by Lin Anderson
‘So you’ll check out the ship tomorrow?’
Rhona assured him she would, before asking, ‘How did McNab get on in London?’
There was a short but pregnant silence, before Bill said, ‘McNab wasn’t on this morning’s sleeper and we can’t reach him. DCI Sutherland has been in touch with the Met. It appears McNab arranged to meet DI Cleverly in central London, but never turned up.’
46
The smell of frying bacon met her on the way downstairs. Ava hesitated before entering the kitchen, knowing Dougie would be keen to engage her in a further conversation about Nadia.
After they’d both gone to bed, she’d sat up well into the night, trying to find if the name Nadia Kowalski occurred in any of the Go Wild literature she’d assembled, or anywhere in the material given to her by Mark. Both searches had drawn a blank.
Despite all her brother’s assurances, his pleadings not to inform the authorities of Nadia’s existence, Ava still had misgivings. Something she would have to face up to today.
‘Hope you’re hungry,’ Dougie greeted her. ‘I’ve cooked loads.’
Ava made a point of fetching a plate and pouring herself coffee, waiting for Dougie to start the expected conversation. Eventually he did.
‘You want to tell Erling about Nadia?’ he said, apparently reading her thoughts.
Ava didn’t answer right away, mentally choosing the words. Aware no matter what she said, it would be wrong.
‘Someone’s been attacking our cattle. I think it may be because of my investigation of Go Wild. It might not be safe for Nadia to stay here.’
Dougie shook his head vehemently. ‘The cows have nothing to do with the Orlova.’
‘How can you know that?’ Ava said.
‘I just do.’ His mouth formed a stubborn line.
‘That’s not enough, Dougie. Not nearly enough. You bring a girl here that the police will undoubtedly be looking for—’
He cut her off. ‘They have no idea she was on the ship. They searched it and didn’t find her.’ His voice rose to a higher pitch.
‘What do you know about our cattle?’ Ava demanded, the terrible thought replaying that Dougie might have killed them to keep her there.
He was avoiding her eyes, hesitating, as though he couldn’t say the words. Eventually they emerged quietly through gritted teeth.
‘I pissed a bloke off. Didn’t pay him for dope. He did it to threaten me.’
Ava stared at him in disbelief. ‘If that’s true, you have to tell Erling.’
‘Fucking Erling. He’s your answer to everything.’
At that point they heard Nadia’s footsteps on the stairs.
‘Do what you promised,’ Dougie hissed at her. ‘And if you breathe a word about her to Erling, I’m out of here for good.’
If Nadia had heard any of their exchange, she didn’t show it on entry. Dougie immediately jumped up and offered her some breakfast, asking if she’d slept well.
Ava attempted a smile too. There was no point freaking the girl out any further than she obviously was already.
‘After breakfast, I want to tell you my story,’ Nadia said, her voice determined. ‘Before anything happens to me.’
Ava felt a surge of guilt in case she’d heard them arguing.
‘You’re safe here, Nadia. We won’t let anything happen to you,’ she tried.
‘You don’t know these people. They’re everywhere, even in the police, and they’re very powerful. I’ve seen what they are capable of.’
They all jumped as Ava’s phone suddenly buzzed loudly on the tabletop.
‘It’s Erling,’ she said, reading the screen. She hesitated, wondering whether she should let it go to voicemail.
‘Answer it,’ Dougie ordered.
Ava drew the phone towards her. ‘Erling, hi. How are things?’ She listened in studied silence, trying to form suitable replies to what he was telling her without alerting her audience to the horror of it. ‘Okay. I’ll see you then.’
‘What?’ Dougie demanded as soon as she ended the call.
‘Dr MacLeod is back on Orkney. Magnus has invited me to have dinner with her and Erling at Houton tonight.’
Dougie’s alarmed reaction matched her own. ‘Why is she back?’
‘A body came ashore, they think from the Orlova. An unidentified black male.’
Nadia’s face drained of all colour as she sank to a chair. ‘It’s Guido,’ she said. ‘They threw him overboard.’
