Blood Lines Part 4

Bridget Nicholson sauntered up to us. 'More trouble, Brodie? Morning, Bernard you should have stayed with a lawyer who knows how to look after her clients.'

How much had she overheard?

'It's never too late, Bernard,' she called as she walked off. I think he might have gone with her if she hadn't kept calling him Bernard.

I followed her into court, all the way thinking that there was no way I could see myself bowing to her if she became Lady Nicholson. But I would have to, unless I took my grandad's advice and applied myself. I couldn't see it happening me? Lady Brodie McLennan? I was too young, but if Grandad said it could happen, then maybe I just had to believe, even if it filled me with dread. The very idea of sitting on my a.r.s.e all day listening to cases would be one of the worst parts. There was no challenge in that for me. Maybe when I was a coffin dodger like the rest of them it would be a grand way of life. But not now.

Court Seven was packed. Lawyers lined both sides of the court walls as they waited their turn. I put my name in to the sheriff clerk, but there was no way they could really call my case any quicker. Sometimes they would do me a favour and call my clients first, but that depended on me having the time to get in there before court started and speak to them nicely. The set-to I'd had with Bridget Nicholson had delayed me, and all morning I'd been trying to catch up with myself.

The queue moved slowly as the judge was a temporary sheriff. His day job was as a property lawyer and he'd never been in a courtroom in his life, so he was taking his time to make sure there were no mistakes. There was a shortage of judges when they had to resort to using clowns like this. Maybe I did have a chance of being Lady McLennan or should I take my father's name and follow in his footsteps?

'Bernard Carpenter!'

The last case was called. I stepped forward and took my place in the well of the court. The Alchemist sloped into the dock.

'Are you Bernard Carpenter?' The clerk's voice was dry and hoa.r.s.e; it had been a long court roll.

'M'Lord, my name is Brodie McLennan. I appear on behalf of the accused.'

'Are you from the same firm as Ms Nicholson, because it says that she represented the accused on the last occasion?' The judge wasn't just a pedant, he was also a hermit if he hadn't heard who I was in the last year. His prissy half-moon rimmed gla.s.ses fell to the end of his nose as he peered at me suspiciously. I shouldn't have been surprised that's exactly what happens when the criminal Bar encounter their fellow professionals. Like oil and water, they just don't mix.

'I have a mandate to act for Mr Carpenter now,' I answered.

'Well, this young man can't think just because he changes his mind that he can hold up the judicial machinery. Are you ready to go to trial? Because I'll tell you now, I'm in no mood to grant an extension just to satisfy this young man's whims.'

It had been my intention to ask for an adjournment, but I knew I was on a hiding to nothing, and so I said what I knew I would regret.

'The defence is ready and prepared for trial.'

I had one official paper and a scribbled statement from my client. If I was Eddie Gibb I would have been ready to go to trial and win, but no sober lawyer would proceed on that basis. I noted the trial date down, two weeks from today. It would be hard work, especially as the Alchemist was insisting that I prove that DI Bancho had fitted him up. Now I'd had time to think of Bancho rather than push his name out of my mind, I had to admit that we went way back. He was a colleague of an old flatmate, Richard Sturgeon, and a crowd of us used to go out on Friday nights. However, there was no love lost between Bancho and me now, in spite of a couple of drunken snogs in the police club in Gorgie.

As it was, the last case called before lunch meant I had to stand and wait until the court was cleared; which really meant until the judge had left the bench. It was like watching a kettle boil. Eventually, I could go. As I left, Andy, the court macer, approached me.

'Sorry to bother you, Brodie.'

Andy was a nice guy, and I could tell by his face that he hated to be the bearer of bad news.

'Don't worry, Andy, I won't shoot the messenger.'

'You might you put your name in to represent Tanya Hayder? Her case was called and you didn't appear. I did everything I could because I saw you were having difficulties this morning. The sheriff clerk kept it back right to the end it only called five minutes ago. You were just too late.'

