Out of control

by John Dysart

  There was a metal rod attached to the cover which Maggie pushed upward and the lid fell back onto the ground with a crash and I could suddenly see the darkening sky and the soft illuminations of the stars starting to become visible.

  She managed to scramble out and soon found a ladder which she lowered down the shaft so that I could clamber wearily out. We were at the back of the hotel but safe for the moment.

  We allowed ourselves a moment or two to get our breath back and to appreciate the fact that we were out of danger - of the fire, at least, I thought to myself, but said nothing.

  “We’ve got to get away from the hotel but keep out of sight of the people round the front. This way. Follow me.”

  Fortunately she didn’t ask questions. We ran across to the garage and climbed over the wall. “Now, sit down here and don’t move.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I kept below the level of the wall and crept along to the corner where I could get a view of the front of the hotel. Risking a glance I looked over. The two men had by now disappeared. Dugain – because I was certain that’s who it was - was standing having a last look at the blazing bonfire of the hotel, probably with a look of satisfaction on his face, although in the dusk I couldn’t tell. The third man – Macek?- was presumably also in the car.

  Dugain turned slowly on his heels, climbed into the car and they drove off. I ran to the road hoping to get its number but I’m not as fast as I used to be and by the time I got there it had already disappeared round a bend.

  As I ran back to Maggie I let out a string of curses worthy of an encyclopedia of bad language.

  “You fucking idiot,” I yelled out loud to myself. “They must have followed you. They knew you lived in Letham. They must have followed you. Shit! Shit!”

  Because I’d got my car back they would have recognized it. It must have been easy. When I drove up the day before yesterday I hadn’t been in a state of mind for checking that I wasn’t being followed. And they’ve had a couple of days to organise it.

  When I got back to Maggie she was curled up in a ball shivering and in tears. I helped her slowly to her feet.

  “Bob, I’ve lost my hotel,” she sobbed. “What’s happened?”

  I held her tightly until she quietened down a bit. “First things first. Is there anywhere we can get a bottle of brandy?”

  She nodded tearfully. “The back-up stock is in the garage.”

  “How can I get the fire brigade and the police?”

  “Archie MacPhail’s - fifty yards down the road on the left. He’ll have a phone.”

  The building was an inferno. There was no way it could be got under control. By the time the fire brigade arrived it would be just a shell. Nor was there any hope of saving anything.

  “Right. Brandy first. Come on.”

  We went to the garage and found the stock. I grabbed the first bottle I could find, ripped it open and handed it to her. She took a long pull, gasped, shuddered and handed it back. While I took my share she put her arms round me and collapsed onto my chest, sobbing.

  “My hotel. It’s gone – and everything in it. What am I going to do?” I folded my arms round her and held her tightly.

  “Who were these men?” she sniffed.

  I turned her face up to mine and kissed her. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s my fault. These men are the people I’ve been after. They must have followed me up here and they’ve just tried to get rid of me. And you’ve got caught in the cross fire.”

  “My God,” she said. She was still for a moment and then I could feel her metaphorically straiten her shoulders. She broke away from me, dried her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper and with a determined look on her face, grabbed my arm and said “Come on. There’s still a chance we can get them if we tell the police straight away they can maybe stop them getting away. Come on. Let’s get to a phone.”

  She was heading at a trot down to the village dragging me with her.

  Although the hotel was on the edge of the village someone must have seen the blaze and raised the alarm. Several people were out on the street making their way up towards us, some running, some shouting. “Whit’s happened?” “Maggie, are ye a‘right?” “Goad whit a mess!”

  We calmed everyone down. “We’re fine. There was nobody else in the hotel. We don’t know what happened. Has anyone phoned the fire brigade?”

  Someone had. “They’re oan thur way.”

  Archie’s wife came running up to Maggie in tears. “C’mon lassie, you’d better come in tae us”.

  “Archie, I need a phone – fast.”

  He didn’t hesitate. ”Follow me.” and led me into his hallway.

  I didn’t have the number in my head and I hadn’t had time to grab anything. My mobile would be completely destroyed.

  “I need the number of the police station in Stirling.”

  “Stirling?”

  “Aye. As fast as you can.”

  He dialled the emergency police and they gave him the number right away.

  A familiar voice answered the phone. ”Sergeant Maclean?” I asked, surprised, “it’s Bob Bruce and it’s an emergency. I need Inspector Ross as fast as possible.”

  Although Maclean was on night duty it seemed that Ross wasn’t. I explained as quickly as I could what had happened.

  “I am absolutely certain that it was Dugain. I recognized him. It was definitely a case of arson, if not attempted murder.”

  He didn’t mess about. “Give me your number. Ross’ll call you back in a minute or two. Which way were they headed?”

  “South from Lochbervie.”

  “Right, I’ll see what I can do. Hang up. Ross will call you back.”

  I hung up.

  “Arson? Murder?” said Archie in a shocked voice.

  “Yes,” I replied, but didn’t have time to go into details. “Could you go and tell Maggie that I’m getting in touch with Inspector Ross? She’ll know what you mean.”

