“I have a friend on the force and was ableto get some inside information. Don’t worry though, I haven’t mentionedanything about you being my son. I don’t want to arouse suspicion. The goodnews is they never found a body. The sea swallowed him up good and proper.” Imotion to him to hush and quieten his voice down. Michael was only upstairs,and God forbid should he hear a word of this. Newly silenced, I then give him anod to carry on.
“You know what folks on the Islands arelike for making up stories. All sorts of weird and wonderful tales have beentold. But the truth is, no-one knows what happened to him. No-one has comeforward to say they saw him or us out at Neist Point.” At this, I breath a hugesigh of relief.
“It was a realmystery to the Police – his car being parked right outside but there being nosign of him. They have followed up on various lines of enquiry but each time,have hit the proverbial brick wall.
“Although a thoroughinvestigation was carried out, by all accounts, Bert was somewhat the recluse.He could go for days or even several weeks without seeing a soul so there wasno-one to raise the alarm straight away. The only time he mingled with peoplewas when he needed to get his food or drink and he limited that contact,preferring instead to stock up for a month at a time. The only other contact hehad was with the local vet if any of the animals needed tending to, but thatcontact was few and far between (he was tight with his money and animal welfarewasn’t high on his list of priorities).
“With no body and no witnesses, they don’tsuspect any foul play. Their report concluded that it was completely out ofcharacter for him to just disappear. However, at the best of times now, hisbehaviour wasn’t what you would classify as ‘normal.’ He has succumbed toalcohol and it was plain for anyone to see that he was no longer able to lookafter himself or the croft. You only need to spend a couple of minutes in theplace to realise the magnitude of his mental decline and his addictionproblems. You saw that for yourself, the state of the place and all the emptybottles of liquor strewn everywhere. They have parked their investigations fornow. The only open line of enquiry is that he is a missing person, and shouldanyone have any information in relation to this, they should come forwards.”
I sit back and take it all in. All thingsconsidered, we were extremely lucky. There were very few people out there thatday (I can recall only seeing a couple). I had, however, been too preoccupiedat the time with Bert to pay too much attention but, from memory, they had beendog walkers. Hopefully, the status quo remains intact and they don’t go to thePolice.
I try to picture the scene in my mind froma third-party viewpoint. You had Bert out front being chased by me then not toofar behind were George and Janey. It is unlikely that George and Janey’spresence would have aroused much suspicion (they had been quite far behind us).However, the worrying part was me chasing Bert. But could this be interpretedfor something else other than a chase? Two people out on a run together onlymeters apart perhaps? After all, we had arrived in the same car … it ispossible that this is what someone would see? I had to cling to the hope thatthat is what it looked like.
However, had there been any witnesses tothe scene at the courtyard or the cliff edge afterwards, that was a differentmatter entirely. I chide myself for even contemplating this. There wasn’t asoul in the courtyard (our own company aside). The cliff edge though, I couldn’tbe so sure. I had only become aware of external surroundings after Bert met hisuntimely death. At that point, I can say with certainty there was no-one there.
It is true, neitherone of us was wholly to blame for his demise. But how would it look in a courtof law? I had a physical and verbal altercation with him in the courtyard,causing him to run off. Then, at the cliffside, George had advanced towards him(when he had been provoked) causing him to stumble backwards and lose hisfooting and fall to his death. Yes, we hadn’t pushed him but I was certain thata good lawyer worth his salt would find that we were both culpable.
I simply had to adopt George’s perspective– no news was good news. I tell him so and he nods in agreement. We make amutual decision at that point – nether one of us will speak of the matter againand we will move on with our lives. I take a mental note to relay everything hehas told me to Janey so that she too is in the loop and hope that she willhappily agree (as George has done) to never speak of it again.
We slip easily back into our new familylife; this awful matter well and truly behind us. For the remainder of George’sstay, we make the most of our time together – us showing him the beautifulBorder countryside and what it has to offer and him helping to preparesumptuous dinners and telling us tales about folklore from days gone by aroundthe Highlands and Islands. Michael is engrossed, thoroughly engaged.
But, what of my siblings? I continue totake my medication but not the same dose I took before I travelled back toSkye. I cut the dose in half which means it is not as potent and, as a result,my siblings now appear to me occasionally. I had made the decision to work onmy mental health but, I wasn’t quite ready to let them go, not just yet. Ididn’t hide this from Janey. We talked about it at great length. Given what Ihad just been through,
