ماشین مرموز

CHAPTER EIGHT

The mystery car

‘Sorry you’ve had to wait so long,’ said Logan sweetly, as she and Grant came into the room where Jimmy Brown was sitting. It was just after one o’clock. ‘We’ve been rather busy,’ she added.

Brown just looked at her angrily.

‘Been having an interesting conversation with the Robbery Unit?’ asked Grant, sitting down on one of the chairs opposite Brown.

‘I’ve been up half the night answering questions,’ said Brown. ‘Why don’t you go away and leave me alone? I know I’m in trouble for the stolen things in the flat. But I had nothing to do with Morag’s murder. Just go away and leave me alone.’

Logan sat on the other chair opposite Brown and looked at him. ‘Jimmy, I just want to find the person who killed Morag,’ said Logan. ‘Now, where were you yesterday?’

‘At home,’ said Brown. ‘I told you.’

‘I know that’s what you told us,’ said Logan, ‘but that wasn’t the truth, was it?’ As she said this, she looked Brown straight in the eye. Jimmy looked back for a few seconds but then looked away and started to bite his lip.

‘I followed Morag,’ he said softly.

No-one spoke.

‘I didn’t kill her.’ Brown spoke again. ‘Really I didn’t.’

‘Why didn’t you tell us this before?’ asked Logan.

‘I know what the police are like. Just because I’ve been in trouble before, you think you can get me for anything now. It doesn’t matter what I tell you. You’re all the same. So why should I tell you anything? And now, because I didn’t tell you the truth, you’re going to think that I killed Morag.’ Brown was beginning to get angry again.

‘Jimmy,’ said Logan patiently, ‘You’re a criminal and I don’t like you. But you don’t have to be afraid of me if you didn’t murder Morag.’

Jimmy gave Logan a strange look. Police officers didn’t often say things like that, not to people like him anyway.

‘So why did you decide to follow Morag?’ asked Logan.

Brown looked down at the table as if deciding if he should tell the truth or not. Finally, he looked at Grant and then at Logan. ‘I wanted to find out who the main man was.’

‘Why?’ asked Logan. ‘Why now? Why not before?’

‘Well, Morag and I’d only known each other six months. We only got the flat together a couple of months ago. I didn’t want to put my nose into her business too early. So I waited. Until now. I thought it was time to find out who the main man was.’

‘And did you find out?’ asked Grant.

‘No,’ said Brown.

‘Let’s go back to before Morag went out,’ said Logan. ‘When we spoke to you at the flat, you said that Morag made a phone call.’

‘That’s right,’ said Brown.

‘You thought she wanted to meet her main man.’

‘Yes,’ said Brown.

‘Did she usually ring him or did he ring her?’ asked Logan.

Brown gave Logan another strange look. ‘Yes, yesterday was unusual. He usually rang her. In fact, I don’t think I can ever remember her calling him except for yesterday.’

‘So why do you think she called him yesterday?’ asked Logan.

‘I don’t know,’ said Brown, thinking hard.

‘What were you doing before she called him?’ asked Logan.

‘Watching TV. Then suddenly she jumped up and made the phone call. I just thought she’d forgotten something.’

‘What time did this happen?’ asked Logan.

‘I don’t know. Midday maybe. Yes, it must have been around that time because we were watching the midday news.’

‘OK,’ said Logan. ‘Now what time did you say Morag went out?’

‘Soon after that,’ replied Brown.

Logan looked at Grant and he started to ask the questions. ‘Where did she go?’ he said.

‘She walked down Dairy Road towards the Haymarket,’ said Brown. ‘And then this car stopped beside her. She got in the car. And that was it. The car drove away.’

Logan sat back in her chair, thinking. Campbell’s escape would have been on the midday news. Morag must have seen that and phoned her main man. She started listening to Grant and Brown again.

‘What kind of car?’ asked Grant.

‘Don’t know,’ said Brown.