  As he disappeared I called after him, “And any chance of a cup of tea?”

  “Don’t worry. Maisie’s fixing it,” as he disappeared through to the front room.

  Ross called back within two minutes. He told me that Sergeant Maclean had immediately alerted the various police stations on the road south but he didn’t hold out much hope of stopping them.

  “They’ll leave the country as soon as they can. Can we alert the Border Agency at the airports?” and, as an afterthought, “and the port at Rosyth? They might take the ferry.”

  “We’ll do all we can, Bob,” he assured me.

  I went through to check how Maggie was. She seemed to be in control. I reported my conversation with Ross and told her that the police would be checking all the airports.

  I could hear that the fire engines had arrived and told her to sit tight. I’d go and see them and see if anything could be saved.

  “Bob,” she called as I was leaving, “There are two cabinets and a safe in the office which are supposed to be fireproof. See if they can save them at least.”

  I asked Archie if he’d give me a hand and we went back up to the hotel. By then the roof was already ablaze. The firemen were pouring water onto the flames but the building was practically completely destroyed. I could do nothing but watch their efforts – desperately sad and very, very angry. Why had I been such a fool as not to have thought of revenge? I hadn’t been thinking straight. I was furious with myself.

  They managed to save the cabinets and the safe and I told them to put them in the garage. Fortunately the fire hadn’t spread to the outbuildings. After an hour or so we left and went back to Archie’s.

  There was no more we could do that night. The MacPhails had a spare room and Maisie insisted that Maggie take a sleeping pill and go to bed. I said I’d be up in a few minutes but I had one other phone call to make.

  I rang Mike and told him what had happened. His reaction w
as much as mine – shock and anger. I just told him that there was nothing to be done tonight but I thought he should perhaps be on his guard.

  “You never know. Maybe they’ve managed to connect us and follow you as well but I doubt if they’ll do anything tonight. I’ll call you in the morning.”

  “We’ll be OK,” he said.” Don’t worry. I’ll put Oscar out in the garden for the rest of the night and he’ll warn us if anyone comes snooping round here.”

  Chapter 27

  Maggie had been knocked out by the sleeping pill which was probably a good thing. I lay in bed reliving the experience. I couldn’t help it. When I thought of what might have happened it was almost too much. And then I thought once again of how stupid I had been not to have considered the possibility of revenge.

  Eventually I fell asleep but I almost wished I hadn’t. Dreams of flames, falling beams, screams and burnt flesh don’t exactly make for a peaceful night.

  I woke around nine feeling totally washed out and quietly got up, leaving Maggie asleep. We had slept in our clothes because we had nothing else. Everything had been in the hotel. Maisie told me that she could fix us up with something temporarily until we were able to kit ourselves out again.

  All Maggie’s clothes would have been destroyed. Everything she owned. For me it wasn’t so bad because I had only lost what I brought up for the weekend.

  After some breakfast I called Mike.

  “No visitors in the night,” he reported.

  “Thank God for that.”

  He wanted to know chapter and verse of what had happened which I gave him.

  “And you’re sure it was Dugain?”

  “Positive.”

  “And the others?

  “I don’t know. My guess would be Macek and a couple of accomplices.”

  We chatted a bit more about it. Sophie came on to commiserate with us and asked me to send her love to Maggie then handed the phone back to Mike.

  “What are you going to do now? Do you want me to come up?”

  “I’m not sure. Maggie’s not awake yet. I’ll wait ‘til she comes down and let you know. I’ll call you back.”

  There were practical matters to attend to. I went up to the hotel to recover my car. It was fine. Fortunately it had been parked far enough away not to have been damaged. The building wasn’t a building any more – just a heap of blackened beams and lumps of concrete. Here and there you could see the sorry remnants of things familiar that had not been totally obliterated. A half-burnt photo frame, blackened pieces of cutlery, the remains of a few tables and chairs. I could even identify the frame of the picture of the Queen’s View that I had given Maggie for her birthday.

  I didn’t want her to see any of this but I knew she would have to. There were still a couple of firemen on watch in case anything flared up again and I wasn’t allowed to go too near.

  Luckily I had the keys for the car in the pocket of the trousers I had flung on the night before so I was able to drive it down to the MacPhails’.

  When I got back Archie informed me that Inspector Ross had called and would I call him back as soon as possible.

  I was put through to him immediately.

  “Bob, we’ve got them,” he announced triumphantly. “Edinburgh Airport. This morning. Dugain and two other men were checking in for a flight to Paris. The Border Police have held them and I’m going through right now with Maclean.”

  “Fantastic,” I cried, with relief. “Do you think you’ll be able to hold them this time?”

  “I’ll make bloody sure I can. And you’ll be very interested to know who the other two were.”

  “Who?”

  “Two Romanians by the name of Dumitru.”

  “Wow! He must have brought them over specially. Didn’t want to trust anyone else, I suppose.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “And Macek?”

  “Apparently not. Either he’s got through the net on a false passport or he’s still here. If he is I can pick him up for questioning later.”

