The Long Glasgow Kiss (21 page)

‘You got all I got.’ It was the first time I’d seen Devereaux close to gloomy. But it might just have been the pub.

‘Listen,’ I said, ‘don’t get me wrong, I’m not haggling … but a thousand dollars isn’t much for the FBI to be offering for information leading them to someone as big, and someone who you have so few leads on, as John Largo.’

‘We have other priorities. Commies, mainly. Between Hoover and McCarthy we’ve spent the last five, six years chasing red spectres and letting the Syndicate get away with murder. Literally. The other thing is my bosses don’t put the same importance on Largo as I do. They see the French Connection, as they call it, as the biggest threat. And, to be honest, this problem isn’t a problem as far as a lot of my superiors are concerned so long as it’s in Harlem. Upper Manhattan or Nassau County and we’d have a task force set up with a million-dollar budget. But Harlem … it’s just niggers.’

I took a breath and let it go slowly. It all fitted. ‘You can keep the reward money,’ I said. ‘If I find anything out about Largo I’ll give it to you for free. Like I said, I’ve got a lot of people paying for my time to find people I can’t find.’

Devereaux stared at me as if he was unsure if I was serious. ‘Why, Lennox?’

‘You liked this coloured guy? Jazzy?’

‘He was a cheap hoodlum.’

‘You liked him though?’

‘I guess.’

‘The reason there’s only a thousand up for this reward is because it’s your money, isn’t it?’

‘No one else sees the big picture.’ Devereaux sighed. ‘These people are stuck in a shithole of a place and heroin gives them a holiday. It’s supposed to be the most incredible feeling, puts you in a different place a universe away from your troubles … but it turns your brain to mush and makes you its slave for the rest of your life. And that, my friend, means that it offers the criminal opportunity of the century. There’s no way that it’s going to stay in Harlem or Watts or Englewood. And even if it does, I didn’t join the FBI to watch people rot to death to make a buck for organized crime. Like I said, everything I told you in your apartment was true. My investigation here
is
private. Or semi-private. The Bureau agreed to pay my transport and accommodation and give me some kind of official sanction as far as the City of Glasgow Police are concerned. But if I don’t come up with the goods … literally come up with the goods, then I have a long and happy career in filing and archiving to look forward to.’

‘What do you mean “literally come up with the goods”?’

‘The New York Police Department have had to deal with all of the consequences of what’s happened in Harlem over the last two summers. Consequences on the street. It means that NYPD beat cops have become our best source of information. That information tells us that there’s been a hiccup in supply. About three weeks ago a shipment was supposed to arrive. It didn’t. There are a lot of itchy customers on the street as a result and, last I heard, it still hadn’t arrived. Which is why I’m here. There’s been some kind of wrinkle and I reckon that John Largo is here in Glasgow with iron in hand. Let’s just hope it’s a big wrinkle and I have enough time to find him.’

‘What about the movement of the stuff itself. Have you spoken to the port authority? There’s a chance you’d be able to track any iffy shipments. I have a contact …’

Devereaux held his hand up. ‘You’ve got this all wrong. This isn’t illegal gun shipments …’ He shot me a meaningful look: he really did know more than Jock Ferguson about what had happened last year. ‘What you’ve got to remember about this stuff is that you don’t need a freighter to bring it over. It’s small and it can be hidden anywhere and in anything. A suitcase of this stuff in its pure form would be worth a hundred thousand dollars.’

I thought about what he was saying for a moment. ‘Does the City of Glasgow Police know any of this?’

‘Some. They’re not that interested in the heroin. They’re just very keen to be seen to help Uncle Sam.’ Devereaux smiled wryly. ‘We just saved the world, you know.’

‘That you did,’ I said, leaving the bitter Scottish beer and sipping at the whisky chaser. ‘That you did …’ I looked at my watch and suddenly had an idea. ‘Do you have your FBI badge with you?’

‘Sure …’ Devereaux frowned. ‘I have it with me all the time. Why?’

‘Because you could make someone’s day for me.’

I gave Devereaux the lowdown on the way up to Blanefield. I told him about what had been happening with Kirkcaldy and the forthcoming fight with the German title holder. All of which was just background for why I had really brought him up there.

‘I really appreciate you doing this, Dex,’ I said, as we pulled up behind the bottle-green Rover. Sneddon was allowing it to be used as an almost permanent observation post. Davey Wallace took the early evenings, Twinkletoes until one in the morning, then Sneddon would provide another thug to watch the place until daybreak. Davey still approached his duties with fierce dedication, taking notes of absolutely anything and everything that happened. He had looked more than a little intimidated by Twinkletoes at their first meeting. However, Twinkletoes had been positively avuncular with Davey. Which had been even more scary.

