In Harm's Way

by Owen Mullen

  Gavin didn’t deny it.

  ‘Then I’m told the police want to “eliminate me from their enquiries”. Too fucking right I’m bringing a lawyer with me. Be a bloody fool to do anything else.’ He stood. ‘I’ll tell Adele when I’m ready to tell her. When she’s ready to hear it. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have work to go to.’

  Gavin wouldn’t be brushed off so easily. ‘Could’ve done it clean. It didn’t need to be like this. You’ve got a day, Gardiner. You tell her or I will.’

  * * *

  Derek Crawford locked his office door. He didn’t want to be disturbed. He dialled the number and waited for Adele to answer. When she did, her tone was hesitant, cautious, as if she was reluctant to speak. ‘… Hello.’

  ‘Adele, it’s Derek.’

  ‘Derek. Is there news? Has Mackenzie contacted you?’

  ‘No. No, she hasn’t.’ He heard the disappointment come down the line. ‘That isn’t why I’m calling.’

  ‘Then why?’

  ‘To apologise. I was out-of-order the other night. Bursting in. Fighting with Blair. I’m sorry it happened.’

  Adele was sympathetic. ‘I appreciate it but there’s no need, really there isn’t. You were upset. This must be a nightmare for you.’

  ‘It is. Bringing the police into it put me over the edge. Truth is, I was pretty close to it before that. I’m either a cuckold or I’ve done away with my wife. Not the greatest choices.’

  ‘Nobody’s saying that.’

  ‘Maybe not saying it. They’re certainly thinking it.’

  His sister-in-law didn’t give him an argument.

  ‘Blair deserves an apology, too. I’m working up to that one. He’s always been protective about Mackenzie. Isn’t there, is he?’

  She was tempted to unload and decided against it. Telling Derek that Blair hadn’t come home the last two nights would only make things worse. ‘No. It’s just me, and I shouldn’t be here, either. I asked the school for a few weeks off. They were very good about it. Now I wish I hadn’t. Mooching around the house worrying doesn’t help.’

  ‘Know the feeling. I’m calling from the office. Was going crazy staring at the phone hour after hour, willing it to ring. Have to accept it, she’s gone. Mackenzie’s gone. Been eight days.’

  ‘That’s not long. I’m hoping that wherever she is she’ll come to her senses. The sooner the better.’

  ‘That’s the thing. The more time passes the harder it is to put it behind us, even if I could. Even if I wanted to. Told the police I wouldn’t take her back. That isn’t the truth. Been doing a lot of thinking. Maybe I was wrong for Mackenzie from the start. That’s always been Gavin’s opinion. And Blair’s.’

  ‘Maybe, but I disagree. You made her happy.’

  ‘Did I, I wonder?’

  ‘Yes, you did. Alcohol changes people. Nobody can help an alcoholic or anyone addicted unless they can admit they have a problem. Mackenzie hasn’t reached that place. Until and unless she does…’ She heard herself getting carried away and stopped. ‘I’m saying you aren’t to blame. What’s happened isn’t your fault.’

  He sounded subdued. ‘Just wish I could believe it.’

  ‘Believe it. You’ve given that girl everything. What she does after that is up to her.’

  ‘I miss her, Adele. I really miss her.’

  ‘We all do. Mackenzie’s a giant pain and always has been, but we love her.’

  Derek couldn’t let it go. ‘What if she doesn’t contact me? How can I live knowing I could’ve done more?’

  Comforting Derek Crawford was helping Adele. Her own troubles seemed less significant compared to what he was going through. Under her breath she cursed her sister for the hurt she’d caused. Not only to her husband, to all of them.

  ‘It’ll be all right. She’ll turn up at the door full of the promises we’ve heard before. Perhaps this time she’ll keep some of them.’

  * * *

  Gavin had intended to go back to work but after the confrontation at the Lorne Hotel, he couldn’t face it and went home. Monica took one look and didn’t question him, immediately understanding it hadn’t gone well. He’d talk about it when he was ready.

  The day passed with little conversation and she was afraid the progress made the night before was in danger of being lost. She dismissed the thought: they couldn’t go back there – not for Mackenzie, not for Blair, not for anyone.

