark and Jazz were both in the
shower, covered in foam.
    'It
was a difficult one,' she said.