‘You usually go on your own then?’

‘Oh no. I go with a couple of friends. My pal Lizzie and her boyfriend Gus. They don’t post on OtherWorld though. We all do the urbexing but I do the photographs and stick them online. Probably why you wouldn’t know to invite them along.’

‘Yes, probably.’ He sighed inside, wondering how many other part-time explorers were out there who didn’t use the forum. Clearly neither of Lorna’s friends could be Tunnel Man though.

‘So you only know the two of them?’

‘Just those two. People have posted after seeing my photos but I don’t know them. Still, now I know five other people that do it.’

‘Six.’ The voice came from above them, someone standing. They all glanced up.

‘I take it you’re the muppets that walked the Botanics line this evening?’

They were looking at a lean, flint-cheeked guy in his early thirties with sleek black hair. He tried to switch to a smile when he saw everyone staring but didn’t quite pull it off.

‘Only joking. I’m Crow. Or Murray Bradley if you like. I thought I’d give the tourist route a miss and come straight here. Can I get anyone a drink?’

Bradley wore a black-leather jacket, T-shirt and jeans to match his hair. If he had walked the tunnel from Kirklee with them then he’d have disappeared in the darkness. Everyone said they were sorted for drinks and the guy headed off to get one for himself.

He came back with a pint of lager in his hand and squeezed himself into a space between Ally Aitchison and Gopher. ‘Cheers.’ They all raised their glasses without much enthusiasm. The newcomer had managed to piss them all off with just a couple of sentences.

‘Walking the line too safe for you then?’ Aitchison seemed happy to take him on aggressively.

Bradley shrugged, clearly not fazed. ‘Been there, done that. Happy to come for a beer though and see what you guys are all about. So where else have you done?’

It sounded like a challenge and Gabby, not surprisingly, took it that way. ‘Anywhere that’s worth doing in Glasgow. What about you, big man? Surprise us.’

The man sneered and Remy wanted to slap him. There was more chance of Gabby doing that though. ‘Finnieston Crane, the old Transport Museum, the black building at Gartnavel, the Hydro when it was being built. Like you say, hen, anything that’s worth doing.’

The next question was out of Remy’s mouth before he could stop it.

‘Have you ever done the Molendinar Burn?’

Bradley paused then pushed his lower lip over his top one and shrugged. ‘No. Not yet anyway.’

‘What’s that?’ Lorna looked confused.

‘There’s a tunnel where the Molendinar Burn runs under Duke Street,’ Miller answered. ‘It gets really tight and you wouldn’t want to do it if you were claustrophobic. Only one person’s supposed to have done it.’

More than one, Remy thought. Definitely more than one.

He knew there was a risk he was about to overplay his hand but they were the only cards he had.

‘Did you read about the body found in the tunnel last week?’

They all looked at him and he tried to take in the expression on their faces. Confusion mostly although a couple of them, Aitchison and Miller, obviously knew. Haddow too. Not Gopher, that was for sure. His eyes widened and his mouth bobbed open. ‘Body? As in, dead body?’

Winter struggled to keep conflicting emotions under control. This guy Feeks was asking all the questions for him. They were all staring at Remy so that left Winter free to look at them. Trying to read them. And what about Feeks? Nervily chatty and obviously interested in the Molendinar. But then they all were now.

But the kid’s words, body, dead body, made him picture Hepburn in a way that he didn’t want to. It messed with his thinking. He sat and watched, trying to take it all in. Underneath he was in knots.

‘Yep. Some guy was found under Duke Street,’ Miller told Gopher. ‘I saw it on the news and read about it. The newspaper said it was suspicious circumstances.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Was he urbexing?’

Shit. Was he?

‘No one knows.’ Miller stated it as if it was a fact even though Remy knew it wasn’t. ‘He could have been in there for any reason. Might have been living rough. Might have been hiding from the cops. If he was urbexing, he probably just slipped and banged his head.’

‘Probably that,’ Haddow agreed.

‘So who was he, if he was urbexing?’ Remy knew he was pushing his luck. ‘Anyone know who he might be?’

‘What did he look like?’

‘Newspaper said he was about five foot eleven, medium build, reddish-fair hair.’ Miller seemed to know everything or think he did. The rest mulled this over or just shrugged. Remy wanted to shake them upside down till their memories popped.

‘But if the newspaper said it was suspicious . . .’ Lorna sounded scared.

‘Maybe someone just took the guy down there to sort him out. Nice and out of the way. In space no one can hear you scream and all that.’ Bradley made it sound as if he knew what he was talking about. ‘Was he just inside the entrance to the tunnel?’

‘Paper didn’t say.’ Finlay Miller knew it all. ‘Probably. Wouldn’t want to go further into there than you had to.’

‘Anyone remember the guy that broke his neck at the seminary?’ Aitchison asked them. ‘It was about a year ago.’

They all either nodded or said yes. In a community as small as urbexing, something like that didn’t go unnoticed for long.

‘Poor guy.’ Lorna shivered. ‘Gus, my friend’s boyfriend, he knew him. Said he was a really nice guy. They think he just slipped.’

Bradley chipped in. ‘And there was that guy who supposedly fell from the Finnieston Crane. Except I’d heard that wasn’t an accident.’

‘Yeah?’ Aitchison sounded sceptical. ‘Who did you hear that from?’

‘Can’t say. Someone who knows someone. But they reckon the guy wasn’t an urbexer.’

There was a lot of silent nodding and quiet supping. Remy saw they were happy to believe it was nothing to do with urbexing. All sitting there with that thought on their faces. All except Gabby. She was looking straight at him.

Chapter 34

Winter waited in the doorway and watched the two of them speaking, the girl Gabby and Feeks, the guy who’d organized it and was asking so many questions. He held back until he saw the girl walk off then stepped out of the pub, catching Feeks before he too could leave. He didn’t know what he was going to say to the guy but he knew he had to talk to him.

‘Remy?’

Feeks nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned, alarm in his eyes. ‘What?’

‘I just wanted a chat. That stuff you were saying about the body in the Molendinar. It’s interesting. You fancy another drink?’

‘Well, I should really—’

‘It’s just that I’ve been down there. The tunnel, I mean.’

Feeks blinked. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. It gets weird in parts. At one point there’s this tunnel of spiral steel piping. Then it opens up into this beautiful redbrick section before it all gets really low. Like I said, it’s interesting.’

The younger guy just looked at him. Long enough for Winter to know he’d been right.

‘Um, sure. Maybe one more.’

‘Great.’

They went back inside and Feeks found a quiet corner while Winter ordered a couple of pints. He looked back from the bar and saw his new friend fidgeting nervously, his eyes flitting left and right.

He placed two drinks on the table, as happy as Feeks seemed to be that there was no one else in earshot.