Perfect Kill

DI Graham took over. ‘Well, thanks for coming to chat. Won’t keep you long. You’ve probably noticed activity in your neighbour’s house.’ No response. ‘Were either of you in last night?’

‘We went to bed early,’ the man said, glancing sideways at the woman.

‘Did you? It’s really helpful that you were in your property. We have reason to believe there might have been a gunshot. Did you hear anything?’

‘Slept right through. Didn’t hear nothin’,’ the man declared.

‘Is your bedroom at the front or the back of the house?’ Graham asked.

‘The back,’ the man said. ‘So what?’

‘So that would have been above and right next door to the room where we think the gun was fired, likely around three a.m. Are you sure you didn’t wake up at all?’

They both shook their heads.

‘A window was broken, too. I’m guessing there’d have been quite a disturbance. Did you know your neighbour well?’

‘Not really,’ the man said.

‘So you knew him a bit then,’ Graham said. Ava had to give him credit. He was a thousand times more patient than her. ‘What was he like?’

‘He was a creep,’ the woman said. The man gave her a sharp look that Ava didn’t like.

‘How so?’ Graham asked.

She shrugged, suddenly finding the pavement of huge interest. Her partner took over. ‘You know what some blokes are like. Can’t keep their eyes off a woman’s tits when they’re talking to her. That’s why we never chatted to him much. Now we didn’t hear anything and we didn’t see anything, so are we free to go?’

Graham looked at Ava, who nodded. ‘Give your details to the uniformed officer behind you, then you can go. And if either of you should suddenly remember anything, get in touch, okay? We know not to use your names.’

‘Don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,’ the man said, putting an arm around the woman and pulling her away.

It wasn’t a surprise. There were areas of the city where it was understood you just didn’t speak to the polis. Not if you didn’t want your windows smashed first and your face shortly thereafter. Life was tough. Just buying food and staying out of prison was hard enough for some people. You got a reputation as a rat and you’d be looking for somewhere new to live before you even smelled the petrol being poured through your letter box.

‘Let’s try the other side,’ Ava said.

The door opened before they’d knocked and a stout elderly lady stood, hands on hips, ready to do business.

‘Are you here about my disability scooter?’ she shouted.

‘I’m DI Graham and we were wondering if you know your neighbour, Gene Oldman?’

‘I reported it missing two months ago. Left it outside my front door. Do you know how many polis came to see me about that?’

‘I can certainly check up on what’s happening with that case when I get back to the station. Could I take your name?’

‘If you haven’t got my scooter, you can get off my doorstep. I’ve got nothing else to say to you.’ A bunch of kids who’d assembled behind Ava’s back began giggling. She left Graham to deal with the woman who clearly had a prepared script that she was going to stick to no matter what, and turned to the kids.

‘Live round here, do you?’ she asked the group. There were four of them. Three boys and one girl who was trying to make herself look tougher than the company she was keeping – shoulders back, chin stuck out. Necessary, Ava guessed, so she didn’t get ditched. Gender equality wasn’t a priority on Edinburgh’s backstreets.

‘Fuckin’ pig,’ the girl said. The boys laughed.

‘What do you lot know about the man who lives in there?’ She motioned towards Gene Oldman’s house.

‘My mam says he never washed his clothes, not ever,’ the smallest boy said.

‘Would you shut your gob? You know we’re not supposed to talk to ’em,’ the girl warned him.

‘Is he dead? He’s gotta be. My dad said the polis never bother with us here unless someone’s dead,’ the boy continued.

The girl dug him in the ribs.

‘So none of you are supposed to talk to me, then,’ Ava said. ‘If I was going to ask who’s in charge round here, who would that be?’

‘Dunno what you mean,’ the girl said.

‘Yes, you do. The person your mums and dads warn you to steer clear of. Everyone either goes quiet when they walk round the corner, or talks to them like they’re the headteacher. Who does that sound like?’

‘Are you stupid?’ the girl asked.

Ava looked at her. She wasn’t being cheeky. There was genuine curiosity on her face.

‘You think I should be too scared to ask?’ Ava directed at her gently.

‘Fuckin’ right you should,’ the girl replied.

‘Are you scared of him?’ Ava continued.

‘You kids, get out of here!’ The woman DI Graham had been questioning stormed down her front path, waving her arms at them. ‘Go on, get home, right now.’

In the second Ava turned away to tell her to leave them alone, the kids were gone, sprinting along the pathway between the terrace of houses and a tenement block.

‘I’ll look into that problem with your scooter,’ Graham told her as he approached Ava.

‘Don’t bother,’ the woman said. ‘I just remembered, I sold it last month.’ She waddled back inside, slamming her front door.

‘Nothing?’ Ava asked him.

‘I learned a few new words,’ Graham said. ‘Which is impressive given how much time I’ve spent undercover with drug dealers and gangs. What next?’

‘I’m going in to the station,’ Ava said.

‘I’ll follow you in.’

‘No, don’t worry. It’s your rest day. We won’t get much further until the postmortem’s been done and we’ve got the forensics report. We sure as hell aren’t going to get anything useful from local witnesses.’

‘I’d like to come in and help,’ Graham said. ‘And you could use some breakfast.’

She began walking towards her car. He fell into step beside her.