I tapped on the window of the Rover and Davey swung open the door and stepped out. I half expected him to stand to attention.

‘How’s it going, Davey?’ I asked.

‘Fine, Mr Lennox, just fine,’ he said. He cast a glance across to Devereaux who stood beside me. ‘I’m sorry, but there’s really nothing to report. I’ve not taken my eyes off the place though. You can trust me on that, Mr Lennox.’

‘I know that, Davey. I’ve brought someone up to meet you. I’ve been telling Dex here about how you work for me part-time and what a great job you’ve been doing.’

‘Dex Devereaux …’ The American said earnestly, almost sternly, and before he shook Davey’s hand he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a leather wallet. He flipped it open and gold flashed in the evening light. ‘Special Agent Dex Devereaux, FBI.’

It took all of my willpower, but somehow I suppressed a smirk at Davey’s reaction. He stared at Devereaux’s FBI shield, eyes wide, open-mouthed, mesmerized. It seemed to take an eternity before he looked past the badge to Devereaux’s face. Devereaux pocketed the shield and shook Davey’s hand.

‘Mr Lennox has told me you’re doing a darned fine job for him here. Darned fine. It’s always good to meet a fellow investigator. Keep up the good work, Davey.’

‘Dex is over here carrying out an investigation for the FBI. But that’s strictly between us, Davey,’ I said as gravely as I could manage.

‘Oh, yes … I wouldn’t say a thing, Mr Devereaux …’ Davey spoke like a child giving his very best promise. It was the child-likeness of it that troubled me. He was only a kid. I was pretty sure I had placed him in no danger, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure. ‘You can trust me not to say anything,’ he said with the same boyish earnestness.

‘I know I can,’ said Devereaux. ‘We
are
colleagues, after all.’

‘I’m sure you have a lot of questions for Dex,’ I said, offering them both a cigarette before lighting one for myself. ‘Is Bobby Kirkcaldy in?’

‘Yes sir,’ said Davey. ‘He came back with his uncle from the gym about an hour and a half ago.’

‘Why don’t you two have a chat while I go and see if there’s anything else to report.’

As I left them chatting, I saw Devereaux take his shield out again and hand it to Davey. At the same time I liked Devereaux and resented him. He reminded me of some of the men I’d met in the war. Men who saw all kinds of shit yet somehow managed to keep their humanity and sense of honour intact. There hadn’t been many of them. And I hadn’t been one.

The door was answered again by Uncle Bert Soutar. He was his usual charming self and, after I said I wanted a word with Kirkcaldy, he turned his back on me and walked along the terracotta-tiled hallway.

Bobby Kirkcaldy wasn’t in the lounge this time. Soutar led me further along the hall until there was no hall to lead me along. He opened the door and a few steps took us down into what must have originally been intended as a built-in double garage and workshop. Instead it had been converted into a gymnasium: three benches; a rack of weights and some free dumbbells in one corner of the concrete floor; a couple of heavy punch bags hung like giant pendulous sausages from robust ceiling chains, and a speed ball on a wall bracket. Bobby Kirkcaldy was in the centre of the gym, dressed in what looked like longjohns with boxing trunks over them. The air was filled with the sound of it being sliced repeatedly by Kirkcaldy’s skipping rope. His feet made only the smallest of movements but looked as if they were not actually in contact with the ground at any time. He ignored me as I came down the steps, finishing his set before wiping his face with the towel he had wrapped around his neck.

‘Well?’ he asked unceremoniously, breathing hard. I was surprised at how out of breath he was: I’d seen him go the distance in the ring without breaking much of a sweat. I would have been surprised if he had neglected his fitness this close to a fight.

‘I just wanted to check that everything’s okay. As you know we’ve got someone watching the house most of—’

‘The kid?’ It was Soutar who interrupted me. Maybe that was how his face got the way it was – interrupting people. ‘What the fuck is he going to do if someone starts any shite? He looks about twelve.’

‘Oh no,’ I said in an offended tone. ‘I don’t hire anyone under thirteen unless it’s for chimney sweeping.’

Uncle Bert took a step closer to me.

