Brian never replied. He was too busy gawping at the attractive woman that Campbell had pointed at.
"Wow. She's a looker."
"Was. She's dead now, in case you’d forgotten."
"Was. Is. Okay, she's gorgeous, but for Pete's sake Dumbell, she worked for you. Could you not keep it in your pants?"
Campbell took a sip of his beer. The start of his sixth.
"I was an idiot. And I don't know why it happened. I tried to resist it. I fought it. But it happened, and when it did, I just didn't seem to be able to stop it. Or say no. Subconsciously I must have wanted it. I mean, I did want to, truth be told, but I'd always managed to say no until then.... then one day... I just ran out of the strength to fight it."
Brian shook his head and looked at the photograph again.
"Was she good?"
Campbell stared at him.
"Sorry, that was probably out of order." Brian admitted. "Listen, have you ever heard the joke: '"Why do men give their penis a name? ... Because they don't want a stranger making all their decisions for them!"
"Bloody hilarious."
They sat and talked about Fiona then, Brian advising Campbell to back off and give her some space for a while, and insisting Campbell should move into the spare room at his place.
"She's angry. But give her time and she'll want to talk about this again. And then you'll have another chance."
"You think she'll take me back?"
"I don't know. To be honest, it could go either way. But Fiona's a sensible woman. She's going to hurt, badly, but all this business with the woman being Tommy McNunn's accomplice, your arch-rival, ... that puts it in another ball game. Like you said, it's complicated. The fact that it isn't so straightforward, means there could be a chance. But I honestly don't know, mate. Only time will tell."
Campbell swallowed hard. The alcohol level in his blood had now almost hit that point where he would either start to get really melancholy, start to philosophise about life in general, or go the other direction and start to laugh about ridiculous things.
Without realising it, he went for the second option.
"How come everything we do in our life revolves around our penises? You were bloody spot on with that joke. But I mean, everything, every fucking thing we do in our lives is dictated by... by 'fucking'... isn't it?"
"We're men. It’s hormones. It's the way things are..."
"I mean, everything in our lives. Fucking. It dictates everything... it's the one thing that stays with us all our lives..."
"Dunno about that. Okay, I agree, it's really important when we're young. But not so much when we're older."
"You're right. I mean, you might be. How about this then... I've just thought about it... let's call it the 'fucking lifecycle'... starts like this..." Campbell coughed. "Right, when you are young, 'fucking is the whole point'. Everything we do is about fucking anything that moves. But then, like you say, we change as we get older, and by middle age, what the hell, we get to the point when we're all angry, and the big question is, 'What's the fucking point?'... And then later, when we're even older, when we've used up every tiny bit of testosterone and the old penis has shrivelled and lost its ability to rise to any occasion and the women are all old, saggy, and have shrunken tits, then, the truth is, 'What's the point in fucking?'"
"Did you just make that up?"
"Yeah, not bad eh?"
"It's brilliant, mate! The Fucking Lifecycle! I love it. 'Fucking is the whole point', followed by middle age, and 'what's the fucking ... what?'
"What's the fucking point!"
"Then what, what's the last one? What's the point in fucking?"
"Yeah, I think we need to write it down before we forget it. I'm going to put it on a T-shirt and wear it to court one day!"
Brian laughed.
"Ah, but there's one part about fucking that you missed out, that covers your situation just now."
"What's that?"
"Right now, thanks to Tommy McNunn, you're fucked!"
--------------------
Sunday
Fort Augustus, Loch Ness
2.30 p.m.
The ray of bright sunshine streaming through the crack in the curtain slowly moved across Alessandra's face until it landed on her closed eyes.
The sun was warm, the caravan was already hot inside, and now the final added touch of the heat and light directly on her eyelids was enough to pull Alessandra over the edge and drag her back to consciousness.
She stirred, stretched and slowly opened her eyes. Blinded by the light, she automatically raised her hands to shield her face, then rolled onto her side.
Reaching out and picking up her watch from the bedside cabinet, she did a double take when she saw the time, checking that she hadn't imagined it.
2.31 p.m.
How was that possible?
She'd gone to bed yesterday as soon as she got back from the monastery without any evening meal or drink, and that must have been sometime around five o'clock.
She'd felt nauseous and exhausted and almost immediately she'd fallen deeply asleep and slept without stirring for almost twenty-one and a half hours?
Alessandra couldn't believe it.
She normally woke every morning around seven a.m. like clockwork.
Her body ached all over.
Was she ill? She had to be.
What else could explain it?
"Bless you. For you are now blessed."
The words which suddenly entered her mind caught her off balance.
She remembered the strange events of the afternoon before. The monk. The peculiar connection they'd shared. The bizarre feeling of something being transferred from him to her. The peace she'd felt.
And then the nausea.
Alessandra was not a sensationalist. She was practical. Extremely practical. The fact that she had slept so long and was now aching all over meant that she had picked something up. She was ill.
Then she realised the most sensible explanation.
The cream in the scones she'd eaten in the monastery must have been off.
It would be a simple case of food poisoning.
