She nodded and he stretched out his hand, hitting a key on his laptop. ‘When you’re ready, Martin.’ he said.
Somewhere within the microchips of the machine his words were transformed to a printed message and flashed directly onto the screen of Martin Impey’s computer in an office down the hall.
A few moments later the door to Crozier’s office opened and he entered the room. He was thirty-eight, five years older than Jane, and had been with the Department for the best part of ten years. He was a small, energetic man who reminded Jane of a Jack Russell Terrier. Fiercely intelligent and possessed of a cutting wit that more than compensated for his lack of physical stature, he was one of the most popular members of the Department. His brown eyes always seemed to be smiling, as if he had looked at the world and decided it was one huge joke, but today he seemed unusually somber.
‘Martin, how’s the work on Kulsay Island coming on?’
‘Hello, Jane. How are you?’ Martin said, ignoring Crozier’s question, but managing not to seem rude in doing so.
‘Fine, Martin. And you?’ Jane stood and shook his hand.
‘Good. I’m good. David okay?’ They might have been at a cocktail party and both were aware that Crozier was firing daggers at them with his eyes.
‘He was, last time I checked. And Emilie?’
Crozier held up his hands. ‘Enough! You can catch up on small talk later. Martin, I asked you a question.’
Martin winked at Jane. ‘Finished, Simon. Actually I finished a couple of hours ago, in as much as you can
‘You can fill me in later, but for now, take Jane back to your office and run her through everything you’ve found out.’ Crozier turned to Jane. ‘When you’ve finished down there, perhaps you’ll come back and give me your decision.’
Jane got to her feet. ‘Very well,’ she said. ‘By the way what
‘Emilie’s pregnant,’ Martin whispered in her ear as they walked to the door.
Jane clutched his sleeve. ‘Martin, that’s brilliant news.’ She, like most of the Department, was aware that they had been trying for a child for the best part of eight years. ‘How far along is she?’
‘Three months. Early days yet, but fingers crossed.’ He grinned at her.
‘Close the door behind you,’ Crozier said.
Martin turned and threw him a mock-salute.
As the door closed behind them Simon Crozier slid the folders back into the file, then sat back in his seat and frowned. He had a bad feeling about this case. A very bad feeling.
Martin scrolled down the screen. ‘This is Kulsay Island,’ he said as a picture of a barren, rocky coastline appeared on the screen.
‘Looks pretty bleak,’ Jane said.
‘From the reports I’ve read on the place it sounds like a hellhole. The island is about six miles across from north to south, about three east to west. The south end was once populated, mostly crofters. It was quite a thriving community at one time. There were a couple of pubs and one church. Population was about three hundred according to the 1931 census. But it’s the north end of the island where the incident took place, and that really is inhospitable.’
Jane stopped him. ‘Backtrack a little. Crozier said some kind of mass disappearance happened before. When was that?’
Martin frowned. ‘I know what he’s referring to, but the circumstances were different.’
‘How different?’ She crossed and uncrossed her legs. This promised to be a long session so she had better get herself comfortable.
He called up a menu, opened another page and started to read it, paraphrasing it for Jane’s benefit. ‘Round about sixty years ago a man called McMullen took a boat out to the island. He had a meeting planned with some of the crofters regarding the sale of their wool. Apparently when he got there the crofters had gone. In fact he couldn’t find anyone on the island at all. Kulsay was completely deserted. He poked around for a few hours, entered some of the houses, the pub and the church, but there was no sign of the locals. It was as if the whole population had upped sticks and left en masse. Drinks had been left unfinished in the bar of the pub, and in several of the cottages, radios were still on and meals were served up but half eaten. And interestingly enough the entire canine population of the island had gone as well.’
‘Is that significant?’ Jane had heard of people disappearing before, even small groups of people, and everyone had heard the story of the Marie Celeste. But she had never heard of a whole community leaving not a trace and no clues before.
‘Only in as much that there were almost as many dogs on the island as there were people. Sheep farmers rely on their dogs and value them highly. Makes sense that if they were going to leave the island they’d take their dogs with them.’
‘So it was a mass exodus?’ Thoughts and ideas were running through her mind and she knew that what ever the assignment was that Crozier offered her, the chances were very high that she would take it.
‘You’d think, but if it was then I’m buggered if I can find out where they went. There’s no record of three hundred people plus dogs pulling into any harbors on the mainland. Everything I’ve read suggests that the entire population disappeared without actually going anywhere.’
Jane made notes on the large pad beside her. ‘Listen, what happened to Simon’s face?’
Martin smiled. ‘Haven’t you heard?’
She shook her head. ‘Come on, what’s the gossip?’
‘Not gossip, actual fact. Trudy went into his office and he was still on the floor.’
‘On the floor?’
‘Robert Carter was in the process of storming out. He’d punched out Simon and knocked him flat.’
‘No!’ Jane could barely believe that Carter had hit Crozier. No wonder he hadn’t been around for a while. The reason had stayed quiet. Not that she was surprised; it was well known through the Department that the two men loathed one another.
Martin laughed. ‘That would have wiped the arrogant smile from Crozier’s face. But the hardest part for him would be if anyone found out. And someone did find out — me. I just need to bide my time until I let him know…’
‘Oh, Simon’s not all bad. Even he has his good points.’
Martin moved his attention back to the computer. ‘Any more questions?’
‘Loads. Surely there must have been some sort of inquiry?’
‘There was, but the results were inconclusive. There were no witnesses, no evidence. After a while the incident was swept under the carpet and simply forgotten about.’
Jane scribbled some more notes. It didn’t make any kind of sense. ‘What about the media? I can’t believe that such a sensational story would simply be ignored.’
‘There were the usual fluff pieces, but the stories were never given much credence. On a par with today’s tales of UFO sightings and crop circles. There was nobody to corroborate the stories so eventually they just petered out. Remember this was sixty years ago. The press was a fairly toothless beast back then. Not like now.’
‘And the crofters’ families?’ She had written down a few random questions as they occurred to her and was ticking them off as they spoke.
‘No one came forward.’ Martin knew the material by heart; he had a photographic memory, with no need of notes or briefings.
‘You’re kidding.’ Jane found that hard to believe, surely someone questioned three hundred people just evaporating into thin air.
‘Seems rather odd, doesn’t it?’ The same misgivings had occurred to Martin when he first read the reports. There was something strange about the whole episode. Not just where had they all gone, but why?
‘Perhaps they knew something. Some reason for the disappearance.’ Jane was letting her brain work
