Point of no Return: A Scottish Crime Thriller (A DCI Harry McNeil Crime Thriller Book 7)

by John Carson

  ‘Where’s your boy?’ Dunbar said, getting up and rubbing his jaw.

  ‘I wasn’t going to bring him in here, not while I’ve got Jesus. I was already on my way here when Alex called.’

  ‘Good call.’

  ‘But he’ll have ripped the seat of my car all to fuck and the wife will go nuts, so I’d better go see him.’

  ‘That bastard,’ Dunbar said, nodding to Boxer. ‘He killed those Wolf boys and shoved them in the plane. Chances are, they might not have been found for a very long time.’

  ‘One thing’s puzzling me,’ Harry said.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘When I said, that’s all the Wolf kids dead, he said, not quite. What did he mean by that?’

  ‘No idea, neighbour. We still don’t know why he killed Murdo.’

  ‘I think I might know who does. Somebody we’re already familiar with.’

  ‘Brian Gibbons?’

  Just then the cavalry arrived, a little too late, but there nonetheless. Evans came in with Alex and some uniforms were getting the double doors open, flooding the place with light.

  ‘Don’t get too comfortable. We have to go and speak to somebody,’ Harry said, nodding to the corpse of Crail Shaw. ‘This isn’t over.’

  Twenty-Seven

  Brian Gibbons was sitting having a drink in the living room. The only difference was, he was better dressed this time.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘Everybody’s going crazy. First the guests are not happy that the memorial’s been cancelled, and now there’re rumours you’ve caught my wife’s killer.’

  ‘There’s more to it, Mr Gibbons,’ Harry said.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t think I killed her, do you? I mean, if you do, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.’

  ‘I did have my suspicions. However…where’s Thomas Deal?’

  ‘He was here a minute ago. His feathers have really been ruffled. He’s strutting about like his head is going to fall off.’

  ‘Where were you when you asked Missy about the old hospital?’ Harry asked Muckle.

  ‘In here.’

  Harry nodded, and they heard raised voices outside the living room, then Thomas Deal walked in with Missy.

  ‘Oh. You’re here,’ Deal said.

  ‘Yes, we are,’ Harry said.

  ‘You got those painkillers?’ Dunbar asked, and Alex pulled a pack from her pocket and popped two for Dunbar.

  ‘I’ll need a glass of water to wash those down with,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll get one from the kitchen,’ she said.

  ‘No need.’ He walked over to the drinks cabinet, picked up the bottle of vodka, poured a healthy measure into a glass and washed the two tablets down.

  ‘Is that wise? Drinking on duty, sir?’ Alex said.

  Dunbar smiled as everybody in the room watched him. ‘Don’t worry, it’s only water. Even though there’s a vodka label on the bottle, it’s only tap water.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Brian Gibbons said.

  Thomas Deal was about to leave the room, but Muckle McInsh blocked the doorway with Sparky, who was about ready to have lunch.

  ‘You were drinking with Mr Deal last night, Mr Gibbons, but Deal was only drinking water. He pretended to be drunk so you could alibi him. He was helping Crail Shaw kill Fenton and Zachary.’

  ‘Now, look…’ Deal said. ‘This is nonsense. He saw me drinking.’

  ‘I was drinking whisky,’ said Brian. ‘I knew I was drunk. You looked like you were drunk.’

  ‘That’s surprising,’ Harry said. ‘Since you told us, Deal, that you didn’t drink.’

  Deal looked at them, then rushed at Muckle, but Sparky turned on the old man in a second. Deal stopped and threw himself against the wall.

  ‘Get that dog away from me!’ he shouted.

  ‘He’s just protecting me, fucking doughnut.’

  ‘Don’t talk to me like that.’

  ‘Shut up and sit down,’ Dunbar said.

  The old solicitor did as he was told, not taking his eyes off the snarling dog.

  ‘Now, Boxer said something to me before he died,’ Harry said. ‘I saw the two Wolf sons dead in that plane we found. But when I made a comment about all the Wolf kids being dead, he said, not quite. What did he mean by that?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ Deal sat back in the couch and folded his arms. ‘I want a solicitor.’

