Something like that. Tell them we’ll hold a memorial in Edinburgh sometime in the near future.’

‘Very good, sir.’ Crail looked at the detectives before leaving again.

‘I didn’t know Crail still worked for the Wolf family,’ Harry said.

‘Boxer? He’s worked for the family for a very long time. Ever since I met Oliver he’s been a part of the fixtures. He does maintenance for the hotel.’

‘Have you ever gone boxing with him down at the carnival?’ Dunbar asked.

‘Do I look like the sort of man who goes fighting, Chief Inspector?’

‘He must keep himself fit.’

‘I think he does. But he has his wife to look after their own hotel.’

‘Oh, yes. He was left that hotel after Murdo was declared dead, wasn’t he?’

‘He was. A token of Murdo’s appreciation. And Oliver’s too.’

Outside, Harry drew in a deep breath of air. ‘Maybe we should take back-up?’

‘There’re two schools of thought on that one. First, there might be nothing there. Second, we have Robbie the Rottweiler with us.’ Dunbar looked at Evans. ‘Don’t look so glum. You’ll find somebody else.’

‘You been dumped already?’ Harry asked.

‘Och. Why don’t you just announce it over the airwaves?’

Dunbar grinned. ‘Looking for this Wolf pair will surely cheer you up. You never know, you might get to skelp one of them.’

‘Maybe we should take Muckle with us?’ Alex said.

‘He’s technically a civilian,’ said Dunbar, ‘so we can’t put him at risk. As much as I’d like him to tag along.’

They got in the replacement car and drove out along the coast road. Alex hung a left when they came to a sign for a place called Teach sa Speir.

‘It’s Gaelic for House in the sky,’ Evans said.

‘I’m impressed you knew that,’ Dunbar said.

‘According to Google.’ Evans held his phone up.

‘Just when I think you’re halfway intelligent, you go and spoil the illusion.’

The road was narrow and windy until it came into a clearing. The house faced west, with the back facing east, and the loch below.

‘The Wolf family certainly knew how to look after themselves,’ Evans said.

‘Wouldn’t you? If you had their kind of money?’ Dunbar said. ‘I would. Nice big garden for Scooby to run about in, a nice motor that wouldn’t get us stuck when it snowed.’

‘Must be nice.’

‘There are no cars here, that I can see,’ Alex said, coming to a halt in front of the house.

‘Just be on your guard,’ Harry said. ‘If these are the pair who attacked me and Missy last night, then they’re not playing about.’

‘We’ll watch ourselves, neighbour,’ Dunbar said.

They got out of the car and could see the dark clouds in the distance, rolling towards them. ‘I don’t think we should linger,’ Dunbar said. ‘Robbie, go round the back of the house, son. Give us a shout if either of those reprobates makes a run for it.’

Evans left them and walked round the back of the big house. It was made of dark-grey stone and blended in with the hillside.

The door was ajar and Harry nudged it wide open. It felt like walking into the lion’s den. They heard a noise from the back, but it was only Evans.

They searched together in case they were attacked, but after a few minutes it was clear that the house was empty.

‘No sign that they’ve even been here,’ Harry said as they went back outside.

He looked over to the ocean in the distance. This house had a view of the loch at its back and the ocean at its front. Whoever had built the house had known what they were doing.

He watched as another plane flew in from the coast, heading towards the airport. He imagined Murdo Wolf taking off with his killer, then dying on the plane, and the killer swinging the small aircraft round and heading back inland, flying right across the hotel.

He could see the carnival and fairground in the distance, and the big house further along. The hotel was down a bit from it. As his eyes followed the path that the plane would have taken, he wondered where it had gone after that. Obviously, it had landed somewhere. But where? It was hard to tell from this place. He couldn’t make out any long, flat piece of land. He looked further along, seeing nothing until…he saw something.

‘What’s that?’ he said, pointing.

‘A big, dirty cloud, mucker,’ Dunbar said, coming to stand beside him.

‘There, through those trees in the distance.’

Dunbar squinted. ‘I can’t see anything but trees. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.’

‘It looks like a building. I can see a bit of a turret or something. Poking up above the trees. See it?’

‘I can barely see the rollercoaster down at the fairground and that goes up into the air.’ Dunbar turned towards Evans. ‘Robbie! Get your eyes over here.’

‘My eyes?’

‘Aye. Look over in that direction. What do you see?’

Evans looked. ‘The sea?’

‘I’ll chuck you in the fucking sea in a minute. Over there. To the right. Where the trees are on that hill.’

‘Oh, right. That turret thing. I see it now.’

Dunbar looked at him. ‘Do you really, or are you taking the piss?’

‘No, I see it. In amongst those trees.’

Dunbar gave him a look that suggested a bollock-kicking might be in order should the younger sergeant be winding him up.

‘Why don’t you call Muckle and see if he knows what it is?’ Alex suggested.

‘Good idea.’ Dunbar took his phone out. But there were no bars on it. ‘Shite. No service up here.’

‘I’m sure there has to be a road leading to it. We know what direction it’s in, so we could try to find the road leading to it and check it out.’

Dunbar nodded. ‘Good idea. Why didn’t you think of that?’ he said to Evans. ‘Get yer heid out of your arse.’

They got back in the car and drove down to the main road and turned right, heading in what they thought was the direction of the house.

The bars came back on the phone. ‘Bloody phones,’ Dunbar said, dialling Muckle’s number.

‘Listen, mate, we saw a house in

Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату