Death Of An Addict

'Did he go to church? And if so, which denomination?'

'We're Church of Scotland. But I don't know which church he was going to.'

After the Jarrets had left, Hamish walked along to Dr. Brodie's cottage.

'Come in,' said Angela with a smile of welcome. 'Did you say something to the Currie sisters?'

'Something.'

'Whatever it was, it seems to have worked. They're almost mild, for them.'

'I came to see your husband.'

'He's in the living room. Go through.'

The doctor was sitting in front of a messy smouldering fire. 'If you clean the ashpan out, it might burn better,' said Hamish.

'Oh, it's you, Hamish. Well, if you feel like cleaning it out, do it yourself.'

Hamish went back into the kitchen and collected the ash bucket. The doctor watched for a moment, amused, and then picked up the newspaper he had been reading. Hamish cleaned out the ash into the metal bucket and added several logs to the fire, which immediately sprang into life. He carried the bucket of smoking ashes out through the kitchen and placed them outside the kitchen door, then returned to the living room and sat down in an armchair opposite the doctor.

Dr. Brodie put down the newspaper and looked at Hamish over the tops of his spectacles.

'I'm sure you didn't call just to light the fire.'

'No, I've a bit of a problem,' said Hamish. 'It's that business about young Tommy Jarret.'

'Oh, sad business. Heroin overdose.'

'Aye, there may be a bit more to it than that.' Hamish told him about the visit from the Jarrets and their suspicions.

Dr. Brodie listened carefully. Then he said, 'I see their point, but it's all a bit far-fetched for the Highlands of Scotland. It's natural in their grief that they should think up all sorts of conspiracy theories.'

'Well, I am not grieving, and I think it's all too pat. Did you prescribe sleeping pills for Tommy?'

'No. He registered with me when he moved to Parry's, but that was all. I don't have anything to do with drug addicts, Hamish, but the damn stuff creeps everywhere and I hope it never reaches up here.'

'It's a whole world I know nothing about,' said Hamish half to himself.

'I did hear from a colleague down in Strathbane, that there's a disco called Lachie's there. It's been raided several times but nothing has been found. Surely, Hamish, if Strathbane have decided it's an accidental death, then it must be.'

'Not necessarily. There's almost a sort of unholy glee when a drug addict dies. Silly bugger, he had what was coming to him. That sort of thing. Now, a lot of respectable businessmen, as you know, cause doctors and hospitals no end of expense and trouble with their drinking. But when one of them dies of a stroke or cirrhosis of the liver or pancreatitis, no one ever says he had what was coming to him. And drug deaths are often among the young and there's an awfy prejudice against young people.'

'But if you consider,' said the doctor, 'that there are warnings the whole time against the effects of drugs and no warnings against the effects of alcohol, other than the usual 'don't drink and drive' warnings, people are apt to think, well, they were told what would happen. Like smokers.'

'Could be,' pointed out Hamish cynically, 'because the highest proportion of alcoholics are to be found amongst the medical profession.'

'Too true,' said Dr. Brodie. 'Which reminds me, I got a present of a fine malt whisky. Fancy a dram?'

'Chust a wee one, then,' said Hamish, suddenly assailed by an odd nervousness. He knew that he should let Tommy Jarrets death go and not get under the feet of his superior officers. But at the same time, he knew that if he did not investigate it, that boy's death would nag at his conscience. While the doctor went to fetch the whisky, Hamish wondered what to do next.

Felicity Maundy obviously knew something. Perhaps he would try her again. The following day was Sunday, his day off. He would put on plain clothes and see if that made him any less intimidating to her.

As he approached Sean's cottage, the following day, he saw the old man working in his garden and so drew to a halt outside the front gate and climbed down from the Land Rover.

'Morning, Mr. Fitzpatrick,' said Hamish.

Sean straightened up from weeding and surveyed Hamish silently.

'It seems the monster in Loch Drim might be nothing more than seals.'

'How did you come to that conclusion?' Sean threw weeds into a bucket at his feet.

'I took a walk along the path that leads to the sea from Drim. There's a. colony of seals on the rocks at the end.'

'That's odd,' said Sean. 'I thought there had been several sightings of something strange.'

'Oh, you know how it is here,' said Hamish easily. 'We pick up a good story and then we all embroider it.'

Sean shrugged and bent over his weeding again.

Hamish leaned on the garden fence and watched him. The day was milky grey and mild. It was very still, the sort of day where sounds carried from a long distance. It would be grand, he reflected, not to have to worry about the Jarrets, just let everything slide. Sean straightened up and surveyed Hamish with some impatience. 'Was there anything else, Officer?'

'You seem to hear a lot of gossip, although you keep yourself to yourself. Hear any more about the Jarret boy?'

'Nothing much.'

'Anything at all?'

'Only that he'd turned religious.'

'I heard a bit about that. Any idea if he went to church and if so which church?'

'Somebody said in my hearing it was some sort of odd religion that had started up in Lochdubh.'

'The Moonies?'

'No, it wasn't them.'

'I'll look into it.'

'So you think it was murder, Officer?'

'Chust curious, that's all.'

Sean resumed his weeding and Hamish reluctantly got into the Land Rover again, reluctant because he was beginning to think that he would get no further with finding out what had happened to Tommy.

He drove on to Parry's croft and found the crofter at home. 'Felicity Maundy in her chalet?' asked Hamish.

'I don't think so. I think herself went out for a walk. Tea? Coffee?'

'Coffee would be fine.'

Parry picked up a battered enamel jug from the stove and poured two cups. Both men sat down at the table.

Hamish told Parry about Mr. and Mrs. Jarret's request. 'Do you really think there's anything mysterious about his death?' asked Parry.

'On a calm, still day like this, it all seems fantastic. But I won't be easy in my conscience until I've asked around a bit more. Now, this Felicity. She told me she was not that close to Tommy, they were just neighbours. But Miss Black, the woman who runs the village tea shop, she got the impression they were an item.'

'I can tell you, they weren't that casual, but I thought, both being young people stuck up here in the wilds, that they were just friends, Hamish. Went for long walks together, things like that. He could have been in her chalet at night, or her in his, and I wouldn't know. I'm dead to the world after ten o'clock at night.'

'So she lied, and what else has she been lying about? And then there's the book he was writing. His parents say he was half finished and yet all I could find was chapter one. Then there's the sleeping drug he had taken.'

'I didnae hear about that!'

'Aye, they found traces of some sort of sleeping drug. So, far-fetched as it may seem, someone might have laced his coffee and then injected him with heroin.'

'Okay, let's go for the far-fetched,' said Parry. 'In order to let someone into his chalet and, say, offer him coffee, it must have been someone he knew. Say someone he knew was a drug dealer and had mentioned in his