knew Elspeth would settle for nothing less than marriage, and he really didn’t feel he wanted to get married.
Suddenly Elspeth said, “There he goes!” They set off in pursuit of the professor.
Elspeth was driving. “Keep well back,” Hamish warned her. “The roads are so empty, and we don’t want him catching sight of us.”
Professor Sander took the Strathbane road, and Hamish groaned. “Maybe that bookshop he visited last time is open late. He’ll buy books and head back home. A whole day wasted.”
“May as well keep going,” said Elspeth, negotiating a hairpin bend. “I’ll be glad when we get to the straight bit. That way I can keep him in sight from a long way off.”
As soon as she saw the professor’s car disappear into the town, she accelerated.
“I’ve lost him,” she mourned.
“No, you haven’t,” said Hamish. “I just saw him turning into the multi-storey car park.”
There were two cars now behind the professor looking for parking spaces. Professor Sander parked on the third floor. Elspeth slid her car into a bay a little way away.
When the professor got out and walked to the lift, they both headed for the stairs and sprinted down.
The streets were busy, so they were able to follow him easily without being seen.
Then, to their surprise, their quarry turned into a McDonald’s.
“We can’t go in there,” said Elspeth. “He’d see us.”
“Let’s wait across the road. He surely won’t be long. It’s fast food.”
After only twenty minutes, Sander emerged and headed for the car park.
“The wee scunner is going home,” complained Hamish.
“You never know,” said Elspeth. “Let’s get the car and follow.”
But the professor’s car veered off on a road down to the docks. They followed, hanging well back.
“Stop here,” said Hamish. “He can’t go much further. This road’s a dead end. Let’s get out and have a look.”
Keeping in the shadow of dark warehouses, still smelling of soot, they crept forward. The professor’s car had stopped, but the engine was still running.
Three youths emerged from the shadows. “I hope he isn’t going to be mugged,” muttered Elspeth. “Then we’d have to do something.”
They saw Professor Sander lower the car window. “Is it drugs?” whispered Elspeth. “Seems to be some sort of deal going on.”
Then two of the youths melted back into the shadows, and one went round to the passenger side of the car and got in.
“Not drugs,” said Hamish. “Rent boy. In the front of the car so a quick blow job. Should be over soon.”
“Are you going to arrest them?”
“I got a good look at the boy from the light in the car when he leaned over with the others. He’s over age.”
“But still…”
“It goes on the whole time in this dump of a town,” said Hamish wearily. “Prostitutes, rent boys, drugs, the lot. But now I can call on him tomorrow and find out if this is the reason Mrs. Gillespie may have been blackmailing him. I am not going to single the professor out and ruin his life. Can you imagine what Blair would make of this?”
“I heard Blair had been suspended.”
“Probably back on the job. The way that man oils up to his superiors is little short of genius. Let’s go.”
They walked back to Elspeth’s car and got in.
“I’m beginning to think Braikie is a den of iniquity,” said Elspeth.
“I’m sure none of us would like our private lives dug into,” said Hamish.
“Can I come with you to the professor’s tomorrow?”
“Now, Elspeth, how do I explain bringing the press along? And remember, all this is off the record. Stop the car when we’re clear of the town. I need to feed the beasts, and I’m right hungry myself.”
¦
Back home, Hamish checked his answering machine and was surprised to find there were no messages for him at all. He had been sure that either Blair or Mary Gannon would have been on the phone, demanding to know what he was doing.
He washed and undressed and got into bed, followed by the dog and cat. “You’d better stay here yourselves tomorrow,” he told them. He suddenly found himself wishing that Elspeth, instead of his animals, were lying beside him. But Elspeth was no longer interested in an affair. It would need to be marriage.
¦
Hamish was prepared to handle the matter of the rent boy delicately – and wished for years afterwards that he had done so – but Professor Sander greeted him with an initial tirade about police harassment and the stupidity of local coppers which he put down to inbreeding.
So Hamish came right out with it. “What were you doing soliciting a rent boy in Strathbane last night?”
Hamish had been kept on the doorstep. The professor’s face turned a muddy colour. “Come in,” he said faintly.
Hamish followed him into his study. Professor Sander sank down into a chair and stared at the floor.
“Is that what Mrs. Gillespie had on you?” Hamish demanded.
“I invited one of them back here.” The bluster had left the professor, and Hamish had to strain to hear what he was saying. “We got drunk and he stayed the night. When I came down in the morning, I found him in the kitchen with Mrs. Gillespie. It was after that the blackmailing started.”
“What did she ask for?”
“Money, of course. But also, she treated me like a servant. If she wanted to go to Inverness, say, I had to drive her. One time, I had to buy her an expensive new television and DVD player. I couldn’t go to the police.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No, I did not. When I saw her dead, all I felt was relief.” Then some of his old bluster came back. “You must have been following me,” he said. “That’s harassment. You bring me down, and I’ll have you out of a job. I have powerful friends.”
So instead of reassuring him that he would keep the matter quiet, Hamish said, “You’ll need your powerful friends. You’ll be hearing from me again.”
He drove to the Tommel Castle Hotel, where Elspeth had told him she would be waiting to hear how he had got on.
She listened carefully and then turned those odd silver eyes of hers on him. “Did you not tell him you wouldn’t be reporting him?”
“I was going to, Elspeth, but he began to get all pompous again, and I wanted him to sweat a little. What is this? You were all for me reporting him.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling,” said Elspeth. “I know he’s a pompous prick, but look at it this way. All that investigation into his book must have put him under a lot of strain. He’s probably been behaving himself for quite a bit. Then when he thinks he’s safe, he heads off to Strathbane to – er – celebrate. He’s probably now thinking of headlines in the papers.”
“A man picking up a rent boy doesn’t make a story these days.”
“But frightened people always think they’ll be top of the news. Hamish, I’m begging you. Go and tell the man you’re going to keep it quiet.”
“Elspeth, when I left him, he seemed quite recovered. Oh, okay, I’ll go back and put his mind at rest.”
She followed him out to the car park. “You may be too late. Look at the sky!”
Black clouds like long fingers were trailing in from the Atlantic.
“It chust means the rain’s coming,” said Hamish angrily.
He drove off slowly, aware of Elspeth watching him go. Rubbish, he thought. He realised he hadn’t had any breakfast, so instead he went to the police station and fried sausage, bacon, and eggs and ate leisurely. Then he fed the dog and cat and let them out for a walk before driving off reluctantly in the direction of Braikie. The wind was strengthening, and the sky above was black.
There was a flash of lightning followed by a tremendous crack of thunder. Damn Elspeth and her fancies, he