  She overheard Gavin calling the office, telling them he needed another few days. He was the boss. Nobody asked him why. By necessity, small businesses were lean and Jamieson Coburn was no exception. Deadlines didn’t just go away. Clients were only interested in how their design was progressing. Everything else came second. He had other responsibilities besides a wayward sibling and couldn’t step back for very much longer.

  Monica brought coffee for both of them and set the cups on the table. ‘How you doing?’

  He told her the truth. ‘Not great. This morning…’ He didn’t finish the sentence. ‘Not great, Mo.’

  ‘Anything I can do?’

  ‘Why do people make life so complicated?’

  Did he mean them?

  ‘We can’t help it. It’s who we are.’

  ‘Why do we always want what we haven’t got?’

  ‘Thought we were putting the last few months behind us?’

  Her husband moved from the couch and took her hands in his. ‘We have. I’m not thinking about us.’

  ‘Derek and Mackenzie?’

  ‘Derek and Mackenzie, Blair and Adele, the whole bloody world. Relationships have to be simpler than that.’

  He gathered his thoughts. ‘Blair’s having an affair.’

  Monica almost shouted. ‘What! Blair? Seriously? Please tell me it isn’t with Mackenzie. Our Blair? I know I said it was possible but I really didn’t think it was happening.’

  ‘Apparently he isn’t “Our Blair” anymore. I knew they weren’t getting along but I didn’t realise how bad it was. Dismissed it as one of those troughs every marriage goes through. Well, it isn’t. He was at the Lorne Hotel with a woman, having breakfast together.’

  Monica struggled to take it in. ‘Surely it’s a mistake? Something to do with work, maybe? Not what it seems.’

  Gavin could see her reaching for an explanation she could live with and was glad they’d come to their senses. A day earlier this conversation would’ve been too close to home.

  ‘He didn’t deny it, Mo. They were holding hands. The only good thing is it blows him having a thing about Mackenzie out of the water.’

  ‘Poor Adele – does she know? She’ll be devastated.’

  ‘Not the details. But she will. He’s going to tell her.’

  ‘And those boys. What’s got into him?’

  ‘Damned if I know. Told you, the world’s gone mad.’

  She looked up at him with fear in her eyes, needing his reassurance. ‘Thank God it isn’t happening to us.’

  Later, he was on the phone again. She heard him say ‘Andrew’. When they met in the kitchen he was wearing his jacket. ‘Got to go out. Meeting Geddes for a pint. He’s going to bring me up to date, whatever the hell that means. If Adele phones don’t say you know anything about it.’

  * * *

  Andrew Geddes leaned against the bar in Blackfriars at the corner of Bell Street in Merchant City and read the posters on the walls advertising live music. In the nineties he couldn’t see past the Red Hot Chili Peppers or, at a push, Guns ‘N’ Roses. A long time ago. He swirled the dregs in the bottom of his glass and thought about having something to eat. Chicken Balmoral caught his eye until he read the ingredients: haggis stuffing. Geddes hated haggis. Beer-battered fresh haddock got the vote but just as he was about to order Gavin Darroch came through the door, waved and joined him.

  The DS said, ‘What’re you drinking?’

  Gavin pointed to the empty glass in front of the detective. ‘What’s that you’re on?’

  ‘Brooklyn Black Chocolate.’
>
  ‘Any good?’

  ‘It’s all right, yeah.’

  ‘Then that’ll do.’

  Geddes paid and they carried their drinks to a table over by the wall. ‘Don’t mind if I eat, do you?’

  ‘Suit yourself.’

  The DS went to the barman and came back.

  Gavin said, ‘Tough day?’

  Geddes shrugged. ‘Fighting evil wherever it raises its ugly head. You know, the usual.’

  ‘And where does it raise its ugly head?’

  ‘In Glasgow? Fucking everywhere.’

  ‘So what’ve you got to tell me?’

  The policeman set the scene. ‘When you came to the station to report your sister missing, have to admit I didn’t reckon there was much to it. The clothes and the stalker made me change my mind. That sounded suspicious.’

  Gavin Darroch listened, wondering if some bombshell was about to drop. It was bombshell season. He needn’t have worried. The DS said, ‘In the last few days I’ve spoken to your wife, your sister Adele, to Blair Gardiner – though his lawyer did most of the talking – and your brother-in-law Derek Crawford, as well as their cleaner and Mackenzie’s boss and colleagues at the garden centre.’

