“I’ve never been here,” said Macdonald.
A woman came out of one of the houses, seventy yards away. She walked toward them and greeted them as she passed. She was wearing a kerchief but was no older than they were. A few cars were parked beside theirs.
“Excuse me,” said Macdonald.
“On a very clear day you can see Orkney,” the woman had said.
“How about the northern lights?” Winter had asked.
“Oh, you’ve seen the film.” It was a statement, for the most part. “You’ve come to see it for yourselves?”
“We’re not here for that reason,” Macdonald had said.
She had taken them to the next-to-last house in the row. Everything was closed and shut up as they walked along the quay.
In 1900, three hundred people had lived here, she had said. Now twenty people lived in Pennan permanently.
They walked past a construction site. Winter thought of Dallas.
“The first new construction in a hundred years!” said the woman.
They stood in front of a cottage. She knocked hard three times.
“Her hearing is bad.”
After the fifth knock of her knuckles, there was rustling behind the heavy door, which still had its red base color.
“Mrs. Watt?” said the woman.
The door creaked open. The face of an older woman became visible. She had small, sharp eyes.
“Aye?”
“Mrs. Watt, these gentlemen would like to ask you a couple of questions.”
They climbed back uphill in the car. The dolphin house they’d parked in front of had been the inn in
Mrs. Watt had a memory that came and went. In addition, she had spoken a kind of Scottish that seemed to be too much even for Macdonald. Once she had nodded to herself and said, “Gie yehr ain fish guts to year ain sea myaves.”
“What did that mean?” Winter had asked when they were standing outside again.
“‘Give your own fish guts to your own seagulls,’” Macdonald had answered, “but I don’t know what it
At the summit there was only sky and sea over the edge.
Mrs. Watt had spoken about “a stranger.”
He had lived by himself in a little hovel next to the Cullykhan caves in the cove next to Pennan Bay.
“But there’s nothing there now,” she had said.
They had climbed over there, but there was nothing there.
“He was there and then he was gone,” she had said.
“When was that?”
“The war. During the war.”
“What did he do?”
“What everyone else did, I assume. Smuggled.”
“Did you meet this stranger?” Winter had asked Mrs. Watt.
“No.”
“Did you see him?”
“No.”
“Where did he come from?”
“No one knew. Not that I know of. And no one asked. Not then.” She had squinted her sharp eyes, which were like black stones. “They had probably checked him out and I guess he was allowed to stay.”
“They? Who are they?” Macdonald had asked.
“The men in the village.”
“Are any of them still here?”
“No.”
“None at all?”
“Not from that time.”
“What happened to the stranger?” Winter had asked.
“I guess he’s just gone.”
They drove west, toward Macduff and Banff.
“There were lots of people who came and went back then,” said Macdonald.
Winter didn’t answer. He looked out over the sea below the precipice. One quick movement of the wheel and they would be flying.
“What are you thinking about, Erik?”
“About something I’ve seen and yet not seen,” said Winter.
“A common problem for a policeman,” said Macdonald.
“Fuck.”
“When? Where?”
“Recently,” said Winter. “During this trip.”
“Think back.”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
There were some dark streaks across the sky. The sun disappeared. Macdonald thought about putting in a CD but he hesitated.
“It has to do with the photograph,” said Winter. “Of Osvald.”
Macdonald looked up at the sky.
“We’ll have to find an inn to stay overnight.”
Winter nodded.
“I know the place,” said Macdonald. “The Seafield Hotel in Cullen. It’s a classic. I didn’t remember it before, but now I do. You can try Cullen skink there!”
48
He heard them talking behind his back. He wanted to know who they were, and why they were there. He didn’t move. He had seen them arrive, and he understood.
She didn’t say anything when they ordered.
Maybe she understood too.
It was only a small favor. He knew that he could ask her. A single conversation. A simple question.
But he didn’t trust her anymore.
He had decided to tell everything. It was time. When had he made his decision? It had to do with the sea. The loneliness.
After all these years. It was easier at first.
When he was going to leave it all, it was harder. Not hard to leave; he had longed to do that.
Who could believe it would happen like this? That the boy…
Take the car, the boy had said. I don’t need it.
There was a shine in the boy’s eyes.
It’s all over now, the boy had said.
The boy prayed, he prayed all the time. His good sense seemed to disappear.
It had been tranquil by the sea. It was a peaceful beach.
