Water of Death (50 page)

“That fucker with the one arm,” Allie interrupted. “He wasn't so lucky. Agnes saw him in Buccleuch Place when she was on her way to work so I went to check if it was the same guy. When I realised it was, I sorted him out. I needed another victim to keep you wankers on your toes and killing him did that. As well as making sure he couldn't identify me. Fuck knows why the tosser jumped out the window. He gulped the whisky like he had a death wish.”

I heard the words ring in my head. Maybe Ray did want to end it all. He'd been traumatised since he saw Dirty Harry's men in action at the mill. But I still doubted he would have killed himself if Allie Kennedy hadn't forced the Ultimate Usquebaugh on him. I bit my tongue to stop myself asking Allie if he knew why his sister had jumped. The little turd would probably butcher Sophia.

“Go on, citizen,” Allie said insistently.

I nodded slowly. “All right. After the smugglers were hit, you decided to deliver the threat they'd planned for the Council.”

“Why not?” he said. “Anything to fuck this place up. Besides,” he added, laughing lightly, “I reckoned a bit of civil disorder would be good for business.”

I glanced at Katharine. She was staring at Allie relentlessly, her body tense. Shit. I'd seen her concentrating like that before. It meant that someone was about to receive the benefit of the unarmed combat training she did as an auxiliary. Except that getting to him from a seated position would be hopeless, even for her.

“So that's it then,” I said, feeling the sweat trickle down my sides. “The life and times of Allie Kennedy. What now?”

“The life and times of Allie Kennedy,” he repeated. His voice was suddenly less intense and his body sagged, the knife loose against Sophia's chest. It was almost as if he'd lost interest now that his exploits had been recounted in public. Then he shook himself hard and came back to life. He looked round at us and clocked Katharine's intent expression.

“What now?” he asked, fumbling in his trouser pocket. “Time for the end game.” The small bottle was in his hand. He unscrewed the cap and sniffed the dark brown liquid inside. “Pure and deadly.” He gave a high-pitched laugh. “Just like me.”

Then he leaned towards Sophia and crushed the bottle's business end against her broken lips. “If you're interested,” he said, “what's left of my mother is in a burned-out house in Greenbank.” His body tensed as he prepared to force Sophia's head back. “This is for Agnes.”

I looked at Katharine and opened my eyes wide.

Then we scrambled to our feet and leaped forward.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sophia had managed to turn on to her front by the time we got to them but Allie grabbed her hair and twisted her head back round. A strangled gagging came from her mouth, dark liquid coursing over the uncongealed blood on her lips.

Then Katharine took Allie Kennedy out with a well-directed kick to the left shoulder. He spun back against the wall, the bottle still upright in his hand. I got hold of Sophia under the arms and dragged her backwards, booting the auxiliary knife away as I went.

“Move your arse!” I yelled at Nasmyth 05. “Get help.”

He looked at me blankly for a moment then stumbled down the hall towards the main door.

“Quint,” Katharine said, her voice sharp. “Look.”

I raised my eyes from Sophia, who was on her side spitting for all she was worth. I was struggling to undo the knot in the arms of her blouse.

Allie Kennedy was sitting against the wall, tears running down his face. “Agnes,” he moaned. “Agnes.”

“Don't!” I shouted. “It's not worth it!”

He nodded his head weakly at me in contradiction then put the flask to his lips and gulped down the contents. The ultimate measure of the water of death. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then a great tremor racked his body and his head jerked forward. Frothy vomit gushed over his thighs and his head shot back, thudding hard against the wall. His torso slid slowly down to the floor and he lay still.

Davie came storming in not long afterwards, leading a squad of guards. They stood around in bewilderment as I helped Sophia to her feet and draped her torn blouse round her shoulders.

“You didn't swallow any, did you?” I asked, grabbing a guardswoman's waterbottle and handing it to her.

She shook her head as she rinsed her mouth out. “My mouth's burning but the infirmary should be able to handle it.” She allowed herself to be moved towards the exit by a medical auxiliary then stopped and looked round. “Is he dead?”

I nodded.

“I have to thank you then, Quint,” she said.

“Not me. Katharine got to him first.”

Sophia looked behind me and nodded her head slowly. “Thank you, Katharine Kirkwood,” she said. There might have been a smile on her battered lips.

Davie watched her go. “What happened?”

“Quite,” said Hamilton, stepping forward. “Was that female citizen really a male?”

“She was,” I said.

“Does that mean I'm not going to get my whisky after all?” Davie demanded.

I laughed. “No, my friend. I'll honour the bet.”

The public order guardian stared at us.

“Did he swallow the poisoned whisky?” Davie asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “He killed himself rather than end up in our hands.”

“Like his sister.”

“Like his sister.” I was about as far from understanding how their minds worked as it was possible to be. I went over to Katharine. She'd moved away from Allie Kennedy's body and was propped against the wall, her head bowed. “Nice one,” I said. “I can't say I thought you had it in you to save Sophia.”

She looked up at me, running her hands through her hair. “Me neither. In the end I just forgot who she was. I didn't want that little shit to kill anyone else.”

“Come on,” I said, taking her arm. “I could do with some fresh air.”

“Where are we going to find that in Edinburgh?”

She had a point. Outside it was sweatier than ever, the air thicker than a barracks canteen treacle pudding. We sat on the steps of the mock temple and gazed out over the empty space in front of the rostrum. The tourists had all been shepherded away and the heart-shaped drum stood deserted, the streamers lank and the lottery balls in a heap at the pointed bottom.

“So much for greed,” I said as Hamilton and Davie joined us.

