Michael's wife returned while I was pounding on the computer and Arrow and Michael were going over his financial records on the dining room table. I was completely engrossed in programming, working fast to make up in speed what I lacked in ability.
Michael had told us something about his wife so when I heard the front door close I immediately knew that I should show myself. I went quickly into the dining room. Arrow and Michael were sitting at the table with their heads close together. She had convinced him that she did know something about marketing.
Mrs. McTavish entered the room on her way to the kitchen, with two large bags of groceries in her arms, just as I got to the back of Arrow's chair and put my hands on her shoulders. Michael looked up, startled at the appearance of his wife.
He said, 'Hello, dear, let me help you with those,' sounding like a boy who has been caught watching an adult movie on cable. He quickly got up and took the bags from her. 'These two have come from Los Angeles to find out about life here when we were young. Karl and Arrow, this is my wife, Heather.'
We said hello and Heather, who was short and thin, like her husband, nodded, without speaking or smiling and followed him through a swinging door into the kitchen. We could hear their voices then, speaking softly but rapidly, with Heather's demanding and Michael's placating.
Arrow shrugged as if to say she couldn't help it and she'd seen it all before.
I said, 'What did you promise Jock to get him to leave?'
'Not what you think. Although we may have to meet him for a drink.'
'So you included me.'
'I'm certainly not going alone.'
Michael came back into the room and said, 'We would like to have you stay for lunch.'
Lunch. I looked at my watch. Time flies when you're jet-lagged and don't know what time it really is. I said, 'Why don't we take you both out for lunch. Is there a place nearby…?'
'The hotel's about the only place and we can do better. You haven't eaten until you've tried Heather's good hearty soup.'
'We'd love to stay for lunch,' Arrow said in a loud voice. 'I'll help Heather in the kitchen while you two go over what Karl's done on the website.' She disappeared through the swinging door, the soul of domesticity, and we could hear her complimenting Heather on her kitchen.
Michael looked at me in relief as he cleared his papers off the table.
'James was the leader of our gang, if you want to call it that. He was the one with all the ideas, some of them pretty daft. Ned was his best friend. They shared everything, including Elma.'
Michael stopped to eat a spoonful of soup, which was indeed both good and hearty. He and I each had a glass of beer. Arrow and Heather drank tea, although I knew by now that Arrow detested it.
'I was younger than Elma,' Heather said, “but I always thought she was a wild one. Two boyfriends at the same time and then running off to America all my herself.'
'She's quieted down a lot,' Arrow said. 'Raising three kids will do that to you.'
She and Heather laughed together; Heather had also raised three kids. Suddenly the two of them were best buddies. Arrow had apparently convinced Heather that she was sweet and innocent, in spite of the fact that she was traveling abroad with somebody who wasn't her husband or even her intended.
Heather jumped up from the table and scurried into the kitchen.
'I understand that James invented something called The Game,' I said, attempting to steer the conversation.
'Aye, The Game,' Michael said. 'James liked to play games that he was good at. He was always looking for an edge. I remember one time I played it…' He stopped and glanced at Heather, who had just returned with a lamb dish.
'Let's hear what you have to say, Michael McTavish,' Heather said, placing the dish in front of him. 'Don't stop on account of me. I already know enough about your sorry youth to convince your father to disinherit you.'
'Small loss that would be,' Michael said. 'Well, this was before you were in the picture, Heather. You were still a skinny child…'
'You were no Adonis, yourself.'
'There was this girl I had my eye on…'
'And who would that be?'
'Nobody you would remember. If you wish to hear my story, woman, then let me tell it. James knew her and promised to fix me up with her if I won The Game. The penalty if I lost was to run through the center of town with no clothes on.'
'I don't remember that.'
'If you were smart you were snug inside by the fire. It was a miserable day, rain and wind, and few people were about. I almost caught pneumonia.'
'If I had seen you naked I would have had more sense than to marry you.'
'I take it you lost The Game,' I said, smiling.
'Yes. I had practiced, but at the last minute James changed the rules and I had to throw for different squares. That was like James.'
'Elma said that a boy got killed as a result of The Game.' Arrow said this casually, as if to make conversation, but she stole a glance at me as she said it.
'Killed?' Michael had a puzzled expression.
'Was that the Stewart boy?' Heather asked. 'As I recall he fell onto the rocks.'
Arrow and I looked at each other again, but we kept quiet.
'Dickie Stewart,' Michael said, as if remembering. 'He was part of the group. One day he took it into his head to climb the cliff from the beach. He must have slipped. It was very sad.'
'Did he climb the cliff as a penalty for losing The Game?' I asked.
Michael took a sip of beer, then another. After a few more sips he said, 'As I recall I was laid up in bed at the time-influenza I think it was, and I don't know the details.'
'But you must have talked to the other boys,' Arrow said, with a tinge of disbelief.
'I don't recall that. I went to Dickie's funeral, of course, even though I was still a bit rocky. By the time I had recovered the affair was over and forgotten.'
'Perhaps there are other members of your group still here who would know what happened,' Arrow said.
'Why is it so important?' Michael asked. 'No good can come of it now. And there are many other stories I can tell you.'
'It isn't important,' I said. 'And we would love to hear your stories.'
Michael drove us back to the hotel after regaling us with stories for two hours. Arrow had brought a tape recorder with her and made a great show out of recording what he said so that we could maintain our credibility.
When he mentioned boys by name we asked him their current whereabouts. We also slipped in the names Elma had given us. According to Michael, one member of the gang was dead, one was in London, but none were still in northern Scotland. He said he had lost track of several others. Apparently, they were more adventurous than Elma had given them credit for.
The hotel desk had a message for Arrow from Jock, saying that he had some information for us.
'I'll call him from my room,' Arrow said as we took the elevator-pardon me, the lift. 'I want you to be with me.'
We went into her room and she called the number given on the message. Jock asked her to meet him; Arrow invited him to come for a drink at the hotel. Jock said he'd like her to go to his place; she said she would bring me
