Lindsay sighed. “I don’t think he’d tell me. We always got along all right, but we were never what you’d call buddies. He always treated me like a silly wee lassie who didn’t really understand what being a hotshot reporter was all about. Anyway, I didn’t want you to ask him straight out and drop yourself in it. Just a few discreet inquiries, that’s all.”

Blair shrugged. “Okay. But no promises. Where can I reach you?”

Lindsay gave him Sophie’s number. “Another thing . . .” she said.

“Oh God. What now?” Blair groaned. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. You want me to rob a bank riding blindfold on a unicycle?”

“The unicycle comes later. Jackie Mitchell has asked for my help. She claims she’s innocent.”

“And you fell for that? Christ, Lindsay, I didn’t think you were that naive. Haven’t you read the court reports?”

Lindsay smiled wryly. “Yes, Blair, I’ve read the court reports. And I admit that on the face of it, it looks like she did it. But I don’t see how making a few inquiries can do any harm. And I promised I’d do what I could. I just wanted to ask you what the gossip was about Alison round the time of her death.”

Blair stroked his mustache and stared into his beer. “Tell you the truth, everybody was so busy going ‘Fancy that!’ over the shock horror revelations about Jackie that nobody else’s name was mentioned. Whoever else Alison was seeing, nobody from the Clarion was putting their hand up. Mind you, after she got Jimmy Mills frozen out of the sports desk, everybody steered pretty clear of her.”

“I didn’t hear about that. What happened with Jimmy Mills?”

“It happened about a year after you went off to London. Alison’s version was that Jimmy gave her a lift home after a party, came up for coffee, and raped her. She said she wasn’t going to make a complaint to the police because she didn’t want him to lose his wife and kids. Jimmy’s version was that he’d been having an affair with her, but she’d cooled off and spread that tale to get him off her back. Jimmy had been doing regular shifts on the racing desk, but every time he was in the office when she was there, she would burst into tears and head for the loo. Eventually, the sports department decided they could do without the aggro and gave Jimmy the bullet. He was well pissed off about it.”

“I can see why the lads were steering clear,” Lindsay mused. “Look, Blair, if you remember anything else that might be useful, give me a bell.”