clouds striping the sky.

‘They won’t come back,’ she said. ‘It was hours ago we saw them, they can’t still be out on the water. Besides, it’s almost daylight, they wouldn’t risk it. They were probably just checking along the coastline until they ran short of fuel, then headed back to wherever the hell they came from.’ She pulled the gun out from the back of her trousers. ‘And we have to get rid of this, it is a murder weapon, after all.’

She put the gun back, picked up the torch and put it in her pocket, then stood next to the barrel and looked at Adam.

‘Come on then, give me a hand with this thing.’

They headed off in the opposite direction to the one they’d taken Luke’s body, rolling the barrel for several hundred yards until they reached a large rocky outcrop. Molly wiped the handles of the torch and the gun then hurled them both as hard as she could into the sea. They splashed into the surface with the quiet thunks of metal in water.

She turned to look at Adam.

‘So we just roll this into the sea?’ he said, looking at the barrel.

‘I guess so.’

‘It’ll float.’

Molly shrugged. ‘There are no markings on it, there’s nothing to tie it to us or the still.’

‘Won’t there be some of Luke’s blood in there?’

‘The sea will take care of that.’

‘You think?’

‘I honestly have no idea, but it’s our only option.’

They counted to three then heaved the barrel and watched as it tipped into the water below them, landing with a soft splash and bobbing around, bumping into the rocky coastline and slowly filling with water.

Adam rubbed his face and sighed, then looked at Molly. ‘You really think this can work?’

Molly nodded. ‘It can if we stick together.’

They walked back to the car, Adam feeling utterly empty, a lost soul.

Roddy lifted his head slowly as they approached.

‘Sorted?’

They both nodded wearily.

‘I’ve got another question,’ he said. ‘How do we explain that we didn’t light a fire until now?’

Molly considered this for a moment. ‘Who’s to say we didn’t? Maybe we started it last night, but no one was around to see it. We couldn’t send up an inferno because we only had one little petrol canister, we had to ration it because we didn’t know when we were going to be found.’

‘And what makes you think someone is going to see the smoke now and come to the rescue?’

‘Look, I never said the plan was perfect, did I?’ said Molly, running a hand through her hair and down her neck. ‘Do you want to try and get out of here alive or don’t you?’

‘Of course.’

‘Well stop being the smart bastard picking holes in everything and start being helpful for once in your sorry little life.’

Roddy smiled at her. ‘OK, take it easy. I’m just asking the questions the police are going to ask.’

Adam looked up. ‘What do you mean?’

Roddy smiled at him. ‘This all stinks to high fucking heaven. You think they’re not going to give us a grilling?’

‘But we’re just innocent victims of a car crash, right?’ said Adam.

‘Who just happen to be stranded a few walkable miles along the coast from two dead cops and a burnt-out illegal still. In the middle of fucking nowhere. You think they’re going to buy that it’s a coincidence?’

‘But they might not even find the still or the bodies,’ said Adam weakly.

Roddy shook his head. ‘They’ll find them. Or at least we have to assume they will.’

‘Roddy’s right,’ said Molly. ‘We have to presume the worst, be prepared to get interrogated.’

‘The interesting bit,’ said Roddy, ‘is gonna be whether the cops who interview us are in on the bootlegging operation or not.’

Adam put his head in his hands. ‘Jesus Christ, this is never going to end, is it?’

Roddy coughed then smiled as he lay back down on the ground, cradling his shoulder in his hand.

‘It’ll end eventually,’ said Molly. ‘One way or the other.’

35

‘What if no one comes?’ said Adam.

Molly shrugged as she poured more petrol on the Audi’s undercarriage. The flames roared briefly, sending thick black smoke billowing straight up into a pristine sky. The acrid stench of burning fuel and rubber filled their noses. She shoogled the canister and listened. It was half empty already. She put it down next to Roddy, passed out on the ground under Ethan’s coat.

‘Someone will come.’

Adam looked west, the direction of the still. There was no trace of smoke in the sky over there. Were they too far away to see it? Had it burnt out already? Had someone spotted it in the night and called the fire brigade to put it out? Did they even have a fire brigade on Islay?

‘There’s no smoke from the still,’ he said.

‘I know.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I don’t know.’

Adam looked back at their own smoke signal, reaching lazily upwards into the cold blue.

‘What if no one comes?’

Molly turned to him. ‘I don’t have all the answers, I’m as much in the dark as you are. Stop asking stupid questions.’

Adam looked at her. She seemed close to tears, a wetness in her eyes, but then it could’ve been the petrol fumes. She turned away from his gaze.

Adam looked out to sea, then turned back as he realised Molly was crying — thick, heavy sobs into her hands as her body convulsed with the release of it.

‘It’s OK,’ he said, getting up and trying to put his arm around her. She flinched at his touch and shook him off.

‘It’s not OK,’ she snapped. ‘It’s never going to be OK, what’s happened.’

Adam stared at her back as she composed herself, wiping away tears with the backs of her hands and sniffing. He felt empty and didn’t know what to say.

‘Look, we’re all just a bit stressed,’ he said.

Molly laughed, a slice of acidic sound. ‘You think?’

They looked at each other, something passing between them, a flicker of what they’d felt back at her place, maybe, a painful reminder of how their lives could’ve been.

‘Sorry,’ he said again.

‘What do you have to be sorry for?’

‘If it wasn’t for me, none of us would be in this mess.’

Molly shook her head. ‘We were unlucky, that’s all.’

It was Adam’s turn to laugh. ‘I think unlucky is an understatement, don’t you?’

‘Maybe.’

He tentatively tried to put his arm round her again. To his surprise, she allowed herself to be held, leaning into him. He smelled her hair, a faint flowery shampoo amongst the bitter smokiness of the fire. It felt so nice holding her, he never wanted to let go. In the middle of the night, back in the still, he could never have imagined being this close to her again. He didn’t want it to end.

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