  ‘You’re not under arrest. Yet. But let me tell you what I think, and feel free to jump in anytime to correct me if I’m wrong. I think there are still Wolf offspring out there.’

  ‘How can that be?’ Brian said, interrupting. ‘Clive, Shona, and now, you said, Fenton and Zach. Oliver didn’t have any more kids.’

  Harry smiled and looked at Deal. ‘That’s not quite true, is it, Thomas?’

  ‘I’m saying nothing. You’ll never prove anything.’

  ‘That’s true.’ Harry turned to face the small audience, and even Sparky was listening to him now. ‘However, I don’t think either you or Crail Shaw killed the Wolf kids. I think somebody else did. You see, you have to ask yourself, who benefits? Normally, if a parent dies, the child benefits. But not the Wolf kids. And I say kids, even though they’re adults. They’re Oliver Wolf’s kids. Wait a minute, if they’re all dead, then who benefits? The community? Maybe. If they’re all out of the way, then there has to be somebody who would gain from it. That’s you, Thomas. You’re the one who will benefit.’

  ‘You’re talking nonsense.’

  ‘Really? Let’s ask Missy then, shall we?’ He turned to Missy. ‘Who benefits if the Wolf kids are dead?’

  She nodded to Deal. ‘He does.’

  Harry turned back to him. ‘You do. And Missy knew that. But what if she was out of the way? She couldn’t tell anybody then, could she? That’s why you tried to kill her last night. I don’t think they expected me, but you sent them to kill her. Did you tell Fenton and Zach that if they killed her, they could split the extra money?’

  A brief smile played over Deal’s face before he looked at Harry. ‘No, that was all their idea.’

  ‘But you have to admit that with them out of the way you get everything. I mean, you helped Oliver draft his will, didn’t you?’

  ‘I did, but it was all above board.’

  ‘I’m sure it was, because he didn’t think the chances of you surviving his kids was remotely possible. And you thought that too, so you concocted the idea to have them all killed.’

  ‘I’m saying nothing more.’

  The room fell silent. Sparky lay down on his side, obviously bored with the proceedings, but ever attentive.

  ‘We had the pathologist look at Fenton and Zach,’ said Harry. ‘They were dead before we were attacked in that house last night. It wasn’t them who attacked us.’

  ‘Then I don’t know who did. I want to go and have a lie-down.’

  ‘You do that, Mr Deal, but remember this: you’ll be having a permanent lie-down soon.’

  ‘Are you threatening me?’

  Harry smiled. ‘Oh no, I’m warning you. They’re ruthless. They’ve killed without blinking an eye because they had their eye on the prize: the Wolf fortune. What do you think they’ll do when they find out you conned them out of that fortune? That they killed for nothing? That they killed the people who were standing in your way? You think they’ll just walk away?’

  Dunbar walked over to Deal. ‘We can’t prove anything, but this is what we’re thinking. Murdo somehow found out that he had another grandchild. Or grandchildren. He was going to tell Oliver he knew. He had to be stopped. You had Crail Shaw kill him and hide his body. But it was a two-man effort to put him in the wall in the new extension that was being built, so you helped him. It wasn’t any of the kids, as they were too young. No, it took two adults to do that.’

  ‘You’re making up stories,’ Deal snarled at him.

  ‘Who did Clive Wolf overhear arguing before he died? You and Boxer? Was it Boxer you sen
t after him? I think Clive was smashing the wall and Boxer came in and killed him. But then you somehow got distracted and couldn’t get Clive or Murdo out of there, and Muckle then found them.’

  ‘How are we doing?’ Harry said. ‘Did you kill Murdo back then? Did Boxer? Was that what Clive overheard you arguing about?’

  ‘Clutching at straws is what they call it,’ Deal said, relaxing again.

  ‘You think because we can’t prove any of this that it will go away, but let me tell you something: the killers aren’t going away. I think when they find out about you diddling them, they’re going to come after you. They’ve nothing to lose now. They’ve already killed four people. What’s another old man who might only have a few years left anyway? You think you’ll live long enough to spend your money?’

  ‘Oh, I think I’ll take my chances.’ Deal chuckled. ‘You want me to give you names, is that it? Well, sorry to disappoint you.’

