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‘Well, your legendary tact went down well there, Ross,’ said Barney, chuckling in his armchair.
‘Piss off, Grandpa. We’re off the case, not that we were ever on it.’
‘What, why?’ said Janie.
‘Hardie seems to be calling the shots. He’s demanding no involvement by Max, and no one who works with him. We’re ordered to stay totally off the case, direct from the DCC.’
‘What?’ said Janie, incredulously.
‘Exactly that. Miles and the DCC are letting him run the bloody show.’
‘He’s planning something, Ross. He’s planning something big, and that’s why he doesn’t want us anywhere near it. He knows we won’t believe his bullshit. Can you appeal this?’ said Max.
‘I’m going to do that, right now, but as I’ve already had one carpeting from the DCC about our one-legged spy abstracting electricity, I suspect it won’t do much good.’ Ross reached for his phone again and dialled.
‘Margaret, it’s Ross Fraser. Is the DCC in?’ He paused, his face frozen in mild surprise as the tinny voice spoke.
‘On our way.’ He hung up and looked at Max. ‘Margaret was just about to call us. She wants to see you and me now. Looks like Miles cliped on us, the bastard.’
12
MAX AND ROSSwere quickly ushered into DCC Campbell’s office by the nervously smiling Margaret, who notably didn’t offer coffee. A meeting without coffee was always ominous.
‘Sit down, both of you,’ said the unsmiling DCC Campbell, who didn’t look up from a document that she was studying.
Max glanced at Ross, who just shrugged as they sat down on the two hard chairs that had been positioned six feet directly in front of the huge walnut desk. She continued to read the document in front of her, flipping the pages with apparent bored interest. The room was overpoweringly quiet as she continued to go through the sheaf of papers. This was a classic senior-officer tactic to assert her power. By ignoring them, as she was clearly doing, she was making it clear who was in control. Ross looked again at Max and smiled, shaking his head at this pretentious display.
The silence was thick and unpleasant, but Ross didn’t seem in the slightest bit fazed, and his eyes twinkled with amusement. DCC Campbell was clearly making a point.
When she spoke, she didn’t look up from her document. ‘Ross, just what the hell is happening on your team?’
‘Beg your pardon, ma’am?’ said Ross, his face impassive and his voice even.
When she eventually raised her eyes, they were flinty and hard. ‘You know what I mean. I had to take you to task this morning because one of your staff is camping out in the car park as if thisis a caravan site and stealing electricity for goodness’ sake, and now I hear from DCS Wakefield that you’re interfering in a covert investigation. To make things worse, DS Craigie, you seem to be accessing highly sensitive intelligence from questionable sources. So, Ross, I ask again, what the hell is going on with the Policing Standards Reassurance Team? Because nothing I have seen so far is in any way reassuring me.’
Surprisingly, Ross kept his cool. ‘Ma’am. DS Craigie received the intelligence anonymously, so quite reasonably raised it with me. We have detailed knowledge of the Hardie family, being responsible as we were of bringing them down. It doesn’t feel right that Hardie is setting the parameters of the investigation. We should be involved. We have knowledge and experience of that family that DS Maxwell doesn’t. Hardie has an ulterior motive, I guarantee it.’
‘Well fortunately, Ross, this is my decision to make, and the possibility of Hardie leading us to an unsolved murder of a foreign national is too important. Hardie has made it clear that your team, and in particular DS Craigie, is not to be involved in any way or the deal is off. Can you imagine the media attention? With all the corruption scandals Police Scotland have had recently, it’d be a blood bath.’
‘Aye, scandals, that my team uncovered. We’ve done more to clear up corruption than any other bugger in recent years. Your predecessor for one,’ said Ross, his voice tightening as he referred to the previous DCC who had been uncovered by the team.
‘Don’t take that tone with me, DI Fraser. Yes, I’ve been made aware of your successes, but there are also many questions I’d like answering about those, as many of the details don’t add up. I am now lead for professional standards, and I’ll be making representations to the Chief Constable about your team. My submission will be that you should be part of my portfolio for reasons of scrutiny and accountability.’ Her face had begun to redden, just a touch, and her jaw was set tight.
‘Well, I’m happy for any and all types of scrutiny, ma’am. I answerdirect to the Chief Constable, and it was his decision to form the team. I believe we still have his confidence.’ Ross’s eyes blazed as they met hers.
Campbell broke first and turned to Max. ‘DS Craigie, what did you say the source of the intelligence was?’
‘Anonymous, ma’am.’
‘Anonymous how?’
‘Phone call from a withheld number, I believe through a web-based call.’
‘Do you have a way of returning the call?’
‘No, ma’am.’
‘Well, if you do, you are to hand it over to DS Maxwell, is that clear?’