  “Ross, hold on a minute.”

  My mind was racing. It had clicked back into gear again.

  “What if he’s stayed behind just to check that I’m out of the way?”

  “Shit. And you’re still around. You think he might try again?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “I’ll send you up Sergeant Maclean to keep an eye on you for a couple of days.”

  “No, don’t do that.”

  I paused for a few seconds.

  “You still there?”

  “Yes. I’ve maybe got another idea. Can I call you back?”

  I put the phone down slowly and walked out into the front garden, trying to think through what I would do if I was Macek. He wouldn’t come back up here. Too dangerous. But the one place he would watch was Letham. He knew that was where I lived and, if I had survived, I would go back there sometime – probably straight away. All he had to do was keep a check on the house for a few days. If I didn’t turn up he could safely assume that I’d perished. If I did appear, he could finish the job.

  Here was perhaps an opportunity to snare Macek. I went out for a walk to think it over. Was it reasonable to ask Mike if he would do it? I could always ask. I felt pretty sure that, knowing him, he would but still…… Deciding that I would, I went back in and called him.

  I immediately relayed the news about Dugain and his two brothers.

  “Great,” was his immediate reaction. “So it’s all wrapped up?”

  “Not quite. Macek is still on the loose and he’s dangerous. I’m certain he was the one that killed Irina remember.”

  There was a silence at the other end.

  “I’ve had an idea that I’d like to discuss with you. Could you come up as quickly as possible and I’ll tell you about it. We’re staying with the MacPhails. Anyone in the village will direct you to their house and you’ll see my car parked outside. But just tell Sophie and the others that you’re only coming up to collect me. Don’t say anything about Macek, OK?”

  “I’ll be up in about an hour and a half. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything.”

  I called Ross back and explained to him my reasoning for a different course of action. He asked me a couple of questions, we discussed the potential outcomes and, finally, he agreed – provided that Mike was OK with it.

  “I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve discussed it with him. He’s on the way up here right now.”

  *

  Maggie was still asleep when Mike arrived. We went up to look at the wreck of the hotel and on the way back I put my proposition to him.

  As I suspected, he liked the idea. We went over the details and he agreed he would keep me informed as soon as anything happened. Everything was quickly sorted out and he left for the south.

  I watched him drive off down the road, hoping to God that he was going to be alright. I’d never forgive myself if anything serious happened to him.

  I went up to see how Maggie was. She had just woken up and made a half-hearted effort to smile at me.

  She stretched out her arms to me and I went over, sat down on the edge of the bed and held her hands. I’m not much good with words in situations like that but I did my best.

  She wanted to go up to the hotel to see what was left.

  “Are you sure you’re up to it.”

  “Definitely. Come on. I need to see it with my own eyes and know it wasn’t a horrible dream.”

  I tried to warn her as we walked up but when we got there she just stared at the mess and burst into tears. “Everything I own has gone,” she said, sobbing in my arms. “What am I going to do?”

  “What we are going to do,” I replied “is get the hell out of here for a few days and get the insurance people in. We’ll recover all that you’ve got in the filing cabinets and the safe which have been recovered and put in the garage. Archie has said he’ll do whatever is necessary up here and we c
an go down to Heather’s and ….”

  She was nodding, only half listening.

  “It was that man, Dugain, wasn’t it? That man who tricked Liam?”

  “Yes. And while you’ve been asleep I’ve heard from Ross that they’ve caught him at Edinburgh Airport trying to get out of the country.”

  “Good. That’s some compensation. I hope he gets locked up and loses everything that he owns.”

  She looked up at me. There was no reproach in her eyes.

  “Bob, it’s not your fault. I told you that you had to do what you thought was right and worse things have happened to these girls than what’s happened to me. When I think of what could have happened to Ana it makes me shudder.”

  She took a last look around the devastation and turned to leave.

  “Hey, where’s your car?”

  “Mike came up and took it away. He thought it would be more useful for us to have his big four wheel drive for taking stuff down south.”

  In the circumstances it seemed to be a reasonable half-truth.

  I left Maggie at the MacPhails’ and went down with Archie to the post office to see if they had any cardboard boxes. We then went up to empty the filing cabinets and the safe and loaded everything into Mike’s car.

  There was no point in hanging about. There was nothing else left to salvage and I thought it best that we get as far away as possible from the disaster area to give Maggie a chance to recover.

  I had warned Heather we were coming so we thanked the MacPhails for all their help.

  “Dinna worry, Bob. I’ll take care of things up here,” Archie assured me. Maisie gave us both a big comforting hug and, with tears in her eyes and a sniff, she waved us off.

  Chapter 28

  Mike’s story:

  As soon as I put the phone down I went through and told Sophie I had to go and collect Bob and Maggie. She was busy working on her laptop, emailing clients or whatever. She seemed to be phoning and emailing at the same time – multi-tasking! – so she only half heard me, I think.

  All I got was a wave and “How long will you be?”

  “Don’t know. About four hours I guess.”