47
He was drowning in his own vomit.
The realization that the nightmare was, in fact, true forced McNab to turn over, crawl to his knees and disgorge the bile that had stopped the breath in his throat.
The noise of his retching echoed back at him in what, it dawned on him, must be a cavernous space. It was still pitch black, but he was definitely no longer in the back of the van.
His head swimming, he turned to sit, knees drawn up, head between them, and tried to remember.
He’d spotted Cleverly. Been walking towards him, then bam! He was in the back of a van, a needle in his neck. A sudden thought forced its way through his muddled brain.
Cleverly. Was Cleverly here too?
He shouted out the name once, then panicked at how loud it sounded. The last thing he wanted was to alert his captors to the fact he was awake.
He tried a little softer this time. ‘Cleverly?’
The eerie whisper came back at him, once, twice, three times, until he was suddenly surrounded by it. Cle . . . ver . . . ly Cle . . . ver . . . ly Cle . . . ver . . . ly . . . like a circular fairground ride.
His stomach began to spin in unison and suddenly he was seventeen again and on the Waltzers with a girl he wanted to impress. He’d certainly managed that, spraying horrified onlookers with the half-dozen beers he’d downed before climbing on board.
He covered his ears and concentrated on slow, deep breathing. The smells of vomit, piss and shit that occasionally wafted towards him were bad enough. He had no desire to supplement them any further.
That sudden thought sent his hand to his crotch.
Thank Christ. He hadn’t pissed himself . . . yet.
As the drug continued its retreat, he registered that he no longer had his jacket on. In fact, his upper half was bare. He was still wearing his trousers, thank God.
He checked his pockets, both front and back.
No wallet and no phone, of course.
None of which meant that he couldn’t walk out of here, providing he could find the exit in the dark.
As he rose gingerly to his feet, he heard the clang of a door opening and with it the entrance of a shaft of electric light. He froze in its beam as three figures entered and began to walk swiftly towards him.
Even as he tried to sidestep on unresponsive legs, two of them had him by the arms, dragging him backwards against a wall to rope and hook him up there, his feet trailing the ground.
McNab cried out as his shoulders were drawn from their sockets.
‘Not too high,’ the third guy ordered. ‘We want him conscious.’
The ropes loosened a little, and the balls of his feet met the ground. The third figure moved towards him in the shaft of light.
‘Back for another round?’ McNab spat between his teeth.
The mouth curled into a smile. ‘You won’t be up for that when we’re finished with you.’
McNab gathered a blob of spit and launched it in his direction. It missed.
‘Smell that shit and piss, Jock pig? Well, by the time we’re finished with you, it’ll be your own that you’re smelling.’
48
‘That’ll be Ava,’ Magnus said. ‘Can you let her in?’
Rhona went to do his bidding.
‘I thought everyone just walked into friends’ houses in Orkney,’ she said as she opened the door.
‘I’ve been too long away from Orkney. I forget the rules sometimes.’
Magnus called from the kitchen. ‘Help yourselves to
a dram in the sitting room. I’ll be through shortly.’
The fire had been lit and banked up with the warm glow of peat, the scent of which met them on entry.
Ava smiled. ‘God, I used to love that smell in winter, especially if I managed home for Christmas. Nowadays Orkney is inclined to a more renewable form of energy.’
‘The wind can be a blessing, although it doesn’t feel like it at times.’ Rhona indicated the drinks tray. ‘What can I get you?’
‘I’m driving, so I won’t, but you go ahead.’
As they settled on either side of the fire, Rhona said, ‘I hear your brother’s back home safely. You’ll be relieved about that.’
Ava looked annoyed rather than relieved by her remark. ‘He was never really away. Dougie often takes his boat out and camps on one of the islands for a bit. It’s his way of coping with the world and the fact he lost both parents not long ago.’
Rhona, feeling she had overstepped, apologized.
Ava shrugged. ‘Don’t worry. Everyone knows everybody’s business round here. Why should you be any different? Even if you are a visitor,’ she added.
