“It’s on your beat. You’ve solved cases before.”
Hamish touched his cap. “I am doing what I can,” he said, and then he walked quickly away.
And then he felt a little surge of gladness beginning somewhere deep inside him and realised he had that dinner date with Sarah. Time to put murder and mayhem out of his mind.
He went back to the police station, had a bath and dressed carefully in an elegant suit he had bought in a thrift shop, a striped shirt and a silk tie Priscilla had bought him. It was then he realised that his one pair of good shoes were in need of repair and he had forgotten all about it. The sole of the left one was hanging loose. He swore under his breath and got a tube of Stickfast Glue to effect an amateur repair. But the glue stuck to his fingers and his fingers stuck to the dangling sole of the shoe and there was no way he could get his fingers loose without tearing off skin.
In despair, he phoned the doctor’s number and when Angela had stopped laughing, she said she would drop in and see what she could do.
Hamish glanced anxiously at the clock. He had spent a long time getting ready and it was now a quarter to eight When Angela knocked at the kitchen door, he called, “Come in!” and went to meet her. She giggled at the sight of Hamish still glued to the sole of the shoe. “What am I to do?” demanded Hamish, exasperated.
“Sit down and don’t panic,” said Angela soothingly. She guided him to a kitchen chair. “Nail varnish remover should do the trick.”
She fished in a capacious handbag and brought out a bottle of nail varnish remover and a packet of cotton balls. She soaked one of the balls in the remover and worked busily until Hamish found his hand free.
“Angela, you’re a wonder. I’d better just put my boots on.”
“Your police boots, Hamish? I hope it’s not a heavy date. Oh, I know, it’s that pretty girl who’s staying up at the Tommel Castle Hotel.”
“How did you know that?”
“Willie told everyone.”
“Willie would,” said Hamish bitterly. “No one will notice my boots. I’m meeting her at the restaurant. My feet will be under the table.”
“How’s that murder case?”
“I wouldnae know, Angela. They say, go and interview Miss or Mrs. so-and-so and I go and type up my report, but I never see the other statements.”
“Gilchrist was having an affair with Maggie Bane.”
“How did you find that out?”
“Highland gossip.”
“Not very reliable. Good-looking woman. Always gossip.”
“I cannot reveal my source, copper, but it’s a pretty reliable one. Red-hot passion which seemed to be cooling off recently. They had a noisy scene in a pub down in Inverness about two months ago. Maggie was weeping and he was looking irritated.”
“And someone from Lochdubh happened to be in the pub at the time?”
Angela nodded.
“But Maggie Bane! I would have thought it a coldblooded murder by a pretty powerful man or men. That’s it! It might have been more than one person.”
Angela looked around the kitchen. The sink was piled high with dirty dishes and the table was covered with dirty coffee cups.
“I hope you aren’t planning on bringing her back here, Hamish. The place looks like a slum.”
Hamish coloured. “I haff had my mind on the other things.”
“I’d help you, but I have to get back and put dinner on the table.”
Hamish looked at his watch and let out a squawk of alarm. “Thanks, Angela. I’ll need to hurry or I’ll be late.”
Soon he was heading along the waterfront in the direction of the restaurant, feeling his regulation boots getting bigger and clumsier by the minute.
Sarah was already there and seated at the table by the window. She was wearing a scarlet wool dress and an expensive pair of ruby and gold earrings.
Hamish, struck afresh by her beauty, felt suddenly shy.
“I’m sorry I’m a few minutes late,” he said, sitting down opposite her. “I was on this murder case.”
“Oh, how’s that going?”
Willie came up with menus. They both ordered, and when Willie had left, Hamish said ruefully, “I’m not doing very well. Och, I may as well tell you. My one pair of good shoes had the sole hanging loose on one of them and I tried to stick it with Stickfast Glue and got stuck to the damn thing and had to wait for the doctor’s wife to come and free me.”
Sarah laughed. “I did notice the big boots when you came in the door and thought you’d forgotten to change them.”
“I don’t often dress up,” said Hamish. A picture of Priscilla came into his mind and he looked out the window. In that moment, she felt so near to him that he half expected to see her walking along outside.
Sarah looked at his sad face curiously and then said, “This case is getting you down.”
“You could say that. It’s the first time I’ve felt so frustrated at being an ordinary copper who’s kept out of things. Before I’ve found out the pathologist’s report by phoning tip and pretending to be Detective Chief Inspector Blair. I’ve found out about statements by plying another detective with whisky, but somehow I can’t be bothered pulling any of those tricks again.”
She studied him for a few moments and then asked, “Do you have a computer at the police station?”
“Yes, we’re all computerised now.”
“Did I tell you my job with the consultancy firm?”
“No, I thought you advised people on finances.”
“I’m a systems analyst. That’s how I met Priscilla. I was giving lectures on computers a few years ago at a business college.”
Willie brought their food. He hovered around the table after he had served it, obviously hoping to be included in their conversation, but the restaurant was busy that night, and so he soon moved off.
“How is Priscilla?” asked Hamish.
“Very well as far as I could gamer. Lots of social life.”
“Got a steady boyfriend?”
“She’s been seen around with a stockbroker.”
Hamish picked at his food.
“Was there something between you and Priscilla?” she asked gently, after studying his downcast face.
“No, no,” he lied. He suddenly wanted to forget about Priscilla. Her ghost was ruining the evening.
She wound a piece of tagliatelle neatly round her fork. “I might be able to help you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just suppose I could hack into the main computer at police headquarters, would you think that was illegal?”
Hamish’s face brightened. “Och, no. I mean I am a policeman. I’m on this case in a way. It would save me a lot of bother. Could you do that?”
“I don’t know. I could try.”
“That would be grand.” Hamish suddenly remembered the mess his home was in, but he thought that if he put her off and left it until the following day, she might change her mind.
“What is your superior officer like and what is his name?” asked Sarah.
“That’s Detective Chief Inspector Blair, a Glaswegian, thick neck, trouble with booze, nasty. Wants me to solve cases for him but disnae want to give me any information unless he has to. I don’t want to spoil this nice evening talking about him. Do you have a steady boyfriend?” he asked.
“No.” That no was abrupt and the shutters were down over her eyes.
He said quickly, “Have you been this far north before?”
“Do you know, this is the first time I’ve ever been in Scotland, let alone this far north. It’s another world, isn’t it? I’ve walked in parts of Sutherland where you can look right and left and see nothing made by man. It’s a scary feeling, like being on another planet. And the wind up here frightens me. You’re walking along on a still day, then there’s a little breeze and then without warning, a full gale hurtles out of nowhere, shouting and yelling and racing across the heavens. You walk forward against it at an angle while it tears at you like a live thing. And then it suddenly dies as abruptly as it had sprung up.”