Hunt Hunted, Murder Murdered

shirt.

‘I just came to apologise for last night’.

Bob ushered him over the threshold.

‘I was just going to call you’.

They arrived in the front room as Marie made to leave.

‘Marie…’ Tom starts on a well practiced speech..

‘I can’t deal with you just now Tom. Leave it.’ She passes and mounts the stairs out of sight.

‘You can understand…’ Bob finished, and invited Tom with an open hand to sit.

‘You were going to call me? What for?’

‘I need some answers Tom. About Dev and that poor lass.’

‘What d’you mean?’

‘This isnae easy. But we need to know if you know more about the disappearance of that wee lass, Ollie Ingram.’

‘What!? We have an argument and you decide that I’m to blame for that wee girl, for Dev’s death? Fuckin hell. I told you and I told the police the truth’.

‘No, that’s not what I’m saying. But here’s what I am saying. Someone who was playing our treasure hunt game knows more than they are telling, and Ian Ingram knows it too’.

‘Knows what?’

‘Knows that Dev didn’t kill his daughter. In fact he says he is sure he knows who did.’

They paused. Tom finally looked up into Bob’s eyes.

‘Spiv!’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘He said he had been off wi a lass, a schoolie. I bet it was her. I’d make it odds on that the school lass was Ollie Ingram.’

‘Do you know this, or are you guessing.’

Tom stands up.

‘It makes absolute sense now. About 2 days before the treasure hunt, the night that lass was supposed to have disappeared, Spiv arrived back at the pub all flash like - you know what he’s like - and I said ‘You been getting some?’ He looked at me with a broad smirk on his puss. ‘Aye, nice and fresh’, he said and sniffed at his finger.’ Tom finished, and Bob curled his lip at the imagery.

‘That means nowt’.

‘No. Maybe not. But then again, he was up there at the Crook dropping off Pam plenty times. And he had opportunity. Who else has used Olive Island but us lot when we were courting?’

‘Mebbe you’re right. And even if your not, it’s what Ian Ingram thinks.’

He paced across the living room, then turned back towards Tom.

‘It’s what Ian Ingram knows. He says he has a Pars scarf which he is going to have analysed. It’s Spiv's. It has to be.’ Tom nodded in agreement as another light bulb illuminated in his mind.

‘I mind him losing it. He couldn’t remember when he lost it. He made a fucking huge meal of it, then never mentioned it again.’

‘Feelin guilty?’ Bob asks.

‘Maybe he was. So what do we do now?'

Bob laces his shoes, and goes out to the hall, returning with his overalls.

'Well I have to go to work...'

'You found something else - another job?’

'No, they took me back.’ Bob adjusted his blue collar. ‘Just need to keep my nose clean this time'

'Good stuff. You want me to look for Spiv?'

'To be honest wi you, Tom, I don't want owt to do with you again. I just needed to know what you knew. I know now, so whatever you do, to be honest, I couldn't care less.'

'Bob, I told you, I was sorry man'

'Sometimes it's just not enough. If you have any sense it will be Emma you start apologising to.'

There were no more words and there was no sense of loss from Bob as Tom left.

7

7.1 Aidrian

Aid hadn't heard anymore from Bob, so texted him again to find out if he had managed to catch up with Spiv. The bar sat empty and Aid felt as though he would be adding more value by being anywhere else. Marge, the interim bar manager, was going through the accounts across from him and she did not like anyone skiving off.

'I'll go and get some more bottles out of the stables,' Aid called over, but Marge just sat in the natural dim light