The Dark Fear (2 page)

              ‘Right, I see your point. Well, I’d recommend Alice Mann without hesitation; she’s hard-working, sensible and bright.’ Dani pursed her lips. ‘I’m not so sure about Dan. He displayed poor judgment in the McLaren case.’

              Nicholson placed his palms down flat on the wad of documents. ‘Sleep on it and let me know in the morning. I’d like to give him a chance. We learn by our mistakes, Danielle. That’s how great detectives are made.’

              She smiled and nodded. ‘Aye, I’ll give you my answer first thing.’ Dani turned and headed for the door, wondering when the DCS had become so insightful. She was determined to give the matter serious consideration. It was genuinely disturbing to think that Angus Nicholson might be more tolerant and forgiving than she was.

*

The evenings were still reasonably light and Dani had opened her patio doors a crack. She had a glass of white wine in front of her as she read through the file.

              Nicholson had asked her to chair the disciplinary committee that would be hearing the case of a senior police officer over at City and Borders’ headquarters in Edinburgh. The Fiscal wanted a fair and transparent result. The press were fully briefed on the details already and would be following developments closely.

              DCI Stuart Lamb had been suspended from duty a month previously. He was charged with serious dereliction of duty and several counts of corruption. Dani had begun her research by flicking through the details of his personnel file. Lamb was a couple of years older than her. He was fast approaching his forty-third birthday and had been a DCI since 2010.

              Lamb had a wife and two children in their teens. They lived in Duns, Berwickshire. He’d had an exemplary record at City and Borders until a few months back.

              The DCI was leading an undercover operation out at Leith Docks. His team had infiltrated a small shipping company that operated a side-line in transporting drug processing equipment to class ‘A’ dealers.

              From what Dani could tell, the business was a complex one. The company that Lamb was investigating never dirtied their hands with the drugs themselves. They simply brought in the presses and distilling apparatus required to get the raw materials fit for sale on the street, most of which came from the ports of northern Europe.

              It hadn’t been easy to gain the evidence necessary to make any arrests. The law was yet to catch up with those who facilitated the production of dangerous drugs and profited from the trade. But Lamb and his team appeared to have built a strong case against Forth Logistics.

              Then, one day in July, when a judge in Edinburgh had finally granted a search warrant for the company’s headquarters and the CEO’s luxury Leith home, the operation got busted sky high.

              When City and Borders turned up mob handed at the ship yard at 6am, the entire set-up had been cleared out. Nothing was left in the office building of Forth Logistics, not even a packet of Kleenex.

              At first, DCI Lamb had appeared the most disappointed of them all, flouncing about the division headquarters and demanding answers. This prompted the entire undercover team to be investigated. They all came up clean except Lamb himself, whose mobile phone revealed a two minute outgoing call the evening before the raid. It was to Alex Galloway, the CEO of Forth Logistics.

              Stuart Lamb made no real effort to explain the call. The DCS was left with no choice but to suspend him from duty pending further inquiries. Following this, the division discovered a series of deposits from Galloway’s personal bank account to Lamb’s, stretching back many years.

              Dani savoured a mouthful of the chilled wine. It didn’t look good for DCI Lamb. He would undoubtedly lose his job and might even face prison. She plucked the photograph from out of its clip and examined his face.

              Lamb was youthful looking and clean-shaven. His dark hair was worn longish, in a sweep across his forehead. The man was quite dishy, she thought. This fact made her immediately suspicious. Her own judgement in men was dubious to say the least. If Dani found him attractive, he was bound to be a wrong ‘un.

              She mentally corrected herself. There was absolutely nothing wrong with James, her current boyfriend. She finally seemed to have done something right on the romantic score.

              Dani slotted the papers back into their folder and concentrated on her wine instead. For the next hour she would be considering the pros and cons of Dan Clifton’s application to become a sergeant. The DCI was determined to be as objective in her assessment as possible.

