‘Grief. Soon as she heard her employer was dead, the taps were on.’

Hogan brushed flour from his fingers: mealtime over. ‘She never met any of his friends, never had occasion to answer his telephone, hadn’t noticed any change in him recently, and doesn’t think he was a mass murderer. Quote: “If he’d killed that many people, I’d have known”.’

‘What is she, psychic or something?’

Hogan shrugged. ‘About all I got from her was a glowing character reference and the fact that as she was paid in advance, she owes his estate a partial refund.’

‘There’s your motive.’

Hogan smiled. ‘Speaking of motives ...’

‘You’ve got something?’

‘Lintz’s lawyer has come up with a letter from the deceased’s bank.’

He handed Rebus a photocopy. ‘Seems our man made a cash withdrawal of five grand ten days ago.’

‘Cash?’

‘We found ten quid on his person, and about another thirty bar in the house. No five grand. I’m beginning to think blackmail.’

Rebus nodded. ‘What about his address book?’

‘Slow work. A lot of old numbers, people who’ve moved on or died. Plus a few charities, museums ... an art gallery or two.’

Hogan paused. ‘What about you?’

Rebus opened his drawer, pulled out the fax sheets. ‘Waiting for me this morning. The calls Lintz wanted kept secret.’

Hogan looked down the list. ‘Calls plural, or one in particular?’

‘I’ve just started going through them. Best guess: there’ll be callers he spoke to regularly. Those numbers will show up on the other statements. We’re looking for anomalies, one-offs.’

‘Makes sense.’

Hogan looked at his watch. ‘Anything else I should know?’

‘Two things. Remember I told you about the Special Branch interest?’

‘Abernethy?’

Rebus nodded. ‘I tried calling him yesterday.’

‘And?’

‘According to his office, he was on his way up here. He’d already heard the news.’

‘So I’ve got Abernethy sniffing around, and you don’t trust him? Terrific. What’s the other thing?’

‘David Levy. I. spoke with his daughter. She doesn’t know where he is. He could be anywhere.’

‘With a grudge against Lintz?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘What’s his phone number?’

Rebus patted the topmost file on his desk. ‘Ready for you to take away.’

Hogan studied the foot-high pile, looking glum.

‘I whittled it down to what’s absolutely necessary,’ Rebus told him.

‘There’s a month’s reading there.’

Rebus shrugged. ‘My case is your case, Bobby.’

With Hogan gone, Rebus went back to the British Telecom list. It was as detailed as he could have wished for. Lots of calls to Lintz’s solicitor, a few to one of the city’s taxi firms. Rebus tried a couple of numbers, found himself connected to charity offices: Lintz would have been phoning to tender his resignation. There were a few calls that stood out from the crowd: the Roxburghe Hotel - duration four minutes; Edinburgh University - twenty-six minutes. The Roxburghe had to mean Levy. Rebus knew Levy had talked to Lintz Lintz himself had admitted it. Talking to him - being confronted by him - was one thing; calling him at his hotel quite another.