Old Sins, page 12
There were some resentful glances as he climbed into his own comfortable car and drove back behind them. He let them get well ahead, then turned off down an old Forestry Commission track that led into another plantation, neglected now – the foreign pines hadn’t proved much of a commercial success in this bare and rugged landscape.
He drove slowly, like someone who drives past their beloved’s empty house, scanning to right and to left, even though there was nothing to see apart from the low cloud tangling in the tops of the wind-lashed trees. At last he turned round, back to the road, and pushed on to catch up with the trailers that were bumping slowly along, so that they arrived at the same time.
Reynolds jumped out and was waiting for them as they clambered stiffly down. ‘Great job,’ he said. ‘Take a couple of hours for lunch today. We’ll start planting in the afternoon. And look, that’s the sun struggling through.’
A pale silvery sun could indeed be glimpsed through the grey banks of cloud, but the indifferent way the workers glanced at it suggested they were far too experienced to read too much into that.
There was absolutely no way DCI Strang would be sleeping in his own bed tonight. As Hattie waited in the Sinclairs’ kitchen for the Mountain Rescue team to assemble, he went through to the sitting room to sort out practical arrangements.
His first call went to Mrs Munro in Lochinver. She was delighted to book him in again, though disconcertingly she asked him if they’d found that missing lassie yet. With an inner groan, he admitted they hadn’t, thanked her and put the phone down quickly. While it was good that so many people were already out looking for Danni, it did show how ruthlessly the spotlight would be trained on the operation.
His next call was to DI Rachel French. He’d no reason as yet to phone JB – and he devoutly hoped there wouldn’t be one – but given that Rachel had shown signs of anxiety yesterday, it was only fair to warn her so she could prepare for the call to the SRCS that might be coming in. He’d have to break it to her, too, that if it came to that he would have to stand back. Saying that he had a friend – someone he’d actually stayed with the week before – who would be a suspect after a car had been blown up and a young woman had disappeared was embarrassing enough. Even worse, he’d have to warn her that he didn’t think Ranald Sinclair’s innocence was beyond question.
When she saw DCI Strang’s name come up on her phone, DI Rachel French gave a tiny sigh of relief. He’d said he wouldn’t be away for long and that would be him saying he was back.
She’d made a good start to settling into her role as DI here in Edinburgh; the need for efficiency and meticulous organisation played to her strengths. The SRCS, though, was completely different. She knew all about Strang’s maverick style and the lack of structure there was an alarming thought; she’d been twitching all day in case a sudden summons came in to deal with a serious rural crime before he got back from Lochinver.
He wasn’t back, though. ‘Rachel,’ he said, ‘I just wanted to warn you that I’m not going to be able to make it back to Edinburgh tonight.’
She said guardedly, ‘I see. Something cropped up?’
‘’Fraid so. I’m in Inverbeg, near Lochinver. Girl hasn’t been seen for a couple of days and we’re just arranging search parties to look for her. The weather’s been atrocious and there’s a concern that something may have happened to her.’
‘That must be very worrying. Still, it’s lucky that you’re right there on the spot to deal with it.’ She hoped he couldn’t hear the relief in her voice. ‘Are you going to need backup?’
‘Well, not right at the moment until we check it out a bit more. But you remember the info DC Murray dug up for me, relating to Flora Maitland?’
‘Yes, of course. Inverbeg was where she had the fatal accident.’
‘This is the niece, Danielle. Her car went on fire and exploded outside her house on Sunday night. She left the house she stayed in after that yesterday morning and hasn’t been seen since. I have to say I’m … very concerned.’
She got the message. The outlook wasn’t good for poor Danielle. ‘So what happens now?’
‘Er … I find myself in a difficult position,’ Strang said, and explained.
It was clearly an uncomfortable admission. He was sounding thoroughly awkward as she listened with a sinking heart. It wasn’t hard to see where this was likely to be going. Her mouth dry, she said, ‘So … that means … ?’
