Dead Souls Read online

  ‘Ahoy, shipmate!’ Oakes cried, not shifting in his chair.

  His lawyer sat down opposite him at the table. Oakes put his hands behind his head, rattling the chains.

  ‘Any chance of removing those from my client?’ the lawyer asked.

  ‘For your own protection, sir.’ The stock response.

  Oakes used both hands to scratch his shaved head. ‘Know those divers and spacemen? Use weighted boots, necessary tool of the trade. I reckon when I lose these chains, I’m going to float up to the ceiling. I can make my living in freak shows: the human fly, see him scale the walls. Man, imagine the possibilities. I can float up to second-floor windows and watch all the ladies getting ready for bed.’ He turned his head to the guards. ‘Any of you guys married?’

  The lawyer was ignoring this. He had his job to do, opening the briefcase and lifting out the paperwork. Wherever lawyers went, paper went with them. Lots of paper. Oakes tried not to look interested. ‘Mr Oakes,’ the lawyer said, ‘it’s just a matter of detail now.’

  ‘I’ve always enjoyed detail.’

  ‘Some papers that have to be signed by various officials.’

  ‘See, guys,’ Oakes called to the guards, ‘I told you no prison could hold Cary Oakes! OK, so it’s taken me fifteen years, but, hey, nobody’s perfect.’ He laughed, turning to his lawyer. ‘So how long should all these … details take?’

  ‘Days rather than weeks.’

  Inside, Oakes’s heart was pumping. His ears were hissing with the intensity of it, the swell of apprehension and anticipation. Days …

  ‘But I haven’t finished painting my cell. I want it left pretty for the next tenant.’

  Finally the attorney smiled, and Oakes knew him in that instant: working his way up in Daddy’s practice; reviled by his elders, mistrusted by his peers. Was he spying on them, reporting back to the old man? How could he prove himself? If he joined them for drinks on a Friday night, loosening his tie and mussing up his hair, they felt uncomfortable. If he kept his distance, he was a cold fish. And what about the father? The old man couldn’t have anyone accusing him of nepotism, the boy had to learn the hard way. Give him the shitty-stick cases, the no-hopers, the ones that left you needing a shower and change of clothes. Make him prove himself. Long hours of thankless toil, a shining example to everyone else in the firm.

  All this discerned from a single smile, the smile of a half-shy, selfconscious drone who dreamt of being King Bee, who perhaps even harboured little fantasies of patricide and succession.

  ‘You’ll be deported, of course,’ the prince was saying now.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You were in this country illegally, Mr Oakes.’

  ‘I’ve been here nearly half my life.’

  ‘Nevertheless …

  Nevertheless … His mother’s word. Every time he had an excuse prepared, some story to explain the situation, she’d listen in silence, then take a deep breath, and it was like he could see the word forming in the air that issued from her mouth. During his trial, he’d rehearsed little conversations with her.

  ‘Mother, I’ve been a good son, haven’t I?’

  ‘Nevertheless …’

  ‘Nevertheless, I killed two people.’

  ‘Really, Cary? You’re sure it was only two … ?’

  He sat up in his chair. ‘So let them deport me, I’ll come straight back.’

  ‘It won’t be so easy. I can’t see you securing a tourist visa this time, Mr Oakes.’

  ‘I don’t need one. You’re behind the times.’

  ‘Your name will be on record …

  ‘I’ll walk across from Canada or Mexico.’

  The lawyer shifted in his seat. He didn’t like to hear this.

  ‘I have to come back and see my pals,’ nodding towards the guards.

  ‘They’ll miss me when I’m gone. And so will their wives.’

  ‘Fuck you, slime.’ Saunders again.

  Oakes beamed at his lawyer. ‘Isn’t that nice? We have nicknames for each other.’

  ‘I don’t think any of this is very helpful, Mr Oakes.’

  ‘Hey, I’m the model prisoner. That’s the way it works, right? I learned a fast lesson: use the same system they used to put you where you are. Read up on the law, go back over everything, know the questions to ask, the objections that should have been made at the original trial. The lawyer they had representing me, I’ll tell you, he couldn’t have presented a school prize, never mind my case.’ He smiled again. ‘You’re better than him. You’re going to be all right. Remember that next time your pop is chewing you out. Just say to yourself: I’m better than that, I’m going to be all right.’ He winked. ‘No charge for my time, son.’

