‘Alex, sometimes you’re a stupid bitch,’ she whispered to herself. And the tears rolled down her cheeks, for her own selfishness, for a woman who didn’t deserve to die that way and…what? Her parents’ refusal to attend her wedding? She shook her head. No, it wasn’t that. She’d come to terms with that.
Maybe it was just being in this place. Surrounded by dead people.
She jumped a little as her mobile phone rang, breaking her reverie.
‘Jesus,’ she said, fishing it out of her pocket.
‘Alex? It’s me,’ Harry said.
‘I know, dear husband. Your name came up on my screen. Talk about taking the mystery out of marriage.’
‘I hate to rush you, honey, but we got a shout.’
‘Whereabouts?’
‘Take a deep breath and sit down if you’re not already sitting…the Isle of Laoch.’
Alex took a breath and wiped the tears from her face. ‘Where in God’s name is that?’
‘Off the west coast of the Isle of Mull. It’s a little island. Population two thousand people or so. Somebody’s been murdered. They want us to go over there with Jimmy and Robbie.’
‘Okay. I’m on my way home to pick you up. I’m assuming they have a ferry service?’
‘They have, but that would take too long by the time we got to Oban. We’re flying over.’
‘Please tell me British Airways?’ she said, getting in behind the wheel of her Audi.
‘I could tell you that, but I don’t think it’s fair to start off married life by lying.’
‘Oh, God. A nice big luxury helicopter?’
‘Yeah. Something like that…’ His voice broke up and the line suddenly went dead.
She tried calling back through the car’s system, but Harry wasn’t answering.
She drove down Drum Brae and connected with Queensferry Road and headed home to their flat in Comely Bank.
Harry was in the living room with his holdall packed.
‘Please don’t leave me, Harry. I promise I’ll be a good wife from now on,’ she said, grinning.
‘You wish. You’re stuck with me now. Till death and all that. There’s an empty one on the bed for you.’
‘Boy, when you tell a woman you’re going to spoil her, you really know how to do it in style. And tell me more about this luxury helicopter.’
‘It’s huge, luxury seats. But more on that later. We have to get going. One of the Wolf family has been murdered and they want us to get there before the small ferry gets in and people can leave.’
‘They’re going to stop them leaving?’ she said.
‘Not exactly. It’s not a huge vessel. So they’ll be able to note who leaves. But get a move on, love. Jeni Bridge already gave me an ear-bashing and the plane is waiting at a hangar at the airport.’
‘Okay. I’ll get going. Jimmy and Robbie will be there too, you said?’
‘They’re flying over.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Their plane is leaving in ten minutes. They’ll be there before us.’
‘Okay.’
‘A patrol car is going to take us to the airport. Don’t keep them waiting.’
‘When have I ever kept you waiting?’
Sensing this wouldn’t end well, Harry smiled and shrugged. If in doubt, keep your mouth shut.
The patrol car was waiting downstairs.
‘The airport, son,’ Harry instructed as he got in the back with Alex. ‘Private hangar down Turnhouse Road.’
‘Yes, sir.’
They chit-chatted idly while the car sped along through Corstorphine, Alex looking up Drum Brae, where she had just been. She had been bracing herself for Harry to ask where she had gone that morning, but he hadn’t. She had told him she had to run an errand and he hadn’t questioned her.
The patrol car slowed at the entrance gate and was let through by an airport security officer.
‘That was bollocks about a luxury helicopter, wasn’t it?’ Alex said as she saw the little plane sitting outside the hangar.
‘To be fair, I did ask Jeni Bridge, but she laughed. I wanted to break it to you gently.’
‘You couldn’t pay me to go up in one of those things,’ said the uniform in the front passenger seat. ‘When they go down, there’s nothing left of them.’
‘Thanks for that, Sergeant,’ Harry said.
Alex stood looking at the coffin with wings as Harry got the bags out.
‘Fun weekend, you said.’ She shook her head. ‘You’d better have something good up your sleeve.’
Five
Harry was pale and his eyes were wide. ‘We’re going to die,’ he said yet again, much to Alex’s amusement. She was smiling, having the time of her life.
‘The island is below us now,’ the pilot said. ‘The airport is on the south island. The north island is connected by a bridge, as you can see below.’
‘Look, Harry,’ Alex said, pointing out of the window.
The headsets they were wearing didn’t make Harry feel any safer.
‘No, thanks.’ He closed his eyes. The sunshine outside didn’t make the flight any more fun. If it had been raining and thunder, he would have slit his wrists.
‘What’s that on the north island?’ Alex asked.
‘Some kind of funfair,’ the pilot answered. ‘I haven’t been over here in a while. Kind of reminds me of when I was flying over Afghanistan. God, I wish I had cannon fitted to this machine.’
Harry opened his eyes to see if the pilot was in a trance, and felt relief when he saw the man was taking them down.
‘No offence, pal, but I’m taking the ferry home.’
‘None taken,’ the pilot said, and Harry felt the little machine fall out of the sky. But it was only on the approach to the runway. He was sweating buckets by the time the wheels touched down.
‘There are scheduled flights out of the airport,’ the pilot said. ‘You might find a bigger plane more relaxing.’
‘God bless you, son, but it’s a boat for me.’ Harry hoped nobody saw him shaking when he got out of the aircraft.
Jimmy Dunbar and Robbie Evans were waiting with a car outside the