'Story of my life, Andy. So what's to happen now?'

'It's Sheriff Harrison and he wants to see you at two o'clock in chambers. He's pretty mad he was playing golf at Muirfield and he's had to cancel because of this.' Andy patted me on the back and we left the court together as I moved towards my next run-in.

'Bernard! I want a word with you in private.' I was past being polite. 'You heard what went on in there.' I inclined my head towards the court, not giving him the chance to wriggle out of my question.

'I ...' he started to stammer.

I cut him off.

'This trouble is of your own making. If you want to go to trial on that defence in two weeks make sure you have five grand in my hand before close of business on Friday.'

I turned and left without waiting for a reply. I was stopped in my tracks by a voice I knew only too well.

'Charging Kailash's prices now?'

Glasgow Joe was back.

Chapter Six.

Joe never had approved of me lying on tombstones.

'Aren't you scared of the dead?'

'It's not the dead you should be afraid of, Joe it's the living.'

Greyfriars Kirkyard was the nearest green s.p.a.ce to the court, and my favourite lunch spot. Mary, Queen of Scots had opened its gates to the townspeople of Edinburgh when it was still a rural site. Glasgow Joe and I had left court to get some peace and quiet and, despite the tourists and snogging teenagers, we almost managed it. I was at my usual dining spot, Alexander Scroggie's flat tomb. With raised legs, it looked rather like a small mossy table, situated in the best site in the graveyard, under a large oak tree. I liked to lie on it and watch the clouds go by whilst I ate my sandwiches. I didn't mind that it was hard and cold. The only drawback was that crumbs fell down my neck, and I knew that at four o'clock I'd still be finding them inside my bra.

'Are you in trouble, Brodie?'

'Of course. Didn't you used to tell me that trouble was my middle name?' I said to evade his real question.

'You were seven. I thought you'd grow out of it.'

Joe and I had been at junior school together. The girl whose mother had aspirations for her never fitted into the tough Leith environment but when the hulking ginger ogre that was Joe, even as a kid, descended from the West, I knew I had a friend. The fact that he was still around owed as much to his doggedness as my lure. He'd saved me more than once, and I hoped he'd always be there to do so. If he found out about Jack Deans, though, it could be the end of what we had established over years.

I watched a cloud that looked like a dragon pa.s.s in the otherwise clear blue sky.

'You had a lucky escape then, Joe.'

'Is that what you think? Is that what you think happened to us? I escaped you?'

I didn't like the way this conversation was heading how much did he know? I tried to make the peace we had fallen onto the edges of an argument far too quickly today, and I didn't want him, of all people, to be upset or angry with me.

'What difference does it make, Joe? Our past is far away, and all we've got to worry us is whether you've eaten all the chocolate brownies.' Maybe I could distract him if only Awesome was parked on one of the graves; that would get his attention. He loved that bike as much as I did. In fact, I sometimes marvelled that he'd ever been able to hand it over for my twenty-first, given how much he still treated it as his own possession.

'Here, Joe do you think the ghost of Burke's watching me?' As I lolled on the grave, I could almost imagine the days when the famous resurrectionist used to sit nearby watching the burials, so he could come out after dark and dig up the bodies.

'Don't act tough and intelligent, Brodie, I know you're just soppy about that daft wee dog,' threw back Joe.

'What? A scruffy wee Skye terrier holding me here? Not even a very bright one at that he didn't even recognise his master was kicking up the daisies for years.'

Joe stood beside the gravestone, his kilt swinging as he swayed back and forward, chewing a hot meatball baguette. His legs were muscular and well-formed, black hand-knitted kilt socks lay in puddles at the top of his polished Caterpillar boots. For a biker, Glasgow Joe was fastidious and it showed in the whiteness of his cotton s.h.i.+rt. The cuffs had been carelessly rolled up to his elbows, showing his thick muscular forearms. Unusually for a redhead his skin was golden brown. The epitome of a Highland warrior, he stood six foot four in his size-thirteen stockinged soles. Even though he was off limits for me, I could still appreciate the fact that he was gorgeous as f.u.c.k.

