“It’s never enough,” she said simply. “There is never enough to fill the void.”

She climbed into the rear seat. “Hold tight!” she shouted. The machine roared to life. The whole contraption started to shake.

Then without warning it started to move, faster and faster, bouncing over the water until suddenly it was airborne. Loch and mountains fell away beneath us. There was Castle Rannoch, nestled among the trees. There was the boathouse and the car parked beside it, looking like a child’s toy. Scotland stretched beneath us—the bleak expanse of Rannoch Moor and beyond it the glittering of the sea and the Western Isles.

“Where are we going?” I turned to shout. It suddenly occurred to me that she was attempting to fly to America and that we’d never make it and come down somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. I was shivering badly now, both from the cold wind and from the fear. She was sitting behind me so I couldn’t see what she was doing. Not that I could take any action anyway. I was strapped into a seat, up in the air.

Then I felt the plane shake. I swiveled in my seat to look at her and saw, to my dismay, that she was standing up.

“What are you doing?” I yelled.

“I’ve always wanted to fly,” she shouted back. “Now seems like a good time to try it.” Then she laughed again. “Oh, don’t worry about me. I have a parachute on my back. You’re the one who needs to worry. You’ll be up here alone. It’s perfect really. Much simpler than a hostage. Either you’ll go down into the Atlantic or you’ll eventually crash. If you do, the plane is full of fuel. It will explode and you’ll be burned beyond recognition. Everyone will think it’s me. Poor Ronny Padgett. So sad. Give her a state funeral. And I will be making a new life in America! Land of opportunity, they say.”

I was trying to unbuckle my harness to stop her, but I wasn’t quick enough. She launched herself over the side. I watched her falling, spread-eagled, toward the earth.

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

For a long moment I just sat there, too stunned to do anything.

“I am alone in an aeroplane, thousands of feet up in the air,” I said out loud, and added, since there was nobody within miles to hear me, “Bugger.” (I thought the occasion warranted a swearword. I only wished I knew some stronger ones. I’d have used them all. Loudly.)