“Don't worry,” Lewis said scathingly. “The culture guardian is no doubt already planning a relaunch for next week.”

I nodded. Nothing would get in the way of the Council's drive for tourist income.

There was a dull rumbling in the distance behind Arthur's Seat.

“What was that?” the guardian asked, his face registering alarm.

“Dissident attack,” I said. “Allie Kennedy told us it was planned.”

They bought it for a couple of seconds then Davie's boot made contact with my backside.

“Very funny, Quint. The case is finished.” He looked at me uncertainly. “Isn't it?”

Suddenly a blast of surprisingly cool wind hit us and the sun was obscured by quick-moving dark clouds.

“The case is finished all right, my friend,” I said, standing up and walking out into the open. “And here comes the real water of life.”

There was a long-drawn-out roll of thunder which climaxed in an ear-shattering boom. Lightning flashes strafed the city and blinded us momentarily. Katharine came out into the empty square to join me. We stood with our arms extended as the rain splashed across us in a great wave.

After the Big Heat, the deluge.

Over the next few days things calmed down in the city. The rain washed out the last of the high temperatures and Edinburgh became a sweet-smelling oasis. The city's reserves of water shot up and citizens were given permission for an additional two showers a week, which made them ridiculously happy. I took the time to listen to some blues – Muddy Waters seemed appropriate. I also drank a lot of poison-free whisky and caught up on the sleep I'd missed during the investigation. Well, not that much sleep. Katharine was staying at my place and we discovered that our bodies were the repositories of half-forgotten, seriously arousing secrets. There was no mention of Peter Bryson, her former friend turned dope trafficker and poisoner.

Eventually Davie got so pissed off by my repeated refusals to take the chair from behind my door that he tied a rope to the roof and abseiled down to the bedroom window. Apparently the Council were tired of waiting for me to give my final report.

So I went to the chamber and told them everything I knew. I couldn't understand why they needed to get it from me since Sophia had heard everything Allie Kennedy and I had said. She herself was playing the Ice Queen in hearts as well as spades, refusing to look even in my general direction. After I'd finished, she announced that the female dissident who was in a coma had died. The Water of Death Case was definitely closed.

I headed off rapidly when the meeting ended – I had unfinished business with Katharine at the flat.

Davie revved up the Land-Rover when I got in and backed out of the Council yard. “Get on all right?”

“Waste of time, pal,” I said.

“Aye, you've got much better things to do with your time now that Katharine Kirkwood's an Edinburgh resident again.”

“I'm just following my old man's advice. Remember the Latin poem he was translating? Tomorrow's too late to have a good time so I'm getting on with it now. You know Katharine's record. She's a serial vanisher. One morning I'll wake up and she'll be gone.”

“Aw, come off it, you jackass. Anyone can see she's smitten with you.” Davie laughed as he pulled away up the Royal Mile. “You're not exactly indifferent yourself.”

“Thanks for your interest, guardsman,” I said loftily. “This is a private relationship, not a production of
Romeo and Juliet
.”

“Or
The Taming of the Shrew
.”

“Very funny.” I looked at his bearded face more seriously. “No word from the search squads on the south side?”

He shook his head. “Do you think Allie Kennedy was telling the truth about his mother's body being out there?”

“God knows. Probably. The bastard was very proud of all the mayhem he caused.” I ran my fingers through my hair. It was longer than usual because Katharine had refused to let me have it trimmed. She told me I looked like an escaped convict. “My guess is that Allie experimented on Hilda to find out how much poisoned whisky was necessary to kill his victims.”

“Jesus. Do you think he and his sister really were abused by their parents?”

I nodded. “Probably. There had to be some personal motivation for what happened with their father.”

“Not just anti-Enlightenment angst?”

“You've been reading too many existentialist novels, guardsman.”

“That'll be right.” Suddenly he glanced over his shoulder. “What the  . . .”

We jerked to a halt underneath the gallows at the Lawnmarket. I straightened up, rubbing my neck gingerly. A Land-Rover in much better nick than Davie's had forced us to the kerb. Sophia was at the wheel. She turned round, raised her forefinger and beckoned me towards her.

“Oh-oh,” I said. “If I'm not home by midnight, put out an all-barracks search.”

“No chance, Quint,” Davie said, his face split by a grin. “This is one case you'll have to solve on your own.”

Sophia kept her eyes off me as I climbed in then drove away, turning on to Johnston Terrace.

“What's going on?” I asked when she didn't speak.

“Nothing is going on, citizen,” she said. Her lips were still swollen from Allie Kennedy's blows and from the whisky flask he'd rammed against them. “I'm taking you back to your flat.”

“Any chance of you calling me Quint, Sophia?”

She glanced at me coolly. “None whatsoever, citizen.”

I shook my head. So that was how she wanted to play it. I kept quiet as we headed down the rain-soaked asphalt, the castle rock looming up to our right. The scent of recently drenched vegetation came in through the open windows.

“Oh, very well,” Sophia said in irritation. “I wanted  . . . I wanted to thank you, Quint.”

“For what? I told you it was Katharine—”

“For the successful conclusion to the investigation.” She shot me a fierce look. “I've already thanked the Kirkwood  . . . I mean Katharine Kirkwood for saving my life.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It was a seriously complicated case, Sophia. If I hadn't been so blind about Hilda, I could have saved you the hassle at the Edlott ceremony.”

“You did more than could be expected.” Then she glanced at me angrily. “Although, as usual, you treated the City Regulations with complete disregard. You were lucky the Council overlooked the fact that you allowed the Fisheries Guard personnel to desert.”

“Do I have you to thank for that?”