Murder on the Moor
Page 34
A small slender silvery fish flaps half-heartedly.
‘What is it, Guv?’
‘A vendace.’
‘Wow!’ DS Jones pulls her mobile phone from her hip pocket. ‘I’ll get a photo.’
Skelgill seems to be speechless – it is a far stronger reaction than when they unearthed the six-figure sum of jewellery at the rear of Keeper’s Cottage earlier. But he carefully unhooks the fish and in a practised manner presents it to facilitate the shot, holding a rusty steel ruler alongside for size comparison. DS Jones satisfies herself that she has captured the image – but Skelgill continues to stare at the unremarkable specimen.
‘Hadn’t you better put it back, Guv?’
Skelgill looks up at her, his expression suddenly alarmed.
‘George wants to know what they taste like.’
DS Jones looks shocked.
But now Skelgill grins.
‘I’ll make something up.’
He lifts the fish and gently dunks it overboard, and relaxes his grip. DS Jones leans to watch. The creature takes a moment to orientate itself, and then, with a parting splosh, is gone. Skelgill rinses his hands and wipes them on a rather disreputable-looking square of frayed towel.
‘You’ve done it, Guv!’
Skelgill looks uncharacteristically unassuming. He shakes his head.
‘Aye – vendace in Over Water – who’d have thought.’
Rather absently he begins to weigh anchor, hauling in the dripping wet blue nylon rope, a fathom at a time. DS Jones seems surprised.
‘Are we going?’
Skelgill gives her a strange look, suddenly severe.
‘You don’t think I do this for fun, do you?’ But again he breaks into a grin. ‘There’s times when you have to get your priorities right.’
DS Jones smiles, but does not otherwise answer; she settles back against the stern, to the limited extent that comfort is possible in anything to do with Skelgill. He adjusts the position of his fishing rod so that it runs the length of the boat, sticking out over the prow and not obstructing the oars. He turns the craft and sets a course for the slipway. DS Jones, opposite him and thus facing the direction of travel, suddenly exclaims.
‘Oh, look – sky dancing!’
‘What?’
Skelgill cranes around to see.
‘It’s the harriers – they’re on the wing. The girls in the hide must be getting a fantastic view. I just saw the male pass food to the female in mid-flight. I was reading about it. They call it sky dancing. He does it to impress her!’
‘Like I say, lass – get your priorities right.’
Skelgill puts his back into his oars. He has not forgotten his old schoolmate and now landlord Graham Bush’s open invitation of dinner for two at the nearby Overthwaite Arms.
***
Next in the series ...
Murder Unseen is scheduled for publication in January 2021. In the meantime, books 1-15 in the Inspector Skelgill series can be found on Amazon. Each comprises a stand-alone mystery, and may be read out of sequence. All DI Skelgill books can be borrowed free with Kindle Unlimited, and also by Amazon Prime members on a Kindle device.