The Relentless Tide

by Denzil Meyrick

  ‘I was very careful. I’m not stupid.’

  ‘Indeed. And we don’t have the resources to return again and again to cases that, ostensibly, have been solved.’

  ‘What about your boss, Symington? She’s no fool, I know that.’

  ‘She’s also knee-deep in accounts, human resources and the rest of the politics her job involves. This is a nice feather in her cap. After all, she was heading up the team who found the Midweek Murderer.’

  ‘You sound very sure, Jim.’

  ‘As sure as I can be.’ It was his turn to draw a breath of the scented air. ‘What’s to be gained by another life ruined?’

  ‘Maybe I should have felt more compassion for her – Helen McNeil, I mean.’

  ‘I don’t think so. Ill or not, she entrapped your mother and took her to her death. I couldn’t feel compassion for Helen, if I was in your place.’

  ‘So really, it’s lose–lose for everyone, isn’t it?’

  ‘It always is,’ said Daley, as a gull cried plaintively high up in the blue sky. Far below, the tide lapped relentlessly on a small cove of white sand.

  Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements

  In 1977 three women – Anna Kenny, Agnes Cooney and Hilda McAuley – disappeared from Glasgow nightspots within months of each other. Anna’s body was discovered in a shallow grave near Skipness in northeast Kintyre. The bodies of the two other women were found in separate locations in the Central Belt, all in the year of their tragic deaths. Though there were many theories as to the identity of their killer or killers, including the infamous ‘Bible John’, no one has ever been brought to justice for these dreadful crimes.

  I remember vividly their faces staring from posters on the walls of police stations in which I worked in the following decade. At the time, the police interviewed many Kintyre folk who regularly travelled up and down the long and winding road to Glasgow, just in case they had noticed anything suspicious. This number included my own father, who was working at Faslane near Helensburgh for the Royal Navy at the time and who came back to Campbeltown every weekend to be with his family.

  Sadly, no one could provide any clue as to the identity of the killer(s). The only slim lead came from Hilda McAuley’s disappearance. She was last seen leaving the Plaza Ballroom in Glasgow with a ‘well-dressed young man’, again similar to the description of ‘Bible John’.

  My family were lucky; we lived in a virtually crime-free place. So I remember being struck by the horror of this as a child – I was only eleven years old when Anna Kenny’s body was found – and the feeling stayed with me. Though this book is by no means an attempt to fictionalise these tragic crimes, I hope that the huge leaps forward in forensic and DNA technology used to catch criminals will, one day, bring justice for those women whose lives were so cruelly cut short, and closure – and at least a modicum of solace – for the members of their family and friends left behind.

  Somerled, Lord of the Isles, was the formidable warlord who ran his west coast domain from his base in Kintyre. Long assumed to be of purely Gaelic descent, and even credited with driving the Vikings from the area, later research has unearthed that he was more likely a product of the union between the Norse and Gaels who populated the area at the time. Indeed DNA research has confirmed that chiefs from the MacDonald, MacDougall and MacAllister clans, who history tells us spring from Somerled, still possess the distinctive Y-chromosome redolent of Norse heritage.

  It would appear that he was an ambitious man, and may have had his eyes on the Crown of Scotland. His attempted coup failed miserably, and he was killed at the battle of Renfrew in 1164 during a bid to gain a foothold in mainland Scotland. (Ironically, the present Lord of the Isles, Prince Charles, is descended from his killers.) Undoubtedly, though, he represents that connection between the Gaels and the men of the North popularly known as the Vikings, around whom such a glorious canon of myth, tales and legend passed down through the generations, and so strongly persists.

  If you travel to Kintyre, take the opportunity to travel to Saddell Abbey, long associated with the great man, and a treasure trove for lovers of history. The name Saddell itself is a Norse one, as is nearby Carradale and many other places on the peninsula, further highlighting the strong connections between Kintyre and Scandinavia.

  For further reading, I recommend Somerled and the Emergence of Gaelic Scotland by John Marsden, published by Birlinn in 2008.

  Acknowledgements

  As always I would like to thank my family – Fiona, Rachel and her new partner Lisa. Also to Sian, and her new brothers and sister Kieran, Morgan and Johnnie. Welcome to the clan, folks!

  I would like to pass my warmest wishes to my GP Dr Cheema and his staff, as well as sincere and heartfelt thanks to the frontline staff of the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, and the Vale of Leven Hospital, Alexandria, all of whom treated me during my recent illness.

  The NHS is precious, part of the glue that holds our nation together. It isn’t perfect – no institution of its size is – but it is incumbent upon us all to strive to maintain and indeed improve the service it provides, as well as the pay and conditions of those who struggle at its sharp end. Here are the real heroes and heroines; forget footballers and movie stars, even writers – they won’t save your life – these men and women will. God bless them.

  To the memory of my late mother and father – you are always in my heart.

  To my publisher at Birlinn/Polygon, Hugh Andrew; editors Alison Rae and Nancy Webber; and the rest of the team in Edinburgh who have done so much to bring Jim Daley, Brian Scott, Hamish, Annie et al to the page. I will always owe you a massive debt of gratitude. Good luck to Vikki in her new role.

  To Anne Williams of KHLA, my formidable, dynamic agent, and her colleague Kate Hordern, who keep the wheels on the bus. I’m so grateful for your help and sage advice.

