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roof later. They were heading west. He looked at his watch. Less than an hour and a half to go.
    "Think we should head back to town?"
    Eddie leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. "Took the words out of my mouth," he said. "Wake me up when we get there."
     
     
    11:42 am
     
    Pearce walked over to the window. Thompson turned in his chair. Pearce put his hand into a gap in the blinds and spread his fingers.
    Thompson's office looked out onto an abandoned church. Behind a low wall ribbed with black spiked railings, thistles flanked a cement path leading to an oak door.  Above the door, a stained glass window had been smashed and subsequently boarded up. All that remained of the original design was a single pane depicting a circular object, possibly a halo. Two drunks sat on a stone step beneath the window, shivering as they took alternate swigs out of a can of Special Brew.
    Thompson coughed.
    Pearce continued observing the winos. One of them got up and pissed where he was standing. Heels planted solidly on the ground, he moved his toes from side to side, spraying urine this way and that, until his bladder had emptied. He shook himself dry, sat down and reached for his beer. His shoulders rocked when his friend pointed to his groin and he realised his dick was still hanging out. He got to his feet again and sorted himself out.
    Apart from the drunks in the churchyard the neighbourhood was deserted.
    Pearce said, "Quiet around here."
    "Yeah," Thompson said, a wobble in his voice. "It is."
    "You in a hurry?" Pearce stepped away from the window.
    Thompson shook his head and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
    Pearce unclipped his mobile and selected number two in the phone's memory. Number one was his mum's home number. Number two was her work number. Her boss, Denise, answered and went to fetch her.
    A short time later, sounding breathless, his mum said, "We're busy."
    "Don't let them work you too hard."
    "What did you want?"
    "Just returning your call."
    "Oh." She paused. "I'd forgotten. It was nothing really," she said. "Just a feeling. Oh, I don't know." She paused again. "Seems silly now. Probably nothing. You didn't hurt Willie Cant, did you?"
    He could see her expression. Frowning, tight-lipped. The look she wore when he'd been bad. Like when he strangled that girl at school. Isla somebody. Even though it was an accident. They were playing a game. Kiss, Cuddle or Torture. He caught her, pinned her to the ground and tried to kiss her. She struggled.  In preventing her escaping he'd managed to choke her half to death. Looking back on it now, that was probably when he became aware of his own strength.
    An accident. Nobody believed him. Not even Mum.
    Thompson's chair squeaked.
    Pearce looked at him and the poor bugger flinched. Pearce said to his mum, "Can I meet you for lunch?"
    "That would be nice. I'm on an early shift. Get off around one. Where do you want to meet?"
    "I'll come and get you."
    "Listen, I've got to go. Denise is covering for me and she won't like it." She made a kissing noise and hung up.
    Pearce dug into his back pocket and pulled out the piece of paper Cooper had given him. Of the four names listed, there was only one left. Corrigan, Domenic hadn't been at home. Cant, Willie he'd seen. Ditto Lillie, Ailsa. Which left Muirton, Jack. Address in Sighthill. No phone number.
    Thompson was gnawing at his thumb.
    "You got a phone book?" Pearce asked him.
    The sauna manager almost fell off his chair in his eagerness to oblige. One by one he hauled out each of the four desk drawers. "Sure there's one somewhere," he said, after determining that the last drawer was empty. He slammed it shut, opened the top drawer and started searching again.
    "Doesn't matter." Pearce dialled directory enquiries.
    "But it's here." Thompson pulled out the drawer and tipped the contents onto the floor. A Gideon's bible landed with a thud. A box of matches spilled open. A packet of chewing gum rolled under his chair.