The office clock showed it was late–there was probably no point in going to The Vineyard. I picked up the phone and called Kailash. I didn’t even get to speak before I heard her imperious voice snap, ‘It’s late. Get over here now. Another wasted evening.’

She closed the phone on me and I sighed deeply. I didn’t want to go to my mother’s but I knew I had to. Kailash would still have been working, waiting for my call. Glasgow Joe took care of the casino, so I would have to break bread with my mother in her Danube Street brothel. Did all families work this way? I wondered, knowing the answer full well, even as I thought of the question.

There was something much more obvious on my mind, though–who in God’s name was Graham Marshall? I couldn’t help but think he must be guilty as sin if he was offering me this much cash for an appointment without being accused of anything. That wasn’t the lawyer in me talking–that would be the thought of any sane individual faced with a well-known figure and a stash of money being thrown at her. Now, all I had to do was wait and see exactly what it was I would be expected to do.

Chapter Ten

The door was no different to any of the other respectable doors in the road. It was painted a conservative black in accordance with planning regulations, and the brass plate beside the bell gave the number of the house but not the identity or occupation of its inhabitants.

Thankfully.

When I parked the bike outside it I was in a good mood again. The cheques from Graham Marshall were in my pocket and I was certain they wouldn’t bounce. I had Googled Marshall before I left the office and his fame was more widespread and greater than even Lavender had led me to believe. The man was world famous. He operated alone in a small private hospital in Edinburgh; celebrities and the filthy rich came here from all over the world, just to be nipped and tucked by him. I had decided that it was a good sign that he chose me; my reputation was known amongst the criminal fraternity but he was an outsider. Naturally I was curious about the nature of his potential case–not to mention his manners–but many professionals and businesses retain legal firms for all sorts of reasons. The mistake ‘respectable’ people often make when getting into trouble is to instruct one of the big-name commercial firms, who may be excellent at drawing up a lease, but don’t know their arse from their elbow when it comes to court work.