BookHelper. Языковая поддержка для изучающих английский язык

I.RANKIN. STANDING IN ANOTHER MAN'S GRAVE.
Из серии  'REBUS IS BACK'

24

The M90 (is a motorway in Scotland, it runs from Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh to Perth) again, but only ones they'd escaped the sluggish morning traffic in Edinburg. Heading towards Perth and the A9.

A quick pit stop to pick up beakers (a cup, usually with no handles, used for drinking) of tea and dry  croissants. Kate Bush still singing about snowman. As they crossed the Forth Road Bridge (is a suspension bridge, 2 512 m , connecting city Edinburgh and Fife at North Queensferry, A90 road), Rebus asked Clarke if she noticed anything different. She studied him and shook her head.

      'No scaffolding (a structure of metal poles and wooden boards put against a building for workers to stand)  on the rail bridge.'

     She looked to her right and saw this was true.

     'Can't remember the last time I saw it without,' he added.

     'Yes,' she agreed. Then: 'Look, I'm sorry about last night.'

     'Me too. Hope you didn't have words with James afterwards.'

     She glanced towards him. 'What makes you think that?'

     'Nothing.' He paused for effect. 'It's just that I was in his bolt-hole (a place where you can hide, especially to escape from other people) when you phoned…'

     'And?'

     'He was giving me a slap on the wrist (a gentle warning or punishment) about the Complaints.

     'And?' she repeated, growing a little more irritated.

     'And nothing,' Rebus stressed. 'I just got a feeling the two of you had … you know … maybe had words… before he dropped you at your flat. And if that's the case, I'm sorry I was the cause.'

     'You can be a real bastard (an unpleasant person) sometimes, John.' She shook her head slowly.

     'It has been said,' he admitted. 'And believe me, I'm not proud of the fact.'

142

     'Think this, though, you are proud of the fact.' She looked at him again. 'You really are.'

     They drove in silence after that, Rebus staring at the scenery - the elongated (longer than usual) stretches of hillside near Kinross ( a town and historic county of Scotland, Kinross-shire); the merest (to emphasize the surprising or strong effect of very small action or event) glimpse of Loch (a lake or inlet of the sea) Leven (is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, it is pronounced  Li'un, extends for 14km.); the way the view opened up as they rounded a curve in the road and entered Perth shire (the county of Perth), snow visible along the topmost ridge  of the distant Ochils (it is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Kinross and Perth). (He guessed they were the Ochils; didn’t feel like checking with Clarke.) When her phone rang, she pressed a button on the steering wheel and answered with a voice raised above the engine noise.

     'DI Clarke,' she informed the caller.

     'It's Lightheart.' The inspector's dull (not interesting, boring) drone (a low continues noise that doesn't change its note) seemed to emanate from (to come out) the same speaker as Kate Bush. Clarke pressed another button to mute the CD.

     'Give me an update (to give someone the most recent information) ', she said.

     'He seems to have got on the bus all right. It dropped him near the works. Some of the men gave him short shrift (it is when you are treated without sympathy and given little attention), though - didn't like that their Portacabin had been searched. So he didn't hang about (hang around, to wait or spend time somewhere), told them he was going into Pitlochry. That was the last they saw of him.'

     'He's done a runner,' Clarke confirmed.

     'Looks like.'

     'Anyone talked to his girlfriend?'

     'The barmaid, you mean? Not yet.'

     'Could he be shacked up (to start living in the same house as sexual partners) with her?'

     'It would solve all our problems.'

     'And if someone had checked first thing, it would be saving me this bloody (used to express anger or to emphasize what you are saying in a slightly rude way) drive.'

     'Want me to do it then?'

     'No, I'll talk to her when I get there.'

     Rebus took note of that - I, not we…'

     'Are you in Pitlochry?' she was now asking Lightheart.

     'Yes, but I need to head back to Perth - eleven o'clock meeting I can't be late for.'

     'You do that then. We'll talk again after.'

143

     She ended the call and signaled to overtake (reach and pass person or vehicle in front) the lorry in front.

     'Want the CD back on?' Rebus eventually asked.

     Clarke shook her head. A little later, she decided to put a question to him.

     'You don't think it's him, do you?'

     'No.'

     'Because he's got a short fuse (to get angry very easily) and that's not the sort of person who goes years between victims?'

     'Right', Rebus agreed.

     She nodded slowly. 'So why did he run?'

     'It's what people like him do - act on instinct; no forethought (the good judgment to consider the near future).' Rebus decided it might be okay to throw in (to insert or introduce) a question of his own. 'Did the search turn up anything?'

     'They want to know if it's worth putting a couple of frogmen (someone who swims or works under water) in Loch Tummel (is a long, narrow loch , 7 km. north west of Pitlochry).

     'And is it?'

     'James's call'

     'What about Robertson's stuff?'

     'Pretty much as you said. Half an ounce (a unit of weight equal to approximately 28 grams) of cannabis, a few knock-off (a cheap copy of popular product) DVDs.'

     'Porn?'

     'Some.'

     'Hard core (showing sexual acts clearly and in detail)?'

     'No S and M (sadomasochism), if that's what you mean.' She looked at him again. 'This from the man who doesn't rate profilers (a person who assists police investigation by identifying the likely characteristics of the perpetrator).'

     'Common sense (the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions) comes cheaper.'

     She managed a smile. The ice between them was melting. 'That book in your flat - did Nina Hazlitt give it to you?'

     'How did you know?'

     'It's on her Facebook bio that she edits books, including myths and legends.'

     'Did you know that "Ring-a-Roses" (Ring around the Rosie is a popular nursery rhyme or folksong) is about a plague (a serious disease)?'

     'I thought everybody knew that.'

     Rebus decided to try again: 'Sawney Bean (was the semi-mythical head of a 48-member clan in 15-16th century reportedly executed for the mass murder and cannibalisation of over 1000 people)?'

     Clarke thought for a moment. 'Cannibal?'

                  

144

     'Except he probably never existed. It was anti-Jacobite propaganda, according to one theory. Doesn't take much to get a rumour started.'

     'Is the Burry Man (is a central figure in an annual ceremony or ritual, the Burryman's parade that takes place near Edinburgh on the second Friday of August) in your book?' Clarke asked. 

     'He is - you ever seen him in the flesh?'

     'Last August. Took the car to Queensferry (or simply "The Ferry” is a part of city Edinburgh) and watched him marching around, taking a drink from anyone that offered. Covered top to toe (all in the same style) in burrs (a seed container that sticks to closes): no idea how he managed to pee…'

She paused. 'Could Nina Hazlitt be putting together (produce or organize something using different things) a new bogeyman (an imaginary evil person who harms children)?'

     'I as good as asked her same thing.'

     'And?'

     'She wasn't happy about it.'

     'She's an editor by trade.'

     'So?'

     'She creates order, John. If there's one person responsible for all this disappearances that gives some sense to what's otherwise senseless.'

     'And we're back to psychology again.'

     'Not got much else, have we?'

     'We've got a lot of people who don't seem to be around any more.'

     'There is that (at least you still have that).'

     When she asked him if he wanted a choose a CD, he knew he'd been forgiven his latest transgressions (a break of a law or moral rule).

145