‘Not yet,’ the man said.
She kept looking as the man offered some advice: ‘The harder you look, the more you start to see things — especially when you want to see them.’
‘True enough,’ Rebus agreed under his breath.
Siobhan’s mouth opened in a gasp as a sleek pale-blue shape emerged almost exactly where the man had said it would. After a moment the creature disappeared again, but there seemed to be a second dolphin just behind it. And then a third. There were laughs and whoops from the spectators.
‘Feeding time,’ the expert explained. ‘When the current’s right, they hang around here until their bellies are full.’
‘Did you see?’ Clarke was asking Rebus.
‘I saw,’ he said. But his attention had been caught by the opposite shore. There seemed to be battlements there.
‘Fort George,’ the man on the folding seat said, as if reading Rebus’s mind. Then he got busy with his camera as the dolphins broke the surface again. Clarke had taken out her phone and snapped a photo, but was disappointed with the result. She angled the screen towards Rebus. Too far away, and the dolphins themselves too similar in colour to the water around them.
‘Here,’ the man said, handing her his binoculars. She thanked him and pressed them to her eyes, adjusting the focus. Rebus stood with his hands in his pockets. A couple of the onlookers were tourists — tanned faces, brand-new mountain jackets, bought to ward off anything the Scottish climate threw at them. They were grinning whenever anyone made eye contact. One woman had brought her dog, and she was soon off again, rounding the point and tossing a ball for the collie to fetch. After a couple of minutes Rebus retreated to the lighthouse’s boundary wall, seeking enough shelter to get a cigarette lit. The show seemed to be over anyway. Clarke had handed back the binoculars and was being shown some of the photographer’s collection of shots. She caught up with Rebus and they started walking towards the car.
‘Fun?’ he asked her.
She nodded. ‘It’s good to be reminded there’s another world out there. Maybe we’d see seals, too, if we hung around long enough.’
‘Or selkies, even.’
‘Did you finish reading that book?’
He shook his head, dodging a puddle in the car park. There was a cairn in front of the Saab and he went to take a look at it. A plaque told him it was the work of a local school and was dedicated to the Brahan Seer.
‘Now there’s a coincidence,’ Rebus said.
‘What?’
Rebus nodded towards the cairn. ‘He gets a mention in that book.’
‘Who was he?’
‘Supposedly prophesied stuff like oil rigs and the Caledonian Canal. But he might not even have existed.’
‘Like Sawney Bean, you mean?’
‘Exactly.’ Rebus unlocked the Saab. As they closed the doors after them, he turned the ignition and got the heating going.
‘Maybe we can just sit here for a minute,’ Clarke said.
‘Sure.’
She was wriggling the warmth back into her body. ‘And you can tell me a story.’
‘What kind of story?’
‘From your book.’
‘I didn’t finish it.’
‘Go on,’ she encouraged him.
Rebus stared out towards the water while he made up his mind. ‘There’s one about a selkie, actually,’ he said eventually. ‘It’s supposed to have happened in the south-west, on the coast outside Kirkcudbright. Young lad there saw a creature emerge from the water and it scared him, so he killed it, which brought bad luck to the surrounding area. The local landowner didn’t like that, but the villagers protected the boy.’
‘They knew he was responsible?’
Rebus nodded. ‘He’d owned up to his father. Anyway, the landowner decided the whole village had to be punished. He was going to starve them out. The boy saw only one answer to that — walked into the Solway Firth until the water closed over his head.’
‘The curse was lifted?’
Rebus nodded again. ‘But each night, his head rose above the water, staring towards land, eyes full of sadness. He’d become a selkie, and he knew that if he ever came ashore again, there might be another scared child waiting for him with a rock.’ Rebus paused. ‘The end.’
‘And the moral of the story is. .?’
He thought for a moment before shrugging. ‘Does there need to be a moral?’
‘Actions have consequences,’ Clarke stated. ‘That’s what I take from it.’
‘Plus there’ll always be people who’ll cover up for the guilty,’ Rebus added, reaching into his pocket for his ringing phone.
‘Hazlitt?’ Clarke guessed.
‘No,’ Rebus said, checking the screen and then answering. ‘What can I do for you, Peter?’
It was Peter Bliss, calling from SCRU. ‘Just thought you’d want to know, that’s us being put out to pasture.’
‘The unit’s for the chop?’
‘Effective near-as-dammit immediately. You’ll want to start clearing your desk.’
‘SCRU’s being shut down,’ Rebus explained to Clarke. Then, to Bliss: ‘How’s Elaine taking it?’
‘She’s philosophical.’
‘And our Lord and Master?’
‘Seems pretty confident that he’s on the shortlist for the Crown Office job.’
‘A shortlist of one, if he has his way.’
Bliss chuckled at the truth of this. ‘So where are you anyway? Got somebody there?’
‘I’m with Siobhan Clarke. We’re up north.’
‘Thought as much. TV cameras don’t seem to be spotting you today, though.’
‘One bullet I’m happy to dodge.’ Rebus pointed through the windscreen, so that Clarke could share his sighting of another dolphin as it made its way towards the feeding grounds. ‘But as of right now,’ he told Bliss, ‘we’re actually sitting in my car watching a passing parade of dolphins.’
‘At Chanonry Point? Then you’re minutes away from where Gregor Magrath stays.’
‘Oh aye?’
‘Rosemarkie, it’s called.’
‘You’ve been there?’
‘Just the once. Cottage facing the beach. Only red door on the street, I seem to recall.’
‘Maybe we’ll drop by.’
‘Could you do that?’ Bliss paused. ‘I’m serious. Gregor’s always wanting to know what we’re up to at SCRU.’
‘And you want
‘Bit nicer than a phone call,’ Bliss argued.
‘And saves you the grief,’ Rebus countered.
‘You’re a gentleman, John.’
‘Otherwise known as an easy touch.’
‘We’ll have a night out when you get back. Toast the old place before it shows us the door.’
‘Will Cowan be on the guest list?’
‘What do you think?’ Peter Bliss said, ending the call.
Clarke was on the lookout for more sea life.
‘Might find some further up the coast,’ Rebus suggested, starting the engine. ‘Along with a retired detective and a cup of tea. .’
