Thinking of you, he texted. Just been in the pool, lonely without you.

  He watched as the message showed it was delivered and then waited for it to turn into two blue ticks to show she’d read it. After staring at his phone for a minute, he gave up waiting and wandered off to the shower. He had a fisherman to chat to.

  * * *

  Murdo climbed reluctantly out of the unmarked patrol car at the top of the road and pulled his warm jacket on over his uniform. He tutted. He had been waiting for months for a new police coat to be sent through and it still hadn’t come, so he was having to use his own. The only spare ones at the station wouldn’t fit around his ample waist.

  After knocking on the door of the small bothy, he waited, hoping the occupant was back from his fishing trip, while cursing the stupidity of people who went night fishing. He huddled deeper into his coat as the wind picked up and had a chilly edge to it. He stepped sideways to peer through the window. Thinking he saw movement in the rear of the cottage, he walked around the back to see if someone was in the garden. As he rounded the corner, he almost tripped over a shovel that was leaning against the wall, so he sidestepped it and made his way into the garden, calling out as he went.

  He tried the back door, but it was firmly locked. Bending slightly to look through the glass, Murdo saw a cat sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, staring at him with a slightly indignant expression, so he concluded this must have been the movement he had seen inside the house.

  As he straightened up, he turned to head back to the car and was startled to see the business end of the shovel hurtling towards his face. Then everything went black.

  * * *

  Joe Ripley was walking back across the fields with the three collies. They’d settled well and he was confident he was now their person and part of their pack. At night, they insisted on accompanying him up the stairs and sleeping by the side of his bed. He had tried repeatedly to keep them out, but they were persistent, and after a few sleepless nights, he had acquiesced, even getting each of them a bed. So, when he went to bed they came up and slept next to him on the floor.

  He crossed the small bridge that ran over one of the mountain gulleys and headed back across the field towards the back of his property, passing through a small area of pines that ran along the boundary fence. The dogs were suddenly alert and growling, running in front of Joe.

  ‘Guys,’ Joe muttered as he almost tripped over them.

  The tall man Joe had seen before stepped out from behind a tree and the youngest of the dogs, Scout, moved towards him, snarling.

  The man dropped to his knees and made a guttural sound Joe hadn’t heard before. Scout approached him, sniffed his hand and then sat in front of him. The other two dogs instantly went up to him and also sat before him. Tails weren’t wagging, but they were quiet and obedient.

  ‘Can I help you?’ Joe asked, irritated that he had appeared and seemed to have charmed the dogs.

  ‘Nice dogs,’ the man said. ‘Yours?’

  ‘You know exactly whose dogs they are,’ Joe said abruptly. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I don’t want anything.’

  ‘Why are you here?’

  ‘I’m just out walking.’

  ‘On my land?’

  ‘It’s Hunter land,’ he said. ‘If we’re going to be picky.’

  Joe eyed him, his fists clenched. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I hear you’ve inherited Gina’s place and all her land.’

  ‘Not sure where you heard that.’

  He shrugged. ‘Not relevant where I heard it. I just wondered whether you’d consider a cash offer for it. More money than you’ll ever see, Joe.’

  ‘Bit fucking patronising,’ Joe said, fighting the urge to punch him.

  ‘No offence meant. It’s a scandal what they pay firefighters these days.’

  ‘Take it up with your MP if you feel that strongly about it,’ Joe replied.

  ‘Perhaps I will. Think on my offer.’

  He turned and started to walk away and Joe felt a surge of anger at this arrogant prick.

  ‘How many warnings do I get until you barricade me in my house and pour petrol through the door and set light to it?’

  Fraser turned, narrowing his eyes. ‘A few more yet,’ he said, walking away.

  Chapter 27

  Scott’s email pinged with a message from Kevin, his wonder tech. He had provided a list of numbers that had rang Alastair. One of the burner phones triangulated in the area had also called Cameron’s mobile on the day of the fire at Gina’s and the body being found on the stones.