Chapter 2

J
ames Irving folded up the map and placed it back into his briefcase. He enjoyed watching his girlfriend from a distance and didn’t want any distractions.

              Dani was carrying a glass of wine back from the bar. She spotted his table, in the centre of the beer garden, and smiled broadly.

              Irving surreptitiously allowed his eyes to take in her slim, athletic frame and lightly tanned skin. Dani’s hair was dark and cropped short, a style which accentuated her pretty face and large, heart-shaped lips.

              The detective set down her glass. ‘Oh, I should have got you one. Your pint’s nearly finished.’

              James shook his head. ‘Not at all, I’ve got my car.’

              Dani leant over and brushed her lips across his cheek. James wondered if he could persuade her to spend the night at his flat, or if she had to get back to Glasgow.

              As if Dani could tell what he was thinking she said, ‘can I stay at your place? I didn’t book a hotel.’

              ‘Of course. I want you to assume that you’ll be with me if you’re here in Edinburgh.’ He caught her hand and gave it a squeeze.

              ‘What were you looking at when I arrived?’

              ‘A map of East Lothian.’ His expression became sheepish. ‘I’ve been viewing some houses in the area.’

              ‘Have you looked any further out, in Duns perhaps?’ Dani took a sip of wine.

              ‘Why do you ask?’

              ‘That’s where DCI Lamb and his family live.’

              ‘No, I’m not planning on going that far east. I’ve looked at a few places in Longniddry. One of them was very nice.’

              ‘I wonder how Stuart Lamb commuted into the city headquarters at Fettes Avenue from that distance. Did he go by train or drive?’ Dani ran her finger around the top of the glass absent-mindedly.

              ‘There’s no station at Duns any longer. He’d have had to take a car or bus to Dunbar to get a train. Don’t most cops drive?’

              Dani nodded. ‘I suppose so.’

              James finished the remainder of his pint. ‘Have you met the rest of the disciplinary board yet?’

              ‘We have our first conference tomorrow. I need to have reviewed all the evidence by then. We won’t be interviewing Lamb for a few days. There are some other witnesses we need to question first.’

              ‘My dad’s been following the case in the press. He represented Alex Galloway once, on a charge of aiding and abetting a criminal. It was years ago now, back in the early nineties. Needless to say, Dad got him off.’

              James Irving’s father had been a formidable criminal defence advocate before retiring a decade earlier. His sister still worked as a lawyer in Edinburgh. James had taken a smoother route, by pursuing a career as a commercial solicitor.

              Dani leant forward with interest. ‘I’d like to talk to him about it sometime.’

              ‘Of course, we can go over for dinner when you’re free.’ James inched his hand forward, so that their fingertips were touching. ‘Actually, I was hoping you might come out to see a house with me this afternoon. That’s why I brought the car.’

              Dani looked momentarily puzzled. ‘
Ah
, the property search. Sorry, I haven’t been very enthusiastic about it, have I?’ She polished off the dregs of her Sauvignon Blanc. ‘Come on then, you can take me for a drive down the coast.’

*

It was late August. There had been a brief resurgence in the warm weather. The sun hung low behind them as they drove parallel to the Longniddry Bents, the North Sea lying far out into the distance and barely a wisp of a cloud interrupting the large expanse of pale blue sky.

              The long stretches of beach here were popular with water sport enthusiasts and walkers. But Dani had the copper’s perspective. She knew that the roadside car-parks, secluded by sand dunes and overgrown vegetation, were a popular location at night for the practice of all types of nefarious activity.

              A tall boundary wall ran beside them to the west. Dani thought the brickwork looked ancient and crumbly.

              James gestured in the general direction of the woodland beyond. ‘The Langford Estate covers over 5,000 acres. Some of the beaches here belong to the family too. The house is the seat of the Earls of Westloch. The current earl is David March.’

              ‘They can’t still own it all, surely?’

