We were back in the task-force room; Ruby had called out the police doctor and she was waiting with Graham Marshall until medical help arrived. From the grim smile on his face, I sensed Dr Cornwell had waited for a very long time to give my client a good kicking; surprising behaviour for a psychiatrist, I thought, but what did I really know? There were a few clients I would have liked to have slapped in my time, but I hadn’t enjoyed what I had seen. My mobile chirped in my pocket as I sat down. The screen told me it was Kailash, so I pressed ‘reject’ without a second’s thought. No sooner had I put it back in my bag this time than it rang again.

‘Put it off or answer it,’ growled Bancho, as if I was a teenager, as I rejected it again.

‘It’s Kailash,’ I said, ‘she can always sense the worst time to call.’

‘Christ, if I had a mother like that, I’d have her working here,’ he answered. ‘That woman knows more about crime in Edinburgh than I do. Do us all a favour, Brodie, and answer it. She won’t give up, and she’ll probably start phoning here if she knows where you are. Tell her you’ll be round the whorehouse later for a nice cup of tea.’

Just as he finished, and just as I was about to get started on him, it rang again. Bancho was right though, so I pressed ‘accept’.

‘Thanks so much for deigning to pick up,’ came my mother’s cultured voice immediately. ‘Get round here now.’

‘Kailash! I’m working,’ I protested.

‘That’s why you need to get round here now. I know what’s going on, and, trust me, you’ll want to know this–so do as you’re told for once and get here.’

I looked at Gerry Cornwell and knew that I still had a bit of time before he sobered up. Kailash was generally right, even if I hated to admit it. ‘Duncan, I’m going to pop out for a bit. I take it there’s nothing going to happen for a while?’

‘Nope. We’ll get this guy sorted, then we’ll see what state your one is in, then I might just let them stew for a bit. Off to Mummy, are you? She got some new knocking-shop gossip she needs to share?’