by John Carson
Brian smiled. ‘Too long.’
‘What does that mean?’ Harry said.
‘I know it means you’re looking at me through a different pair of eyes now, thinking that I was the one who ran into the car with that machine, but I wasn’t. I don’t know who it was, but I think they did me a favour.’
The detectives looked at each other before concentrating on Brian again.
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was fond of Shona. Liked her a lot, actually. But as for love? Nah. I didn’t love her one bit. And she didn’t love me either.’
‘How long were you married?’ Dunbar said. ‘If you can manage to give us a straight answer this time.’
‘Less than a year. It was a marriage of pure convenience. We had an open marriage, you could say.’
‘You’re telling us a woman who wasn’t even forty married an old geezer like you just for convenience?’
‘That’s it, my old son. Shona was only a few years off turning the big four-oh, and her daddy didn’t want her to enter that stage of her life without a man on her arm. So that man was me. Bought and paid for.’
‘Keep going,’ Harry said as Brian blew on the surface of his coffee.
Brian took a sip and winced. ‘Burnt my bloody lip there. For God’s sake. I mean, how hot can coffee be?’
They waited for Brian to have another sip. ‘I’m telling you this, never again. Especially with old Tommy boy there. He’s a machine.’ Another sip.
Harry was beginning to think Brian was stalling for time, but then the older man put the mug down and sat back in the chair.
‘Now, you two fine gentlemen might think it’s fun being married to a much younger woman. And it is. If it’s the right woman. And Shona wasn’t the right woman, not for me.’
‘Why marry her then?’
‘As I said, bought and paid for. It was Oliver’s idea. Don’t get me wrong, Shona and I got along just fine when we were in the company of her father, and we even had a few laughs when we were in the hotel bar, but that was it. I came here to talk business with Oliver, and he was giving it serious consideration. Hell, we even got as far as shaking on it one night. You know, a gentlemen’s agreement?’
‘But?’ Dunbar said when Brian paused.
‘But there was a caveat.’ Brian picked up the mug and blew on the coffee again, then tentatively sipped the brew until he felt it was acceptable, if not quite chug-able.
‘I knew the island well. My old man lived here when he was a lad, and I came here in my younger days. I saw the potential. All that land down by the shore. It would be tremendous to have nice houses there, with a private club and the marina near it. This is a terrific little place. The only fly in the ointment was Oliver Wolf. He owned the land. I wanted to build on it. But I didn’t have the rights or the finances. Oliver did. So I suggested a partnership. My business finance was all tied up in other projects. Oliver had me over a barrel. Of course, he could have brought somebody else in, but not everybody would have been interested. And nobody would have been interested in marrying his daughter.’
‘She was a widow,’ Dunbar said. ‘Why was he so interested in getting her married off again?’
‘It was all about appearances with Oliver. His two oldest sons are divorced, but that was alright. It was almost like Fenton and Zach were in a macho club. Clive was fine too; the young man about town, sleeping with anything that had a pulse. But Shona was the little girl. Heading into old age on her own. It was like a slur on the family character for her not to have a husband.’
‘No offence, but wasn’t there anybody else Oliver could have got to marry his daughter?’ Harry said.
‘Cheeky sod. I might be some old, fat bastard, but I do very well for myself. Besides, as I said, Shona knew this was a sham marriage. She was used to being kept by Daddy. So he decided that if she didn’t want to marry me, she would be cut loose and would have to make it on her own in the big, bad world. And he told me that if I didn’t marry her, then there would be fuck all available to me regarding building on the island. And to be honest, I was in dire financial straits. Mortgaged up to the hilt. I’d had my car repossessed. My business was going down the toilet. So I agreed. Started going out with Shona.’
‘It must have been hard for two people to go out just for convenience,’ Dunbar said. ‘I mean, I’ve heard of arranged marriages, but not in Scotland. By Scottish people, I mean.’
Brian drank more coffee. ‘I was at a loose end anyway. And she was attractive enough, if you liked that sort of stuff. But there was never any physical contact, in the bedroom. In fact, we had separate bedrooms. It was a marriage on the outside, but we saw other people, just purely for physical needs.’
