Against the Clock, John Carson [digital ebook reader txt] 📗

filled with kids. And fucking paedos, no doubt.’ He looked at O’Toole as he emphasised the last bit.

Dunbar looked at Stewart. ‘She was taken from here and nobody saw anything. I remember the case.’

‘You and that DI of yours, McInsh, ran the case. It was his last before he fucked off.’ Stewart stepped into the room and Dunbar was glad to see he’d put his lighter away.

‘Jimmy, I want you and Heid-the-Baw there to go through to Edinburgh. Your DI, Tom Barclay, can run things from here. He can ask McInsh about the case and you can liaise with him.’

‘Edinburgh, sir?’ Dunbar asked.

‘Aye. They got one too. Wrapped up like Alice. She went missing five years ago. And they just got her back.’

Five

Harry was sitting at a computer in the incident room when DI Frank Miller walked in. He got up and walked over to his friend.

‘Hey, Frank. How’s things?’

‘Fine. The kids are getting bigger every day. How’s Chance?’

‘Coming through for a week. He’s got some time off, so he wants to spend it with his girlfriend-not-girlfriend. He tries to tell his old man that a man can be friends with a woman.’

DS Eve Bell looked over at them. ‘They can. And I make no apology for eavesdropping. I’ve already spoken to Chance and given him the benefit of my wisdom.’

‘When did you speak to my son?’

‘Never mind that, sir. Just know that I’m a mother and will be keeping my own son straight.’

‘So you were practising on my boy?’

‘Correct.’

Miller laughed. ‘I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.’

‘We’ll talk about this later, DS Bell,’ said Harry. ‘Meantime, can you all gather round.’ The other detectives turned in their chairs to look at the two men. ‘I’ve asked DI Miller along here today to give us the rundown on Sandra Robertson. Our colleagues from Glasgow are coming through as well. You’ve worked with them before and they’ll explain why they’re joining us on this investigation.’

‘Maybe we should wait until DCI Dunbar gets here,’ Miller suggested.

‘Aye. Good. I was going to suggest that.’

The others turned back to what they were doing and Harry chatted with Miller about love, life and the pursuit of happiness.

Twenty minutes later, Jimmy Dunbar and Robbie Evans walked in. They shook hands with Miller.

‘Good to see you again, Harry,’ Dunbar said.

‘Have you seen Chance recently?’ Harry asked.

‘Aye. Five minutes ago. I knew he was having time off and coming through here, so we gave him a lift. We dropped him off at your place.’

‘Brilliant. Cheers for that.’

‘He said he would buy a round at the pub tonight. I told him, don’t be daft, your dad’ll buy us drinks.’

‘I think I should teach my laddie the art of buying a round of drinks for his old man,’ Harry said.

‘Fight amongst yourselves, mucker. I don’t care who’s paying. Even young Robbie wants to get wired into paying for the booze. Eh, son?’

‘Sorry, no speaky Eengleesh.’

‘I bet you’ll learn quickly when your car’s on fire.’ Dunbar looked at Miller. ‘You coming along for a wee sesh tonight, son?’

‘Thanks, but I’m going out with the wife. We’re having a date night and managed to get a babysitter. I’ll catch up with you later. I’m assuming you’ll be around for a wee while?’

‘Aye. Until we catch the bastard who did this.’

‘Right,’ said Harry, ‘let’s see what we have and Frank can give us a rundown on their background.’

They walked over to the whiteboard, where photos of the victim from the beach that morning were held on with magnets.

‘Right, folks, we’ll get a brief background from DI Miller first, then we’ll go over what happened this morning. Then DCI Dunbar can pitch in with the Glasgow end. Frank, if you’d like to take centre-stage.’ Harry stepped aside so that Miller was facing the rest of the team.

‘I worked this case almost five years ago, back in twenty-sixteen. DCI McNeil was with Professional Standards at the time, so he wasn’t working cases.’ Miller looked around the room to make sure everyone was focused on him.

‘It was a missing person’s report that kicked it all off. Sandra Robertson’s parents called the police when she didn’t come home after school. It was a week before school broke up for the summer holidays. Sandra was in her last year at North Merchiston Primary School. Her parents live in Merchiston.’

‘Where was she reported missing from?’ DI Ronnie Vallance asked.

‘She went down to Portobello Beach with some friends to the amusement arcade there. According to her best friend, the four of them stuck together except for when Sandra left the arcade to use the bathroom outside. There are two public toilets just off the promenade and she was going there. She was last seen talking to two boys from school. Apparently, a few of them from the school were there that night and they knew Sandra. They said she headed towards the toilets, and that was the last anybody saw of her.’

‘What about her phone?’ Robbie Evans asked.

Miller looked at him. ‘The records were handed over by the phone company and there weren’t any unusual numbers there. It was all her pals and they all checked out. It stopped pinging at Portobello Beach, so whoever took her got her phone from her pretty quickly and switched it off. Forensics have it now and they’ll see if they can get it going, and we’ll get the phone company to look at the number again. Her parents never stopped paying the bill, so the number is still assigned to Sandra’s phone. It’s her original iPhone Five.’

‘How old was she when she went missing?’ Eve Bell asked.

‘Twelve,’ Miller answered. ‘The night she went missing she was told by her parents to be home before dark, so she wasn’t supposed to be out late. Her parents admit they’re a bit overprotective and they started calling the parents of the friends she was out with. The friends were home and said they thought Sandra had gone off with the boys.’

‘Is that something she would