Rhona took refuge in sipping her whisky. Apparently her presence here offended Ava for some reason, which was puzzling after all they’d shared at their Glasgow meeting.
Magnus’s entry brought relief to both of them. Rhona watched as he read the atmosphere and, pouring himself a whisky, took a seat between them, before turning to her. ‘Any news of McNab?’
Before she could answer, Ava came in. ‘What’s happened to McNab?’
‘He was due off the London train this morning, but didn’t appear,’ Rhona said. ‘And he’s not been reachable since—’
Ava interrupted her. ‘I spoke to him on his way to London. I asked him to check in on Mark.’
Now Rhona was even more concerned.
Magnus glanced at her. ‘What did DI Wilson say exactly?’
‘That the Met said he arranged to meet DI Cleverly in Central London and didn’t turn up.’
Magnus looked thoughtful. ‘It’s not the first time he’s gone off the radar.’
‘But this time he wasn’t doing his own thing,’ Rhona said. ‘The boss agreed his visit south because of—’ She halted there, aware she was straying into police business.
Thankfully, a shout from the hall announced Erling’s arrival.
‘Come away in,’ Magnus called back. ‘We’re in the sitting room.’
Rory appeared first. ‘Great,’ he said, acknowledging the whisky glasses, ‘we haven’t missed the aperitif.’ He grinned all round. ‘And this must be Ava who went to school with Erling.’ He offered his hand.
Ava looked a bit taken aback but, rallying, said, ‘And you must be Rory.’
Instructing Erling and Rory to help themselves, Magnus requested Rhona give him a hand in the kitchen. ‘Serving up in five minutes,’ he announced.
Once inside, Magnus closed the door. ‘Why did McNab go south or can you not say?’
Magnus had been involved since the beginning, so Rhona didn’t hesitate to tell him.
He listened attentively before commenting. ‘So the Met’s a problem?’
She nodded. ‘Bill thinks they’re likely to request that all evidence in both cases be sent south.’
‘They’re pursuing Go Wild themselves?’ He caught her expression. ‘Or it’s a national security issue?’
‘Could be either – or both,’ Rhona said.
‘Okay, let’s eat.’ Magnus indicated which dishes she should carry through, then led the way to the dining room, where the others were already seated.
Rhona barely registered the food, despite how good it was, all her thoughts centring on Ava. Something had definitely spooked her since they’d last met. But what?
As for McNab’s part in all of this, if Ava had requested he check on Mark’s well-being, Rhona didn’t doubt that he would have done so. Was his non-reappearance this morning in Glasgow due to that? Or had he just reverted to type and gone off on his own tangent?
Ava seemed a different person from the one who’d met with them both in Glasgow. Then she’d been totally committed to discussing and investigating Go Wild in tandem with herself and McNab. Tonight, Ava had chosen to sit as far away from her as possible, although occasionally when Rhona turned her way, she would find Ava studying her.
The conversation hadn’t featured the Orlova until they reached the coffee stage, even though, from where Rhona sat, she could just make out its shadowy presence via the window.
Finally, it seemed, Rory could wait no longer.
‘So they think there was a stowaway on the Orlova when we pulled her into Houton.’ When Erling threw him a discouraging look, he said, ‘What? It’s all over the island and maybe even bigger news than the black guy found on the beach last night, which brought Dr MacLeod back.’
‘What’s being said about this possible stowaway?’ Ava immediately asked.
Erling’s pointed looks weren’t working on Rory, who carried on with his story.
‘That it’s likely a female and she might have seen what happened on board.’
‘So where is she now?’ Ava said.
Rory shrugged. ‘Lots of wild theories. Maybe they found her and threw her overboard like the black guy, or she was still alive when the ship was brought into Scapa Flow and she managed to get to shore.’
There was a sudden silence and Rhona wondered if Erling had been kicking his partner below the table.
‘If this stowaway is alive,’ Ava said, ‘she’s in terrible danger.’
