Chapters (43)
- Pronunciation
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Acknowledgments
They found a dark corner in The Hebridean, and Gunn ordered them a couple of half-pints of heavy. When he sat down again with their glasses, he drew an A4 manila envelope from inside his anorak and slipped it across the table. “You never got this from me.”
Fin slid it into his bag. “Got what?”
Gunn grinned and they sipped in silence at their beers for a while. Then Gunn laid his glass carefully down on the beer mat in front of him and said, “I got a call about half an hour ago. The Northern Constabulary are sending a DCI from Inverness to open the murder investigation.”
Fin inclined his head. “As expected.”
“He probably won’t be here for another week or so. It seems the powers that be don’t think there’s much urgency in the solving of a fifty-odd-year-old murder.” He lifted his glass for another sip, then replaced it exactly on the ring it had left on the mat. “When he comes, I’ll not be able to confide in you any more, Mr. Macleod. Which is a shame. Because I know you were a good cop. But the fact that you are no longer in the force is more likely to work against you than for you. I’ve no doubt you’ll be told to keep your nose out of things.”
Fin smiled. “No doubt.” He took a sip from his own glass. “Where’s this leading, George?”
“Well, Mr. Macleod, it seems to me we have a wee period of grace. And maybe it would be an idea to make hay while the sun shines.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well, sir, it’s in my mind to go down to Harris in the morning, to Seilebost, to check up on old Tormod Macdonald’s family, and see if I can come up with any idea of who it was we took out of the peat. It would be nice to show these mainlanders that we’re not all hick cops out here in the islands.”
“And?”
“My motor’s been playing up something terrible this last wee while. At least, that’s the official story. I thought maybe you might like to give me a lift.”
“Oh, did you?”
“Aye.” Gunn took a longer draught of beer this time. “What do you think?”
Fin shrugged. “I think Marsaili’s quite anxious for me to get to the bottom of all this.”
“Aye, well, that would make sense. You being a former polis and all.” He lifted his glass to his lips again, but hesitated. “Is there . . . a relationship between you two these days?”
Fin shook his head, avoiding Gunn’s eye. “A lot of history, George. But no relationship.” He drained his glass. “What time would you like to leave?”