  Son: as if he was fifty rather than thirty-eight. As if the knowledge of the ages was his for the dispensing.

  ‘So I get a free flight back to London?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ The lawyer looked through his notes. ‘You’re from Lothian originally?’ Pronouncing it loathing.

  ‘As in Edinburgh, Scotland.’

  ‘Well, you might end up back there.’

  Cary Oakes rubbed at his chin. Edinburgh might do for a while. He had unfinished business in Edinburgh. Was going to leave it till the heat had died down, but nevertheless … He leaned forward over the table.

  ‘How many murders did they pin on me?’

  The lawyer blinked, sat there with palms flat on the table. ‘Two,’ he said at last.

  ‘How many did they start with?’

  ‘I believe it was five.’

  ‘Six actually.’ Oakes nodded slowly. Tut who’s counting, eh?’ A chuckle. ‘They ever catch anyone for the others?’

  The lawyer shook his head. There were beads of perspiration at his temples. He’d be making a detour home for a shower and fresh clothes.

  Cary Oakes sat back again and angled his face into the sun, turning his head so every part felt the warmth. ‘Two’s not much of a tally, is it, in the scheme of things? You kill your old man, you’ll only be one behind.’

  He was still chuckling to himself as his lawyer was led out of the room.

  7

  Younger runaways tended to take the same few routes: by bus, train or hitching, and to London, Glasgow or Edinburgh. There were organisations who would keep an eye open for runaways, and even if they wouldn’t always reveal their whereabouts to the anxious families, at least they could confirm that someone was alive and unharmed.

  But a nineteen-year-old, someone with money to hand … could be anywhere. No destination was too distant—his passport hadn’t turned up. He took it with him to clubs as proof of age. Damon had a current account at the local bank, complete with cashcard, and an interest-bearing account with a building society in Kirkcaldy. The bank might be worth trying. Rebus picked up the telephone.

  The manager at first insisted that he’d need something in writing, but relented when Rebus promised to fax him later. Rebus held while the manager went off to check, and had doodled half a village, complete with stream, parkland and pit-head, by the time the man came back.

  ‘The most recent withdrawal was a cash machine in Edinburgh’s West End. One hundred pounds on the fifteenth.’

  The night Damon had gone to Gaitano’s. A hundred seemed a lot to Rebus, even for a good night out.

  ‘Nothing since then?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘How up to date is that?’

  ‘Up to the close of play yesterday.’

  ‘Could I ask you a favour, sir? I’d like tabs kept on that account. Any new withdrawals, I’d like to know about them pronto.’

  ‘I’d need that in writing, Inspector. And I’d probably also need the approval of my head office.’

  ‘I’d appreciate it, Mr Brayne.’

  ‘It’s Bain,’ the bank manager said coldly, putting down the phone. Rebus called the building society and endured the same rigmarole before learning that Damon hadn’t touched his account in more than a fortnight. He made one last call to
Gayfield police station and asked for DC Hawes. She didn’t sound too thrilled when he identified himself.

  ‘What’s the word on Gaitano’s?’ he asked.

  ‘Everyone calls it Guiser’s. Pretty choice establishment. Two stabbings last year, one in the club itself, one in the alley out back. Been quieter this year, which is probably down to a stricter door policy.’

  ‘You mean bigger bouncers.’

  ‘Front-of-house managers, if you please. Locals still complain about the noise at chucking-out time.’

  ‘Who owns it?’

  ‘Charles Mackenzie, nicknamed “Charmer”.’

  A couple of uniforms had talked to Mackenzie about Damon Mee, and he’d offered up the security tape which had languished in Gayfield ever since.

  ‘Know how many MisPers there are every year?’ Hawes said with a sigh.

  ‘You told me.’

  ‘Then you should know that if there’s no suspicion of foul play, they’re not exactly a white-hot priority. God knows there are times I’ve felt like doing a runner myself.’