  To my friends, who were there for me when things looked bleak, I cannot thank you enough. They are too many in number to mention here, but Mary Anderson, Ronnie Kelly, Douglas Skelton, Big Davie (who ceaselessly kept my spirits up) and Scott, the man who got me back on my feet with ruthless but caring efficiency – a tilt of my cap to you all. Also, to Malcolm, Campbell ‘Rhinestone’, Patrick, Billy and Bert, and the rest of those forced to endure my company, my thanks you all.

  As always, credit to the people of Kintyre, without whom none of this would have happened. Campbeltown was, is, and will for ever be home for me, regardless of where I find myself in the world.

  And finally, and I make no apology for mentioning her again, my wife Fiona. You kept me going and never left my side. I love you.

  D.A.M.

  Gartocharn

  August 2018

  The DCI Daley thriller series

  Whisky from Small Glasses

  DCI Jim Daley is sent from the city to investigate a murder after the body of a woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the west coast of Scotland. Far away from urban resources, he finds himself a stranger in a close-knit community.

  The Last Witness

  James Machie was a man with a genius for violence, his criminal empire spreading beyond Glasgow into the UK and mainland Europe. Fortunately, Machie is dead, assassinated in the back of a prison ambulance following his trial and conviction. But now, five years later, he is apparently back from the grave, set on avenging himself on those who brought him down.

  Dark Suits and Sad Songs

  When a senior Edinburgh civil servant spectacularly takes his own life in Kinloch harbour, DCI Jim Daley comes face to face with the murky world of politics. To add to his woes, two local drug dealers lie dead, ritually assassinated. It’s clear that dark forces are at work in the town. With his boss under investigation, his marriage hanging by a thread, and his side-kick DS Scott wrestling with his own demons, Daley’s world is in meltdown.

  The Rat Stone Serenade

  It’s December, and the Shannon family are heading to their clifftop mansion near Kinloch for their AGM. Shannon Internati
onal, one of the world’s biggest private companies, has brought untold wealth and privilege to the family. However, a century ago, Archibald Shannon stole the land upon which he built their home – and his descendants have been cursed ever since.

  When heavy snow cuts off Kintyre, DCI Jim Daley and DS Brian Scott are assigned to protect their illustrious visitors. But ghosts of the past are coming to haunt the Shannons.

  The Well of the Winds

  As World War Two nears its end, a man is stabbed to death on the Kinloch shoreline, in the shadow of the great warships in the harbour.

  Many years later, the postman on Gairsay, a tiny island off the coast of Kintyre, discovers that the Bremner family are missing from their farm.

  When DCI Daley comes into possession of a journal written by his wartime predecessor in Kinloch, he soon realises that he must solve a murder from the past to uncover the shocking events of the present.

  One Last Dram Before Midnight: The Complete Collected D.C.I. Daley Short Stories

  Published together for the first time in one not-to-be-missed volume are all Denzil Meyrick’s short stories and novellas.

  Discover how DCI Daley and DS Scott first met on the mean streets of Glasgow in two prequels that shed light on their earlier lives. Join Hamish and his old mentor, skipper Sandy Hoynes, as they become embroiled with some Russian fishermen and an illicit whisky plot. And in present-day Kinloch Daley and Scott investigate ghosts from the past, search for a silent missing man, and follow the trail of an elusive historical necklace that still has power over the people of Kinloch.

  All of the DCI Daley thrillers are available as eBook editions, along with an eBook-only novella and the two short stories below.

  Dalintober Moon: A DCI Daley Story

  When a body is found in a whisky barrel buried on Dalintober beach, it appears that a notorious local crime, committed over a century ago, has finally been solved. However, the legacy of murder still resonates within the community, and the tortured screams of a man who died long ago still echo across Kinloch.

  Two One Three: A Constable Jim Daley Short Story (Prequel)

  Glasgow, 1986. Only a few months into his new job, Constable Jim Daley is walking the beat. When he is seconded to the CID to help catch a possible serial killer, he makes a new friend, DC Brian Scott. Jim Daley tackles his first serious crime on the mean streets of Glasgow, in an investigation that will change his life for ever.

  Empty Nets and Promises: A Kinloch Novella

  It’s July 1968, and fishing-boat skipper Sandy Hoynes has his daughter’s wedding to pay for – but where are all the fish? He and the crew of the Girl Maggie come to the conclusion that a newfangled supersonic jet which is being tested in the skies over Kinloch is scaring off the herring.

  First mate Hamish comes up with a cunning plan to bring the laws of nature back into balance. But little do they know that they face the forces of law and order in the shape of a vindictive fishery officer, an exciseman who suspects Hoynes of smuggling illicit whisky, and the local police sergeant who is about to become Hoynes’ son-in-law – not to mention a ghostly piper and some Russians.

  Single End: A DC Daley Short Story

  It’s 1989, and Jim Daley is now a fully fledged detective constable. When ruthless gangster James Machie’s accountant is found stabbed to death in a multi-storey car park, it’s clear all is not well within Machie’s organisation.

  Meanwhile Daley’s friend and colleague DC Brian Scott has been having some problems of his own. To save his job, he must revisit his past in an attempt to uncover the identity of a corrupt police officer.