‘Give us the rundown on him,’ he said to Alex.
‘He and Shona were twins. Aged thirty-seven. Shona was on her second marriage, currently to Brian Gibbons. They run their own property development company in Edinburgh. Shona and Clive were born here on the island in the big house. Clive never left. He worked with his father, running the company that had been left to Oliver. Of course, the company wasn’t his for seven years, until Murdo was declared dead. No sign of him was ever found, and we now know why: he was sealed up in a wall.’
‘Shona left, obviously,’ Dunbar said, ‘but you said she was married twice. Who was her first husband?’
‘He was a financier. He died in a skiing accident fifteen years ago. They’d only been married two years at the time.’
‘Has anybody spoken to Gibbons yet?’ Harry said.
‘He got out of a taxi when we were just leaving. We took him inside and told him. When I asked him where he had been, he said he had walked to the fairground and spoke to an Irishman, Joe Murphy, who he knows.’
‘We’ll check that out later.’
‘What about Clive?’ Dunbar asked.
‘He liked the women,’ Evans answered. ‘He was never short of a girlfriend, but he never married. He lived in the big house with his father, and Oliver died there last Christmas. Two days before Christmas.’
‘And nobody thought of questioning the coincidence?’
‘Apparently not, sir.’
‘What about that other pair of loud mouths?’
‘Zachary Wolf is in finance. He lives and works in Glasgow Divorced.’
‘Where was he born?’ Harry asked.
‘They were all born here on the island, sir. They all moved away in adulthood.’
‘Where’s their mother?’
‘She died years ago,’ Alex answered.
‘What about the family mouthpiece?’ Dunbar said.
‘Fenton Wolf is a doctor. A cardiologist. Works in Glasgow. Also divorced.’
‘What was Oliver Wolf’s cause of death?’
‘Cardiac arrest.’
Dunbar looked at him for a moment. ‘A bit ironic, isn’t it? The son is a cardiologist and his father dies of a heart attack. Anybody else feel the hairs on their neck going up?’
‘You think he might have been murdered too?’ Harry asked.
‘I’m not discounting it. Two of the Wolf family are dead. Seven months after their old man died. You know how suspicious we get, Harry.’
‘We can ask around and see if we can get hold of the death certificate. If not, we can have it pulled. Did he die here on the island?’
Alex nodded. ‘At home.’
‘Somebody knew where old Murdo Wolf was and for some reason they were trying to get him out of that wall. To move him? Probably. But why? It has to be connected to the memorial for Oliver Wolf and the fact that the kids were being given the properties.’ Dunbar looked at Alex. ‘Did you find out what else they own here?’
‘Some of the land on the north island. Obviously their house and the hotel next to it, but they also owned the park where the new houses are being built. Where they found Shona. And they own the land where the carnival sits. And they once owned the hotel where we’re staying, the Laoch Lodge. But after Murdo was declared dead, it was given to the Shaw family. Murdo left it to Shaw in his will.’
‘Crail Shaw, the man who was his driver and assistant?’ Dunbar said.
‘Yes. Murdo must have thought a lot of him,’ Harry said.
‘We need to find out who benefits from these deaths. Like, do the remaining brothers benefit from the twins’ deaths?’
‘I think it goes deeper than that, Jimmy.’ Harry looked at the board. ‘I mean, they’re not stupid people, so killing their siblings in the hope of getting the property left to them would be dumb.’
‘We’ve both seen dumber criminals, neighbour.’
‘True. But these laddies are professional people. They’re not stupid.’ Harry was silent for a moment. Then: ‘One of you find out if Oliver Wolf was buried or cremated.’
‘I already know the answer,’ Evans said. ‘He was buried. He’s in the island’s only cemetery.’
‘It might be worth having him exhumed,’ Alex said.
‘That’s something we can consider if we have to. Meantime, we have to go and have a talk with a man called Joe Murphy.’
Dunbar looked at his watch. ‘We should get something to eat before places start to fill up. We don’t know if those reprobates from the music festival will come down here and take up all the tables.’
‘They usually just drink lager and eat crisps for dinner,’ Harry said. ‘Just ask Alex. She’s the expert on living in a tent.’
‘Once,’ Alex said, holding a finger up. ‘One time I went to T in the Park.’
‘Willingly?’ Dunbar asked. ‘My laddie went there one time and had to burn his jeans when he came back home. I didn’t even want to ask.’
‘How about you, Robbie?’ Harry asked.
‘Not my scene, sir. I prefer sports myself.’
‘I can confirm that,’ Dunbar said. ‘In fact, he’s expecting Andy Murray round tonight for a wee game of…something.’
Harry and Alex waited for more but nothing came.
‘Anyway, how about it?’ Dunbar said. ‘Hit a wee place just now, then we can talk to this guy Murphy. And we still have to talk to the Wolf brothers. And we have to find Brian Gibbons and break the news about the death of his wife.’
‘And ask him where he was at the time,’ Harry added.
They left the station and found a little restaurant in the main street. ‘Tuck in, people. This is on Police Scotland,’ Dunbar said.
Fifteen
He stood looking down at his father’s grave. The sun was still out but a wind had got up, whipping through the trees that provided shade in the small cemetery. Mount Beacon poked its head up above the treeline, like it was being nosy.
He heard a twig snap in the long grass.
‘You’re late,’ he said to his brother.
‘I was making sure