‘This is Orkney,’ Rory said. ‘If a girl came off that ship, she would have been spotted by now.’
Magnus shook his head. ‘Orkney’s already full of tourists. There’s a cruise liner docked in Kirkwall, with a thousand folk aboard.’
Picking up on the tense atmosphere, Magnus suggested they all retire to the sitting room for a dram. At this point Ava indicated she wouldn’t as she was the only one to have brought the car.
‘Plus I’d like to be back for Dougie’s sake,’ she said, rising.
With a swift look to Magnus, Rhona indicated she would see Ava to the door, making a joke of the fact she was leaving her alone here, with only the men to talk to.
As Ava donned her jacket, her worried expression prompted Rhona to finally ask her what was wrong. Ava looked as though she might answer, then shook her head. ‘I just have to get back.’
‘Ava okay?’ Erling asked quietly when Rhona rejoined the chatting men.
‘She just wanted to get home for Dougie,’ Rhona said, aware that simply wasn’t true.
49
‘How well do you and Erling know Ava?’ Rhona said as Magnus poured her morning coffee.
‘As a teenager or now?’ he asked with a smile.
‘Both.’
‘Well, I was in love with her aged fourteen. Erling had other crushes. Then we all left the island for university. Erling came back and settled here, whereas I became a regular visitor from Glasgow. Ava, on the other hand, rarely returned. Christmas occasionally. She was always away working on some international story. I take it this is about last night?’
Rhona indicated it was.
‘She and Mark were together both professionally and personally for a long time. That, I think, had ended by the time she came back here in the aftermath of her parents’ death. It looks as though the Orlova investigation has triggered a revival of their partnership, on the work front at least.’ He continued, looking thoughtful. ‘She’s obviously worried about Mark, and now there’s McNab,’ he said. ‘You met with her in Glasgow. Was she different then?’
‘Definitely. Strong, determined to carry on with the investigation. Fearless even.’
‘Dougie gives her a hard time. Heading off without telling her. Then the cattle being attacked.’
‘You think that might have been because of her investigation?’
‘It happens sporadically in farming communities. No one knows why exactly. The po
lice will find out who it was, in time,’ he assured her. ‘There’s also the matter of what Ava does with the farm, although it seems Erling’s father, Tommy, has stepped in and offered a partnership on running it with Dougie.’
That was good news, which suggested that neither Dougie nor the farm had been Ava’s main concern the previous night.
‘Do you want to take a packed lunch with you?’ Magnus said.
Judging from the view of white horses from the window, the ride out to the Orlova wasn’t going to be pleasurable. Plus the ship itself would likely be pitching a bit. Rhona decided to forgo lunch on board.
‘If Chrissy was with me, her answer would be yes, but I’m happy to wait until I get back,’ Rhona said with a grim smile.
Erling was waiting for her on the jetty, the launch rising and falling alongside. ‘You ready for this?’ he said.
‘Just don’t let me fall in,’ Rhona told him, already wondering how she would get from the launch to the ladder.
The trip over didn’t allay her fears, especially when the pilot told her that Orkney fishermen in the past didn’t learn to swim. ‘Better to die quickly if you fall in, rather than fighting to stay afloat and freeze.’
On that cheery note, they drew alongside the Orlova.
As luck would have it, getting up the ladder seemed less of a trauma than on the previous occasion, although Rhona missed Chrissy’s humorous take on the proceedings.
Safely aboard, Erling led the way past the previous loci and down another level into the hold. Rhona followed him as the Orlova rose and fell, the metal clanging and sighing, the thick smell of unmoving air encompassing her.
‘The hold, we’ve now discovered, has a number of small hidden compartments, possibly for drug running at one time, although now all empty. Of course, when we boarded the Orlova, we weren’t actively looking for drugs, and once we discovered the crime scene, that became our primary focus. Once you alerted us to the possibility of a stowaway . . . Here’s the place.’ He came to a halt in front of a low metal door. Undoing the padlock, he pulled the heavy door open for her.