He shrugged. “He picked me up one night. He must have liked what he got, because he came back for more. We must have been together half a dozen times or more over the next couple of months.” So Harry had been rather economical with the truth, Lindsay thought without surprise. “Then he just stopped seeing me. You know how it is,” Alex continued. “Then I saw his picture in the paper and realized he was this respectable M.P.”

“You mean you hadn’t realized before then who he was?” Lindsay demanded skeptically.

Alex scowled. He was used to people not believing him, but he’d never learned to like it. “How could I? Christ, the only time I buy a paper is for the racing. Besides, he’s not exactly a hot shot, is he? I mean, who the hell even knows where Kinradie is? It’s not as if he was a Glasgow M.P., or one of those guys that’re always on the telly shouting off about the poll tax. He’s a no mark. His picture was only in the paper because they were doing some big thing about marginal seats. Anyway, I figured there must be some money in it for me, so I asked Barry.”

“How do you know him,” Lindsay asked, curious to see if his version would tally with Ostler’s.

“He did a story a while back, looking for rent boys who’d been with a judge. I couldn’t help him, but I kept his number. You never know, do you? Anyway, he said if I could get any proof, it would be worth a few bob.”

“So you broke into Ros’s flat? Nice one, Alex,” Lindsay said cynically.

“I didn’t know it was her flat, did I? I thought it was his own place. When I saw the woman’s stuff in the bathroom, I just thought he was probably married. A lot of them are. I never met her. I only saw a photo of her once in the kitchen. I never thought I was robbing her. I just waited till I saw her going out, then I nipped in. I lifted everything I could see that looked official, like Barry told me to. I thought all the papers and stuff I took were his. How was I to know she worked for the Scottish Office?”

“So how come you didn’t hand Harry’s personal stuff over to Barry with all the official papers?” Lindsay inquired.

Alex looked slyly at Lindsay, clearly pleased with his own cleverness. “I figured that if I gave him everything at once he might not pay me what he owed me. And I didn’t know if we’d get away with it. If the police had traced the story back to Barry and lifted him, I’d have had to do a runner. This way, I held on to something that was worth a bob or two.”