Death of a Gentle Lady

want you to write something and then it’ll be all over.’

    Daviot called Blair into his office the following day. ‘There’s been a development,’ he said. ‘This letter, addressed to me, was handed in by a small boy. He said a woman gave him a pound to deliver it. Unfortunately his description of her could apply to every woman in Strathbane.’
    Blair read the letter out loud, just as if he did not already know every word of it.
    ‘Dear policemen,’ he read. ‘I’m sorry about Macbeth but he led me to believe he would marry me and then he cheated on me. I won’t do nothing like that again. A Friend.’
    ‘Dearie me,’ said Blair. ‘Our Hamish has been at it again. He’s a devil with the women.’
    ‘I did hear something to that effect.’ The one time Hamish had ridden high in the super-intendent’s esteem was when he had been engaged to Priscilla Halburton-Smythe, for Daviot was a snob. He was furious and amazed when Hamish broke off the engagement. Then there was this unsavoury business of Macbeth trying to marry a hooker.
    ‘I think we should keep this quiet,’ said Daviot. ‘If it got out, it would be a slur on the whole force. Also, the gangs are joining up with the neo-Nazis to attack immigrants. That should be our first priority. Tell Anderson and the others that we can no longer spare any time on Hamish’s kidnap.’
    ‘We’ve put a policeman on guard outside Macbeth’s station.’
    ‘Call him off now!’

    Hamish was about to take a cup of tea out to PC Logan on guard outside when the man met him at the kitchen door.
    ‘I’ve been called off,’ he said. ‘They’re standing down the investigations.’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Trouble with the gangs.’
    After he had gone, Hamish sat down to think. But he could feel a migraine coming on, a result of the blow to his head. He quickly swallowed two migraine pills and went to lie down in his darkened bedroom.
    He fell asleep at last and woke later, feeling better. His dog and cat now followed him everywhere. He turned his mind again to the problem as to why the investigation into his kidnapping had been abruptly ended. He left a message on Jimmy’s mobile phone, begging for information.
    Jimmy phoned back an hour later. ‘I don’t know what happened, Hamish. One minute it was all systems go on your case, and the next we were being told to stand down. Blair knows something. All I could find out was that a letter to Daviot was delivered this morning. Blair was summoned, and after that everything to do with you stopped. I’ve looked for that letter but there’s not a sign of it, and no report has been written.’
    ‘Whoever it was didn’t seem to want to kill me, just keep me prisoner,’ said Hamish. ‘What would have happened if I’d been kept there several months, say?’
    ‘If you’d ever got out of it, you’d have probably found they’d have closed up your station.’
    ‘Blair!’ said Hamish suddenly. ‘I bet he’s behind this.’
    ‘Come on, Hamish. That’s going a bit too far.’
    ‘Does Blair know any woman, sort of thickset?’
    ‘Women run at the sight of Blair. The only people he knows are the prostitutes he used to nick when he was on the beat.’
    ‘Like who?’
    ‘I was leaving headquarters with him and he stopped to speak to one being brought in by Aileen Drummond.’
    ‘Do me a favour and get her name and address.’

    Hamish drove down to Ruby’s flat in the docks. It was raining hard. He climbed up the stairs, wrinkling his nose at the smell. He hoped she had decided not to go out on her beat in such a filthy night. Maybe she didn’t have to. If Blair was behind this, he thought, then he would have had had to pay her and pay her well.
    He knocked on her door. A cautious voice from the other side asked, ‘Who is it?’
    ‘Blair,’ said Hamish.
    The door swung open. Ruby let out a gasp as she recognized Hamish and tried to shut the door but he jammed his foot in it, wrenched it open, and forced her back into the room.
    Ruby went and sat down on a sofa. She lit a cigarette with trembling fingers while Hamish locked the door and came to stand over her.
    ‘How did you ken?’ she asked.
    Hamish pulled up a chair and sat opposite her. ‘Why did you let Blair put you up to this?’ he asked.
    ‘He asked me tae do it,’ said Ruby. ‘You cannae refuse a polis.’
    She crushed out the cigarette and began to cry. Hamish watched her heaving figure unsympathetically. He did not believe in tarts with