She closed her eyes again and tried to relax.
She smiled.
In spite of the aching in her body, the sensation of lying down and doing nothing, - of relaxing, of not rushing off to do something else -, was strangely... wonderful!
She felt the pleasure of the sun on her face again. Then she sat up and opened the curtains, adjusting her pillows so that she could sit and look out of the window to the scenery beyond.
From her window at the back of the caravan she got an unhindered view of the mountain that rose steeply from the Loch on the east side of the water.
At this time of the year the trees were their most verdant, with the purple of the heather above the tree line offering a beautiful contrast to the greens below.
Tea. She needed a hot cup of tea.
The good news, she discovered, was that as soon as she edged off the bed and started moving around the caravan, her aches seemed to vanish, and within minutes she felt as fit as a fiddle.
Then the hunger hit her.
She was ravenous.
Which was a problem because after the visit to the monastery she'd rushed home without getting any food from the shops.
Taking her tea to the small shower, she quickly washed, dressed and collected a few bags to fill up with food in the town centre.
Momentarily contemplating driving, she decided to leave the car keys behind and walk along the loch and up the side of the river. It was a wonderful day, and after all, she was in no real hurry. She was on holiday!
Robert the old man she helped yesterday, was already on the beach on his chair, as were a number of other people, sitting, talking with each other, and looking out towards the loch.
Waiting.
Watching.
Hoping.
Deciding she had a few moments to meet the locals, she walked over across th
e pebbles and greeted Robert.
"Aha... Alice! It's a pleasure to see you again." He announced warmly, with a genuine smile on his face.
A few faces turned in their direction and a couple of the others started to make their way across towards them.
"Hello, I'm Sally Brown." A middle-aged woman with bright red hair greeted her. "Welcome to the Loch Ness Hilton, the most exclusive resort in the world."
"And the craziest." Another added. "I'm Lisa. From Durban in South Africa."
Three others, two men and a woman, stood a few feet away, but didn't come forward.
"They're just shy." Sally said. "And harmless. For now you're the latest curiosity, but if you're still here in two weeks’ time, they'll want to speak to you. They'll want to tell you their stories."
"What stories?" Alessandra blurted out before realising the obvious.
"Their stories of the monster. What they saw. We're all here for the same reason. Martin there will bore the pants off you if you give him a chance.
"Or else he'll pull them off you," Lisa added. "He's a randy old bastard." She laughed to herself. "You're Alice, right?"
She nodded.
"American?"
"Did Gavin tell you?"
"No, but I recognise the accent. Slight, but still traceable. You have my sympathy."
"What for?" Alice asked.
"Trump."
Alice laughed, but didn't engage in the topic. As a rule, she never pursued conversations about politics. She had her own views, but she didn't want to attract the attention of others who didn't agree with her.
"Are you coming tonight?" Sally asked.
"To where?"
"The bonfire. Every Sunday at sunset we all come down and if it's not raining, we start a bonfire and hang out together. There's no chance of seeing anything, what with the fire scaring away any animals, but it's a nice way to end the week."
"I'd like to, thanks." Alessandra smiled. "So, how long have you been here Sally, and you, Lisa?"
"Six years, would you believe? I can't. But it's definitely six years and counting." Lisa replied.
"Six years?" Alessandra couldn't help but show her surprise.
"That's nothing," Sally interjected. "I'm a newbie at only three years, but Robert has been here for nine, and old Willie over there has been here for eighteen, or so he claims."
"Why?" Alessandra blurted out.
They all stared at her.
"Why stay so long?" Lisa replied. "Take a look around and let me ask you another question: why on earth would you want to leave?"
Lisa had a point. Standing on the beach looking out towards the loch, surrounded by the tranquillity and such wonderful scenery and nature, she could see it was a valid question.
The moment was only broken when a police helicopter flew overhead and headed over towards where several police boats were bobbing around on the loch in the distance.
"Nasty business." Robert exclaimed aloud. "I heard they found another two bodies this morning."
"Two?" Alessandra couldn't help herself from asking aloud in surprise.
"Yes."
Which was very interesting because she knew for a fact that she was only responsible for three.
So, where did the other one come from?
Chapter 11
Scotland
Edinburgh
Sunday
6.30 p.m.
Alessandra sat down opposite Gavin at the best table in the restaurant and glanced out of the window at the special view of the loch which it afforded.
She realised then that everything revolved around the loch.
The whole community existed because of it and it dominated their daily lives.
Even when relaxing in style, the most expensive seat in the house was orientated towards it. In fact, the restaurant only existed because of it.
The loch and the monster within it.
No opportunity was lost to look out across its expanse in the hope its scrutiny would be rewarded with a sighting of the monster.
Monster?
Alessandra found that the word monster was no longer appropriate.
Creature? Animal?
She thought again fondly of the term Young Angus had used: 'The Lady of the Loch', and she decided it perhaps fitted best.
Lady of the Loch.
Of course, it would prove to be a disaster if at the end of it all, it turned out there was only one, and it was a male after all.
"Penny for them?" Gavin asked, pouring her a glass of red wine.
