Free Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie

Secrets."
    McGivern hesitated, then dug in his pocket and removed a pack of Gitanes. He opened it, offering the half empty pack to Joe.
    "Fancy," Joe said, removing a cigarette, studying it.
    The policeman's hand dipped into his pocket again and reappeared with a gold lighter. He flipped the top open and a flame sprung up. He leaned across the desk, holding the lighter inches from Joe's face. "Hang on," he said. "What are you going to use as an ashtray?"
    "I'll improvise." Tilting his head towards DC McGivern, Joe raised his hand — cigarette clamped between his fingers — towards his mouth. His hand stopped moving before the cigarette touched his lips. He leaned back. McGivern lifted his thumb and the flame died. Joe gripped his unlit cigarette at either end and snapped it in two. McGivern's face paled. One at a time Joe tossed each half of the broken cigarette at the policeman. "Can I have another?" Joe said.

TWELVE

    When DS Monkman returned to the interrogation room he insisted Joe handcuffs were replaced. DC McGivern stood up, walked round the table and fastened the cuffs.
    "Can't you at least put them on in front?"
    "Can't do that," Monkman said. "You'd have a lethal weapon. Fine strong piece of steel in the center you could bring down two-handed on an unsuspecting officer's head." Monkman took the spare seat opposite. When McGivern sat down again, Monkman, without any preamble, formally charged Joe with the murder of Mrs. Ruth Hope.
    "You're charging me?" Joe said when Monkman had finished.
    "Want me to repeat it? I thought I was perfectly clear. Maybe I should take elocution lessons."
    "I didn't fucking do it." Joe banged the edge of the table with his thighs as he stood up. By the time he remembered his sore ribs it was too late. A burning sensation spread across his side. Painful, but not incapacitating. Relieved, he breathed out. If he could jump to his feet like that, it proved that even in the last hour or so there was already a measurable improvement in the state of his health. Maybe his ribs had escaped with severe bruising. No cracks or breakages. Could be, though, that he was just so angry that his body was numb. "You're wrong."
    "You're going to Edinburgh and I'll enjoy being there to watch you go down."
    "Bet you fucking will." Then, realizing the significance of what Monkman had just said, Joe said, "What?"
    "You didn't think we were going to let you travel back home on your own."
    "But why you? Doesn't require the perfectly honed skills of Orkney's finest detective sergeant to escort an unarmed, handcuffed prisoner. Anybody with half a brain could do it. You ought to be spoiled for choice."
    "Actually, the law requires that you be escorted by two officers," Monkman said. "DC McGivern has agreed to accompany us. He'll be flying back tomorrow. I, on the other hand, will be staying."
    "You still haven't told me why. If they want me for questioning in Edinburgh I'd have thought it was their responsibility to come and fetch me."
    "Ordinarily, yes," Monkman said. "But I offered my services to my colleagues down south and they said they'd be honored for me to help with the enquiry."
    "Anything to avoid paying the airfare," McGivern said. "Tight bastards."
    "Not too happy with the assignment?" Joe asked him. "Or is it the fact that the sergeant here is sending you straight back home while he seizes his opportunity to make an impression in the big city that pisses you off?" Joe didn't wait for an answer. He looked at Monkman. "Tell me something, Orkney boy. Am I nothing more than a small town detective's big chance?"
    "I'm not from around here," Detective Sergeant Monkman said. "Although my dad was born in Stromness."
    "Where you from?" Joe asked.
    "Brora," Monkman said.
    "I rest my case."
    *
    An airline official met them at the airport's terminal building and, scolding them for being late, shepherded them to the aircraft. Apart from Joe and the two policemen, there were maybe a dozen passengers, all warm and