‘I hate this room,’ Jack said as Rebus closed the door.

‘So does everyone else by the look of things. Long tea-breaks and other business to attend to.’

‘Half the force weren’t alive when Bible John was on the go. He’s lost any sort of meaning.’

‘They’ll be telling their grandkids about Johnny Bible though.’

‘True enough.’ Jack paused. ‘Are you going to do it?’

Rebus saw mat his hand was lying on the receiver. He picked it up, punched in the numbers. ‘Did you doubt me?’ he asked.

‘Not for a minute.’

The voice that answered was gruff, unwelcoming. Not Uncle Joe, not Stanley. One of the body-builders. Rebus gave as good as he got.

‘Malky there?’

Hesitation: only his close friends called him Malky. ‘Who wants to know?’

‘Tell him it’s Johnny.’ Rebus paused. ‘From Aberdeen.’

‘Haud on.’ Clatter as the receiver was dropped on to a hard surface. Rebus listened closely, heard television voices, game-show applause. Watching: Uncle Joe maybe, or Eve. Stanley wouldn’t like game-shows; he’d never get a question right.

‘Phone!’ the body-builder called.

A long wait. Then a distant voice: ‘Who is it?’

‘Johnny.’

‘Johnny? Johnny who?’ The voice closer.

‘From Aberdeen.’

The receiver was picked up. ‘Hello?’

Rebus took a deep breath. ‘For your own sake you better sound natural. I know about you and Eve, know what you’ve been up to in Aberdeen. So if you want to keep it quiet, sound natural. Don’t want Muscle Man to get even the slightest suspicion.’

A rustling sound, Stanley turning away for privacy, tucking the phone into his chin.

‘So what’s the story?’

‘You’ve got a nice scam going, and I don’t want to fuck it up unless I have to, so don’t do anything that would make me do that. Understood?’

‘No bother.’ The voice was not used to attempting levity when its brain demanded bloody restitution.

‘You’re doing all right, Stanley. Eve’ll be proud of you. Now we need to talk, not just you and me, the three of us.’

‘My dad?’

‘Eve.’

‘Oh, right.’ Calming again. ‘Eh … no problem with that.’

‘Tonight?’

‘Eh … OK.’

‘Partick police station.’

‘Wait a minute …’

‘That’s the deal. Just to talk. You’re not walking into anything. If you’re worried, keep your gob shut until you hear the deal. If you don’t like it, you can walk. You won’t have said anything, so there’s nothing to fear. No charges, no tricks. It’s not you I’m interested in. Are we still on?’

‘I’m not sure. Can I call you back?’

‘I need a yes or no right now. If it’s no, you might as well pass me across to your dad.’

Condemned men laughed with more humour. ‘Look, for myself, there’s no problem. But there are other parties involved.’

‘Just tell Eve what I’ve told you. If she won’t come, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I’ll get some visitors’ passes for you. False names.’ Rebus looked down at a book open in front of him, found two straight off. ‘William Pritchard and Madeleine Smith. Can you remember that?’