black hair. He was seated in the station’s only interview room. Fox had offered him any location he liked, as long as it had a table and four chairs.
‘And a socket,’ Joe Naysmith had added. The socket was for the electrical adaptor. Naysmith had set up the video camera and was now just about finished with the audio recorder. There were two microphones, one pointed at Scholes and one centred between Fox and Tony Kaye. Kaye had his arms folded, a scowl on his face. He’d already told Scholes how much they’d enjoyed his little ruse.
‘I don’t call official police business a “ruse”,’ Scholes had shot back at him. ‘On the other hand, this almost certainly qualifies as a waste of time.’
‘Only “almost”?’ Malcolm Fox had responded, busying himself with the paperwork.
‘All set,’ Naysmith was now telling them.
‘Happy to start?’ Fox asked Scholes.
Scholes was nodding when his phone sounded. He answered it by identifying himself as ‘Ray Scholes, public enemy number one.’ Sounded like his girlfriend on the other end, asking him to pick up something for dinner. But she knew about the Complaints.
‘Yeah, they’re here,’ Scholes drawled, eyes on Fox. Fox drew a finger across his throat, but Scholes was in no hurry. When he eventually ended the call, Fox asked if the phone could be switched off. Scholes shook his head.
‘Never know when something important’s going to crop up.’
‘How long before it rings again?’ Fox asked. ‘Will it be her every time, or have you split the task between your friends?’ Fox looked towards Tony Kaye. ‘What is it usually – five minutes or ten?’
‘Ten,’ Kaye stated definitively.
Fox turned his attention back to Ray Scholes. ‘I doubt there’s anything you can do that hasn’t been tried a hundred times. So why not just switch the phone off?’
Scholes managed a bit of a smile as he complied, Fox thanking him with a nod.
‘Was DC Carter a good cop, in your opinion?’ Fox then asked.
‘Still is.’
‘We both know he’s not coming back.’
‘How come you hate cops so much?’
Fox stared at the man across the desk. Scholes was in his mid-thirties but looked younger. A freckled face and milky-blue eyes. An odd image flashed up in Fox’s memory: a big bag of marbles he’d owned as a boy. His favourite had been a pale-blue one, its flaws only visible when you peered at it, turning it slowly between your fingers …
‘That’s an original question,’ Tony Kaye was answering Scholes. ‘I doubt we’re asked that more than a few dozen times a month.’
‘I just don’t know why you’d want to punish everyone who’s ever worked with Paul.’
‘Not everyone,’ Fox corrected him. ‘Just the names mentioned by the sheriff.’
Scholes snorted. ‘Call that a sheriff? Ask anyone on the force – Colin Cardonald’s just the man to stick the knife in. Number of cases where he’s tried everything possible to swing it the defendant’s way …’
‘There’s always one,’ Kaye conceded.
‘Was there any history between Sheriff Cardonald and DC Carter?’ Fox asked.
‘A bit.’
‘And between the judge and yourself?’ Fox waited, but no answer came. ‘Are you saying that Sheriff Cardonald singled out certain names because of a grudge?’
‘No comment.’
‘A complaint was made about Paul Carter almost a year back, wasn’t it? His own uncle said Carter had admitted taking advantage of a woman. The claim was investigated …’ Fox made show of looking for the relevant page in his notes.
‘Nothing ever came of it,’ Scholes stated.
‘Not straight away, not until Teresa Collins decided she’d had enough …’ Fox paused. ‘Did you know Carter’s uncle?’
‘He was a cop.’
‘That’s a yes, then. Why do you think he said what he said?’
Scholes shrugged.
‘Yet another grudge? And the three women – the original complainant plus the two who came forward later – more grudges? Lot of grudges piling up against your friend, the “good cop” Paul Carter.’ Fox leaned back in his chair, feigning interest in some of the pages of text. The newspaper cuttings were in full view on the desk. Kaye and Naysmith knew that silence was useful sometimes, and that when Fox leaned back like that it wasn’t because he’d run out of questions. Naysmith checked the equipment; Kaye studied his wristwatch.
‘Is that the starters finished, then?’ Scholes asked eventually. ‘Are we moving on to the meat and veg?’
‘Meat and veg?’
‘Where you try taking me down with Paul. Where you make out I lied in court, tried putting the fear on the witnesses …’
‘Teresa Collins states that you were in the car with Carter when he