  Rebus thought of his night-time car-rides, long, directionless hours, just filling in the blank spaces of his life. ‘Haven’t we all?’ he said. ‘Look, I know you’re doing this as a favour …’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘But we’ve done all we can, haven’t we?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘So what’s the point?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ Rebus could have told her that it had to do with the past, with some debt he felt he owed to Janice Playfair and Barney Mee—and to the memory of a friend he’d once had called Mitch. Somehow, he didn’t think explaining it to an outsider would help. ‘One last thing,’ he asked instead. ‘Did you get me a still of that woman?’

  Gaitano’s was little more than a solid black door with a neon sign above it, flanked either side by pubs and with a hi-fi shop across the road. There were valve amplifiers and an outsized record deck in the shop window. The deck had an outsized price-tag to match. One of the pubs was called The Headless Coachman. It had changed its name a couple of years back and was touting for tourists.

  Rebus pushed the door-buzzer to Gaitano’s and a woman opened it for him. She was the cleaner, and Rebus didn’t envy her the job. Glasses had been cleared from the tables, but the place still looked like a wreck. There was an industrial vacuum cleaner on the carpet which encircled the dance floor. The floor was littered with cigarette stubs, cellophane, the occasional empty bottle. She’d finished cleaning the foyer, but was only halfway through the main dance area. There were mirrors on all the walls, and in the right light the place would look many times its actual size. In bare white light and with no music, no punters, it looked and felt desolate. There was a fug of stale sweat and beer in the air. Rebus saw a security camera in one corner and gave it a wave.

  ‘Inspector Rebus.’

  The man walking towards him across the dancefloor was about five feet four inches and as thin as a swizzle-stick. Rebus placed him in his mid-fifties. He wore a powder-blue suit and open-necked white shirt to show off his suntan and gold jewellery. His hair was silver and thinning, but as well-cut as the suit. They shook hands.

  ‘Do you want a drink?’

  He was leading Rebus towards the bar. Rebus looked at the row of optics.

  ‘No thank you, sir.’

  Charmer Mackenzie went behind the bar and poured himself a cola. ‘Sure?’ he said.

  ‘Same as you’re having,’ Rebus said. He examined one of the bar stools for cigarette ash, then pulled himself up on to it. They faced one another across the bar.

  ‘Not your normal tipple?’ Mackenzie guessed. ‘In my trade, you get a nose for these things.’ And he tapped his nose for effect. ‘The kid hasn’t turned up then?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Sometimes they get a notion …’ He shrugged, dismissing the foibles of a generation.

  ‘I’ve got a photograph.’ Rebus reached into his pocket, handed it over. ‘The missing person is second row.’

  Mackenzie nodded, not really interested.

  ‘See just behind him?’

  ‘Is that his doll?’

  ‘Do you know her?’

  Mackenzie snorted. ‘Wish I did.’

  ‘You haven’t seen her before?’

  ‘Picture’s not the best, but I don’t think so.’

  ‘What time do the staff clock on?’

  ‘Not till tonight.’

  Rebus took the photo back, put it in his pocket.

  ‘Any chance of getting my video back?’ Mackenzie asked.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Those things cost money. Overheads, that’s what can cripple a business like this, Inspector.’

  Rebus wondered how he’d merited the nickname ‘Charmer’. He had all the charm of sandpaper. We wouldn’t want that now, would we, Mr Mackenzie?’ he said, getting to his feet.

  Back at the office, he played the tape again, watching the blonde. The way her head was angled, strong jawline, mouth open slightly. Could she be saying something to Damon? A minute later, he was gone. Had she said she’d meet him somewhere? After he’d gone, she’d stayed at the bar, ordering a drink for herself. At dead on midnight, fifteen minutes after Damon had vanished, she’d left the nightclub. The final shot was from a camera mounted on the club’s exterior wall. It showed her turning left along Rose Street, watched by a few drunks who were trying to get into Gaitano’s.

  Someone put their head round the door and told him he had a call. It was Mairie Henderson.

  ‘Thanks for getting back to me,’ he said.

  ‘I take it you’ve a favour to ask?’

  ‘Quite the reverse.’

  ‘In that case, lunch is on me. I’m in the Engine Shed.’

