The song on the radio was an upbeat dance thing, thudding away quietly.
Finn removed his hand from the gearstick, pulling it away from Maddie’s grasp.
They passed the large standing stone, traffic slowing as someone up ahead turned for Brodgar and the Stenness Stones. Finn remembered being there the other day, praying for ancient intervention, touching the stones and hoping for something good to happen.
‘Did you kill them?’ he said.
‘No.’
‘Did you?’
‘No.’
Matter-of-fact, no hysteria. He had to decide what to believe.
They accelerated on to Finstown, more tiny islands out in the bay to the left. Orkney was stupidly beautiful, like God wanted to concentrate all his dramatic views in one small archipelago halfway to the Arctic.
As they approached Kirkwall Maddie fidgeted in her seat and sat on her hands. Another farm vehicle pulled out in front of them at Quanterness and they slowed. The bend in the road meant Finn couldn’t see to overtake. They were doing about twenty miles an hour. Finn stretched his neck and leaned forward, trying to see past the tractor, but they were coming up to the top of the road on a blind bend.
Maddie lunged across Finn and pushed open his door, then she popped his seatbelt buckle, lifted her feet and kicked at his body. Finn jolted to the right and his shoulder smacked into the swinging door, which flew outwards then back in with a crack against his head. He was half out of the seat and clinging to the steering wheel when Maddie gave another two-footed kick and his body shifted. His feet pushed down on the pedals, the engine revving but the clutch full in, the noise ridiculous. He tried to haul himself back into his seat but a third kick sent him banging against the swinging door again, pain through his back and shoulders, knuckles throbbing on the steering wheel as he lost his grip. The seatbelt had released but was tangled in his right arm, stopping him falling on to the tarmac. Maddie tried to prise his fingers from the steering wheel with one hand, pushing at his chest with the other.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
His left hand was off the steering wheel now, just his broken fingers clinging on. The only thing stopping him hitting the road was the seatbelt looped round his shoulder. Maddie tried to haul it free, leaning into him. He grabbed her hair and yanked as hard as he could, heard her scream as she recoiled. He clutched the headrest and pulled himself up, shuffling into the seat and swinging his fist into Maddie’s face, catching her hard on the cheek and nose, crunching under his touch. She touched her face, tears in her eyes. He flipped his door shut and popped down the lock then zipped the seatbelt back round, glaring at her then out the windscreen. The car had swerved into the other lane. If anything had been coming the other way he would be dead now, maybe both of them would be. He turned the wheel to sit behind the tractor then threw his foot on the brake until the car stopped.
He sat getting his breath back as Maddie sucked air in through her hands.
He turned to her, shaking.
‘Fuck you.’
Maddie took her hand away, touched the trickle of blood from her nose.
‘I need to get away,’ she said. ‘I need that money.’
‘So you were going to kill me?’
‘We weren’t going fast enough. I just wanted you out of the car.’
‘People are in danger because of you, and you were going to leave them to die.’
‘Lenny won’t kill them.’
‘You think?’ Finn said. ‘Either he’s a killer or you’re a killer. If it’s him, he’s killed his own wife, so I don’t think he’ll worry about two strangers.’
Maddie put her hands over her eyes, lowered her head and sobbed.
Finn put the car into gear and headed into Kirkwall, his hands shaking.
On the outskirts he drove past the industrial estate and saw the large sign for the Orcadian office. He wondered if Freya was inside typing up her story. He hit the roundabout off the hill and took a right along Pickaquoy Road. It felt bizarre to be driving through town in broad daylight. He imagined everyone he drove past pointing and screaming for him to be stopped and arrested. Across the Peedie Sea he could see the police station where Linklater had questioned him yesterday. Felt like a lifetime ago. How long before Linklater knew about Claire? Finn would turn Maddie in, he knew that, but not now, he still needed her to help with Lenny.
Round the corner from here was the Nordic Studies place where Janet had her office. Finn pictured all these women sitting at their desks tutting at him and how he’d lost control.
