Redemption Road

by Lisa Ballantyne

  ‘I don’t recall anyone of that name. What does he do? In what capacity would we have met?’

  ‘I don’t know how you met. He’s just a mechanic but I’m very worried —’

  ‘Tam!’ said Angus, sitting back down on his chair and leaning forward, elbows on the desk, so that he could hear more clearly.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. You remember him? Do you know where he is?’

  ‘Eh… I had… no idea he was missing. He works at the McLaughlin garage in the East End?’

  The woman began to sob and Angus waited for her to stop. He pulled his pad out of his briefcase again and flicked back to the day when he met Tam, scanning the minimal notes he had made on the meeting.

  ‘You know him?’

  ‘I… met him briefly on Saturday. He did some work on my car and I spoke to him about a case I’m working on… You say he is missing… When did you last see him?’

  ‘Sunday. He never works on Sundays, but they called him in.’

  ‘Well, you should contact the police.’

  ‘I did, but…’ she sniffed, ‘he’s not a priority. It’s only been forty-eight hours and I told them he doesn’t enjoy work, and we’ve had… money worries and… we’ve been under a lot of strain. I get the impression that the police think he’s just run off, but I know him, and I also know he’s been worried sick working in that place. They’re not good people. They’re the kind of people who could make a man… disappear.’

  ‘Hold on one minute,’ said Angus, putting his hand over the receiver. His colleagues were all leaving the office and he waved them goodbye.

  He switched off his police scanner and gave May his full attention.

  ‘Let me get this straight,’ said Angus. ‘Are you… are you still there?’

  ‘Yes,’ said May. Angus could hear the tears in her throat.

  ‘You have reported Tam’s disappearance to the police but you believe that he has come to some harm… from the McLaughlins?’

  ‘Do you know something? Oh dear God, I begged him not to take that job. We were desperate, but I told him not to take it. They’re cruel, violent people and… Tam not even being a Catholic, it just…’

  ‘Not a Catholic?’ said Angus, purely out of interest. ‘What faith does he follow?’

  ‘We’re Protestant, Church of Scotland,’ said May, very quickly, then quietly blew her nose.

  ‘And you called me because?’

  ‘Like I said, I found your card in Tam’s pocket. Do you know anything… anything at all that might help?’

  ‘I don’t know anything,’ said Angus, then, more cautiously, ‘but I do know what you mean when you say the McLaughlins are not good people.’

  ‘They’re evil,’ said May, her voice becoming stronger and louder. ‘I begged him not to work there when they offered him a job, but he promised me it would be OK. He said he would just do his work and come home, not get involved, but I could see the pressure of just being there was making him ill. He was sick with it… and I told that to the police and now I think they think he’s just upped and left me, deserted me… but I know Tam and he wouldn’t, he just wouldn’t leave me, ever.’

  Angus bit his lip as he considered.

  ‘You’re saying that you think the McLaughlins are involved in your husband’s disappearance?’

  ‘Oh, God, I hope not. It’s my worst fear. It’s what I’ve feared since he took the job… but they asked him to come in to work and now he’s missing.’

  ‘What reason would the McLaughlins have for taking Tam?’

  ‘I don’t know. I called because I thought you might know something, I don’t… I just don’t have any idea. And you don’t know him? He just worked on your car? But why would he have your card?’

  Angus felt an icy dread in his veins. It felt like yesterday morning when he had gone out to the shed, hoping for a newborn calf but finding Maisie’s dead body.

  ‘I… I was speaking to him about a story I’m working on.’

  ‘For the John o’Groat Journal? But we’ve never been further north than Oban! What story?’

  ‘I don’t know if you’ve seen the news? A little girl from Thurso was abducted a week ago… Molly Henderson.’

  ‘Molly? What does Tam have to do with that?’

  May, who had been so inaudible at the beginning of the call, was now almost shouting, and Angus had to hold the earpiece an inch from his ear.

  ‘I was talking to Tam, not about Molly but about George McLaughlin, who I understand has skipped town. I wondered if Tam knew where he was.’

  ‘George has skipped town.’

  ‘You know about it?’

  ‘Tam tells me everything. We’re very close. We have our troubles, but we share everything, we always have, which is why I know that he wouldn’t have just left… abandoned me. He’s a proud man, a quiet man, a strong man… but he wouldn’t just disappear, no matter what pressure he was under. Tam and I…’

  May broke down again; as she sobbed, Angus took the time to turn over a new leaf in his pad and draft some questions for her.