Harry was about to say something when Brian put up a hand to silence him. ‘I know what you’re thinking: who could possibly be interested in somebody like me? But trust me, not all women are as shallow as Shona Wolf was.’
‘I was going to ask if her brothers knew about your marriage,’ Harry said.
‘Oh. Right. Well, not from me. I didn’t think so, mind, but after the way Fenton mouthed off the other night, now I’m not so sure.’
‘You know all of this could be looked on as a motive for murder,’ Dunbar said.
Brian blew on the coffee again, not wanting to risk another burn to the lip. ‘Why? I get nothing if she dies. That was a stipulation. Only things or money that we built up as a couple. Which we did, of course, but not much. I would keep the business interests that I started with Oliver, which wasn’t a whole lot. I’ll be lucky to come out of this with a pair of underpants to my name. Even the fucking car’s wrecked. That was my car. The Range Rover we drove around in back home in Edinburgh was leased in the Wolf company name.’
‘Who do you think would have it in for Clive and Shona?’ Harry said.
Brian looked down into his coffee mug for a moment as if the answer were swirling about in the brown liquid. Then he looked first at Harry, then Dunbar. ‘Look, I know this sounds bad, but me and Shona were arguing before she left to go back to the car.’ He held up a hand even though nobody else was talking. ‘Let me finish. She started accusing me of killing her brother. She said Clive had overheard somebody talking about where old Murdo was hidden. Clive was going off his nut, but he trusted Shona enough to tell her. They were twins after all. She started getting hysterical and paranoid. She turned around and headed back to the car.’
‘Didn’t you follow her?’ Harry asked.
‘Of course I did, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not built like Eric Liddell. I tried to catch up, but by that time my knees were turning to jelly and what used to be a pair of lungs in my chest was two lumps of coal, well alight. So I thought, fuck it, and turned round and carried on back up the hill. At a more leisurely pace. I stopped at what would be known to a fat bastard like me as base camp, but what’s more commonly known to other hikers as a picnic spot.’
‘If I wasn’t sitting here talking to you right now, I wouldn’t believe it,’ Dunbar said. ‘But since we can see that you’re not exactly on the Olympic cross-country team, I’m inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt.’
‘Feel free to tell it like it is,’ Brian replied.
‘I will. That’s what Police Scotland pay us for: to insult, cajole and otherwise mock anybody as we see fit, until we get a confession.’
Brian grinned and sat back, the mug and its contents now cool enough to cradle in one hand. He took a sip and looked at Dunbar. ‘Sorry, but I’m going to have to disappoint you. I didn’t kill Shona. But if it was true what Shona was saying, that Clive overheard people talking about Murdo’s resting place inside that wall, maybe they knew he was going to look, so they killed him.’
‘That’s an avenue we’re looking at,’ Harry said.
‘Did Shona say who it was that Clive overheard?’ Dunbar asked.
Brian shook his head. ‘No, but she was scared and paranoid. She thought I had something to do with it.’
‘Did you believe
her? About what Clive had said?’
‘What reason would she have to lie? You didn’t see her face when we were on the hill. It was like something had taken over her.’
‘You didn’t see anything suspicious when you parked the car?’ Dunbar said.
‘Nothing at all. Just an empty building site.’
Dunbar looked at Harry before looking back at Brian. ‘That’s enough for now, Mr Gibbons. But I am going to recommend to Thomas Deal that he cancels the memorial.’
‘The boys won’t be happy.’
‘People have been murdered. There was an attempted murder. This party is one that the Wolf family are going to cancel.’
‘Not my call. I couldn’t care less. In fact, I’m going to pack, then I’m going home. While I still have one.’
‘I can’t let you do that,’ Dunbar said.
‘I don’t want to turn my back on those two freaks. You ask me, the Wolf boys are the ones who killed their siblings. They’re off their heads.’
Dunbar and Harry stood, and Brian followed suit.
‘Thank you for your time, Mr Gibbons. Stick around,’ Dunbar reiterated.
