‘It wasn’t important,’ said Bannerman with resignation.
‘Perhaps you would like to apply for an MRC project grant for your own department to carry out some of the work?’ said Milne.
Bannerman closed his eyes and kept rein on his tongue. ‘Perhaps,’ he said and put down the phone.
Bannerman was still in a bad mood when Shona arrived back at the apartment early evening.
‘Bad day?’ she asked, noticing Bannerman’s preoccupation.
‘You could say that,’ he smiled. ‘How about you?’
‘Oh, so-so,’ said Shona. ‘I seem to have spent most of my day listening to former friends speak of nothing but babies and mortgages and what Roger or Harry likes for his tea. They used to be interesting people!’ complained Shona. ‘Whatever happened to them?’,
The Age Fairy,’ said Bannerman.
The what?’
‘I have a theory. One night we go to bed and the Age Fairy comes and taps us on the shoulder. When we wake up we’re old and boring.’
Shona smiled and asked, ‘At what age does this Age Fairy come to call?’
‘No set age,’ replied Bannerman. ‘It can happen to some people when they’re in their twenties or in some cases not even by their sixties.’
‘Dare I ask …?’
‘I woke up one night and saw it there,’ said Bannerman. ‘It scared me.’
‘But it didn’t touch you. I can tell,’ said Shona.
‘I’m not so sure,’ said Bannerman.
‘What made your day so bad?’ asked Shona.
‘Dealing with the establishment.’
‘What do you mean, “the establishment”?’ asked Shona.
‘People with power. The people who run things in this country. Sometimes their behaviour is little short of downright dishonest.’
‘Never,’ said Shona sarcastically.
Bannerman looked at her and said, ‘Oh I know it’s popular to suggest that everyone in power is corrupt and self-seeking but I never really believed it. A few maybe, but I thought that basically, truth, honesty and integrity prevailed and operated in our best interests.’
‘And now you don’t?’
‘It’s what they perceive to be in our best interests that worries me,’ said Bannerman.
‘Such disillusionment calls for large quantities of medicinal alcohol,’ said Shona. ‘It’s my last night. Let me buy you a drink?’
‘No, no,’ protested Bannerman. ‘I’m indebted to you for driving me down here. I don’t think I could have made it otherwise. I insist on taking you out to dinner, unless you’ve made other arrangements?’
Shona smiled and said, ‘No, no other arrangements.’
Shona and Bannerman were on the verge of leaving the apartment; Bannerman was checking his pocket for the keys, when the doorbell rang. ‘Who on earth …’he muttered, pulling open the door. Lawrence Gill’s wife was standing there.
The department gave me your address; I hope you don’t mind, I understand you were the one who found Lawrence’s body?’
‘Er, yes, that’s so Mrs Gill and I’m very sorry, you have my deepest sympathy. I was actually going to come and see you before I left …’
Vera Gill was obviously waiting to be asked inside and Bannerman was acutely aware that Shona was standing just to the left of the door in the hallway. He felt embarrassed. ‘I was just on the point of going out,’ he said, uncomfortably aware of how callous he must appear.
‘I just wanted to know something about the place where he died,’ said Vera Gill. ‘I know it must sound silly but I’d like you to describe it to me, so I could picture it in my mind.’
‘Hello Vera,’ said Shona quietly coming out from behind Bannerman.
‘You!’ exclaimed Vera Gill, her eyes filling with suspicion. ‘What the … Oh I see, you’ve lost Lawrence, you’re after him now!’
‘Nothing like that,’ said Shona, with what Bannerman thought was admirable calmness. ‘It’s true I was once in love with your husband and I did have an affair with him, but that was many years ago. Lawrence did not run away to be with me. He didn’t leave you Vera; he loved you; that’s why he broke it off with me.’
Vera Gill stared wild-eyed at Shona and said, ‘Lying bitch! He was overheard on the phone making arrangements to come to you just before he disappeared!’
Bannerman tensed himself, preparing to intervene between the two women should it become necessary.
‘He did phone,’ said Shona, ‘and he did come to the island, but it was because he wanted a place to hide! Lawrence didn’t leave you Vera. He ran away because he was frightened. He was in great danger.’
‘Frightened? Danger?’ scoffed Vera Gill. ‘What rubbish!’
‘It’s true,’ said Bannerman. ‘Your husband thought someone was trying to kill him.’
Vera Gill’s initial anger subsided and was replaced by confusion. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘Lawrence was a doctor, why would anyone want to kill him?’
‘You had better come in Mrs Gill,’ said Bannerman, putting an arm round Vera Gill’s shoulders and guiding her gently inside. Shona went to the kitchen to make tea.
‘When your husband disappeared, Mrs Gill, he was looking into the deaths of three farm workers. We think that he found out something about their deaths that someone else was prepared to kill to keep secret. Somehow Lawrence knew that his life was in danger, so he contacted Shona and asked for her help in providing him with a place to hide out for a while.’
Vera Gill took a moment or two to digest what she’d heard and to consider the implications. Making an obvious effort to control her emotions, she said, ‘Are you saying that my husband’s death was not an accident?’
‘Lawrence fell to his death from the cliffs on Barasay Mrs GUI. That’s what we know for sure, but we have reason to think that he may have been pushed. We have no proof of this but the authorities are aware of our suspicions and will investigate.’
Shona came back into the room carrying tea on a tray. Vera Gill accepted a cup with a look that signalled peace between the two women. She sipped it slowly and deliberately, her eyes betraying that her mind was still reeling. ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,’ she said, half apologetically. ‘Lawrence didn’t leave me after all.’
‘No he didn’t,’ said Shona.
‘Who told you about your husband’s call to Shona?’ asked Bannerman. ‘Morag Napier.’ Bannerman nodded.
By the time she had finished her tea Vera Gill had regained her composure and was ready to leave. She thanked Bannerman and Shona and even shook hands with them both, although she diverted her eyes when taking Shona’s hand.
Shona let out a long sigh when Bannerman returned from seeing Vera Gill to the door. ‘I didn’t reckon on that,’ she said.
‘Me neither,’ agreed Bannerman. ‘I thought you said that it was you who broke up the affair with Gill?’
‘It was,’ said Shona.
‘You’re a nice person.’
‘Can we eat?’
The confrontation with Vera Gill put a bit of a damper on the evening for Bannerman and Shona. Up until Vera’s arrival it had seemed that the pair of them might be able to forget the deaths for a while to relax and enjoy each other’s company, but now the subject of Gill’s death and those of the men of Inverladdie was again uppermost in their minds.
‘Have you still no idea at all why Lawrence was murdered?’ asked Shona.
‘I’ve thought about it a lot,’ said Bannerman. ‘But I end up going round in the same circles. Gill was desperate to send off the package which we presume contained the missing, infected brains. From what he told you, he thought he would be safe as soon as that happened. That must mean that whoever received the package would know all there was to know about the deaths. It was addressed to the MRC, so presumably he meant the MRC to analyse them. But he’d already sent samples of the brains to the MRC! And they had already been analysed! We knew about the Scrapie involvement!’
‘And he knew that you knew,’ added Shona.
‘Exactly,’ said Bannerman.
‘So there must have been something else in the brains that wouldn’t have appeared on the slides,’ suggested Shona. ‘Something else that he wanted you to know about.’