“So how do you think it went down?” Fox was asking now. “Hip flask in a back pocket? They get Cuttle out of the room and tip the contents into the open stomach to make it look as though Kennedy had been drinking. Blood tests would have told a different story, but there were no blood tests.”

“You’re saying it wasn’t an accident?”

“John.” Fox leaned in towards him. “I think I’m saying it was murder. He was thrown down those stairs, wasn’t he? Because Gilmour was so riled by that not-proven verdict. Needed to make sure it was recorded as accidental death, and luckily he had a friendly pathologist to hand.” He paused. “That sound about right to you?”

“You know none of it will stand up in court. In fact it wouldn’t even get that far, because the Procurator Fiscal will ask for evidence—not theories or character assassination, but a few cold, hard facts. And I’m not seeing any. On top of which, I’m guessing you think that’s the hold Saunders had over Gilmour—but Saunders didn’t know Phil Kennedy.”

“Are we sure about that?”

“You’re the one who’s working the Saunders murder—has Phil Kennedy’s name ever come up?”

“We’ve been digging for recent friends rather than ghosts. But I think if we give all of this to Siobhan Clarke, she’ll decide the circumstantial evidence goes way beyond theory.”

“How about character assassination? Stefan Gilmour’s a huge success story. He brings lawyers and PR people with him. You can bet he’ll twist it round to make it look like a political plot. The Yes campaign have lost their big beast, so the No camp’s equivalent has to be brought down.”

Fox was silent for a moment. “It’s a good point,” he admitted at last. “But it doesn’t change anything.” He slapped the palm of his hand against the dashboard. “We should have taped our talk with Cuttle.”

“There were two of us,” Rebus reminded him. “We’ve got corroboration…”

19

19

Siobhan Clarke was starving.

She’d been to Fettes HQ to give a report to her bosses—the incoming head of Police Scotland was taking an interest. Shootings were not as yet a common occurrence in the country and he didn’t want his tenure of the new setup to coincide with a rise in gun crime.

She rendezvoused with Rebus and Fox at a burger bar next to the cinema complex in Wester Hailes, where she worked her way through a double cheeseburger and told them about the interview with Dean Grant.

“I’m with John,” she concluded. “The guy’s a hundred percent dodgy, but there’s nothing he knows that can help us with Saunders.”