LITMIR.BIZ

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double lives.

      Could it really be that, seconds before he died, the Lord President was ensconced in a grubby toilet cubicle, with a stranger? He was married, without children, but Alistair MacGregor and his wife Bunny had a public life that did not allow for any whispers or revelations. They were patrons of a children’s cancer charity, regular visitors to opening nights at the Festival and King’s theatres, and expected attendees at anything involving a ceilidh and small-talk that happened in the city.

      Actually, I had some sympathy with Sheriff Strathclyde’s reaction. Lord Arbuthnot had died a hero–what had his sexual preferences to do with his death, or the memory of him?

      As I left the court, the first editions of the Evening News had already hit the streets. As there had been no media present when Kailash had dropped her bombshell, I didn’t expect anything to be splashed across the front page–but it was only a matter of time. I grabbed a copy, just to be certain, and was reassured by the usual headline informing residents that traffic was worse, parking was impossible, and the Enforcers (the Dr Who-type name for the Capital’s traffic wardens), were evil personified. No change there.

      However, it wouldn’t be long–helped by the selfsame papers–before Edinburgh would be reeling with shock. Particularly the Establishment. Ordinarily, the city was a peaceful place for them. Fist fights, brawls, even murders were common enough, but they were usually the work of what they still considered to be the lower classes who hung around pubs and such dreadful places. Every Friday and Saturday night, a thug would take a fist to his neighbour or his wife, and each weekend there was at least one stabbing in the pubs in Leith. These episodes were just part of life. For those who could buy themselves out of such a world, things were very different. They may worry about credit card fraud, or getting their purse pinched as they leave Harvey Nicks, but what had happened to Lord Arbuthnot would shatter their cosy little world.

      Public opinion would soon decree that this was no ordinary murder. It had money, titles, gangs and sex–it was a story waiting to happen, and I gave it twenty-four hours tops before the shit wouldn’t just hit the fan: it would splatter us all.

      With a television crew camped outside my office, I parked in the only spot in Edinburgh where I knew that I would not be harangued by the press. Outside the home of the deceased. Even in death, the elite are accorded privileges. If this had been a ‘normal’ killing, the media would have set up shop–in fact, there would be someone in there right now, persuading the bereaved that telling all to a tabloid followed by a stint on a talk-show would cure everything. Money doesn’t just talk–it buys peace and quiet too, and that was exactly what was happening on Heriot Row.

      As I surveyed the scene from outside the private gardens opposite Lord Arbuthnot’s home, a small cardboard cup filled with steaming espresso was pushed under my nose.

      ‘Stop dreaming, Brodie,’ a familiar voice intoned. ‘Keep your eyes open if you’re set on making enemies.’

      Jack Deans had emerged from the exclusive private gardens behind me, holding two cups of coffee and a bag of muffins. If past experience was anything to go by, he would have made his purchases in Rose Street at the police box coffee bar. To get to where he was now harassing me, he would have walked down to Heriot Row using the private Queen Street Gardens as a shortcut. Deans couldn’t have known I was parked in Heriot Row–he wouldn’t have seen me, over the high hedges that guarded the occupants’ privacy until the last moment. How had he known I was there? I knew it was pointless to ask him, as futile as asking how he, a mere commoner, had obtained the elusive keys to Queen Street Gardens. Deans would merely state he had his sources. He was a man who got himself into places no one else could. And, I guess my vanity would have to accept that, perhaps, he wasn’t looking for me; perhaps he had decided this was where he needed to be irrespective of who else was hanging around.

      ‘Beautiful, aren’t they?’ Jack Deans was staring, openly envious, at Lord Arbuthnot’s Georgian townhouse.

      ‘Rarely come up for sale these houses.’ Scanning, his eyes appeared to be noting every architectural detail.

      ‘One of the best addresses in the world,’ he went on, as much to himself as to me.

      ‘Robert Louis Stevenson lived at number seventeen. They’re passed down through families or sold privately to a suitable purchaser.’ Jack Deans’ mouth crumpled at the sides, giving him an air of disappointment, although I doubted if he had ever been in a position to buy one.

      I didn’t join him in his reverie. I savoured the hot, strong espresso as I observed the house. Sure, it was elegant, but this street has always spooked me. These houses are not homes. They gleamed like the prized possessions they were, but I doubted there was often the sound of children’s laughter or happiness coming from them. Their owners did not even contribute to their appearance–well, only financially. They were largely owned by rich men with wives who lunched. The late Lord Arbuthnot and his wife, Bunny MacGregor, were no different. They’d have a legion of help to keep their little jewel shining, but the place would have no heart like all the others on the street.

      The house had no front garden; you simply climbed three stone steps from the pavement to get to the door. This did not make it accessible. To the right of the doorway, a plain brass name plaque was fixed, declaring that Alistair MacGregor, Advocate, lived there. Judges remain advocates even when they are senators of the college of justice. Frankly, it would have been dangerous for the plaque to proclaim that this was Lord Arbuthnot’s residence. He was a hard man, a tough sentencer, who publicly and frequently stated that justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done. The voice in which such statements would be delivered was–had been–rich and sonorous, honed by Eton and polished by Christ’s College, Cambridge.

      ‘He’s been in the Enlightenment since he was nineteen.’

      Jack Deans came back to life and I immediately knew the reason for his interest in this case. My hands gripped the tiny cup that was still warm from the coffee. Turning to face him, I stared with what I hoped was a withering look.

      ‘So?’

      ‘You as well, Brodie? Another unbeliever.’

      He was well used to this reaction.

      ‘I’m meant to get all excited about a debating group for public school boys? For people who should know better?’ I asked him.

      ‘Brodie! It’s a secret organisation that rules Scotland! Over eighty per cent of the judiciary are members.’

      ‘Jack, I’ve heard it all before. From you. Time and time again. I don’t care what little groups little boys join, not even when they keep their membership going when they’re grown men. If they want to shave their left leg and dribble toffee on their right nipple while pledging allegiance to some Faerie Queen of the thirteenth century, good luck to them. If they’re busy with that, maybe they won’t interfere in my cases and real lawyers can get on with real legal work.’

      Jack Deans paused, before continuing as if I had never uttered a word.

      ‘And, as I was saying, all of them became members before they had finished their law degree. Like Lord Arbuthnot.’

      He actually did have a point, but I’d be buggered if I’d tell him. Either the Enlightenment Society was the most incredible talent spotting organisation ever or there was something more to it.

      ‘Listen to this, then, if you think it’s all so innocent.’ Deans was winding himself up to begin a full-blown rant. Behind him I could see that we were being observed by someone hiding amongst the curtains in the late Lord Arbuthnot’s house.

      ‘In its official biography, it states that if ever judicial interests conflicted, with the interest of the Enlightenment Society, then the society’s interest must be primary.’

      This guy was sad and clearly obsessed with conspiracy theories. So what if Arbuthnot and the old guys had got their jobs through nepotism, surely things had changed now?

      Jack Deans was launching into a history lesson, but I was edging myself back into the shadows of the hedge

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