‘If it comes to it, it will be the boss’s call. But she was quite happy with the idea of you covering for me, so I guess she’ll follow on with that.’
French swallowed hard. ‘Obviously I’m ready to take it on, and of course we all hope they’ll find the girl all right, but I’d better make my preparations just in case. Can you explain the principles?’
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure there are exactly laid-down principles. We never know what we’ll have to work with on the ground, and I have to say the local force here is not geared up for this sort of thing. We just have to think on our feet and we can bring in whatever we need.’
With a lightness she didn’t feel, she said, ‘Ah well, it’s certainly going to be a steep learning curve!’
‘Don’t worry. Look, it’s a well-oiled machine by now, and to some extent I can support at one remove, if we’re careful. And listen, I know you have reservations about Livvy Murray, but she’s got great hands-on experience and I would suggest that you take her with you if that’s how it goes.’
She said brightly, ‘I can see she could be very helpful.’
He sounded very pleased. ‘Excellent! You know, you’re both very able officers and I think you will make a great team.’
‘I’m sure,’ she said, because that’s what you had to say. ‘Let’s hope it won’t be necessary.’
‘There’s a possibility it may come to nothing. Danni may just have gone walkabout without telling anyone. I doubt if she’d worry about social etiquette.’
It wasn’t convincing. Somehow his unease had seeped through that upbeat statement and as she switched off her phone she could feel its ripples stirring the air in her quiet office.
When DCI Strang went back to the kitchen, a couple of the rescue team had arrived – a tall, dark, young man and an older woman, stocky, with untidy greying hair. They both wore the same orange and navy jackets and rucksacks with a VHF speaker attached to a strap. Hattie Sinclair had already supplied them with coffee and biscuits and there were more mugs out on the table ready.
‘We’re just the advance guard,’ the woman said. ‘Jim here – his dad farms just along the road and I’m Jean – I live here in Inverbeg.’
‘DCI Kelso Strang. How many are you expecting?’
‘Another four, but they’re a bit further away. There’s a dog coming too.’
Hattie’s black labs had been standing watching the company with polite interest. Suddenly, one of them raised her head and then they both trotted to the back door, barking.
‘That’ll be the dog.’ Jean went to the window and peered out at a four by four that had just drawn up. ‘Oh good – that’s Malcolm. He’s the team leader, so if you can fill in the background he’ll work out what we need to do.’
Judging by his white hair and gnarled hands, Malcolm must be at least sixty, but the expression on his weather-beaten face as he greeted them hinted that he’d never lost his youthful enthusiasm. The dog now being carefully inspected by Juno and Jax wasn’t, as Strang had expected, a German Shepherd or a Malinois.
His surprise must have shown on his face and Malcolm laughed. ‘Didn’t think a springer could be a search dog, eh? There’s not a better nose for tracking than Sadie here. Now, let’s sit down and you can talk me through what you know.’
‘Little enough, unless something’s come in recently,’ Strang said, looking at Hattie.
‘Not much. Ranald’s still out knocking on doors – haven’t heard from him, but I guess people will have started coming out to join in the search. Someone said Danni had been seen leaving here yesterday morning and Maia Reynolds phoned to say that Joe Dundas said he hadn’t seen her but that she’d told him she was leaving, so she’d probably just gone. But she didn’t pick up the things she has here – you’d think she’d want her toothbrush, at least.’
‘Got a phone with her?’ Malcolm asked.
‘She hasn’t left one here. I don’t know the number.’
‘Leave that with me,’ Strang said. He could get it from the lawyer, though whether Danni would pick up was something else.
‘Where was she likely to go? Surely she wouldn’t go hill-walking with the weather forecast like this?’
Hattie shook her head. ‘Not Danni. Yesterday it wasn’t too bad, I suppose, but she definitely wasn’t what I’d call the outdoor type. And I fetched the things she’d need overnight from her bedroom and there wasn’t a sign of walking boots or even proper rainwear, just the sort of thing she’d wear at home in Glasgow.’
