“You said to ask if I ever needed to discuss anything with you.”

“I’m playing with you. I’ve perfected the ‘petulant child’ pout. What do you need to know about the report?”

“I don’t know but there’s something bugging me about this whole thing.”

“I’ll have it sent over first thing in the morning. Will there be anything else? I do a great John Wayne impression if you’re interested.”

“Maybe later. Could you send it to my home email address, though?” She took out one of her cards and wrote the address on the back.

“Is this going to get me into trouble?” Finch put the card in his back pocket. “I was told the case was closed.”

“It is. I just need to make sure everything fits together first. It’s for my own peace of mind more than anything else.”

“Then I’d be happy to help. But do yourself a favour and keep this quiet. I’ve worked with James before and he’s not known for his tolerance when it comes to people going off on their own. He’s arrogant, but that kind of conceitedness doesn’t just materialise out of nothing. James’ record speaks for itself.”

The door to the pub opened and Alice Green walked in. Spotting Finch and Taylor, she grinned widely.

She brought a glass of port over to their table. “Hello, my dear, lovely to see you again.”

She glanced at Finch and then sent Taylor an enquiring look.

“Sorry,” Taylor said. “Alice, this is Dr Jon Finch. Jon, meet Alice Green, a friend of mine.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alice.” Finch stood up and held out his hand.

“Oh my,” Alice said, “look at the size of you. I bet you bang your head on things all the time. And those eyes, look at those eyes. I am sure you were a real terror when you were a child.”

“Would you care to join us, Alice?” he asked.

“No, I wouldn’t dream of disturbing you.” She smiled at Taylor. “I still have your spare keys. I can fetch them now if you like. I only live a few doors down.”

“It’s all right. I’ll pick them up next time I’m in the area.”

“You two enjoy your evening.” Alice winked and went to the other side of the bar.

“She’s quite a character,” Finch remarked. “How on earth did you become friends with her?”

“Alice’s husband was the one who was found in the fishing nets. I’ve spent quite a lot of time with her over the past week or so. I’ve grown to like her a lot. We have quite a lot in common.”

“Poor woman, it must be awful for her. She seems to be handling it quite well though.”

“She hadn’t seen him in ten years. She pretends not to care, but I think she’s hurting inside. Even though she hides it well.”

Finch’s phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, looked at the screen and frowned.

“Answer it, if you like,” Taylor told him.

Finch left the pub to take the call.

“Sorry,” he said when he returned, “I have to go. Duty calls. Nasty case needs tackling now. I’ll send the report over to you first thing in the morning. Thank you for the company. I really enjoyed it.” Without further explanation, he left.

“I want to know everything.” Alice was at Taylor’s table as soon as the doctor had exited.

“There’s nothing to tell, honestly. Dr Finch is a colleague. He’s a pathologist.”

“A what?”

“He examines bodies. Finds out what happened to them.”

“What a horrible job. Who would want to do such a thing?” She sat down at the table. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.” She wasn’t sure if she should tell Alice about the outcome of the investigation.

Alice spoke first. “I want to ask you something. Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’d love it if you could come and celebrate it with me. What with Milly gone and Eddie and Barbara not being much company, I’d only end up spending it on my own with the jackdaw. I’ll cook us a lovely meal. Maybe a nice joint of beef. Unless you’ve already made plans.”

“No, I rarely have plans. It sounds great.”

“Six o’clock, then.” Alice smiled.

“There’s something I need to tell you.” She’s going to find out sooner or later, Taylor thought. It’ll be in all the papers tomorrow, so it’ll be better if she hears it from me first.

“We’ve found the man responsible for Stanley’s and Milly’s deaths,” she said.

“Oh my.”

“It looks like it was Dennis Albarn.”

“Dennis Albarn?” Alice looked shocked. “But he died in the fire.”

“It appears he killed himself.”

“But why?” Alice drained her port in one go. “Why would Albarn do such a thing? Stanley was his best friend and Milly never did anything to him.”

“We’re unsure as to the details, but we think Stanley and Dennis got into a fight, it got out of hand and Albarn killed your husband. We can only assume that Milly witnessed the whole thing and Albarn disposed of her to keep her quiet. Then Albarn’s conscience got the better of him and he killed himself.”

“By blowing his house up?”

“I don’t think that was meant to happen.”

“So it’s all over?” Alice said. “I don’t have to worry about being the next victim?”

“No. But are you all right? This must be quite a shock for you.”

“I always knew Albarn was a bad lot,” she said. “I don’t know what to think, to be honest. I’m just relieved it’s all over. We can all get back to normal again. You don’t realise how important it is to preserve the status quo when you get to my age.” She looked stunned. “I’ll see you tomorrow at six,” Alice said, and hurried off.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Taylor knew it was going to be chaos at the station when she arrived but she was totally unprepared for what she encountered. A huge crowd of reporters had gathered outside. Some of them had even camped out for the night, by the look of things. Several TV crews had set up and she’d have to run the gauntlet to get to the station door. She braced herself for a barrage of questions.

“DC Taylor!” A man held a microphone so close to Taylor’s mouth, she was tempted to take a bite out of it. “What was it like working on such a complex case?”

“No comment.” They’d get their information soon enough from the press conference.

“I believe you were the only one from Trotterdown involved in the investigation?” asked a young woman.

“Everybody here was involved. And I’m from Edinburgh.”

Where do they get their information from? she wondered, and barged past them inside the station.

The two PCs White were deep in conversation by the front desk. They stopped talking as soon as Taylor walked in.

“Get over it,” she said and went on walking. “It’s all over.” She carried on down the corridor towards the office she shared with DS Duncan. He was staring blankly at his computer screen.

“Morning, Sarge.”

“I can’t figure this thing out.” Duncan pressed keys helplessly. “Ugh. No idea what’s going wrong.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to send an email and every time I send it, it comes back telling me it’s bounced.”

“Let’s have a look,” Taylor bent over his shoulder. “There’s your problem. You’re sending to ‘com,’ not ‘co.uk.’”

“Thanks. It always gets me, that one. Congratulations on the investigation, by the way. You did us all proud.”

Taylor wasn’t sure she had heard correctly. “Are you all right?”

“I’ve got a bit of a cold.”

“No, you realise you’ve just paid me a compliment?”

“You did well. I give praise, where praise is due.”

“Thanks, Sarge.”

Taylor headed to the canteen for a cup of tea. Duncan’s words had cheered her up as much as they’d surprised her — he was the last person she expected to congratulate her. Her high spirits disappeared when she walked into the canteen and saw DCI Warren James sitting by the window with Carrick, Southern and Brown. They had the whole room to themselves.