  This phone had also been pinged in and around the towers near Gina’s house, the Hunter Estate, and multiple times near the boiler house where they had recently found traces of blood.

  Kevin had also highlighted that Jonah Edwards’ phone had called Ashley Hunter’s on the Thursday and Friday before his death. There was a variety of other numbers, none of which were registered, as well as one that repeatedly called on a Sunday evening, almost weekly. Scott assumed this was a parent or relative and asked for details of the ‘Sunday night’ number, before asking Kevin if he could look for patterns of calls between Cameron, other phones and Ashley. Kevin had sent back a thumbs-up emoji.

  Scott printed out the email and walked into the main office.

  ‘Murdo not back yet?’ he asked.

  ‘Probably having tea and shortbread with the fisherman.’ Rooney chuckled.

  ‘Right, so we have the burner phone that was pinged in and around the Hunter Estate, Gina’s place and the boiler house, calling Cameron Hunter on the day after the fire and the murder of Jonah Edwards.’

  ‘So we can arrest Cameron Hunter?’ Rooney asked eagerly.

  ‘For receiving a call?’ Scott said wryly. ‘I wish.’

  Rooney looked disappointed.

  ‘What we need to know is who rang him from the burner phone.’

  ‘Shall we go and ask him, guv?’ Rooney asked.

  ‘I will, then I have to let him go. I also need to chase Hector and the lab,’ Scott said.

  After getting no joy from Cameron about who rang him from the burner phone, Scott reluctantly let him go after going through the tedium of the limitations of his conditional release. He was just about to update the world’s laziest DCI when his phone rang.

  ‘Hansen.’

  ‘Ah, laddie. Willy informs me that you would like me to expedite my opinion on the young lady found in the river last night.’

  ‘I was after a theory, Hector. On how and perhaps when she died.’

  ‘Poor lassie’s been dead a while. Maybe four days? Hard to be precise under such pressure,’ he said with heavy sarcasm.

  ‘Give me a break here. Any idea what she died of?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Come on.’

  ‘What I will do, though, is get on to her first thing this morning, so I’ll be able to have something for you at the end of the day. This is the one and only time I’ll be chivvied by you. Do you hear me, laddie?’

  ‘I hear you, Hector.’

  ‘Now, perhaps if you choose to attend my office at around four o’clock this afternoon, Willy will make you a cup of tea, I will share whatever cake you have procured for me, and I’ll have some answers to your questions. How does that sound?’

  ‘Fine. I’ll bring cake.’

  ‘Cake, you say? Now that’s a lovely idea. See you later.’

  ‘Thanks, Hector.’

  Scott sat pondering. He needed more to go on. Nothing was adding up. With the only person looking likely to have done anything being Cameron Hunter’s henchman, Fraser Black, Scott had tried to look the man up but there was no trace of him. He wasn’t listed on any of the databases, which meant his file had either been sealed or he was using a false identity. He sighed heavily. Why was nothing ever easy here? The last case had been tough enough.

  His mobile phone pinged, alerting him to a message, and he smiled when he saw it was a WhatsApp from Louisa. The message was a photograph of a neatly folded pair of pyjamas and a toothbrush. Nothing else, no words. He smiled and texted a response.

  Soon, I promise. I just need people to stop dying. It’s very inconvenient. You want me completely focused on the task in hand, don’t you?

  She replied. Keep me waiting much longer and I’ll take you any way (or anywhere) I can get you. Now get detectoring.

  Scott was staring at her response, lost in a small fantasy about Louisa, when Rooney burst into the office holding a large evidence bag. ‘Look what the guys found further down the river!’ he said breathlessly. ‘A rucksack and it has Shannon’s name on it.’

  Scott leaned over to inspect it.

  ‘Lab immediately. Fingerprints and DNA. I don’t care how much it costs, this is a priority.’

  ‘Guv, do you wanna look inside?’

  ‘Nope. I don’t want to risk it. Get the lab to look inside and call me. Fingerprints are a priority.’

