He’d just completed the going-home part of his day, albeit that he was still on call, and was ready for something more. The something that had never been more than a thought away the whole time he’d been on the clock. Euan Hepburn. Jennifer Cairns. The Molendinar and the Odeon. Remy Feeks. Rachel.

He was worried, perhaps even scared. He’d been taking a risk from the moment he’d got involved in this but the stakes were getting higher. It wasn’t a game, wasn’t a step into a building where he could back out if he felt unsafe. He was in deep and the door behind him had been locked.

There had been a couple of times he’d felt someone was following him: Friday as he went home after work, and the night before as he’d left Oran Mor. Nothing he could be certain about, just shadows that were there and then weren’t. Footsteps that stopped with his, a feeling that he couldn’t shift. He’d have put it down to paranoia but that was defined as irrational and there was good reason to think he really had put himself in danger.

Not just him, Remy too. Winter worried for the kid even more than himself. He’d take his own chances if he had to but Feeks didn’t seem to be able to look after himself. That was why he’d made the anonymous call to the station, knowing that Rachel would know what to do, knowing she was much more capable of looking after Remy than he was.

Rachel. The biggest risk of all. His greatest fear.

When your mind was as messed up as his was then even doing something good could leave you confused as to why you did it. Like the day before when he’d taken her to the nursing home to see her dad with the old Rangers player. Had he done that because it was the right thing to do, because he loved her, or because he was guilty of betraying her by interfering with the case?

He fired up his laptop and went straight to OtherWorld. There really was no going back so there was nowhere else to go. He had to sort this. Warn the kid to stay out of it, maybe tackle the others he was suspicious of. Something, anything, risky or not.

The moment he’d logged in and the home page had built, he saw that he had a message in his inbox. He went straight there, opening it up as quickly as his fingers could fly.

The subject field contained just one word. URGENT.

He took it all in at once. The sender was Magellan93. It was Remy’s user name. The message was opened in an instant.

He read it twice, blood pumping. Then read it again.

I know more about what happened in the Molendinar than I said. I know why you’re asking and if I’m right then it’s about the Odeon too. Can’t say more on here, too risky.

Meet me at the Gray Dunn building in Kinning Park. The old biscuit factory. Saturday night at seven. I’ll tell you all you need to know.

The message had been sent the night before and it was already nearly six. This meeting, this whatever the hell it was, was a little over an hour away.

What the hell was Remy up to? Why the cloak and dagger routine? The Gray Dunn factory was right up the boy’s street though. Winter had never been there but knew of it – an urbexer’s paradise, all maze and mystery, secluded and vulnerable. It was the last place either he or Remy should be going. The one thing it wasn’t was safe.

Why couldn’t he just have told him in the message? Why was it too risky to tell him? Did Remy think OtherWorld private messages were being hacked? Winter had to wonder who’d be capable of doing that. And he really had to wonder how it could be more risky than pitching up in an isolated ruin like the factory.

No matter, his choice was simple. Go now and meet him or don’t. And that was no choice at all. He had to go.

Chapter 44

Carrie Thomson didn’t look entirely pleased to see Narey standing on her doorstep for the second time. She looked hard at her for a while before nodding silently, mouth tight, and standing back to let her inside.

The woman closed the door behind her then stood with her back to it, her arms folded across her chest and an expression made of ice on her face.

‘I’ve had two phone calls from Douglas Cairns, bawling and shouting and accusing me of spreading rumours about his wife. I assume I have you to thank for that.’

‘I didn’t mention any names to him. So if he thought it was you then he guessed. It didn’t come from me.’

Thomson turned her head and smiled sarcastically. ‘Well he seemed pretty fucking sure when he rang and called me an absolute bitch.’

‘I think it might be better if we sit down and talk about this calmly.’

‘Well I don’t. I’m happy talking about it right here. Why did he think I’d told you?’

Narey wasn’t for giving the woman much room or sympathy. ‘Perhaps because you did tell me. I refused to tell him where my information had come from. I didn’t tell him if it was a man or a woman. He leaped to that conclusion all by himself.’

Thomson simmered, trying to decide whether to believe her. ‘Well he called me a few choice names, including a whore. Said that I’d encouraged Jen to sleep around because that’s what I was doing myself. He demanded to know who it was that she was fucking. His words, not mine.’

‘And what did you tell him?’

‘Well I told him that it wasn’t me who gave you the information. Although I’d have been as well saving my breath. I told him I didn’t know who she was seeing. Which of course he jumped on as confirmation that I knew she was seeing someone. I hung up on him but he called back about five minutes later.’

‘What did he say that time?’

‘He was shouting. I think he’d been drinking. He said something along the lines of how he’d known all along. He called Jen some vile names too. I told him to shut up and get off the phone. He went on and on, asking me who it was. He started asking if it was the car salesman. He kept saying, “Was it the fucking car salesman again? I’ll kill him if it was.” So he must have known about Phil Traynor.’

‘He said he’d kill him?’

She shrugged. ‘Figure of speech, I guess, but yes, he did.’

‘Did you tell him anything?’

‘No. Nothing. I told him to sober up and that I was hanging up and taking the phone off the hook. Which I did.’

‘Okay. Well I’m going to ask you some of the same questions. We’ve spoken to Phil Traynor and we’re satisfied that he hadn’t seen Jen in over a year. Do you have any idea of who it was she was seeing?’

Thomson looked somewhere between fury and tears. ‘We’ve been through this! I’ve told you all that I know. She only ever called him The Man. It was this big secret. She shut me out of it for whatever reason. Believe me, I’ve wracked my brains and there’s nothing I can tell you or Douglas.’

Narey nodded, believing her. ‘Okay, but if you do think of something, please tell me before you tell Mr Cairns. Okay?’

‘Okay. I’ll be happy if I never have to speak to Douglas again.’

She then threw Narey a look which left no doubt that the same thing applied to her too.