  ‘That’s fine. We’ll leave you alone now.’ Harry turned to Dunbar. ‘Alex and I are going to the fairground. I think I’ll have a wee chat with Jack Shaw. He’s going to be upset that Boxer won’t be around to challenge the public. He’s a real showman is Jack. I’ll break the news to him that his dad is dead, and if he asks me about things, I’ll have to tell him he’s getting nothing. But I can’t prove anything, so I can’t arrest him. He’ll be free to go about the island as he pleases.’

  ‘You do that, Harry,’ Dunbar said. ‘Meantime, I’ll see if young Brendan will open the bar for me. I’ll be needing a stiff drink after what I’ve been through. I’m sure Brendan’s a good listener. And he’ll be more than happy to listen to what I have to say.’

  They’d started to leave the room when Deal sighed. ‘Okay. You win.’ He looked at both men. ‘You bastards knew, didn’t you?’

  ‘Suspected. When I looked at the wills of Oliver and Murdo, I saw their middle names were Brendan and Jack. Just like Oliver’s illegitimate sons. Am I right?’

  Deal nodded. ‘Murdo was going to announce it at the Christmas party. He was pissed off at Oliver, and he’d kept it from his late wife, but it was eating him alive. He wanted the world to know he had two more grandsons. Boxer – Crail – was furious. His wife was pregnant when he met her, but he decided to stand by her. He would bring them up as his own. Nancy told him she didn’t know who the father was. Or he was dead, something like that. You’ve met Nancy; she’s a nice woman. She adored the boys and she loved Boxer. Now Murdo was going to throw a spanner in the works. The boys were only a couple of months old at the time.’

  ‘You knew Boxer killed Murdo?’ Dunbar said.

  ‘No. I suspected. He was the last one with Murdo. And I knew that Murdo had shown Boxer how to fly the plane. Boxer was a natural. I thought he had killed the old man, but I didn’t know for sure. Until I confronted him years later. I told him that his boys deserved to get some of the Wolf money. He told me that Oliver had told him that all four of his kids would be taken care of. Bragging about it. But there was no mention of Boxer’s sons. I told Boxer that Oliver was the father of his sons but still they were getting nothing. I confirmed this when Oliver died. I think Crail killed him. He was arguing with Oliver the night he died. Two days before Christmas, just like Murdo. I think Crail was thinking back to when he killed Murdo and he had it out with Oliver. But Oliver had a weak heart. He died of a heart attack, brought on by the stress of the fighting, I presume.’

  ‘Then you, in effect, got the boys to kill the other kids for you so you would get everything,’ Harry said. ‘You decided to con them.’

  ‘Pretty much. When I saw I was getting nothing either. I’d worked hard for the Wolf family over the years and was like a brother to Oliver. I was the one who got him out of all his little scrapes.’

  ‘And now it’s all for nothing. Let’s go and get the Crail twins. And Alex? Arrest him before we go.’

  Twenty-Eight

  The plan was to approach Jack Shaw without much fanfare, but have back-up just in case. Harry didn’t want to flood the fairground with police. That would just alert the killer.

  The idea was to converge on the boxing booth from both sides. There was already a crowd of people making the best of the good weather. The sun was out overhead, the wind was light and there was a definite feel-good mood amongst the crowds as early evening approached.

  It was hard to believe that they were there to arrest a serial killer.

  Jack Shaw was standing around, looking at his watch, when Harry approached. The young man was dressed in his showman’s garb and had an annoyed look on his face.

  ‘He’s not coming,’ Harry said. Alex sidled up on his other side.

  Jack looked at Harry. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I think you know full well who I am. We met last night. Was it you who had the hammer?’

  Jack made a face and took his phone out, about to walk away.

  ‘I already told you your dad isn’t coming. He’s dead.’

  This got Jack’s attention and he turned to look at Harry. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘We know all about the fact he killed Murdo Wolf all those years ago. And how Thomas Deal got you to kill for him. Did you know Deal was the beneficiary? He made sure that was the case if all the Wolf children were dead. He got you and your brother to kill them, thinking you were going to get the inheritance. You were getting nothing.’

  ‘You’re a fucking liar!’ Jack said, instead of denying everything.