  ‘Guv.’

  ‘And tell Murdo to get his arse in gear.’

  ‘Guv.’

  Murdo had come round face down on a strange patio, with a headache that had him whimpering as he opened his eyes. He blinked, trying to clear his spotty vision, and moved to lie on his side for a while because he vaguely remembered that it was better for you.

  In his confused mind, he tried to recall what had happened. All he could remember was seeing a shovel hurtling towards him. He was snuffling like a pug so raised a shaking hand to his face, to conclude his nose had been broken for the second time in as many months. The time before had been when he was chasing some kids and had fallen off a brick wall.

  He tried to activate his radio through his coat, but it was broken where he’d fallen on it. Scrabbling in his coat pocket, he managed to pull his phone out and tried to focus on dialling the office number.

  Rooney went to Murdo’s rescue and took him to the hospital, while Scott drove Murdo’s car back to the station. Murdo wasn’t any help whatsoever in remembering who had walloped him with the shovel or whether he had seen anything of interest beforehand.

  * * *

  Ruth arrived at the surgery to find the receptionist in a heated stand-off with a man in a large pair of waders, holding a fishing rod.

  ‘Mr Gilman, you need to go to A&E. You can’t just walk in here and ask that someone whip that out for you. It has to be done properly.’

  ‘I won’t go to hospital. You go in with one thing and come out with something else.’

  ‘Everything okay here, Mr Gilman?’ Ruth ventured and found herself facing the small man who appeared to have a large fishing hook in his cheek.

  ‘Ouch,’ Ruth said, peering at it. ‘That is one for A&E. Plastics will need to look at it.’

  ‘Either you take it out or I go home and do it myself,’ he insisted.

  Ruth regarded the state of his filthy hands. Infection was highly probable if he did it himself.

  ‘Come on through the back,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure how pretty it will look if I do it, but we’ve got some time before surgery starts.’

  ‘It’ll look better than if I do it,’ he said.

  Ruth settled him into one of the nurses’ rooms and set about getting the kit she needed.

  ‘Were you fishing last night?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘I like the quiet of night fishing. I like to go early too. Sometimes the fish wake up when the sun does.’ He laughed. ‘’Cept the other morning, when she chased them all away.’

  ‘Hold still,’ Ruth said. ‘I’m going to give you a local anaesthetic on your face.’ She set about cleaning the area. ‘Who chased them all away?’

  ‘The girl. The one that had fallen down the bank.’

  ‘Which bank?’

  ‘The one along from the bridge, before the river gets deep. You know, near the fishing jetty.’

  ‘You found a girl there?’

  ‘Aye. She was just lying there. Had been there all night, she said.’

  ‘You spoke to her?’

  ‘Aye. Well I wasn’t going to leave her, was I?’ he said defensively. ‘All bruised and battered. I wanted to call her an ambulance, but she was having none of it. She just wanted to be helped up and back to the road.’

  ‘Did you help her, then? Was she alright?’

  ‘Oh aye. Took us ages to get up there. She was on her way to see her uncle, she said.’

  ‘What happened once you’d helped her up to the road?’

  ‘She felt funny and sat on the log, and I went and knocked on his door.’

  ‘Right. And he took her to hospital?’

  He shrugged. ‘She was passed out when we came back. He said he was a doctor so he’d help her. He picked her up and took her to his house.’

  ‘Did you go with them?’

  ‘No. We took so long getting back up the bank that I had to go to work. So I left her with him.’

  ‘What did she look like?’

  ‘Shorter than you, blonde hair, young. She was Irish.’

  Ruth recalled the dead girl with blonde hair in the water, and the nurse saying that she was Irish.

  ‘Have you told the police, Mr Gilman?’

  ‘Why would I tell the police?’ He looked baffled.

  ‘Because I think the girl you helped might have been the one found dead in the river yesterday. You might have been one of the last people to see her alive.’

  He blinked at her. ‘There was a dead girl found in the river?’