‘Bert …’ said Kirkcaldy in a low tone, causing Soutar to check himself and allowing me once more to consider the ignominy of being beaten up by a pensioner. Kirkcaldy turned to me. ‘You can call him off. Nothing’s happened for weeks and I’m getting pissed off being under surveillance. If I needed that I’d’ve gone to the police.’

‘Listen, Mr Kirkcaldy, I’m just doing my job. Mr Sneddon has an interest in you and I’m just protecting that interest. If you say there’s been no more trouble, then fine … I’ll report back to Sneddon and take instructions from him. In the meantime, it’s a free country and if Mr Sneddon wants to park his car outside on the street and have someone look after it, then there’s nothing anybody can do.’

‘You done?’ There was no aggression in Kirkcaldy’s voice. He was cool. Always. That was what made him deadly in the ring.

‘Not quite. This is all very strange, if you don’t mind me saying so. You’ve been getting warnings and threats and you don’t tell anyone about it until your manager just happens along at the wrong time and sees it for himself. And since I first got involved in this, you’ve gone out of your way to make out that there’s nothing going on.’

‘There’s not. And I didn’t mention it because it means fuck all. It was obviously someone trying to put me off. It didn’t work. It was never going to work, and they’ve given up.’

‘What about you, Gramps?’ I turned to Soutar. Deep within the folds and creases and pads of puffed flesh, his eyes glittered hard and black. ‘What do you think? Do you think it’s someone trying to spook Mr Kirkcaldy? I mean, I’m asking you for your expert opinion.’

‘What the fuck is that meant to mean?’ he asked nasally.

‘I mean fight fixing. You know a thing or two about that. I was talking to an old
amigo
of yours … Jimmy MacSherry. He was reminiscing about the old days.’

‘Do you have a point?’ asked Kirkcaldy.

‘Just that Uncle Bert here has had a colourful past. Am I right in thinking that you were involved with a bookie? Rumours of fight fixing?’

‘You should mind your own business …’ Soutar hid the threat in his tone with the subtlety of a turd hidden in a teacup.

‘But it
is
true, isn’t it?’ I said, pushing my luck. ‘You got involved with a kid on the make. My guess is he became a bookie. Small Change MacFarlane?’

‘What the fuck has that got to do with anything?’ Kirkcaldy moved closer. It wasn’t a threat: he was preparing to stop old man Soutar in his tracks if he moved to have a go at me.

‘I don’t know.’ I shrugged. It was true. ‘Maybe nothing. MacFarlane’s dead and they’ve got his killer. But maybe something. And if there is, I’ll find out.’

I left them in the gym and made sure that I let myself out. There was something about the idea of taking the walk back along the hall with Soutar behind me that gave me an itch between the shoulder blades.

I walked back up to where the cars were parked. I could see Devereaux was still holding court with Davey, who continued to hang on every word.

‘Problem?’ asked Devereaux as I came up to them. He obviously had a talent for reading faces. Or minds. The FBI probably ran classes in it at Quantico.

‘Dissatisfied customer. I would appear to be over-delivering my service.’

We left Davey buzzing and I drove Devereaux back to his hotel.

‘Thanks for doing that, Dex,’ I said, as Devereaux got out of the car. ‘Davey’s got nothing. He’s stuck in a shitty home, with a shitty job with shitty prospects. You’ve made his year.’

‘You’re welcome, Lennox. He’s a good kid. But now you owe me.’

‘Anything I hear, you hear.’

‘Okay, Lennox. Look after yourself.’

I watched Devereaux, a huge man in a loud suit and a straw trilby, cross the street to the hotel. Whatever else the FBI taught its agents in Quantico, how not to be conspicuously American wasn’t part of the curriculum.

After I dropped Devereaux back at his Buchanan Street hotel, I parked and walked a few blocks to the Imperial Hotel. I wasn’t after another drink.

May Donaldson and I had an arrangement.

May was a divorcee. Glasgow was not New York or London high society and the Glaswegian view of divorce was less than sophisticated. It didn’t matter that she had been blameless: any divorce, for any reason, and in any class, placed a woman well and truly on the outside of Presbyterian respectability. May and I had done a few rounds together, it was true. But I liked to think that I had never actually
used
her. I also liked to think that Santa Claus really existed. I found May where I knew she would be, tending bar in the lounge of the Imperial Hotel. May had a knockout figure but a forgettable face, often wreathed with a kind of sadness or weariness. When I walked into the bar she was wearing a conservative white blouse and black skirt, the hotel’s required uniform. The aim was to put the title
waitress
rather than
barmaid
in the minds of patrons. May had poured me a bourbon before I reached the bar.