‘Right. So we’re talking low level here, are we? What places did she usually go, Hattie?’
‘I think she went to Lochinver sometimes, but she couldn’t have done that because her car burnt out on Sunday night. Apart from that – well, the pub, mostly.’
‘A girl after your own heart, eh, Jim?’ Malcolm said to the young man, who looked sheepish. ‘Need to find her then, won’t we? We can get started on the immediate area now and I’ll call the others to fill in as they arrive. Jean, can you check the shoreline? I seem to remember there was an accident here when someone fell off a cliff a while ago.’
Strang froze. The other three looked at each other with identical expressions of dismay and Malcolm looked at them in puzzlement.
‘What did I say? There’s something I don’t know about?’
‘The missing girl,’ Strang said. ‘It was her aunt who fell off the cliff.’
‘The police said it was an accident and maybe it was,’ Jean said. ‘Some folk thought she’d been pushed, though.’ Then realising who was sitting across the table from her, she added hastily, ‘Of course I’m sure they did everything they could.’
Strang couldn’t think of anything to say, but fortunately Malcolm took over. He stood up, and the dog, who had been play-fighting with the younger Labrador, was at his side in an instant.
‘Jean, you know the site? We’ll head over there with Sadie. Chief Inspector … ?’
‘Yes,’ Strang said. ‘I’ll come.’
‘We’ll need something belonging to Danni. She’s got some clothes still here, right? Can you find something, Hattie – underwear, tee-shirt, that sort of thing.’
Hattie, grim-faced, nodded and went out. Another car was drawing up outside and Malcolm went on, ‘Jim, out you go now, brief them and start the search locally. From the sound of it, there’s likely quite a few folk’ll be starting already.’
‘I’ll look out for Ranald and get his lot linked in,’ Jim said over his shoulder as he left.
Strang made a quick call to Donald Mackay for Danni’s mobile number, but she didn’t pick up. Hattie came back holding purple pyjama bottoms, a grey tee-shirt and a couple of pairs of skimpy knickers.
‘She didn’t have much with her. The other things haven’t been worn.’
She handed them to Malcolm and then they all watched in silence as they were presented to Sadie. She sniffed all over them with intense concentration, then looked up at her owner, tail wagging.
‘Right. On we go. The scents will be high today, after the rain.’
The rain had gone off at last but there was a chill wind still blowing. Strang walked behind as Jean led the way round behind the fish farm and along to where the path stopped and then on to the stony shore. The tide was out; he could smell the rafts of seaweed uprooted by the storm that were piled along the waterline. No one spoke. Sadie didn’t seem to be tracking anything, trotting along at her own pace, just sniffing the air, presumably.
The ground was rising now and Strang could see a small building at the top of the hill – the Maitland croft, presumably – and he could see the cliff Flora had fallen from ahead. Could Danni, worried and depressed, have stepped off it herself? He hadn’t considered that possibility.
They were rounding the corner to where they would get a clear view. Strang found he was holding his breath.
But there was nothing. No crumpled body there among the scattered rocks. Sadie’s tail was still wagging, she was still trotting along, but now Malcolm stopped.
‘Not picking up anything. She didn’t come this way.’
There was nothing for them to do but turn round and go back. Already Strang could see groups of people moving along, past the Inverbeg Inn and fanning out across rough ground on both sides of the road leading to the Auchinglass Estate and the pods as well as the road up out of Inverbeg.
As they reached the road by the Sinclairs’ house, Sadie looked as if she might be on to something, sniffing the ground enthusiastically for a few hundred yards, but then appeared to lose interest.
‘Nothing here now,’ Malcolm said, just as Strang looked up to see the burnt-out remains of Danni’s car outside the little grey house at the top of the hill. Remains – an unfortunate word to have thought of.
‘I think we should check the cottage as a priority,’ he said. ‘If she did change her mind and go back to it after she left the Sinclairs’ there might even be some sort of trail Sadie could pick up beyond it.’