  ‘I understand how very difficult this must be for you, he said. I see two issues here: you want to know what happened to your husband, and I might have been one of the last people to speak to him, outside of close family, before he disappeared. Secondly, I am trying to find George McLaughlin, and you might know where he is?’

  The line went quiet, and then there was the muffled sound of May talking to a child. The office light was waning, and he turned on his desk lamp.

  ‘I’m sorry, I can’t talk now. May I ask… can you call me back?’

  ‘Certainly,’ said Angus, ‘give me your number.’

  Angus made a note of the number, hung up, stretched over to Amanda’s desk to steal one of her Turkish delights, then dialled May Driscoll.

  May picked up right away. Her voice sounded different and there was an echo.

  ‘I’m in the front bedroom, so we won’t be disturbed. My daughter’s home, you see. I don’t want her to worry… Tam did tell me something about George.’

  ‘What did he tell you?’

  ‘It was payday, a Friday, and Tam came home drunker than usual. He often went to the pub on payday but he’s a quiet man; he can take or leave the drink, and so I was surprised. I remember I made him a cup of tea and he accidentally dropped it. It wasn’t like him to get so drunk.

  ‘In the morning, I spoke to him. He was full of worry, and he made me promise not to tell anyone, but he said that George McLaughlin had found some money, and was going to run away to Penzance in Cornwall with it. I asked him why Penzance and Tam said it was a family cottage down there. I know the area and I asked him where – it was between Sennen and Porthcurno. I asked him about this money and he said he didn’t know whose it was, or where he’d found it, but that George was going to leave all the same and Tam wasn’t sure he could keep on working at the garage once George was gone.’

  ‘Why was that?’ said Angus, making notes so fast that his hand was cramping.

  ‘He told me George wasn’t like the others. I’m not saying George McLaughlin was a saint, but Tam had a sense that George was keeping him safe.’

  ‘He and George were friends then?’

  ‘Only in the loosest terms. I guarded him against it, and Tam agreed. They worked together and went for the odd pint, but that was all. I gather George is quite a character.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘I haven’t met him but Tam tells me he’s quite the performer. A joker. Big tall man.’

  Angus made a note: performer, not sure what to make of it.

  ‘Did your husband say if George had mentioned anything about a girl?’

  ‘No, only the money and Penzance. He swore me to secrecy. But I gather George always has a girl in tow.’

  ‘No, I mean a child. Did he mention anything about a child?’

  ‘Not that I recall.’

  ‘But you told the police?’

  ‘I told the police Tam was missi
ng, but not about George’s money and Penzance.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell them about the money and George?’

  ‘Is there a wee want about you? Why do you think? Anyone would think twice mentioning the McLaughlins to the police. That family have ears everywhere.’

  Angus made another note on his pad: McLaughlin – Police?

  May was quiet and so was Angus, and they listened to the measured sounds of each other’s breathing for a minute or so. His mind was racing, the biro slippery in his hand.

  ‘Oh my God,’ said May, suddenly. ‘Do you think they’ve gone away together?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘George and Tam.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Angus, cautiously. ‘How much money did George find, do you know?’

  ‘I’ve no idea.’

  ‘And would your husband be tempted by wealth, if… the money found… was significant?’

  There was quiet on the line for a moment, then May spoke. ‘No, definitely not. We need money. We’re skint. We have been since Tam lost his job last year; it was the whole reason he took the McLaughlin job… but do I think he would leave us for money? Not for a second.’

  Angus took down May Driscoll’s address and telephone number, and promised to keep in touch. He sat back in his chair, eyes and mouth wide open as he considered the information she had given him. He realised that there was no other option than for him to give chase. He knew now where George McLaughlin was headed, and despite what the police seemed to think and what May had said, Angus knew in his gut that Molly was with him.

  He wasn’t sure that he now had time for the press conference, but he stopped at the Royal Hotel and ran inside. The room was crowded and hot with lamps and flashes. There were no seats left and Angus stood at the back.

  Inspector Black was just finishing his address. ‘We are coordinating with national forces and can reveal that we are looking into links with other young girls who have gone missing in the past few years.’

  ‘Does that mean you are looking for a serial killer?’ asked a journalist near the front.

