They sat down next to each other on the sofa and kissed.
‘Be careful touching my arm and face,’ Hanlon said. ‘They’re pretty sore…’
McCleod said softly, smiling, ‘Please don’t do anything like this again. Promise me you’ll stick to official channels…’
Later, as they lay in bed upstairs, she told McCleod what had happened in Glasgow and Paisley.
‘And Manny confirmed that Murdo Campbell is behind the smuggling?’ said McCleod. Hanlon nodded.
‘Oh, he’s guilty all right, it’s just corroborative proof we need.’
McCleod asked, ‘Well, what about the recording from the cottage? You’ve retrieved that, I take it?’
‘I did, and it was absolutely useless,’ fumed Hanlon. McCleod raised her eyebrows in surprise.
The machine had worked faultlessly. It had recorded Kai saying, in a surprised tone of voice, ‘Hello, what the fuck?’ Then the sound of a shotgun. Then, after a brief pause – the machine was noise activated and had switched itself off – the arrival of the forensics team.
‘We are absolutely none the wiser,’ agreed McCleod. They both stared dolefully at the useless recording device.
‘How about your investigation?’ asked Hanlon, pessimistically. ‘How are official channels working out?’
‘It’s really not getting anywhere.’ McCleod shook her head. ‘The first thing I wanted to do was trace the person who called the murder in. We tried tracing the 999 call, but they must have dialled 141 or had caller block switched on in settings. There’s no tracing the mobile used to make the call. The voice is a man’s voice, an English accent, we’ve no idea who it is. There are lots of tourists around at this time of year. Hill-walkers, bird-watchers, people fishing the lochs… The current thinking is that the person who found the bodies doesn’t want it known he was here on Jura, maybe someone having an affair, maybe someone with a record who thinks they might get implicated.’ She shrugged. ‘Who knows? Then there’s no obvious evidence from the scene of crime people. But if you’re right and the killer was Campbell, he’d know what to do to avoid leaving any trace. I guess we’re waiting for a break.’
Hanlon sighed.
‘How did the alibis check out?’
‘Donald’s one is rock solid. He was working all day long, there was a coach party staying to lunch and he was the only one in the kitchen, helped by Johanna and a couple of part-timers.’
‘Harriet?’
McCleod shook her head. ‘She doesn’t have an alibi. She wasn’t working. She says that she had been out for a walk and had returned to her room, but nobody saw her.’
‘So, it could be her, then?’
‘It could be.’
‘And Campbell?’ McCleod just looked at her. The look said, Do you really think I’m going to ask my superior officer for an alibi…?
‘We could still get a break,’ McCleod said, ‘or maybe, just maybe, things are what they seem, and Big Jim really did kill Kai.’ She stroked Hanlon’s hair. ‘Cheer up, I’ll think of a way to bring Manny in. He might talk.’
‘If he’s still alive,’ said Hanlon gloomily. She had a feeling Frank might have finished him off.
They were silent, then McCleod asked, ‘Could you do me a favour? Could you look after Wemyss for me for the afternoon? I have to go over to Islay for a meeting.’
‘Sure, when do you want to pick him up?’
‘I’ll be round about 6 p.m. If you could walk him, I’d be very grateful. He hasn’t been out today.’
‘I’ll see you then. Oh, can I run with Wemyss?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘If I go running will he run along with me? I was going to do fifteen k.’
McCleod laughed. ‘You most certainly can, but I’d do it on the road. He is a sheepdog, he can get over-excited if you’re hill-running and he sees animals, but he’s fine on the road. He’ll run to heel too, but carry a lead, just in case. There’s one in my car.’
They went out to the Volvo and the DS let Wemyss out of the hatch. He jumped around excitedly and sat obediently as McCleod handed Hanlon his lead and water-bowl. He looked suitably puzzled and slightly mournful as McCleod drove off, but then shook himself briskly and followed Hanlon back inside.
Hanlon looked at the dog; the dog looked expectantly at Hanlon.
‘Walk?’ she said.
Wemyss looked excited and went to the door, wagging his tail enthusiastically. Hanlon opened the door, kicked off her training shoes and reached under the shelf in the porch for her walking boots. As she did so she noticed the boots that Morag had lent her.
She swore. She had walked away from Morag’s house without a word in her borrowed clothes because she had suspected the woman might be some stooge of Big Jim’s. Perhaps she had been, but she had undoubtedly helped her. And he was dead now – the least she could do was return the clothes and boots. Hanlon prided herself on paying her debts. Besides, Morag was probably at work in the hills, maybe not even here on Jura. She could always leave them in the porch with a note; it might not even be necessary to speak to her.
‘Come on, Wemyss,’ she said.
They walked down the road to Morag’s house near the tip of the island. Hanlon guessed that it would take them an hour. She tried to think of some other way that they could get some leverage on Campbell. Nothing came to mind. Well, something would turn up. The main thing was, she was still alive, that and for once she had someone in her life, Catriona McCleod. She recalled the horrified look on her face when she’d opened the door. It was unusual for someone to care so much about her.
There was a part of her that was slightly irritated by McCleod’s concern. Well, it was her own fault for not calling her to warn her, she supposed. She would have to