A group of Italians on a walking tour of the graveyard had spotted Joe. It wasn't hard. Like flies to a corpse they swarmed over to him. The girls stood shyly at his side, elbowed out of the way by their buxom mamas who placed their arms around him, and found enough English to ask him what he was wearing beneath his kilt. Joe managed to find a smile for the photographer. He always did. He should be getting a fee from the Scottish Tourist Board given the number of times he found himself in the memories of visitors. They all shouted arrivederci and he shrugged off their thanks. Alone again, he turned to me.

'Will you sit up, Brodie? Don't you know it scares the s.h.i.+t out of me seeing you lying there like that? And it brings back some c.r.a.p memories of the last time we were in a graveyard together.'

I ignored his last comment did he mean when we considered grave-robbing or when my blood father's widow tried to kill me amongst the memory of a thousand dead Highlanders? No, I wouldn't go back to Jerry Springer territory again. My back was beginning to hurt anyway. 'I would have moved sooner but I didn't want to interrupt your fan club.'

He stared at me for longer than he needed to. 'Have you ever considered that men welcome a bit of appreciation?'

'They get far too much b.l.o.o.d.y attention as it is, Joe. And if you just let yourself go a bit, the world wouldn't stop spinning. You're vain, that's all it is.'

He looked at his watch. 'You're a rotten liar, Brodie McLennan. If I'm not worth your time, how come you've been here so long?'

I checked my own watch and couldn't believe how much of the afternoon I'd wasted talking nonsense with him. G.o.d, I'd miss him if we did fall out over this Jack Deans business. I picked my jacket up and ran, with Joe following me. It was easier to deal with Bridget Nicholson and Sheriff Harrison. The problems with Joe put a big tick in the box in favour of being a judge.

'Joe,' I wheezed as I ran past the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, 'you're forgetting I like cats, not dogs. I'm going to be an old lady with cats.' My voice was almost lost in my rush.

'Do you think I came up the Clyde in a banana boat?' he replied. 'You're like that wee dog, loyal to a fault even when it gets you into trouble. Why else would you be representing Tanya Hayder? Everyone else gave up on her long ago.'

As I ran down George IV Bridge, I knew it was true. And I also wondered why, if he knew all about my life, he hadn't stuck his nose into what I'd done with Jack?

Chapter Seven.

Even I didn't believe that Tanya Hayder had changed her life around like she always promised she would. From time to time I checked on the website for the escort agency she was linked with, just to make sure she was still alive. Tanya's official photograph on the Flowers of Scotland site still showed her in the first flush of youth. Before s.e.x and drugs had taken their toll, she was the most alluring girl I had ever seen, apart from Kailash. Now, she looked at least double her age and with d.a.m.n few years left. I often thought the trading standards officers could do her under the Trade Descriptions Act if they saw her advertising pitch.

'Are you all right, honey?'

That's why I liked Tanya: she was the one behind bars but she was worried about my mental health.

'You're looking a bit peaky, Brodie. You under any stress?'

I rolled my eyes upwards and she understood.

'You can't let those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds grind you down you're better than that,' she continued to try and calm me. 'We go back a long way, Brodie. Don't bail out on me now because of some stroppy b.a.s.t.a.r.ding men getting to you.'

I never needed to tell Tanya anything because she always a.s.sumed it was 'b.a.s.t.a.r.ding men' who were behind anything and everything. Occupational hazard, I suppose. But she was right we did go back a long way. Tanya was my first client, I'd had little else to do and so I lavished more care and attention on her than a firstborn. Tanya had been a heroin addict since the age of thirteen, chasing the dragon to escape memories of childhood abuse, which were unfortunately not suppressed. She was a real dripping roast in the early years her constant appearances in court made her a good source of income for me but I always supposed (or hoped) that she would escape her destiny. During one interview in Cornton Vale Women's Prison, she had handed me a white gemstone. I didn't want to dwell on how she'd managed to smuggle it in.