  DI Black’s red cheeks puffed in annoyance. ‘Molly has been missing for several days, but a murder investigation will only begin if we find a body. At the moment we are still hoping to find her alive.’

  ‘But the suggestion is that it could be a serial abductor?’

  ‘We are following up all leads.’

  ‘Do the police think that Molly’s disappearance is connected to the murder of Tracey Begg?’

  Angus stood on his tiptoes, straining to spot the journalist who was asking the questions, but he could not see over the heads of the people standing before him.

  ‘All leads are being followed up, but no definite link has been made at this time.’

  ‘Tracey Begg was found dead in England ten days after her abduction and Molly has now been missing for nearly a week. Is there —’

  Inspector Black interrupted and raised his voice. Angus could see that he was exasperated with the journalist. He lifted a hand to silence further questions.

  ‘To repeat: this is not presently a murder investigation. We are coordinating with the national force on the assumption that Molly is now no longer in the local area. We are following up a number of leads. Her natural father, George McLaughlin from Glasgow, is wanted for questioning and should go to a police station in case he has any information related to Molly’s disappearance. Similarly, we urge those who know McLaughlin to help us identify his whereabouts…’

  There was another rowdy wave of questions, but Inspector Black held up his hand again to silence them. ‘We are also following up links about a vehicle spotted leaving Thurso.’

  Before further questions could be asked, DI Black stood up and left the table with his colleagues, and the microphones were switched off.

  Because he was at the back of the room, Angus got out before the swell of other journalists. He went straight back to the farm, ate the dinner that Hazel had prepared for him, and then packed his suitcase.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Hazel managed, as he opened the stiff drawer under the wardrobes to pull out one of his winter sweaters. The anaesthetising scent of mothballs filled the room.

  ‘You don’t need to know,’ said Angus, snapping shut the fastenings on his suitcase. ‘Suffice to say I am going south on business and will be gone for some time.’

  ‘When will you be home?’

  ‘That is none of your concern, but I will call you once a week and tomorrow, before I leave, I will take out sufficient money to feed you and the children for the period of my absence.’

  ‘What are you doing, Angus? Where are you going in the south?’

  ‘That,’ said Angus, heaving his suitcase to the floor and straightening his collar and cuffs, ‘is none of your concern. Suffice to say that I am being sent on very important business… business of national, if not international importance. I leave first thing in the morning.’

  He was intoxicated at the thought of being on his way. George McLaughlin was on the run, but Angus Campbell was going to catch him.

  23

  Margaret Holloway

  Monday 23 December, 2013

  ‘Harry, I’m so sorry to bother you at home,’ said Margaret. ‘I need to get into the school. I have a presentation to prepare for the in-service day in January and I need something off my computer.’

  It was the 23rd of December and Margaret was sitting in her car in the school car park, calling the janitor, who lived a block away.

  She hadn’t set out to drive to school. Their car had recently been returned from the garage. Ben was looking after the children and she had decided that she needed to get behind the wheel again. She hadn’t driven since the crash but knew she had to. Before she knew what she was doing, she had found herself on her familiar commute.

  ‘Why don’t you wait until I can come with you?’ Ben had said.

  ‘I need to do it on my own. I can’t have you drive me everywhere.’

  ‘I’m not saying drive you. I’m just saying be with you.’

  ‘It’s something I need to do by myself. I need to get over it.’

  ‘Well, we’ll come with you,’ he said, meaning him and the children. ‘I’ll give them a shout. We’ll come right now if you’re in the mood.’

  ‘As if I’d take that risk,’ she had said, putting on her coat. ‘The last time I was behind a wheel I was in a pile-up. I’m better off alone.’

  It had been the wrong thing to say. Ben was the most easy-going man she had ever met, but his face had been full of worry for her when she drew away from the house.

  She had felt all right until she got on to the motorway. Now, sitting in the school car park calling Harry the janitor, she was sweating and thirsty. After she had found herself on the road to school, she had decided to try to get in to cross-reference Maxwell’s name with those on the databases.

  ‘Ah, Mrs H, you work too hard, you do,’ said Harry. ‘It’s Christmas, remember?’

  ‘I know, I know, and once I have this file I’m sure I’ll procrastinate the whole holiday. It’s just I really need it… otherwise I wouldn’t trouble you to let me in.’