He glanced at Maddie and touched the bag under him, rubbed at his rib where the pain was worst, his fingers throbbing in time with his heart. He coughed and blood came into his mouth. He swallowed it, choking as it slid into his belly and burned.
He drove past the supermarket where everyone had stared at him. He had to slow at a pedestrian crossing to let a young mum with a buggy go across. He watched Maddie the whole time.
He turned at Junction Road and thought of the regulars downing drams in the Bothy Bar round the corner. TV crews were probably still hanging around outside St Magnus Cathedral waiting on developments. He imagined driving there now, walking up to someone with a microphone and telling them everything, showing them the bag of money.
Up New Scapa Road he passed the hospital where he stayed the night of the crash. He thought about Sean Bayliss, the argument they’d had. Did it bring on his stroke? He tried to remember the names of the dead that he’d recited last night in the tomb but his mind was too wired to concentrate. So much for keeping their memory alive.
On the southern edge of town he drove past the distillery, imagining the airborne spores from the whisky being sucked into his lungs through the car’s air vents.
Then they were out of town and on the familiar road that Finn had driven so many times, places with names like Rashieburn, Nether Button, Gutterpool.
They sped through St Mary’s, Finn’s pulse in his ears as they got near their destination. The rain had stopped but the wind was gusting in roars. He imagined the wrecks of the blockships rising out of the water and sailing away, their rusted hulls somehow expelling the mass of the oceans.
He slowed the car at the first Churchill Barrier. An Audi was on the causeway forty yards away, roof buckled in, windscreen smashed, wipers sticking up in surrender, the car in a foot of water on the tarmac. As he crawled forward two waves crashed over it. Finn peered out to see if anyone was inside but it was abandoned.
Finn inched past the Audi and then sped up, anxious to get off the barrier before another wave could do the same to the Skoda. He glanced at Maddie, who looked scared, but he didn’t know if it was because of the dangerous road or what was to come.
They made it off the barrier. Finn tried to think why Lenny wanted to meet here. There was nothing on Lamb Holm except the Italian Chapel and the low building he’d just passed, the Orkney Wine Company shop. It was closed, of course, like everything. Maybe Lenny wanted the isolation, no witnesses.
The Italian Chapel’s white facade glowed like a beacon set against the murk of the water and the oppressive grey cloud, as if God was shining a light on it. The front of the chapel was concrete but looked like carved stucco, the building just two old Nissen huts bolted together.
A beaten-up jeep was parked outside, no other sign of life. Finn pulled up in the car park and shut off the engine. He looked at Maddie, who held his gaze.
‘I’m scared,’ she said.
‘You need to explain to this maniac why he has to let them go.’
Maddie shook her head. ‘I don’t want to.’
‘I don’t give a shit.’ He grabbed the holdall, walked round to her side and opened the door. ‘Get out.’
38
Finn looked at the blood-red Christ weeping above the door, its features pockmarked by the weather, then he clicked open the door and pushed Maddie inside.
‘Finally.’ Lenny. The scuffing of feet.
Finn’s eyes took a
few seconds to get used to the gloom. Ingrid and Amy were sitting on a bench by the wall. The curved walls were covered in painted-on fake brickwork, ornate angels and holy men peering out from starlit heavens on the ceiling. Behind the tiny altar at the far end, a glowing Madonna and child were surrounded by cherubs and priests.
Ingrid had her arm around Amy, their chins raised in defiance. Lenny stood over them holding a gun, an ancient-looking thing like they had in old war movies. It seemed out of place here, a relic, but then Orkney was full of relics.
‘You alone?’ Lenny said, looking out the window at the barrier.
‘Yes.’
‘No police?’
‘Like you said.’
You could see for miles in all directions and they were surrounded by water, hard to sneak up on. With just the single road, you would spot a police car coming long before they were near.
‘What did you bring her for?’ Lenny said, nodding at Maddie.
‘I didn’t have much choice,’ Finn said.
He looked at Amy. She had a bruised and swollen eye, dried blood at a cut on her temple, more blood on a tissue in her hand. She stared at Maddie with her good eye and Finn could see her putting it together, all of it.
‘Is that her?’ Amy said.