  ‘How convenient.’ Rebus smiled: the Engine Shed was just behind St Leonard’s. ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’

  ‘Make it two, or all the meatballs will have gone.’

  Which was a joke of sorts, in that there was no meat in the meatballs. They were savoury balls of mushroom and chickpea with a tomato sauce. Though a one-minute walk from his office, Rebus had never eaten in the Engine Shed. Everything about it was too healthy, too nutritious. The drink of the day was organic apple juice, and smoking was strictly forbidden. He knew it was run by some sort of charity, and staffed by people who needed a job more than most. Typical of Mairie to choose it for a meeting. She was seated by a window, and Rebus joined her with his tray.

  ‘You look well,’ he said.

  ‘It’s all this salad.’ She nodded towards her plate.

  ‘Lifestyle still suit you?’

  He meant her decision to quit the local daily paper and go freelance. They’d helped one another out on occasion, but Rebus was aware he owed her more brownie points than she owed him. Her face was all clean, sharp lines, her eyes quick and dark. She’d restyled her hair to early Cilla Black. On the table beside her sat her notebook and cellphone.

  ‘I get the occasional story picked up by the London papers. Then my old paper has to run its own version the next day.’

  ‘That must annoy them.’

  She beamed. ‘Have to let them know what they’re missing.’

  ‘Well,’ Rebus said, ‘they’ve been missing a story that’s right under their noses.’ He pushed another forkful of food into his mouth, having to admit to himself that it wasn’t at all bad. Looking around the other tables, he realised all the other diners were women. Some of them were tending to kids in high chairs, some were involved in quiet gossip. The restaurant wasn’t big, and Rebus kept his voice down when he spoke.

  ‘What story’s that?’ Mairie said.

  Rebus’s voice went lower. ‘Paedophile living in Greenfield.’

  ‘Convicted?’

  Rebus nodded. ‘Served his time, now they’ve plonked him in a flat with a lovely view of a kids’ play-park.’

  ‘What’s he been up to?’

  ‘Nothing yet, nothing I can pin him for. Thing is
, his neighbours don’t know what’s living next door to them.’

  She was staring at him.

  ‘What is it?’ he said.

  ‘Nothing.’ She munched on more salad, chewing slowly. ‘So where’s the story?’

  ‘Come on, Mairie …’

  ‘I know what you want me to do.’ She pointed her fork at him. ‘I know why you want it.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And what has he done?’

  ‘Christ, Mairie, do you know what the re-offending rate is? It’s not something you cure by slapping them in prison for a few years.’

  ‘We’ve got to take a chance.’

  ‘We? It’s not us he’ll be after.’

  ‘All of us, we’ve all got to give them a chance.’

  ‘Look, Mairie, it’s a good story.’

  ‘No, it’s your way of getting to him. Does this all come back to Shiellion?’

  ‘It’s got bugger all to do with Shiellion.’

  ‘I hear they’ve got you down to give evidence.’ She stared at him again, but all he did was shrug. ‘Only,’ she went on, the knives are out as it is. If I do a story on a paedophile living in Greenfield of all places … it’d be incitement to murder.’

  ‘Come on, Mairie …’

  ‘Know what I think, John?’ She put down her knife and fork. ‘I think something’s gone bad inside you.’

  ‘Mairie, all I want …’

  But she was on her feet, unhooking her coat from the back of the chair, collecting her phone, notebook, bag.

  ‘I don’t have much of an appetite any more,’ she said.

  ‘Time was, you’d have gnawed a story like this to the bone.’

  She looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘Maybe you’re right,’ she said. ‘I hope to God you’re not, but maybe you are.’

  She walked the length of the restaurant’s wooden floorboards on noisy heels. Rebus looked down at his lunch, at the untouched glass of juice. There was a pub not three minutes away. He pushed the plate away. He told himself Mairie was wrong: it had nothing to do with Shiellion. It was down to Jim Margolies, to the fact that Darren Rough had once made a complaint against him. Now Jim was dead, and Rebus wanted something back. Could he lay Jim’s ghost to rest by tormenting Jim’s tormentor? He reached into his pocket, found the sliver of paper there, the telephone number still perfectly legible.