A Side Investigation in Fife
Hide and SeekBrian Holmes’s work with the animal-welfare officers reveals another underground appetite for violence and intersects with the main case.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
Bearing strength in each eventdecreasingA Night Watch
A Night Watch
A suspected arena
Brian Holmes waits with an officer from the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after an anonymous tip about dog fighting.
The empty, cold stakeout seems detached from Ronnie McGrath’s death, but it introduces violence staged for spectators and profit.
The Arrest Opportunity
The Arrest Opportunity
A lead becomes an operation
An informant points investigators toward a dog-fighting ring in Fife, where handlers and paying spectators are expected to gather.
Brian Holmes is invited to assist, but the opportunity takes him away just as danger reaches his girlfriend, Nell Stapleton.
A Humbling Welcome
A Humbling Welcome
Finding his place
Brian Holmes arrives at the remote site and mistakes a younger detective sergeant for the senior officer in charge.
The team laughs, but Holmes accepts the correction and settles into the operation, learning that competence requires both attention and the ability to recover from embarrassment.
The Raid Begins
The Raid Begins
Violence interrupted
Police and animal-welfare officers move against the dog-fighting gathering, pursuing handlers and spectators across the mine land.
The raid exposes people who treat animal suffering as recreation, an echo of the human brutality later uncovered beneath Finlay’s Club.
A DJ in Custody
A DJ in Custody
The unexpected arrest
Calum McCallum is among those arrested in the Fife operation, startling John Rebus because of his relationship with Gill Templer.
The arrest gives Gill painful news and turns the side investigation into a personal rupture, while confirming that respectable public figures can seek private violent entertainment.
Tuesday night
Thursday morning
Thursday evening
Thursday night
Friday morning
