Brian looked down into his coffee mug for a moment as if the answer were swirling about in the brown liquid. Then he looked first at Harry, then Dunbar. ‘Look, I know this sounds bad, but me and Shona were arguing before she left to go back to the car.’ He held up a hand even though nobody else was talking. ‘Let me finish. She started accusing me of killing her brother. She said Clive had overheard somebody talking about where old Murdo was hidden. Clive was going off his nut, but he trusted Shona enough to tell her. They were twins after all. She started getting hysterical and paranoid. She turned around and headed back to the car.’
‘Didn’t you follow her?’ Harry asked.
‘Of course I did, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not built like Eric Liddell. I tried to catch up, but by that time my knees were turning to jelly and what used to be a pair of lungs in my chest was two lumps of coal, well alight. So I thought, fuck it, and turned round and carried on back up the hill. At a more leisurely pace. I stopped at what would be known to a fat bastard like me as base camp, but what’s more commonly known to other hikers as a picnic spot.’
‘If I wasn’t sitting here talking to you right now, I wouldn’t believe it,’ Dunbar said. ‘But since we can see that you’re not exactly on the Olympic cross-country team, I’m inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt.’
‘Feel free to tell it like it is,’ Brian replied.
‘I will. That’s what Police Scotland pay us for: to insult, cajole and otherwise mock anybody as we see fit, until we get a confession.’
Brian grinned and sat back, the mug and its contents now cool enough to cradle in one hand. He took a sip and looked at Dunbar. ‘Sorry, but I’m going to have to disappoint you. I didn’t kill Shona. But if it was true what Shona was saying, that Clive overheard people talking about Murdo’s resting place inside that wall, maybe they knew he was going to look, so they killed him.’
‘That’s an avenue we’re looking at,’ Harry said.
‘Did Shona say who it was that Clive overheard?’ Dunbar asked.
Brian shook his head. ‘No, but she was scared and paranoid. She thought I had something to do with it.’
‘Did you believe her? About what Clive had said?’
‘What reason would she have to lie? You didn’t see her face when we were on the hill. It was like something had taken over her.’
‘You didn’t see anything suspicious when you parked the car?’ Dunbar said.
‘Nothing at all. Just an empty building site.’
Dunbar looked at Harry before looking back at Brian. ‘That’s enough for now, Mr Gibbons. But I am going to recommend to Thomas Deal that he cancels the memorial.’
‘The boys won’t be happy.’
‘People have been murdered. There was an attempted murder. This party is one that the Wolf family are going to cancel.’
‘Not my call. I couldn’t care less. In fact, I’m going to pack, then I’m going home. While I still have one.’
‘I can’t let you do that,’ Dunbar said.
‘I don’t want to turn my back on those two freaks. You ask me, the Wolf boys are the ones who killed their siblings. They’re off their heads.’
Dunbar and Harry stood, and Brian followed suit.
‘Thank you for your time, Mr Gibbons. Stick around,’ Dunbar reiterated.
Back in the living room, Alex was talking with Thomas Deal. Robbie Evans came walking back in.
‘Everything alright, son?’ Dunbar said, taking him aside.
‘I got a text, telling me it was urgent. From Bernadette. I couldn’t get hold of her this morning. I didn’t think she had left to go on holiday yet. I normally don’t answer texts when I’m at work, but I thought –’
‘That’s fine, Robbie. Tell me what’s going on.’
Evans looked uncertain for a moment. ‘Her husband sent me a text, telling me to stay away from his wife.’
‘Ah, shite. Sorry, son.’
Evans looked grim. ‘You were right, though. I almost made a right arse of myself.’
‘A right arse cheek, if I remember correctly.’
Evans gave a grim smile.
‘It happens to the best of us,’ Dunbar said.
‘But it happened to me. Bloody hell. Maybe I should just become a monk.’
‘Not today, though. We have some bastards we want to talk to. Including those Wolf muppets.’
‘Aye. Tomorrow then.’
Twenty-Five
Thomas Deal was sitting reading a newspaper in the living room, certainly not in the same state as Brian Gibbons.
‘We have a lot on today,’ he said, folding the newspaper and standing up. ‘Oliver’s friends will be champing at the bit to say their goodbyes.’
‘There’s not going to be a memorial,’ Dunbar said. ‘It’s too dangerous. We can’t guarantee everybody’s safety.’
‘This is preposterous. I won’t hear of it.’
‘You have no choice, Mr Deal,’ said Harry. ‘People tried to kill us last night, and they’re still out there. Those two men are very dangerous.’
‘Two men?’ Deal said.
‘Yes,’ Harry said. ‘Now, can you tell us where Fenton and Zachary might be?’
‘They don’t check in with me, but they might be at Fenton’s house, the one his father left him.’
‘Which is where?’
‘It’s on the other side of the loch from the house Clive was left. The road that forks to the right and goes to Clive’s house? Go past that. There’s a road on the left off the main road. It goes up into the hills and has a view of the loch from the other side. It’s a beautiful property. You can’t miss it. It’s called Hillside.’
Just then, Crail Shaw walked in. ‘Some of the guests are in the dining room at the hotel, talking about the memorial. Some of them have expressed an interest in leaving soon. What do you want me to tell them?’
Deal looked at Dunbar before answering. ‘Tell them there’s not going to be a memorial. Due to Clive’s and Shona’s deaths. It wouldn’t be appropriate.