‘Right,’ Malcolm said, and they went on walking up the road out of Inverbeg while the others in the search party went on to join the operations behind the inn. It looped in a wide curve to reach the main road where they walked along before they reached the hardstanding with the burnt-out car. And now Sadie was going crazy, tail swinging almost in circles as she rushed ahead to the door of the cottage and then lay down beside it, pressing her nose to the crack at the bottom of the door.
Malcolm went forward, slipping the lead on and drawing her aside as he petted her. Strang, with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and his pulse racing, joined him.
He probably wouldn’t have noticed it, there in the fresh air, if his attention hadn’t been drawn by Sadie’s excitement, but now he could just detect the familiar metallic taint of blood. What were they going to find on the other side of that door?
He turned the handle, but it didn’t open. Locked, then. To the left there was a window with cardboard filling in for a missing pane; he pushed it through and bent to peer inside. The window was small and the room was dark. He could make out that it was a bedroom with the door standing slightly open, but there was nothing he could see to account for the smell that was pervasive now, making his stomach lurch.
He said to Malcolm, ‘I’m going to kick in the door.’
It was an old, ineffectual lock and the wood, too, was soft; it splintered easily and the door swung open. Strang stepped into what looked like a slaughterhouse. Blood had dried in a pool on the floor, it had soaked into the sofa, splashed onto the table that stood beside it. There were spatters right across the room and even on one of the walls. He had to swallow hard.
He needed to get a clear view of the whole room. He edged round the perimeter, taking stock. There was a beer bottle on the table, a third full, and a few jagged shards of brown glass lay on the floor in a puddle of beer. Apart from that, there didn’t look to have been a struggle. But there was no body.
Malcolm had seen too what lay inside; he was waiting at the door as Strang came out, closing the door behind him and shaking his head.
‘Not here, but she has to be dead. Can you find someone to block the site till police arrive, but keep quiet on the details?’
‘No problem. Natural enough to keep folk away, when it’s the girl’s home. Leave it with me. You’ll have other things to do.’
‘I’m very grateful. I’ll go now to call in a forensic team.’
As Strang walked back down the hill the searchers were still strung out across the rough land beyond the village, looking for a missing girl. There was nothing to be gained at the moment by making an announcement; they’d be doing the same thing if they were looking for a body.
Danni had been having a drink with someone and that someone had then killed her. A squabble with the boyfriend she’d fought with already? Run-of-the-mill stuff, then.
But it might not be, and he couldn’t take time to check it out. He’d have to tell JB the whole story and recuse himself from the investigation.
CHAPTER TEN
Strang went back and let himself into the Sinclairs’ house, where Hattie had offered him the dining room as a workspace. He sat down, trying to assemble his thoughts before phoning DCS Borthwick.
No one could have survived an attack like that. But when had it happened, and what had happened afterwards?
The dog had looked as if it might have been following a scent coming away from the Sinclairs’ house, but hadn’t persisted. There had been a lot of rain, of course, and this morning a lot of people walking over the ground, which probably had confused any trail.
Where had Danni gone, during those missing hours? Surely she hadn’t spent the time shut up alone in her dark and damaged house? It was unlikely, too, that her killer would stage such a brutal attack at a time when someone might be about and hear screaming – or a neighbour might even pop in to see how she was.
And he had to have had a car outside, to remove the body. Conspicuous, unless it was after dark and in the middle of the storm. They’d just been having a beer – had he arranged to meet her there, with this in mind? Or was it possible that it had started out as being innocent enough, until something had happened to make him lose his temper? The broken bottle, a formidable weapon – glassings were common and too many young men had died that way. People lost their temper when they didn’t get what they wanted – which led him on to such an unwelcome thought that he forced it out of his mind immediately and thought about the time of death instead. If the pathologist could be persuaded to give even the roughest possible estimate of when Danni had died – which often they wouldn’t – he would put money on it being the previous night.