‘Big, small?’ asked Grant.

‘Big,’ said Brown, ‘and a dark colour. Blue or green or something.’

Grant and Logan looked at each other.

‘Which?’ asked Logan. ‘Blue or green?’

‘I don’t remember.’

‘Did you see the car number?’ Logan asked.

‘Oh come on, Inspector,’ said Brown. ‘It was just a car.’

‘What was the person in the car like?’ continued Grant.

‘I don’t know. This all happened about fifty metres away. I couldn’t see very much.’

‘Think back,’ said Logan. ‘Remember what happened. Did you see anything else?’

‘No. Nothing.’

‘Which way did they drive away?’ asked Grant.

‘They drove up towards the Haymarket,’ said Brown. ‘And what did you do?’ asked Grant.

‘I went back home,’ said Brown.

‘But first you bought a newspaper,’ said Logan.

‘How do you know that?’ asked Brown.

‘I’m a detective,’ said Logan, and smiled.

‘Come on, Jimmy,’ Grant said. ‘What do you think Morag did for the main man? You must have an idea.’

‘She went to parties and looked after some of the people he did business with, if you know what I mean. Talked to people and made them feel welcome.’

‘And she slept with them?’ asked Grant.

‘Yes, and that,’ said Brown quietly. ‘That’s another reason we didn’t talk about it too much.’

‘Did Morag ever talk about someone called Robert Baxter?’ asked Logan.

Brown’s eyes suddenly opened wide in surprise. ‘Robert Baxter! Is he the main man?’ he asked.

‘You know him?’ asked Logan.

‘Everyone knows Robert Baxter,’ said Brown. ‘I mean, I don’t know him really and I don’t want to know him. But I know who he is.’

‘Is it possible that he was the main man?’ asked Logan. Brown’s shoulders went up and then down. ‘It’s possible,’ he said. ‘But Morag never talked about him.’

‘Did she talk much about the past?’ Logan asked.

‘Not really,’ Brown said.

‘Did she ever talk about Craig Sinclair?’

‘Craig Sinclair? That little rat! No, she didn’t talk about him.’ Brown was angry again. His eyes had lit up. ‘But I remember him. He once sold me a couple of boxes full of CDs and then the next day the police came round to my place and found them. He promised me he hadn’t told the police where to find them. I didn’t know if I believed him or not. I got into big trouble for that. The little rat!’

‘Of course, he was murdered as well,’ said Logan quietly. Logan watched Brown’s face as he suddenly realised talking about Craig Sinclair like that might be a mistake.

‘Hey! Come on,’ he said. ‘I know he was murdered. I didn’t like him but that doesn’t mean I killed him.’

Later, Logan and Grant were sitting in Logan’s office drinking coffee. They had taken Brown through his story again, but he hadn’t added anything or changed any of it. ‘Should we believe Jimmy Brown?’ asked Grant.

‘I don’t know,’ said Logan, shaking her head. ‘It’s strange that he knew Sinclair as well. We’ll need to check what Brown was doing when Sinclair was murdered.’

‘Yes,’ said Grant.

‘And the information about the car was interesting.’

‘The Audi that Campbell stole was dark blue,’ said Grant.

‘And Baxter’s car’s dark green,’ said Logan.

She turned her chair and looked out of the window into the park across the road. Some young children were playing while their mothers lay on the grass in the warm sunshine. Logan remembered that this time the day before she had been on the beach. A lot had happened since then.

She turned and looked at her watch. It was already three thirty in the afternoon.

‘Yes, I think we should talk to Baxter again first,’ she said. ‘Phone him and invite him along here. Say I’d like to speak to him. Tonight would be best; if not, tomorrow morning.’

There was a box full of papers about Craig Sinclair’s murder on her desk She pulled it towards her. ‘I want another look at this information about Craig Sinclair’s murder before I talk to Baxter.’

As Grant left, she picked up the first page and started to read.