Finn nodded.
Maddie pulled away from Finn. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’
Lenny laughed. ‘Except take my fucking money.’
‘It’s my money,’ Maddie said.
Lenny raised his chin to Finn, indicating the bag. ‘Throw it over.’
Finn looked at Amy and Ingrid. ‘Let them go first.’
‘Let me spell it out for you,’ Lenny said. ‘The one with the gun gets to tell the others what to do.’
‘You won’t use that,’ Finn said.
Lenny hauled Amy to her feet and brought the butt of the pistol down on her cheek, splitting the skin, blood spurting on to the thin rug on the floor. Finn stepped forward but Lenny gripped Amy’s arm and pushed the barrel of the gun into her neck.
‘Don’t.’
Finn stopped.
Lenny laughed. ‘So your girlfriend came all this way to see you, and you’ve been shagging that bitch behind her back.’
‘Fuck you,’ Maddie said.
‘I don’t blame you,’ Lenny said. ‘We’ve all had a good go on Maddie, she wasn’t exactly dedicated to Kev. Any chance we got, Kev out the house, me and her were at it like dogs.’
‘That’s not true,’ Maddie said, turning to Finn.
‘That’s why I was so surprised she went mental at Kev and Claire,’ Lenny said. ‘What a hypocrite.’
‘I didn’t,’ Maddie said.
‘Stabbing your husband to death is fucked up,’ Lenny said.
Maddie stared at Lenny. ‘You liar, you killed him.’
Lenny put on a confused face. ‘Why would I do that? He was my mate and business partner. And business was pretty sweet.’
‘Maybe you lost it when you found him with Claire.’
‘That slut? I never gave a shit about her.’
‘Is that why you killed her?’ Finn said.
‘What are you on about?’ Lenny said.
‘Fucking liar,’ Maddie shouted. ‘Don’t twist this round.’
‘We just came from your place,’ Finn said.
‘I found her,’ Maddie said. ‘You coward.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Lenny said.
Maddie turned to Finn. ‘He’s lying, I had nothing to do with it, I only took the money.’
Amy stood, blood dripping from her cheek on to her blouse, taking in Maddie.
Ingrid stared at Finn. He turned away from her gaze.
Maddie had her hands out pleading. He remembered her at the airport, putting her belt and shoes back on, swirling the ice in her gin, touching the holdall at her feet.
‘Give me the bag,’ Lenny said.
Finn shook his head and gripped the bag. ‘I need to know what happened.’
Lenny threw a fist into Amy’s stomach and she bent over gasping for breath.
‘For Christ’s sake, Finn,’ Ingrid said. Her voice was a jolt to his brain, a flashback to every time she’d told him off over the years, for getting too close to the cliff edge or stepping into the road without looking.
He looked round the room as if searching for an answer then threw the bag at Lenny’s feet. Lenny squatted, unzipped the bag and rummaged inside. He smiled and zipped it up again.
‘It’s all there?’
Finn looked at Maddie. ‘Ask her, I’ve not touched it.’
Maddie nodded.
Lenny slung the bag over his shoulder, stood up and took Amy’s arm.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘My friends don’t like getting short-changed.’
‘Friends?’ Finn said.
‘What, you’re a detective now?’ Lenny said.
Finn put out his hands. ‘Just let her go.’
Lenny glanced out the window and seemed satisfied there was no one coming along the barrier. Then he looked out the other side to a grassy field, a handful of grazing sheep.
‘It’s not that simple.’
He looked at his watch, a big thing with a thick metal-link strap. He peered out the window again, this time at the sky.
Finn heard a thin buzz from outside.
Lenny pushed Amy towards the door, the gun pressed into her back.
‘We had a deal,’ Finn said.
The drone was louder now, the sound of engines.
Finn went to the window and saw a tiny twin-prop plane coming in to land on the field. A couple of sheep shuffled to the corner of the fence as the plane wobbled in, gusts of wind throwing it one way then the other, its nose up in the air as it dropped low over the water out beyond the barrier. The island didn’t look big enough for a runway but the plane nudged its wheels on to the grass, flaps up, quick deceleration, then at the other end it turned in a tight arc to face the way it had come.
