With no destination in mind, I start offby driving the dirt tracks around the croft, ever hopeful that he will justcome to life. If that were the case, it wouldn’t take much to double-back tothe croft. I did not relish the prospect of having a show-down with him in thecar. I can hear noises every now and then, but he is still maintaining alifeless slumped posture and his eyes remain sealed firmly shut.
Perhaps the only thing which is going tospeed things along now is time. He clearly needs time to sober up. I give him agentle shove to angle his head further in the direction of the window and theicy cold air which is filtering through the car. I am so angry with him that,for a fleeting moment, it occurs to me how easy it would be to unfasten hisseatbelt, push the door open, and give him a jolly good shove. He is utterlydefenceless. And that, I am quite sure, would send Bert Taylor off to meet hismaker post haste.
However, that was not my intention. I amno killer. But I needed this, I deserved it. I needed my time to have it outwith him once and for all. He will not deny me that! Lost in thought, I realisethat we have left the grounds of the croft and adjoining properties. We are nowtraversing one of the main thoroughfares.
“Where are we going?” a slightly concernedJuliet pipes up. I have no answer for her as I am not entirely sure myself.
“Erm, nowhere in particular, just drivingaround!” Caroline has once again been unusually quiet, and I wonder if she isconsidering the merit of her plan.
I get lost in traffic. It doesn’t seem tomatter what time of year it is; the roads are now notoriously busy on Skye (soGeorge informed me recently). My car seems to have been pulled and sucked intothe throng of cars traversing along the long stretch of road.
We have progress. Bert is periodicallyuttering the odd word here and there. His eyes are still closed but it is sometime now since he had his last tipple and I think the fresh air is starting totake effect. This brings Caroline out of her shell. “I told you this wouldwork. We just have to be patient.”
Where are we? I hadmomentarily lost my bearings, too distracted by listening to Bert. Wherever wewere headed, there were a number of cars all headed in the same direction. Isnap back to reality and take in the surroundings. I now see the reason for theinflux of cars – we are nearing Dunvegan Castle. Sure enough, most of themindicate and pull over, having arrived at their destination. This will be thelast of the tourists for the day, since I notice the sun is now hung low in thesky.
I continue on. My unwelcome passenger isnow shaking his head from side to side. Things are starting to look promising.He is showing more signs of regaining consciousness. I keep the speed up andhead west. It starts to become obvious pretty quickly where this westerlyapproach is taking us.
George
This was disconcerting. I had been certain Thomas washeaded here to confront Bert. If not here, then where? Think! I scan theoutside of the croft and see an old rusted up (but possibly still functional)pick-up parked right outside. I turn towards Janey and she looks as perplexedand worried as I am.
There is only one way to find out. “Wehave to go knock on the door, see if Bert is there.”
“Yes, we do,” she gingerly responds. Weapproach the door together, but I take the lead and give the knocker a coupleof raps. Silence. I try again but nothing. Without waiting for Janey’sauthorisation, I push the door and find that it opens easily.
We search the croft thoroughly but with nosign of either Bert or Thomas, we are back outside a few minutes later. We aremore than elated to be out in the fresh air. It was utterly putrid in there!But now, we are sadly stumped. Where were they?!
I motion to Janey to be quiet for aminute. I listen intently to see if there any voices close by, but I can onlyhear the noises of animals feeding and the occasional gust of wind. We need tocheck the barn and outhouses before leaving so we split up and search thegrounds.
It doesn’t take long. Around ten minuteslater we meet up again at the front of the croft. Nothing. No sign of either ofthem. I rack my brain. Perhaps he has gone to the care home to see Mary, totell her he knows about me? That would be a plausible explanation for Thomas’disappearance, but not for Bert’s. I think we have to assume Bert is A.W.O.L.There is no sign of him, and his vehicle is parked outside. Why would theyleave the croft? It made no sense.
Janey is the first to voice her opinion.“I think I know where they might have gone … back to the beginning, back towhere it all started.” The penny drops.
“Neist Point!”
“Exactly.”
“Comeon then,” I urge, desperate to get there as quickly as possible. My only sonand the love of Janey’s life could well be in grave danger.
CHAPTER 29
George
I
t doesn’t take long to get to Neist Point. I can see in thedistance only a few cars are parked up in the carpark as it is getting late inthe day. We close in and it becomes immediately apparent that one of those carslooks very like mine. In no time at all, we pull up and I scan the registrationplate – it is my car. “Bingo!”
Then Janey pipes up, “Why has he broughthim here, George? I get it, this is where he experienced massive trauma (hencethe reason I suggested