  ‘Jack Shaw, I’m arresting you for the murder –’ Harry started to say, but Jack dropped his phone and took up a boxer’s stance.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  He was about to take a swing at Harry, but Harry had had enough. He stepped in close and head-butted Jack on the bridge of the nose. Then Alex and Evans were all over Jack as he fell to the ground.

  The crowds were starting to gather, thinking this was part of the show. Harry watched as Alex handcuffed Jack and they dragged him to his feet.

  ‘Read him his rights, Sergeant,’ Harry said to her.

  Jack Shaw went quietly.

  Twenty-Nine

  Nancy Shaw was in the dining room, setting up for dinner, when Dunbar and Evans walked in. Harry had gone to the station with Alex to book Jack Shaw in. This time, uniforms were waiting outside the small hotel.

  ‘Hello, gents. How are things going?’

  ‘I’m sorry to tell you that your husband, Crail Shaw, is dead, Mrs Shaw.’

  Nancy was speechless for a moment, then she smiled. ‘I know, love. Serves the old bastard right.’

  ‘Did somebody inform you of this?’

  She looked to the door of the dining room, but Evans was standing there, keeping an eye on the hallway.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I’m not saying any more.’

  ‘Was it Jack? Did he manage to get a message off to you before we arrested him?’

  ‘Sorry, son, but unless you’re arresting me, I’m not saying anything else.’

  ‘Where’s Brendan?’

  Nancy shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘I think you know exactly where he is,’ Dunbar said. Then he looked at Evans. ‘Go look for him.’

  Evans walked away. Then, suddenly, Nancy acted like she’d had a jolt of electricity pass through her. She shoved Dunbar out of the way and made it to the doorway before he grabbed hold of her.

  ‘Brendan! Run!’ she screamed over and over, then the life went out of her.

  Dunbar put her hands behind her back.

  ‘I didn’t know what they were doing. But they’re my boys, so I’m not helping you put them away.’

  ‘Save it for later,’ Dunbar said, then shouted for the uniforms to come in. He passed Nancy over and ran up the stairs, having seen Evans go that way.

  When he reached the top, he saw Evans go into his own room. When he got to the doorway, he looked in and saw Brendan Shaw standing with a large kitchen knife, pointing it at Evans.

  ‘Get back or I’ll stab this fucker to deat
h.’

  ‘It’s over, Brendan. Don’t make it worse for yourself,’ Dunbar said.

  Brendan sliced the air in front of Evans, making him move round. Evans got closer to the bed, keeping his eyes on Brendan.

  Brendan made another slicing motion, and then Dunbar brought out his extendable baton and snapped it open in one fluid movement. He smacked Brendan’s wrist with it as the man moved in closer. Then he hit him full on in the face. Brendan dropped the knife and put a hand to his nose.

  Evans moved in, grabbing Brendan’s arm and kicking his feet from under him. As Brendan went down, he reached a hand out for the knife. Evans kicked him hard between the legs, then kicked the knife over to Dunbar.

  ‘Jesus, that extendable baton thing does work. Who knew?’ Dunbar said.

  ‘I almost got my hand on the tennis racket,’ Evans complained.

  ‘It was almost fifteen-love for him, son.’

  Uniforms rushed up the stairs and entered the room. They were soon handcuffing Brendan.

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had this much fun on holiday for a long time,’ Dunbar said. ‘Just a thought, though: maybe you could have a tennis racket tattooed on your arm.’

  ‘You’d like that, eh?’

  ‘Just a suggestion, son. But think about it on the boat home.’

  ‘Boat?’

  ‘There’s no way I’m sitting in a wee aeroplane with you honking the fucking thing out again. It will just be me, Alex and Debbie Comb.’

  ‘Fine by me.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure Harry McNeil will be quite happy to keep you company.’

  Thirty

  A few days later

  Harry was sitting drinking his coffee when Alex came into the living room.

  ‘Morning, honey.’ She leant down to kiss him on the cheek.

  ‘Good morning. How are you feeling?’

  ‘I’m fine, Harry McNeil. How are you feeling?’

  ‘I swear to God, I don’t know what was worse, the plane or the ferry. You were gone by the time the rain hit. Robbie couldn’t keep anything down. Poor sod.’