Valentine turned away from the window and eased himself on to the ledge. ‘This case goes back years. We’ve just started. If Keirns is hiding something it might take us a while to flush it out.’
‘His police record doesn’t indicate any high-end crime. There’s a few cannabis possessions from years back but the biggest seizure was about ￡150.’
‘Makes you wonder why the local bobby even bothered at all.’
‘Maybe they thought Keirns deserved it, y’know, like he was known to them and they wanted to push it through the courts to teach him a lesson.’
‘Sounds plausible. Actually, when I think about the uniforms down there, it sounds more than bloody likely. Here’s a name for your notebook – Davie Purves. He was the beat bobby in Cumnock for donkey’s years, retired now, but he still stays out that way. Give him a yell and see if he has any inside info on Garry Keirns.’
‘Will do, sir. I take it you’re looking for more than gossip then?’
‘I’ll take what’s going, but if Davie knows there’s more to Keirns than the record shows then check it out too. They look after their own down there, the cops, but Davie’s a pretty straight shooter. He wouldn’t stiff you with any nonsense.’
‘OK, I’ll give him a knock. I’ll also pull Keirns’s social-security stamps. He hasn’t been surviving on thin air or a carer’s handout all this time,’ said McCormack.
‘Good idea. And get on to the Columba House folk – see what files they have on him. Might be nothing, might turn out to be juicy if we’re lucky.’
‘OK. That’s all noted, sir.’
‘Oh, and Blairgowan too.’
‘The construction firm?’
‘Yes. See who approached whom. Something tells me Keirns is not revealing the bigger picture there. Cumnock’s hardly the bloody Gold Coast, I don’t see developers falling over each other to snap up available land.’
‘Yes, boss.’ McCormack had been writing it down in her notebook; when she closed it over she spotted DS Donnelly. ‘Looks like Phil’s back, sir.’
‘Right, let’s get the squad together round the board. See what we’ve got so far.’
Valentine was first through the door, moving to the centre of the room and clapping his hands together. A diffuse collection of bodies took note, putting down folders and telephone receivers and gravitating to the detective inspector. The volume levels dropped to the point where the hum of the photocopier and the squeal of chair castors was all that could be heard.
‘OK, everyone, I’d like your attention please,’ said Valentine. ‘Phil, Ally, can we get you both round the board. Bring me what you have. It’s time we were all on the same page.’
‘Sir.’
Ally approached the board, shuffling glossy paper in his hands. He removed something small and metallic that he was holding in his teeth and started to pin photographs on the board. ‘Got some pictures from the photog, sir.’
‘This is before we moved the first body, right?’ said Valentine.
‘There’s more to come; this was all that was sitting in the printer when I was passing.’
DS Donnelly stepped in, leaning round Ally and addressing the DI. ‘Pathology has the first body, sir. Wrighty’s waiting for the SOCOs to finish up before moving the second.’
‘You mean it’s not out the barrel yet?’
‘There’s a lot to be bagged, sir. I don’t think the drum has even been examined yet.’
Valentine waved down Donnelly. ‘OK, son, it’s not our usual crime scene – we’ll have to be patient. Fortunately the crime occurred twenty-five years ago. We’re not under the stopwatch on this one.’
‘The SOCOs are putting in a late one, sir. We should have an index of the evidence early doors.’
‘Good. When you get it catalogued I want you to go over it with a microscope yourself. If there’s a shirt button in that barrel I want to know if it’s from Woolworths or Marks & Spencer, do you understand?’
‘Loud and clear, boss.’
‘And who’s tracing the barrel with ICI on the side?’
DS McAlister raised his hand. ‘There’s quite a few markings, nothing immediately decipherable, boss, but if we can tie it to a manufacturing source or retail point then we’ll know better.’
‘Good. Don’t drag your heels on that. With any luck it’s exotic, or better yet, unique. I want to know how it ended up in Cumnock. It might be that it was just something close to hand that they grabbed for their own purposes – it was the right size, shape and so on – but it might lead us somewhere we might not otherwise have been looking. A perp’s workplace or spot on a delivery route. Check it all out – thoroughly.’