              ‘Part of it was given over to Scottish Heritage after the war. Plenty of the parkland and buildings remain within the March family, though.’

              ‘How do you know all this?’ Dani glanced across at her companion suspiciously. His face was partially obscured by a pair of Ray Bans.

              ‘Because it’s one of the park lodges that we’ve come to see.’

              Dani said nothing. She sat back and enjoyed the ride, having to admit that she was certainly intrigued.

              After a couple of miles, James spotted a gravelled driveway ahead. It was barred by two enormous wrought iron gates. He parked his little Audi sports car in front of them, jumping out to press on an intercom system cleverly set into a recess in the stone wall. The gates began to judder open a few moments later.

              As James led the car slowly along the narrow lane, Dani caught sight of what must have been one of the lodges. It was an impressive stone building set back slightly from the track. An overgrown garden provided a barrier between this house and the road. It was difficult to make out the full extent of the property, as it was positioned in the shadow of several large oak trees.

              ‘Is that it?’

              James nodded, saying nothing. He swung the car suddenly to the right and they bumped along an even smaller track, which led to a line of brick built garages. A battered old Land Rover was already waiting there. James stopped beside it. They both got out.

              A man in his early forties was leaning against the Land Rover’s mud splattered boot. He stood up straight as they approached him. ‘Good to see you again, Mr Irving. Beautiful afternoon.’

              ‘Aye, it certainly is. This is my girlfriend, Dani. I wanted her here for my second viewing.’

              He shook her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you. I’m Aiden Newton, the Estate Manager at Langford Park.’

              ‘Dani Bevan,’ she replied, knowing that announcing her rank wouldn’t be appropriate.

              Newton wasted no time in leading them towards the rear entrance. Dani was taking in the disintegrating stonework and rotten gutters as they passed. They entered through a door which took them into a boot room and then the kitchen.

              It was quaintly old fashioned, with a range cooker and several free-standing dressers bookending a cream porcelain butler sink.

              ‘I’m not sure how much Mr Irving has told you about Oak Lodge?’

              ‘Call me James, please,’ he interrupted.

              ‘The place is going to need a bit of work.’

              Dani felt this was a gross understatement. She addressed her boyfriend directly. ‘Are you really prepared to take on something like this?’

              James slipped his hand into hers. ‘That’s the plan. I want a renovation project. I’m thinking of keeping on the flat in Marchmont, so I can stay there until it’s properly finished.’

              Newton strode off into the hallway, where a staircase wound its way up to the second floor, which had a galleried landing. Dani always wanted to live in a house with one of those.

              ‘There are certain benefits to being a resident on the Langford Estate,’ Newton continued. ‘Out of season the gates are permanently secured to the public. Only you and the family would have a key to get in and out. My team will maintain your garden for you, too.’

              Dani sensed a note of desperation in the man’s tone. She wondered how much interest they’d had in the property and why the family needed to sell.

              But when they moved into the sitting room she nearly gasped, the practicalities slipping instantly from her mind. There were two large bay windows at both ends of the space, each with exposed stonework and tiny panes of glass in their original, lead-lined frames. A grand fireplace was surrounded by shelves full of dozens and dozens of books. It was a really lovely reception room.

              James turned to her. ‘It was this room that sold me on the place. I can picture how nice it could be, with a little TLC.’ His expression was full of trepidation and hope.

              Dani found it impossible to shatter his dreams. ‘Yes, sweetheart, I can see that myself.’

Chapter 3

T
here were five other senior officers on the disciplinary committee. It wasn’t the first time that Dani had helped to decide the fate of a fellow cop, but she’d never passed judgement on someone of the same rank as her before.

              They sat at a long shiny table in one of the conference rooms at the headquarters of Police Scotland’s Eastern Division on Knox Street. It was Dani’s job to chair the meeting. She assumed her colleagues had already made themselves familiar with the details of the case against DCI Lamb.