‘Don’t go, Candice,’ Rebus said.

She half-turned towards him. ‘Okay,’ she said.

Then she opened the door and was gone.

Rebus grabbed Claverhouse’s arm. ‘We’ve got to pull Telford in, warn him not to touch her.’

‘You think he needs telling?’

‘You think he’d listen?’

Ormiston added.

‘I can’t believe this. He scared her half to death, and as a result we let her walk? I really can’t get my head round this.’

‘She could always have gone to Fife,’ Colquhoun said. With Candice out of the room, he seemed to have perked up a bit.

‘Bit late now,’ Ormiston said.

‘He beat us this time, that’s all,’ Claverhouse said, his eyes on Rebus. ‘But we’ll take him down, don’t worry.’

He managed a thin, humourless smile. ‘Don’t think we’re giving up, John. It’s not our style. Early days yet, pal. Early days ...’

She was waiting for him out in the car park, standing by the passenger-door of his battered Saab 900.

‘Okay?’ she said.

‘Okay,’ he agreed, smiling with relief as he unlocked the car. He could think of only one place to take her. As he drove through The Meadows, she nodded, recognising the tree-lined playing fields.

‘You’ve been here before?’

She said a few words, nodded again as Rebus turned into Arden Street. He parked the car and turned to her.

‘You’ve been here?’

She pointed upwards, fingers curled into the shape of binoculars.

‘With Telford?’

‘Telford,’ she said. She made a show of writing something down, and Rebus took out his notebook and pen, handed them over. She drew a teddy bear.

‘You came in Telford’s car?’

Rebus interpreted. ‘And he watched one of the flats up there?’

He pointed to his own flat.

‘Yes, Yes.’

‘When was this?’

She didn’t understand the question. ‘I need a phrasebook,’ he muttered. Then he opened his door, got out and looked around. The cars around him were all empty. No Range Rovers. He signalled for Candice to get out and follow him.

She seemed to like his living-room, went straight to the record collection but couldn’t find anything she recognised. Rebus went into the kitchen to make coffee and to think. He couldn’t keep her here, not if Telford knew about the place. Telford ... why had he been watching Rebus’s flat? The answer was obvious: he knew the detective was linked to Cafferty, and therefore a potential threat. He thought Rebus was in Cafferty’s pocket. Know your enemy: it was another rule Telford had learned.

Rebus phoned a contact from the Scotland on Sunday business section.

‘Japanese companies,’ Rebus said. ‘Rumours pertaining to.’

‘Can you narrow that down?’

‘New sites around Edinburgh, maybe Livingston.’

Rebus could hear the reporter shuffling papers on his desk. ‘There’s a whisper going round about a microprocessor plant.’

‘In Livingston?’

‘That’s one possibility.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Nope. Why the interest?’

‘Cheers, Tony.’

Rebus put down the receiver, looked across at Candice. He couldn’t think where else to take her. Hotels weren’t safe. One place came to mind, but it would be risky ... Well, not so very risky. He made the call.