‘Bloody hell, you came cheap. You might have been the only thing that day that stopped me wrapping my hands around Alan Fleck’s windpipe.’

‘I take it as a compliment that you didn’t.’

‘It would have led to complications, though – Fleck was right about that.’

Rebus drained the whisky from his glass and swallowed.

‘Something nice?’ Cafferty enquired.

‘At my age, you have to treat yourself. Never know if your eyes will open tomorrow.’

‘Come over and have a nightcap.’

‘I’m fine where I am.’

‘When you find Jack, make sure he knows I’ll meet him anywhere he likes. Five minutes is all I’m asking.’

‘Even though he didn’t give the money to his brother’s family?’

‘You should maybe ask him about that first, just in case I’m not going to like the answer.’

‘I’ll do that then,’ Rebus said, as Cafferty ended the call.

The CD hadn’t quite finished yet. He sat back and let it wash over him, eyes staring towards the darkness.

‘Like hell I will,’ he muttered, as Jackie Leven sang about a morning that never comes.

24

‘You at home?’ Geoff Dickinson asked when Fox answered his phone.

‘Yes. And no serious and organised crime to report.’

‘Knock knock, then.’

Fox went to the door and unlocked it. Dickinson was on the doorstep, placing his phone back in his pocket.

‘Bungalowland suits you.’

Fox looked past him to the black Vauxhall Insignia parked kerbside. ‘I expected something flashier.’

‘Flashier gets you noticed – not my style. Besides, that’s not a car, it’s my office.’

Fox ushered him inside. ‘Must be urgent,’ he said.

‘Actually, I was just passing.’ Dickinson saw the look of dis­belief Fox was giving him. ‘In a manner of speaking, anyway. Just been out to East Lothian. Small-time dealer by the name of Guy Strathairn. Privileged background and all that, reduced to dealing hash and pills from a caravan.’

‘What happened?’

‘He met the acquaintance of a baseball bat or similar and is now relaxing in one of the wards at the infirmary. They torched his caravan, too. Our thinking is, Mackenzie is tightening the screws on any and all opposition. And by the way, the latest attempted shipment never even made it across the Channel. Expect to see a lot of very strung-out people real soon.’ He had settled on the sofa in Fox’s living room. ‘This is nice. Tidy for a bachelor pad, too.’

‘Can I get you something?’

‘Everything I need is in my office out there. He looked at Fox. ‘How’s the case going?’

‘We might have had a breakthrough regarding Haggard’s movements in the hours before he was killed.’

‘And how does that get you closer to catching his killer?’

‘We won’t know that till we get there.’

‘Still applying pressure to Fleck and his minions?’

Fox nodded. ‘My sources say we should be looking at Tony Barlow.’