Back in the living room, Alex was talking with Thomas Deal. Robbie Evans came walking back in.
‘Everything alright, son?’ Dunbar said, taking him aside.
‘I got a text, telling me it was urgent. From Bernadette. I couldn’t get hold of her this morning. I didn’t think she had left to go on holiday yet. I normally don’t answer texts when I’m at work, but I thought –’
‘That’s fine, Robbie. Tell me what’s going on.’
Evans looked uncertain for a moment. ‘Her husband sent me a text, telling me to stay away from his wife.’
‘Ah, shite. Sorry, son.’
Evans looked grim. ‘You were right, though. I almost made a right arse of myself.’
‘A right arse cheek, if I remember correctly.’
Evans gave a grim smile.
‘It happens to the best of us,’ Dunbar said.
‘But it happened to me. Bloody hell. Maybe I should just become a monk.’
‘Not today, though. We have some bastards we want to talk to. Including those Wolf muppets.’
‘Aye. Tomorrow then.’
Twenty-Five
Thomas Deal was sitting reading a newspaper in the living room, certainly not in the same state as Brian Gibbons.
‘We have a lot on today,’ he said, folding the newspaper and standing up. ‘Oliver’s friends will be champing at the bit to say their goodbyes.’
‘There’s not going to be a memorial,’ Dunbar said. ‘It’s too dangerous. We can’t guarantee everybody’s safety.’
‘This is preposterous. I won’t hear of it.’
‘You have no choice, Mr Deal,’ said Harry. ‘People tried to kill us last night, and they’re still out there. Those two men are very dangerous.’
‘Two men?’ Deal said.
‘Yes,’ Harry said. ‘Now, can you tell us where Fenton and Zachary might be?’
‘They don’t check in with me, but they might be at Fenton’s house, the one his father left him.’
‘Which is where?’
‘It’s on the other side of the loch from the house Clive was left. The road that forks to the right and goes to Clive’s house? Go past that. There’s a road on the left off the main road. It goes up into the hills and has a view of the loch from the other side. It’s a beautiful property. You can’t miss it. It’s called Hillside.’
Just then, Crail Shaw walked in. ‘Some of the guests are in the dining room at the hotel, talking about the memorial. Some of them have expressed an interest in leaving soon. What do you want me to tell them?’
Deal looked at Dunbar before answering. ‘Tell them there’s not going to be a memorial. Due to Clive’s and Shona’s deaths. It wouldn’t be appropriate. Something like that. Tell them we’ll hold a memorial in Edinburgh sometime in the near future.’
‘Very good, sir.’ Crail looked at the detectives before leaving again.
‘I didn’t know Crail still worked for the Wolf family,’ Harry said.
‘Boxer? He’s worked for the family for a very long time. Ever since I met Oliver he’s been a part of the fixtures. He does maintenance for the hotel.’
‘Have you ever gone boxing with him down at the carnival?’ Dunbar asked.
‘Do I look like the sort of man who goes fighting, Chief Inspector?’
‘He must keep himself fit.’
‘I think he does. But he has his wife to look after their own hotel.’
‘Oh, yes. He was left that hotel after Murdo was declared dead, wasn’t he?’
‘He was. A token of Murdo’s appreciation. And Oliver’s too.’
Outside, Harry drew in a deep breath of air. ‘Maybe we should take back-up?’
‘There’re two schools of thought on that one. First, there might be nothing there. Second, we have Robbie the Rottweiler with us.’ Dunbar looked at Evans. ‘Don’t look so glum. You’ll find somebody else.’
‘You been dumped already?’ Harry asked.
‘Och. Why don’t you just announce it over the airwaves?’
Dunbar grinned. ‘Looking for this Wolf pair will surely cheer you up. You never know, you might get to skelp one of them.’
‘Maybe we should take Muckle with us?’ Alex said.
‘He’s technically a civilian,’ said Dunbar, ‘so we can’t put him at risk. As much as I’d like him to tag along.’