  He interrupted himself to drink his beer and wipe a froth moustache off his top lip, giving Gavin a glimpse of what the detective would look like thirty years down the line.

  Geddes returned to the feedback. ‘Be nice to be able to report I made some big discovery. But it wouldn’t be true. Every one of them tells more or less the same story. Mackenzie was a problem drinker. They’re all agreed on that. An unhappy woman with a track record of – and I’m aware this is your sister I’m talking about – being “economical with the truth”’. He tried to gauge Gavin’s reaction. ‘What I’m saying is, I haven’t found anything that suggests foul play.’

  ‘Not taking her clothes?’

  The policeman waited for the barman to lay a place mat and cutlery on the table before he went on. ‘Maybe she never intended to take them. Maybe her new man’s got money and she didn’t need to take them. Maybe it was symbolic – a fresh start away from Crawford. Who knows? She’s a woman. Can’t predict any bloody thing with them.’

  ‘What about the stalker?’

  Geddes lifted the knife in one hand and the fork in the other and rested his arms on the table. ‘You mean the stalker nobody saw except her?’

  When the fish and chips arrived, the policeman examined the plate with his eyes then dropped his conclusion into the conversation. ‘I’ve changed my mind.’

  Gavin took a deep breath. ‘That surprises me.’

  ‘Surprises me, too. But the more I talked to people the clearer it became that the stalker was probably a fairytale. Consider this: who actually saw this guy?’

  ‘Derek. In Buchanan Street. He described a man wearing a black coat.’

  Geddes used the knife to emphasise his agreement. ‘Correct. A man in a black coat who Mackenzie later confessed was her lover.’ He forked haddock into his mouth. ‘Do you see where I’m going with this? All we have is her word. Unfortunately, that isn’t enough.’ The detective gave his dinner his attention. ‘Bloody good, by the way. Should try some.’

  Gavin wasn’t hungry. ‘I’ll pass if it’s all the same to you.’

  ‘When your other brother-in-law showed up with a lawyer, must admit I thought he’d something to hide.’

  ‘He does.’

  ‘Who doesn’t? But nothing he told me connects him to your sister’s disappearance.’

  The detective chewed and swallowed. ‘So why come lawyered-up?’ He answered his own question. ‘My guess is he’s having an affair and didn’t want anybody to find out about it.’

  Gavin Darroch stared across the table in disbelief. ‘How the hell did you figure that out?’

  Geddes tapped the side of his nose. ‘Copper’s instinct. Came over as a straight guy. But even straight guys have secrets. So I’m right?’

  ‘Absolutely. The night the family got together to discuss Mackenzie ended pretty badly. Derek had made it clear he was done with her and wasn’t invited. He burst in to have it out with me for involving you and accused Blair of fancying Mackenzie. They fought. It wasn’t good. But we all thought there was more to it.’

  ‘You thought they were involved?’

  ‘Yeah. Turns out he wasn’t, but that’s why he came ready to defend himself. He knew he was innocent and was afraid you might pin something on him. I understand it’s been known.’

  Andrew Geddes half-emptied his glass and burped. ‘Has it? Anyway, I heard enough to know that whatever he was keeping dark had nothing to do with your sister. Will say this for him: he spoke about her like a friend. More than could be said for some.’

  ‘So you’re telling me nothing criminal’s going on.’

  Geddes finished his drink. ‘No, I’m telling you there’s no evidence of anything criminal. A big difference.’

  Day Twelve

  The Baxter House

  Lowther Hills

  Across the room the chair was empty. He wasn’t there. Even the rats had gone quiet. They knew what he knew – it would soon be over, and she’d never understand why. Mackenzie drifted in and out of consciousness, beyond hurt, beyond pain. One regret stayed with her: Alec. If she’d listened to him, done what he’d wanted her to do, how different it might’ve been. But she’d lacked the courage and had paid the price. Her eyes fluttered and closed and she drifted into dreamlessness.

  * * *

  The voice on the phone had the same bitter edge as when he’d burst into the meeting at their house, except now it was joined by something he couldn’t put his finger on. Derek Crawford spoke slowly, deliberately, keeping his anger in check, savouring the words. ‘I’ve seen him, Gavin. I’ve seen the bastard. I’m following him.’

