‘I did some digging and public records show that the house didn’t belong to Murdo Wolf. It belonged to Oliver.’
‘Why is that strange?’ Harry asked.
‘All the other properties were owned by Murdo and only passed down to Oliver after Murdo was declared dead. That’s not the strange thing, though; the twist is, Murdo burnt the house down.’
‘Murdo?’ Alex said.
‘Yes. He was drunk and was just standing there watching the flames take hold of the property when the police and fire brigade arrived. He confessed, and was arrested, which meant they were just going through the motions. He was charged and released. An officer drove him home to sober up. The next morning, he had a lawyer. Nobody knows what the outcome would have been as he disappeared two days later.’
‘People probably thought he had disappeared so he wouldn’t have to face up to his responsibilities,’ Harry said.
Missy shrugged. ‘Nobody knows why he did it, but there was plenty of speculation. They thought he was hurting for money and would claim the insurance money on it, but he got caught. However, from reading the police report, I don’t think he wasn’t trying to hide anything so I think there was something else entirely going on.’
‘And now, almost thirty-five years later, somebody burns it down again,’ Dunbar said. ‘But this time, they were trying to elevate it to murder.’
‘We’re dealing with somebody more dangerous than anything else; somebody who doesn’t care,’ Alex said.
Harry shook his head. ‘No. Two people who don’t care. We’re looking for a team.’
‘Let’s get along to the big house, neighbour. I want to be there when they reveal that the memorial is cancelled,’ Dunbar said.
‘The boys said it’s going ahead,’ Missy said.
‘Surely to God they can’t be serious?’ Harry said to her.
‘Let’s go and talk to them,’ Dunbar said.
Twenty-Three
‘Fenton and Zachary?’ Thomas Deal said, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn. ‘I haven’t seen them yet, but you know young people; they like to lie about in bed all day.’
Harry turned to Alex and Evans. ‘Could you both go and see if they’re in their rooms? And Brian Gibbons.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Evans said, then he asked Deal which rooms to knock on.
They went upstairs and came back a few minutes later. ‘Fenton and Zach aren’t there. Brian said he’ll get dressed and be down in a minute,’ Alex said.
‘Okay. Call Lillian Young and get her to liaise with the investigator to check out the burnt-out house as well.’
‘I’m sure fire investigators will have that in hand.’
‘Wait, what?’ Deal said. ‘What burnt-out house?’
‘The house that belonged to Clive. On the north side.’
‘The log cabin?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s been burnt out?’
Harry nodded, watching the man’s features. ‘Somebody torched it last night. Missy and I were in it and we were attacked.’
The colour drained from Deal’s face. ‘Oh my God. Are you both okay?’
‘We are, but it was a close thing. They were going to murder us and set the house on fire to cover their tracks, but we fought them off.’
‘Them? There was more than one? Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure. I was there.’ Harry’s voice came out a bit harsher than he’d wanted it to, but somebody trying to kill him had that effect.
Deal sat down in a chair. ‘Would you mind getting me a glass of water, dear?’ he asked Missy, who left the living room and went through to the kitchen.
‘Do you know why Murdo Wolf would burn the cabin down back in the day?’ Dunbar asked.
Deal whipped his head round like he had been slapped. ‘No! No, I wouldn’t know why he did that. Murdo was under a lot of strain at the time. Oliver’s wife was sick. She had been sick for a very long time and her long-term prognosis wasn’t good. It was a very upsetting time for us. Plus his own wife had only been gone for a couple of years.’
‘Yet he was still having the party?’ Dunbar said.
‘It had been arranged for a long time. Everybody loved coming to Murdo Wolf’s parties, especially the Christmas party. No expense was spared. But that year it was going to be cancelled; Murdo insisted. Oliver was the one who wanted it to go ahead, not Murdo. He said it was what his wife would have wanted. It was the time of year that the staff got together too, and the Wolf family would show their appreciation. Murdo got upset, but Oliver had a meltdown and told the old man that the party was going ahead, with or without him.’
‘And the party was the night Murdo disappeared,’ Alex said. ‘Or was murdered, I should say.’
‘One of the parties, my dear,’ Deal said, taking the glass of water from Missy after she appeared with it. ‘There was a party almost every night.’
Harry was standing looking out of the window, trying to make sense of it all. Something had been niggling away at him, some little detail that kept appearing like a ghost through the mist, only to go away again before he could get a grip of it.
In the distance, a commuter plane was on its final approach to Laoch airport. He thought back to when he had been on the plane and wouldn’t look down to the fairground.
Then it came to him. He turned back to the room.
‘There’s a plane coming in to land,’ he said. ‘Over there in the distance.’
‘Yes,’ Deal said.
‘You told me that you knew Murdo was on the plane the night he took off because he got permission to take off.’
‘Correct.’
‘He would have had to have followed the corridor, or whatever it’s called, the same flight path every other plane takes when it leaves here. On a different path the incoming planes take,’ Harry said.
‘Of course.’
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. ‘The planes don’t fly too far out from the island, just in case of emergencies, so they can make it back to dry land.