'It's faith,' she had told me. 'The stone represents faith.'

I'd taken it from her all those years ago and still had it in my purse. Foolishly, I believed that as long as it was safe, we both had a chance.

'We don't have long, Tanya, you know the form.'

'Enough that I know you're in bigger s.h.i.+t than me. Where were you when they called my name out?'

'A victim of my own success, Tanya.'

'Get me out of here, Brodie I can't do another stretch. Please, Brodie, I promise you this time I'll straighten myself out, just get me into rehab.'

'Tanya, I told you last time that I got you the deal of the century probation with your record? And what did you do with that great chance? You s.h.a.gged a police officer how many times have I told you not to have any drugs on you when you're on the game?'

Drugs were an illness with her; she was more to be pitied than punished. I knew that with Tanya I overstepped the mark, but someone had to care. The Fiscal claimed to understand when she was a Crown witness at the age of twelve, but where was the therapy or stable home when she needed it? Now, her background reports sounded like tired old tosh trotted out by lawyers and social workers, although it didn't make it any less true.

'I did not. I always double-check with the hotels to make sure they're not the vice squad. This gadge had a suite so I thought I was safe vice are too tight to take a suite. Anyway, when I got there it was a police officer, they had ordered a few working girls to entertain some business colleagues so I thought it was okay. I've got some scruples, I didn't go with the pig, I went with the pal. Nice black guy. I could tell he was using because his top lip was covered in sweat. He paid me in smack it was good stuff and I was hoping he would ask for me again but I never got the chance. That pig booked me for drugs. I tried to tell them I got them from their pal but they wouldn't believe me. Said his pal was a fisherman from Pakistan, but that was a lie 'cause I used to work the boats in Peterhead and all the men there have rough hands and he didn't. Really rough hands. They get them from mending the nets.'

'It doesn't matter.' I cut her off as quickly as I could. There was always a story with Tanya. 'You were caught with drugs. There is not going to be a trial. You'll be sentenced for your original offence today and for the breach of probation. It's not your first offence so they don't need social enquiry reports you're off to prison this afternoon, Tanya, for a long time.'

As I said them, I thought my last words were unnecessarily hard. They were true, of course, but there was no need to kick her when she was down. Apparently, Tanya thought so too.

'Who were you with, when you should have been representing me?' she asked angrily.

'You wouldn't know him.'

'You'd be surprised who I know. Must be somebody important to make you abandon me.' She liked to twist the knife. Most addicts are experts at emotional blackmail.

'I bet it was one of those Dark Angels you seem to be Moses Tierney's personal tart these days.'

I ignored her insults, but she went on.

'Get me probation and I'll give you information that will help your client. I don't need to know who he is just now to know that I've got a link to practically everybody in this city and information on most of them.'

'There's no way I can get you probation today, Tanya, but I will try.'

I ignored the line she was throwing me about the Alchemist. I would have put up a good spraff for her anyway, regardless of the personal cost.

Chapter Eight.

'Are you still hanging around here? You're like a bad smell in a toilet.'

'Has anyone ever told you you don't do yourself any favours, Brodie?'

I was still really annoyed with Bridget Nicholson and I suspected that the only reason she was still here was to witness my humiliation when I asked for probation for Tanya. She swept past me into Sheriff Harrison's court.

As a rule, after lunch, the Sheriff Court is almost deserted as the swathe of human detritus has completed its tasks in the morning and only a few ongoing trials remain. A courthouse is a horrible place to be. It shows you the very worst that humanity has to offer. Greed. Malice. Violence. Debauchery. Old lawyers' tales tell of a young man in the seventeenth century about to sit his Bar exams who had a vision that he was at the mouth of h.e.l.l. It sounds pretty likely to me that he got to live his vision when he became a lawyer.

'Sheriff Harrison will see you in chambers now,' said Andy, the macer, interrupting my thoughts.