  ‘Yes, and it sounds like the same one. I’ll call the detective, get him to come and talk to you. Okay?’ He nodded, looking stunned. ‘Now, Mr Gilman,’ Ruth said briskly. ‘Are you alright with needles?’

  ‘Of course I am,’ he said, tutting. ‘You think I’m some sort of big jessie or something?’

  She held up a needle and Mr Gilman took one look at it and dropped into a dead faint.

  By the time Mr Gilman had come around, Ruth had called an ambulance. He had smacked his head hard on the edge of the desk and embedded the fish hook into his cheek, as that side of his face had taken the brunt of the fall. He was groggy and making no sense, so Ruth packed him off to the hospital and then called Scott and suggested he get over there to speak to him later.

  * * *

  Cameron stepped out of his solicitor’s car at the main reception of the Hunter Resort. His solicitor had been droning on the whole way and Cameron was sick of it.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said.

  ‘Do NOT go home, or anywhere near Ashley. Are we clear? Anywhere near him and they’ll arrest you again,’ his solicitor called.

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ He slammed the car door and marched into the main reception area. He approached the desk and the girl behind it looked startled to see him.

  ‘Mr H-hunter,’ she stammered. ‘Everything okay?’

  ‘Fine, thank you. Which suites or cabins are free? I need to stay closer to work for a while.’

  She consulted the screen. ‘Er. There’s no suites. None of the larger cottages are free. Oh wait, we have a small cottage. The small two-bed. Will that be okay?’

  He nodded and held out his hand for the swipe card.

  She flushed. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Hunter, but the system’s set up so I can’t release a room until there’s a credit card against it.’

  He stared at her for a moment, wondering whether to sack her on the spot, and then remembered he had instigated this software to stop staff from using the rooms when they were empty.

  He dug his wallet out and handed over a card.

  Ensconced in the cottage, he ordered room service and had a very long shower to get the stench of the police cell off him. He had made two calls to Fraser, but so far he hadn’t returned them. Exhausted, he answered the door to the waiter, ate his food, then crashed out on the extremely comfortable bed

  * * *

  Mark was delighted. He had sourced a replacement hire car and heard from Suzy, who had been offered the use of a small but very exclusive log cabin deep in the mountains for the weekend. She had asked him if he would like to accompany her. With a hot tub, fire pit and luxurious furnishings, a stocked fridge and wine cellar, it sounded like the perfect getaway to seduce Suzy into thinking she could be wife number three. Mark had offered to drive them, and they agreed a time when Mark would collect her.

  Singing softly along to the radio as he drove down the high street, he was delighted when he saw Bonnie entering the local library. Grinning to himself, as he had a number of fantasies about having sex in a library, he parked the car and followed her in. He found her halfway down an aisle, thumbing through a large hardbacked book of black-and-white photographs.

  ‘Hey,’ he whispered.

  She glanced up and smiled, which he took as a good sign.

  ‘Hey,’ she whispered back. ‘What the hell are you doing in a library?’

  He chuckled. ‘I saw you come in. I’ve missed you.’ He moved closer to her so she was backed against a bookcase. He gently took the book out of her hand and bent his head to kiss her lightly on the lips. She didn’t pull away, so he upped the charm offensive.

  ‘Did you get my picture?’ he asked, kissing her neck softly and running his hands up her sides inside her coat.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you like it?’ he said, moving to kiss the other side of her neck and jawline.

  She giggled. ‘It was okay.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Only okay?’ He pushed himself against her so she would feel his rock-hardness. Just being in the library with her had fed his fantasy and given him the raging horn.

  Her eyes widened as she registered what he was pressing against her. ‘Jesus, Mrs MacInley will have my guts if she finds me like this.’

  ‘Come on, it’s fun,’ he said, grabbing her backside and pulling her close so that she was rammed up against him.

  ‘Get off me, Mark. Not here.’

  ‘Come on,’ he said in her ear, trying to lift one of her legs. ‘We could have a quickie here in the library.’ He kissed her neck, his breathing heavy.