Mortal Causes Read Free Page A

attached to the side wall of the Chambers. They walked towards it. A young woman was standing next to the door.
    ‘Inspector,’ she said.
    ‘Hello, Mairie.’
    ‘I’ve told her to move on, sir,’ the constable apologised.
    Mairie Henderson ignored him. Her eyes were on Rebus’s. ‘What’s going on?’
    Rebus winked at her. ‘The Lodge, Mairie. We always meet in secret, like.’ She scowled. ‘Well then, give me a chance. Off to a show, are you?’
    ‘I was till I saw the commotion.’
    ‘Saturday’s your day off, isn’t it?’
    ‘Journalists don’t get days off, Inspector. What’s behind the door?’
    ‘It’s got glass panels, Mairie. Take a keek for yourself.’
    But all you could see through the panels was a narrow landing with doors off. One door was open, allowing a glimpse of stairs leading down. Rebus turned to the constable.
    ‘Let’s get a proper cordon set up, son. Something across the arches to fend off the tourists before the show starts. Radio in for assistance if you need it. Excuse me, Mairie.’
    ‘Then there is going to be a show?’
    Rebus stepped past her and opened the door, closing it again behind him. He made for the stairs down, which were lit by a naked lightbulb. Ahead of him he could hear voices. At the bottom of this first flight he turned a corner and came upon the group. There were two teenage girls and a boy, all of them seated or crouching, the girls shaking and crying. Over them stood a uniformed constable and a man Rebus recognised as a local doctor. They all looked up at his approach.
    ‘This is the Inspector,’ the constable told the teenagers. ‘Right, we’re going back down there. You three stay here.’
    Rebus, squeezing past the teenagers, saw the doctor give them a worried glance. He gave the doctor a wink, telling him they’d get over it. The doctor didn’t seem so sure.
    Together the three men set off down the next flight of stairs. The constable was carrying a torch.
    ‘There’s electricity,’ he said. ‘But a couple of the bulbs have gone.’ They walked along a narrow passage, its low ceiling further reduced by air- and heating-ducts and other pipes. Tubes of scaffolding lay on the floor ready for assembly. There were more steps down.
    ‘You know where we are?’ the constable asked.
    ‘Mary King’s Close,’ said Rebus.
    Not that he’d ever been down here, not exactly. But he’d been in similar old buried streets beneath the High Street. He knew of Mary King’s Close.
    ‘Story goes,’ said the constable, ‘there was a plague in the 1600s, people died or moved out, never really moved back. Then there was a fire. They blocked off the ends of the street. When they rebuilt, they built over the top of the close.’ He shone his torch towards the ceiling, which was now three or four storeys above them. ‘See that marble slab? That’s the floor of the City Chambers.’ He smiled. ‘I came on the tour last year.’
    ‘Incredible,’ the doctor said. Then to Rebus: ‘I’m Dr Galloway.’
    ‘Inspector Rebus. Thanks for getting here so quickly.’
    The doctor ignored this. ‘You’re a friend of Dr Aitken’s, aren’t you?’
    Ah, Patience Aitken. She’d be at home just now, feet tucked under her, a cat and an improving book on her lap, boring classical music in the background. Rebus nodded.
    ‘I used to share a surgery with her,’ Dr Galloway explained.
    They were in the close proper now, a narrow and fairly steep roadway between stone buildings. A rough drainage channel ran down one side of the road. Passages led off to dark alcoves, one of which, according to the constable, housed a bakery, its ovens intact. The constable was beginning to get on Rebus’s nerves.
    There were more ducts and pipes, runs of electric cable. The far end of the close had been blocked off by an elevator shaft. Signs of renovation were all around: bags of cement, scaffolding, pails and shovels. Rebus pointed to an arc lamp.
    ‘Can we plug that in?’
    The