"I'm just realising how much everything revolves around the loch." She replied.
"We make the most of what we have. It's a tight-knit community that does its best to get by. We look after each other and the loch, and the loch looks after us. Anyway, how are you settling in, in your caravan? Have you met any of the neighbours yet?"
"Yes, I have, and tonight I'll be joining them for the bonfire if the sky stays clear. Have you ever been?"
"Yes, but I've not been invited for a while..."
"Consider yourself invited."
Alessandra liked Gavin. She felt relaxed in his company. She'd bumped into him on the way up to the supermarket from the caravan park and he was in a rush, but he'd asked if she fancied joining him for dinner, his treat.
"I'd heard the Scots were a mean bunch, so I'll have to accept, just so I can tell my friends it's not true!" she'd joked.
Gavin had suggested the Boathouse Lochside, and she'd accepted without realising it was also the most expensive in town. Its location on the edge of the loch was unbeatable.
"You look tired." Gavin said, honestly.
"I am. I was feeling a bit under-the-weather earlier. But I'm a lot better now."
"Did you sleep okay?"
"Like a log. You wouldn't believe it. I guess I didn't realise how tired I was from the sailing I did on the West Coast a few days ago. It's all this fresh air. You stop running from life, stop working so hard and wham- it suddenly hits you."
"Have you met Lisa yet? You should ask her for one of her massages. By the time she's finished with you, you'll be a different person. She hunts down every tiny little piece of stress in your body, and releases it... and wow, you feel amazing."
"I'd just fall asleep."
They chose their meals, and Gavin recommended the sticky toffee pudding, but Alessandra opted out.
"I don't eat too much; I try to keep myself in shape and piling on the pounds doesn't help."
"Are you saying I'm fat?"
"I didn't mean that. Actually, you look good, but you were probably just fishing for compliments, so I won't say any more."
"Don't. But I'm having the sticky-toffee pudding anyway."
Just then several police-officers came in through the doors of the restaurant and came and sat down at a table nearby.
"The police are everywhere at the moment," Alessandra remarked, prompting a response.
"It's not always like this. It's the bodies which have been found on the loch."
"Robert, in the caravan park, said today that they'd found more bodies. I think two more yesterday?"
"Yes. It was in the local paper this morning."
"What happened? Do you know what it's all about?"
"A few days ago, they found a body on a cruiser moored on the loch. Then a body floated to the surface and so they sent down police divers to look for more, just in case. They apparently found another two. One was in a suitcase. A young woman. The paper was hypothesising that it may be the body of a sex-worker who went missing in Inverness about a week ago."
"A sex-worker? What's that?" Alessandra asked, feigning innocence.
"It’s our PC way of saying a prostitute."
"From Inverness. I wouldn't have thought that a city that size would have anything like that going on."
"I guess, wherever there are tourists, there's a business opportunity. Anyway, hopefully, in a few days, the police will find everything they need and move on. Normally there're only a fe
w Bobbies in town. Before this, the biggest crime that ever hit Fort Augustus was when someone stole a canoe. That was two years ago."
They ordered dinner and when Gavin made his excuses and went to the toilet to wash his hands, having come straight from work, Alessandra thought about what he had said.
She never made judgements about the people she assassinated. She just did her job. But knowing that Kuznetsov had probably murdered a young woman, did make the hit a little more justified.
Over the years she’d had brief encounters with members of different mafia organisations from throughout the world. In comparison with most of them, her memories of her friends and relatives in the Family in Italy were very, very different. They lived to a code. They killed to a code. And there was honour in the Family. Outside of Sicily, things were very different.
--------------------
Sunday
Fort Augustus, Loch Ness
9.00 p.m.
After dinner Gavin had escorted Alessandra back to the caravan park and they'd found a seat around the pile of drift wood and tree branches which would soon be set on fire.
Gavin knew everybody and through him Alessandra was introduced to everyone else, including those who had hung back earlier and viewed her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion.
Alessandra had brought with her a bottle of wine and when the fire was lit, they all sat around under the darkening sky and started to swap their experiences of the week.
Sadly, no one had seen the 'lady of the loch', but as previously warned, Alessandra was soon being subjected to the stories and experiences of others, which she found not only fascinating but hopeful.
Just before midnight Gavin made his excuses and left, but not before Alessandra thanked him for the meal and for everything he'd done for her over the past few days and kissed him gently on the cheek.
Which didn't go unnoticed with Lisa or Sally, who made faces and giggled suggestively.
Alessandra politely ignored them and immediately changed the subject, turning the attention back to Sally.
"So, what did you see?" she asked.
"I was in my car, driving along the side of the loch. I was up here on holiday from Glasgow, escaping from my husband who I was in the process of leaving, and I was day-dreaming. Just glancing casually at the loch whenever the trees thinned out. Then suddenly I saw this huge 'thing' near the edge of the loch. I pulled over, got out of my car, and ran down to the shore, which was only about twenty metres away. It must have been about thirty metres out. It was huge."
The Assassin's Gift Page 11