  The line went dead. Gavin called back. Nobody answered. Ten minutes later the mobile rang again. He managed to get off a question. ‘Where?’

  Derek didn’t reply, and in that moment his brother-in-law realised the only thing that existed for him was his wife’s lover. He tried a second time, almost shouting. ‘Tell me where you are?’

  Derek snapped out of it. ‘Going south. Almost at Bothwell.’

  ‘Is he alone?’

  Crawford steadied himself before answering. ‘Yes.’ His focus was absolute as he whispered to himself. ‘Got you, you bastard’. And Gavin knew he’d forgotten he was even there.

  ‘Listen. I’m on my way. Stay back. Whatever you do, don’t let him see you.’

  The smouldering rage coming from him told Gavin he wasn’t going to wait – for him or anybody else. Derek intended to have it out with the man who’d stolen his wife and there was nothing anybody could do to stop him.

  Crawford said, ‘He’ll see me. He’ll see me all right.’

  ‘If he does he’ll run. Any chance we have of finding Mackenzie will be gone.’

  Crawford didn’t answer and Gavin dived for the door shouting over his shoulder to Monica. ‘Derek’s found the guy from Buchanan Street. He’s following him. Need to catch him before he does anything stupid. They’re near Bothwell, heading south.’

  ‘Why? What?’

  ‘He thinks he’ll lead him to Mackenzie.’

  She didn’t understand. ‘But what’s the point? I mean, if she doesn’t want to be with him, it’s better to leave her alone.’

  ‘Christ knows what’s going on in his head. He sounds completely out of it. Doubt I can catch him. Got to be at least twenty minutes in front of me.’

  At a set of traffic lights, Gavin’s mobile rang. The hard determination in Derek’s voice was unmistakable, yet he seemed more in control. ‘Still on the motorway. Lesmahagow coming up. No sign of him turning off. Where are you?’

  ‘Leaving the city.’

  ‘That’s a good way behind me.’

  The anger in Derek’s voice worried Gavin. This might be the chance to sort out this whole mess. He said, ‘Don’t lose sight of him and
for God’s sake don’t do anything daft.’

  Derek laughed a grim laugh. ‘Not a chance. I’m having the bastard.’

  Gavin swerved to overtake a driver in a red Mondeo loitering in the fast lane. He blasted his horn and got the finger in return. Thirty seconds later the Mondeo wasn’t in his mirror. Near Uddingston, he had a shocking realisation: Derek was so wound up he might kill this guy.

  The accelerator pressed the floor and the SUV surged forward, shooting past a line of vehicles in the middle lane. He felt the steering-wheel tremble in his sweating palms. ‘Not if I can help it,’ he said out loud.

  Minutes later, Bothwell – home to footballers and businessmen – appeared on a hill to the right. Gavin’s mind raced. What if it’s a mistake? What if it wasn’t the same guy? His thoughts fell silent and he concentrated on the road.

  The mobile lay abandoned in the well between the seats. Gavin glanced at it, willing it to break into life. It didn’t. Time passed. Five minutes became ten. The Central Belt was left behind, the scenery changed: hills dotted with sheep replaced houses and, in the distance, wind turbines appeared on the horizon. Derek could be anywhere. The only thing to do was to keep driving.

  Thirty-odd minutes after he’d left Glasgow, traffic on the motorway thinned to heavy lorries and the occasional car. His mobile rang. The scary-calm had gone from Crawford’s voice. Something about him wasn’t right; he’d cracked. Gavin wasn’t sure he understood he’d been out of contact with him, that he’d lost him. Or did he even care?

  ‘He’s pulled into Abington service station.’

  ‘For God’s sake don’t get too close. He can’t see you now. We need him to lead us to Mackenzie.’

  Crawford didn’t agree or disagree. He drifted in and out of awareness, conscious enough to make the call then seeming to fade into another world. Little about him said he knew he was talking to anyone. What did that say about his state of mind? For sure, nothing good. Gavin wondered again if the whole thing wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. Derek had been under enormous pressure – more than anyone appreciated – he might be suffering some kind of emotional collapse.