‘Leave Amy, please,’ Finn said. ‘Take me instead.’
Lenny stared at him. ‘She’s security. I’ll let her go when we land.’ He opened the door, looked around then dragged Amy out. ‘If any of you leave the chapel I’ll shoot her in the face.’
He began to jog across the grass to the plane, dragging Amy with him.
Finn saw her glance backward then stumble as Lenny hauled her along. He dug his phone out of his pocket and threw it to Ingrid. ‘Call Linklater, tell her what’s happened.’
Ingrid held the phone. ‘He said no police.’
‘I can’t let him take her,’ Finn said.
Maddie was at his shoulder. ‘Just let them go.’
Finn turned to her. ‘You don’t get an opinion here.’
He scoped the scene outside. At the other end of the field was a low corrugated-iron building, a farm shed or maybe a small aircraft hangar. The twin-prop was idling a hundred yards from it. From here, Finn could run round the edge of the field, stay low, try to hide behind the fence maybe, make it to the back of the hangar.
Lenny was running across the field to the plane when Amy stumbled and fell, knees in the mud. He pulled her to her feet.
Finn made his decision.
39
He ran across the grass in a low crouch. Lenny was getting started again with Amy, the bag on his shoulder, gun pressed into her side. The plane had its nose pointing along the runway, propellers spinning. Finn ran, chest aching, pain powering through him, pulse pounding. He kept his eyes ahead, fixed on the shed next to the plane. He was hidden by a rise in the grass between himself and Lenny as he thudded on, trainers wet and muddy, legs aching with the strain, head thumping.
Fifty yards, then thirty, then he was there at the shed. He ran to the far side and came round behind the plane. The engines were going full blast, the roar of the propellers reminding him of the Loganair flight. He remembered the throb of the cabin as they took off, the constant rattle, a tin can hurtling through the sky. This plane was smaller than the Loga
nair one, maybe just a four-seater. He wondered where it had come from. Maddie said Kev and Lenny had Scandinavian friends. Could it have come across the North Sea?
Lenny and Amy were fifty yards away from the plane, the cabin door still closed. She stumbled again. Lenny yanked her arm and glanced back at the chapel. No sign of movement there.
Finn looked around for something he could use. Along the wall of the shed was a pile of mossy rocks. He examined them, picked one that fitted in his palm and had an edge to it. Lenny and Amy were twenty yards from the plane now, the air filled with noise, sheep cowering in the corner of the field, bunched up against the barbed-wire fence.
Finn ran towards the plane, the stone in his hand.
Lenny reached the aircraft door and hauled it open. He looked back at the chapel, and Finn wondered if Ingrid had got hold of Linklater yet. He kept running as Lenny shoved Amy into the opening, pushing as she protested. The gun in his hand was pointing out wide as he used his palms to force her inside. Finn was just thirty yards away now, the propellers screaming. Lenny slung the bag off his shoulder and into the plane, then put his hands on the doorframe and pulled himself up.
Finn was almost at the plane when Lenny reached out to grab the door and close it. He saw Finn coming at him, a look of surprise on his face as he raised the gun and pointed it at Finn’s face.
Finn launched the stone at Lenny and it connected with his forehead, knocking him off balance as Finn reached the doorway. He got hold of Lenny’s legs and pulled, got a kick in the face as Lenny lost his footing and landed on his back. Lenny kicked Finn in the face again, harder this time. Finn fell back and looked up and Lenny had the gun back on him. He threw himself forward and landed on top of Lenny in the cabin, their legs hanging out the door as the plane began to move, slowly at first, then picking up speed. Finn grabbed Lenny’s gun hand and pushed it away, then heard a pop and felt a burning sensation in the meat of his thumb. He tried to swing the gun round but Lenny was stronger and brought the barrel down on the back of Finn’s head. Finn felt sick. He saw Lenny’s face in front of him and felt his nose burst under the force of a headbutt. His grip on the gun loosened and he felt the handle of it against the back of his head.
Crash Land Page 18