up in the Highlands. I picked up the gear, went back to the house again and hid it for the police to find when the bodies were discovered. Then I headed home.'
He looked into his mug intently, as if something was swimming in it.
'You don't have to worry, Oz. Your old man's safe.'
'I know he is. He didn't do it. He was up to his elbows in Rotarians when the Neiportes got it; as alibied as you could get.'
'Eh?' Jay had been as convinced as me of my father's guilt. 'But that only leaves…'
I nodded. 'Exactly; me. I sound just like my father on the phone.'
'You mean you sent me up there to clear up the mess?'
I winked at him. 'Sorry. I didn't know there would be so much work. I didn't know about the porn site until today.'
'What happens to me, now I know?' he asked, quietly.
'Nothing. You're as guilty as me in the eyes of the law. Accessory after the fact. All that happens to you is that you live long and prosper, like Mr. Spock.'
He laughed. 'You doing a Star Trek movie next?'
'Some day, mate, some day.'
I glanced at him again. 'How am I paying you for all that stuff? The gear must have cost more than you got for the cameras.'
'I've been looking for a way your accountants won't spot,' he said.
'You'll be paying me extra for the installation work on Janet's playground.'
I smiled. 'As much as you like. See you later.'
He stood and walked back towards the house. The smile left my face as soon as he had gone. As I've said, I've been in some personal danger in my life, but I've never felt scared; it's all happened too fast for that, I suppose. Yet as Jay's footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me, I sat there feeling more frightened than at any moment in my life.
Forty-Two.
When I went back to the house myself, Ellie and the boys had just arrived. She greeted me like a long-lost brother… which I was to an extent, as it had been weeks since I'd seen her, and she and I have always been very close.
'Hey,' I asked her, 'would you fancy putting up the junior branch of the family for a couple of nights? I've been thinking, it's daft to come all the way back to Enster after the dinner. And I thought that Sunday will give you a chance to get to know your niece better.'
'That'll be great, Oz; as long as I can cook for you on Sunday night.'
I grinned. 'I can live with that.' I turned to Jonathan, who was standing quietly behind her, Colin having gone crashing off to the garden. 'Young man,' I began. He looked up at me, but not far up. I still wasn't used to his eye level being so close to mine. 'Do you fancy a ride in a genuine Lotus sports car?'
'Right now?' he exclaimed, a child's reaction in a man's tone.
'Sure, we've got time.'
My nephew and I headed outside. As he slid easily into the passenger seat, I thought of Wylie Smith and smiled. As I started the engine he looked around the cockpit. 'When you're finished with this, Uncle Oz,' he asked, cheekily, 'can I have it?'
'I'll tell you what,' I told him, as we slipped out on to the main road and turned westwards. 'When I'm done with it, I'll put it away for you. But you won't drive it until you can afford to insure it yourself. If that isn't an incentive to get your head into the books I don't know what is.'
'Who said I need an incentive? Has my Mum been talking about me?'
'Actually, she's been singing your praises. She says you're just like me when I was your age. What bigger compliment could there be? It's not quite true, though. When I was your age I wasn't your height and I still spoke with a bit of a squeak.'
'Do you think I'm too young to have a girlfriend, Uncle Oz?' he asked me, seriously. I guessed that he and Ellie had been in a confrontation, and I knew automatically that he'd lost.
This was the chat I'd been meaning to have with him. 'I think you're too young to have sex with a girlfriend,' I told him, slowly, 'especially if she's under sixteen too, however arbitrary you may think the law is in this matter. I don't think you're too young to have a special friend who is a girl, as long as you keep the physical side of it under control. The danger is, when your manhood is pointing skywards most of the time, that can be very difficult. I remember that all too well.'
'Did you manage?' he asked boldly. 'You and Aunt Jan?'
'That is none of your damn business, boy,' I told him. 'But as a matter of fact we did, although I admit it was more down to her self-control than mine. I'll tell you something else too. It was all the more worth it in the end. Self-control is the second most difficult art for a man to master, but when we do we find that we're in control of more than ourselves.'
'What's the most difficult?'
'Sincerity. As Bob Monkhouse said, master that and you've cracked it.'
As I spoke we passed out of Pittenweem and I took a right turn. 'Where are we going?' Jonny asked. I said nothing, but drove. Not far along the road, a sign pointed right again, to Arncroach; I swung the Lotus into the narrow road.
'Uncle Oz.' I could feel the panic rising in him. 'Where are we going?' he repeated.
'You know where we're going, Jonny, don't you?' I had to raise my voice above the sound of the engine and the rush of the air. He simply nodded, and then the tears began. His wide, but still bony shoulders started to shake, and he buried his face in his hands. There was an opening ahead, a recessed farm gate that served as a makeshift lay-by.
I slowed and pulled in there.
'Do you love your Granddad that much, son, that you did that for him?'
'I didn't mean to,' he whispered.
'You were listening to us, weren't you?' I asked him. 'That day in Elie when we were in the pub, talking, and you were outside; you were listening.' I could picture it in my mind; our table, an open window.
'I didn't mean to do that either,' he sniffed, 'but I thought it was strange you not asking me inside when there was hardly anyone there.
And I could tell there was something wrong with Granddad too; he wasn't acting like himself at all. I thought he must have cancer or something, and I was frightened. I heard it all, Uncle Oz; all that he said about those terrible people threatening him. And I heard how afraid he sounded.'
He wiped his eyes. 'I hoped you would go and beat them up, make them stop.'
'I did, son, I did… only they didn't stop.'
'I know. After that I started going to see him as often as I could. I would get on my bike after school and cycle over to Anstruther. We'd talk like we've always done, but I could tell he wasn't right. He was bad-tempered, and once he even hit Colin. I couldn't tell him that I knew, of course. I just had to look at him, sitting there worrying, but having to keep it hidden from everybody. I felt so sorry for him and so angry with them.'
'So you called them. You phoned them up, didn't you?'
'Uh-huh.' He nodded. 'I found their number in the book and I phoned them. He answered. I tried to make myself sound older and I said 'It's Mac Blackstone. Okay, I'll pay you, but I don't want to be seen.' And I told them both to meet me… to meet Granddad… at the farm. I didn't know whether they believed me or not.'
'Obviously they did. How did you know about the farm, son?'
'The farmer's the uncle of a boy I'm at school with. He and I went there one day, on our bikes. I knew there wouldn't be anyone there, not in the evening at least.'
'And the gun? Where did you get the shotgun, Jonny?'
'It's my dad's. He bought it and got a permit and everything when he joined that shooting club, and then
