Ghost Walk Read Online Free Page A

deduction.’
    Shaking his head, he went on, ‘Believe me, you’d need a lot more than that in some of the situations you’d find yourself in, or the sort of criminals I encounter on a daily basis, little more than animals, the very dregs of humanity. Situations where I might not be around, or even in a position to protect you from rape – from torture and slow death.’
    Ignoring that I said defiantly, ‘Whatever you say, I’d still like to meet Mr Pinkerton.’
    Leaning forward, he laughed again, tenderly cupping his hand under my chin. ‘Is that so now? And don’t think I haven’t any idea what this famous meeting would be all about. I can read your mind.’
    ‘I would like to talk to Mr Pinkerton,’ I insisted. ‘He is from Scotland, after all. We would have that in common.’
    ‘Yes, he’s from Glasgow. Know why he came to America?’
    ‘I expect he thought like many emigrants that it was a land of opportunity.’
    Danny shook his head. ‘Of necessity, in his case. His militantactivities in the ‘40s on behalf of the rights of the working man brought him to the close attention of the law and he was forced to flee the country.’
    I knew some of the story from his autobiography, Thirty Years a Detective , published in ‘94 (the year he died), which I had read avidly.
    In Chicago, he found like-minded thinkers, sympathetic folk and a job in what was a very rudimentary police force. A brave dogged hardworking lawman, he was soon rounding up small time criminals, powerful gangs and counterfeiters. Such was his success that after having been in America only eight years, he was able to set up his own agency.
    From ‘60 to ‘62, Pinkerton was responsible for the personal safety of President Abraham Lincoln and for a time spymaster as Head of Intelligence to General McLennan, operating behind the enemy lines during the Civil War.
    When the war ended the General was removed from office, his activities no longer needed and Pinkerton also returned to his detective agency.
    Danny however, in common with many other Americans, had his own theory about Lincoln’s assassination. Had General McLennan stayed in the secret service, they felt certain that the quick-witted Pinkerton might have got wind of the plan and averted what was, for America, a national disaster.
    ‘Pinkerton was ruthless too,’ said Danny. ‘The end justifies the means if the end is justice, was his slogan. He behaved outrageously outside the law and was well known to have authorised illegal burglaries on behalf of clients. And the killing of bank robbers on the grounds that had they ever come to court, juries might not have convicted them.’
    Pinkerton wrote several other books and, after his death, the agency he had founded went on, grew in splendour and fame. Known to the world by its slogan “We Never Sleep” with its logo of a wide-open eye, they were always on the lookout for experienced  lawmen like Danny McQuinn whose last word on the subject was a firm:
    ‘Detective work is no job for a married woman.’
     
    His words had come home to roost with a vengeance. History was repeating itself with Detective Inspector Jack Macmerry who, whatever his emotions regarding his inaccessible and dead rival, would have shared his sentiments on that particular issue.
    I had no idea what were the views of Edinburgh City Police on the subject of female detectives or the milder term ‘lady investigators ’, but I could guess that they regarded criminal investigation as a ‘men only’ province.
    I felt so impatient with authority. Would a day ever dawn when women ceased to be treated as playthings or breeding machines, when they would be given equal rights with men. My hackles rose in anger at the suffragettes’ gallant struggles as portrayed in a recent pamphlet which I had been at pains to keep concealed from Jack.
    Watching him eat his supper that evening, I observed that this had not been one of his good days. He was in a bad mood, his