They got in the replacement car and drove out along the coast road. Alex hung a left when they came to a sign for a place called Teach sa Speir.
‘It’s Gaelic for House in the sky,’ Evans said.
‘I’m impressed you knew that,’ Dunbar said.
‘According to Google.’ Evans held his phone up.
‘Just when I think you’re halfway intelligent, you go and spoil the illusion.’
The road was narrow and windy until it came into a clearing. The house faced west, with the back facing east, and the loch below.
‘The Wolf family certainly knew how to look after themselves,’ Evans said.
‘Wouldn’t you? If you had their kind of money?’ Dunbar said. ‘I would. Nice big garden for Scooby to run about in, a nice motor that wouldn’t get us stuck when it snowed.’
‘Must be nice.’
‘There are no cars here, that I can see,’ Alex said, coming to a halt in front of the house.
‘Just be on your guard,’ Harry said. ‘If these are the pair who attacked me and Missy last night, then they’re not playing about.’
‘We’ll watch ourselves, neighbour,’ Dunbar said.
They got out of the car and could see the dark clouds in the distance, rolling towards them. ‘I don’t think we should linger,’ Dunbar said. ‘Robbie, go round the back of the house, son. Give us a shout if either of those reprobates makes a run for it.’
Evans left them and walked round the back of the big house. It was made of dark-grey stone and blended in with the hillside.
The door was ajar and Harry nudged it wide open. It felt like walking into the lion’s den. They heard a noise from the back, but it was only Evans.
They searched together in case they were attacked, but after a few minutes it was clear that the house was empty.
‘No sign that they’ve even been here,’ Harry said as they went back outside.
He looked over to the ocean in the distance. This house had a view of the loch at its back and the ocean at its front. Whoever had built the house had known what they were doing.
He watched as another plane flew in from the coast, heading towards the airport. He imagined Murdo Wolf taking off with his killer, then dying on the plane, and the killer swinging the small aircraft round and heading back inland, flying right across the hotel.
He could see the carnival and fairground in the distance, and the big house further along. The hotel was down a bit from it. As his eyes followed the path that the plane would have ta
ken, he wondered where it had gone after that. Obviously, it had landed somewhere. But where? It was hard to tell from this place. He couldn’t make out any long, flat piece of land. He looked further along, seeing nothing until…he saw something.
‘What’s that?’ he said, pointing.
‘A big, dirty cloud, mucker,’ Dunbar said, coming to stand beside him.
‘There, through those trees in the distance.’
Dunbar squinted. ‘I can’t see anything but trees. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.’
‘It looks like a building. I can see a bit of a turret or something. Poking up above the trees. See it?’
‘I can barely see the rollercoaster down at the fairground and that goes up into the air.’ Dunbar turned towards Evans. ‘Robbie! Get your eyes over here.’
‘My eyes?’
‘Aye. Look over in that direction. What do you see?’
Evans looked. ‘The sea?’
‘I’ll chuck you in the fucking sea in a minute. Over there. To the right. Where the trees are on that hill.’
‘Oh, right. That turret thing. I see it now.’
Dunbar looked at him. ‘Do you really, or are you taking the piss?’
‘No, I see it. In amongst those trees.’
Dunbar gave him a look that suggested a bollock-kicking might be in order should the younger sergeant be winding him up.
‘Why don’t you call Muckle and see if he knows what it is?’ Alex suggested.
‘Good idea.’ Dunbar took his phone out. But there were no bars on it. ‘Shite. No service up here.’
‘I’m sure there has to be a road leading to it. We know what direction it’s in, so we could try to find the road leading to it and check it out.’
Dunbar nodded. ‘Good idea. Why didn’t you think of that?’ he said to Evans. ‘Get yer heid out of your arse.’
They got back in the car and drove down to the main road and turned right, heading in what they thought was the direction of the house.
The bars came back on the phone. ‘Bloody phones,’ Dunbar said, dialling Muckle’s number.
‘Listen, mate, we saw a house in the trees in the middle of nowhere. Near the house that Fenton Wolf was left by his old man. Any idea what it is?’