‘Not so far as I know. It’s probably the remains of one of General Wade’s little forts.’
‘How far do you think we walked after we left Bridge of Orchy?’ she asked.
‘Difficult to say, but, what with the mist and the rough road, probably not as far as it seemed.’
We turned away from the window and went through the doorway into a room which was better lighted than the one we had left, for it had only three walls. In the angle of two of these there was a stair. I had my torch with me, so I shone it, but it lighted only a few of the stone steps before the turn of the spiral hid the next part of the flight.
‘That looks exciting,’ said Hera.
‘You don’t go up there,’ I said. ‘It could be unsafe. Let’s try through here.’ There was a massive nail-studded door in the staircase wall. I pushed it open. Hera peered in.
‘But it’s pitch-dark,’ she said.
‘It must be the passage which led to the kitchen. This must be the entrance hall that we’re in and there will be a pump in the kitchen, I expect,’ I told her cheerfully.
We never carried drinks in our rucksacks because of the extra weight, so all we had had to quench our thirst was a half-pound bag of cherries with which we had finished our recent meal. I advanced into the opening and shone my torch so that the beam was straight ahead of me.
‘No wonder it’s dark in here,’ I said. ‘It’s blocked at the other end.’ It was as I said the words that I fell over the dead man who was sprawled across the passage.
‘Change back into your other clothes as quickly as you can,’ I said, when I had hustled Hera back to the room into which we had climbed. ‘We don’t want to get these togs soaked as well, and it’s pouring with rain outside.’
‘Why the hurry? What’s the matter? Couldn’t you get the blocked end of the passage open?’ she asked, understandably surprised by the force I had used to get her back into the other room.
‘I didn’t try. We’ve got to get away from here as quickly as ever we can. Don’t ask questions. Just get changed.’
‘You’ve got to tell me why. Did you see a ghost in the passage? — or what?’
‘Not a ghost, although there might be one in the future. There’s a dead man in there. I kicked him. Now for heaven’s sake shut up and get changed. There’s no point in getting two sets of clothes soaked through.’
Shivering with distaste, we climbed into our damp trousers and gave our anoraks, which were waterproof, a final shake before we put them on. ‘Now let’s have a good look round and make sure we haven’t left any traces to show that we were here,’ I said.
‘But why? The police will have to be told about — about him.’
‘Not on your life! We only found the body by the merest accident. It is no business of ours if people get themselves killed in ruined forts and I’m damned if I’m going to get myself mixed up with Scottish law and procurator fiscals and all the rest of it. What we’ve got to do is to step it out as soon as we leave here and trust to luck that we can find either Bridge of Orchy or Inveroran before dark. The mist is excuse enough if we get there late. We’ve got to alibi ourselves, don’t you see?’
‘But why? And why did you drag me away from the passage like that? I wouldn’t have minded seeing a corpse.’
‘We’ll go through that opening in the hall where the wall’s gone. It will be easier than scrambling through that window again,’ I said. ‘I’ll tell you more later. Come on! Come on!’ So we passed through another, smaller yard which was strewn with fallen masonry, crossed into the first yard and so out of the precincts by the postern door. The road was plain enough to follow. We headed on to it and I set a cracking pace as we left the ruins behind us.
‘Oh, do slow down a bit,’ said Hera, after about the first half-mile. ‘We’re walking as though the Devil himself is behind us.’
‘Who knows that he isn’t?’ I said, slackening the pace; and then I gave her the bad news. ‘The dead man was Carbridge,’ I said, ‘and he wasn’t merely dead; he’d been murdered. That’s why I hauled you away before you saw him.’ She said nothing in response to this, but, from then on, she set the pace herself and there was no more talk about going to the police. All she said was: ‘I didn’t want it to happen that way.’
‘What didn’t you?’ I asked foolishly.
‘I did want to get to Fort William before he did, but now he can’t get there at all. But, look here’ — she slowed down and almost stopped walking — ‘are you sure it was Carbridge? It couldn’t have been, you know. I mean, how did he get there and where are the other three?’
‘Lost in the mist, the same as we were. He must have lost contact with them somewhere or other on the moor. Perhaps they were too slow for him if Jane Minch’s feet are hurting her.’
‘Todd wouldn’t have been slow. They would have gone on together, wouldn’t they? Where is Todd?’
‘Fleeing from justice, perhaps. I tell you Carbridge was murdered. I saw that he was. It looks to me as though Todd —’
‘No! You are not to say that! It’s wicked. You have no proof!’
‘Sorry! No, of course I haven’t. Now let’s hurry on. I can’t forget I had a row with Carbridge last night and there were witnesses. I can’t afford to report his body to the police. How can I?’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ she said, ‘but it was only a passing tiff. It would never occur to anybody who was there that any thought of murder was in your mind.’
‘It would never occur to anybody?’ I repeated, but in the form of a query, not a statement. ‘Well, if you’re interested, I might as well tell you that it occurred to me. If I had been alone with him last night —’
‘If you had been alone with him, the situation would never have arisen. Look here, I was right the first time about reporting what you saw. Don’t you see that the body is bound to be found soon. I suppose they’ll either take it to Fort William or to Stirling, but I really haven’t a clue about these things and I simply don’t want to know, but can’t you see, Comrie, we must tell the police we found him. There’ll be the most awful trouble if we don’t, when it all comes out that we were in that ruin.’
‘How can it come out? Even if it was discovered that we were there, there is nothing to prove that we saw the body. I didn’t even touch him.’
‘You fell over him. You accidentally kicked him. Bodies can bruise, even if they’re dead.’
‘Which proves what? Look, now, Hera, if you go to the police, you’ll land us in a whole lot of trouble and we may be held up for days, even if we’re not actually placed under suspicion. The first thing the police are going to ask is whether we knew the man.’
‘We could say no to that.’
‘And have them round up Todd and the rest of the gang and prove us to be liars? That would help a lot!’
‘Oh, dear! I don’t know what to do.’
‘That doesn’t sound like you. Anyway, when in doubt, do nothing and let Time pass. What did somebody call it? — masterly inactivity. That’s our ticket and we can’t afford to swop it for any other. Can’t you see that?’
It must have been at about this point that the rain eased off and we could see further ahead of us than we had been able to do since leaving the ruins. I had an idea that we were approaching the spot where we had deviated from The Way. I heard voices and laughter. Hastily I dragged Hera into a dip in the moor and pulled her down among the soaking plants in the hollow.
‘Keep quiet,’ I whispered. ‘If anybody spots us here, they’ll only think of Lady Chatterley in the rain, but we mustn’t be seen walking away from the ruins.’
The voices died in the distance. Cautiously I reconnoitred. There was nobody to be seen, so I pulled Hera to her feet and hand in hand, muddy now as well as wet, we ran forward. Almost the first thing we set eyes on was one of the signs used to mark The Way.