“Man, that’s grand,” said Jimmy. “Can I stick pins in it?”
♦
Lochdubh looked reassuringly the same. As soon as he had unpacked, Hamish got into bed, joined by his cat and dog, and fell sound asleep.
He awoke in the late afternoon to find Elspeth standing over him.
“You cannae chust walk into a man’s bedroom!” he howled.
“I came to see if you were alive,” said Elspeth. “I bought you a present.”
“I don’t want a present,” said Hamish sulkily. “All I want iss a bit o’ peace.”
“Smell something?” asked Elspeth.
Hamish propped himself up on the pillows and sniffed the air. “Coffee?”
“Yes, good coffee. I bought you a percolator.”
“Have you seen Sonsie and Lugs?”
“Last time I saw them, they were strolling along the waterfront, heading for the Italian restaurant. They must be hungry.”
Hamish got out of bed and stretched and yawned. Then he realised he had not put on any pyjamas and was stark naked.
Elspeth giggled. “That’s quite a blush you’ve got, Hamish. It goes all the way – ”
“Get out!” he roared.
When Hamish had washed and dressed, he found Elspeth in the kitchen. She poured him a cup of coffee.
Hamish drank a little and then smiled. “This is grand. Thank you. Now, what do I have to do for this?”
“Nothing. There’s a clampdown on reporting what happened up in Grianach. Editor’s phoned all over. Story suppressed. Unless you can think of anything, I’ve got to get back to Glasgow.”
Hamish looked at her thoughtfully. She had lit the stove. The kitchen was warm. She was wearing a chunky grey sweater over jeans, and the grey seemed to highlight the odd silvery colour of her eyes. Her hair had reverted to its usual frizzy look, which seemed to suit her better than when it was straightened.
“I may be back,” said Elspeth. “The editor of the Highland Times is retiring, and Matthew is taking over as editor. He’ll need a reporter.”
“Wouldn’t it seem a bit tame after the city?”
“Not with the goings-on you seem to conjure up. I’m highland to the bone, and I don’t really seem to fit in in Glasgow. Then the photographer I have with me, Billy, is a complete lout. All he does is sneer at this place, and the more he sneers at it, the more I realise how much I love it.”
“I was sorry to hear about you being jilted,” said Hamish. Elspeth had been left at the church on her wedding day. She had been about to marry a fellow reporter but he had run off and left her. “Were you very hurt?”
“I was angry and then I was relieved,” said Elspeth. “And while we’re on the subject of jilted people, how are you getting on with Priscilla?”
“I cancelled the engagement,” said Hamish. “Not her. I havenae seen much o’ her. She’s traipsing around the hills and heather with that Irishman.”
“Not any more. He’s left, and she’s too busy rehearsing her part with that writer. I’m still amazed you actually got around to proposing marriage to someone, Hamish. That Russian, I mean.”
He sighed. “I thought I was doing the right thing, Elspeth. I did it to keep my police station. And the idea was that we’d divorce after a while.”
“It’s wonderful how you got permission to marry her so easily. They’re clamping down on these arranged marriages. There was a woman down in England who charged a hefty fee to marry foreigners. When they caught up with her, she’d married five and not a divorce paper in sight.”
Hamish suddenly remembered the day he had bought an engagement ring to present to Elspeth, only to find out that she had promised to marry her fellow reporter.
He had bought Irena another ring. He wondered what had happened to it. Inspector Anna had arranged to have the body flown back to Moscow for burial. Why she had persuaded her bosses to go to that expense, he did not know.
He suddenly decided to take the plunge. “Excuse me a minute,” he said. He went into the bedroom and took the ring in its little box out of his bedside table. His heart was hammering.
Just as he walked into the kitchen, the door opened and Priscilla walked in.
Hamish stuffed the box in his pocket and shouted, “Damn it, don’t you ever knock?”
“I’m off,” said Elspeth hurriedly.
“I’ll come with you,” said Priscilla. “It seems I am not welcome.”
Say something, yelled a voice in Hamish’s head. But he stood there, frozen, as they both walked off.
♦
He walked along to the Italian restaurant to be told that his animals had been fed and then had gone away.
By asking people on the waterfront, he learned that they had been spotted heading for Angela Brodie’s cottage.
Angela opened the door to him. “I’ve sent them home,” she said. “The poor things seemed so hungry that I fed them first.”
“Angela, they’ll be as fat as butter. They’ve already been stuffing themselves at the Italian restaurant.”
“Oh, well, they say that pets take after their owner, and you always were a moocher, Hamish. I suppose you want a coffee.”
“No, I do not. I haff the verra good coffeemaker. Elspeth gave it to me.”
“Did she, now. You ought to marry that lassie, Hamish.”
Hamish stared down at her, his mouth slightly open and a vacant expression on his face.
“What’s up?” asked Angela. “You look as if you’ve been struck by lightning.”
“I’ve been struck with a flash o’ the blindingly obvious,” said Hamish.
He turned and ran to the police station, got into the Land Rover, and sped off to the Tommel Castle Hotel.
He erupted into the manager’s office. “Where’s Elspeth?” he asked. “Which room?”
“Oh, she’s gone. Left about ten minutes ago. Coffee?”
Hamish slumped down in a chair in the office.
“Why not?” he said.
♦
When he left the manager’s office, he stood in the reception wondering whether to chase after Elspeth. But that sudden desire to ask her to marry him had faded. He sighed. Perhaps when this case was solved – if it ever was solved – he might take a trip down to Glasgow.
“Got over your bad temper?” asked Priscilla, interrupting his thoughts.
“Sorry about that,” said Hamish. “This case is getting to me. Murderers are usually stupid and have nearly got away with it before because they were lucky amateurs and the last people you would suspect. But this one isn’t an amateur. The only amateur attempt was that wire on the stairs.”
“I’ve heard weird and wonderful stories about what happened up at Grianach.”
“Still no odd strange woman booked in here?”
“No, only Polish maids. Do you know the Northern Times has brought out a free Polish newspaper?”
“Maybe the Highland Times will do the same.”
“Not enough up here as yet. Have dinner with me and tell me about it.”
Hamish hesitated. Priscilla smiled. “Sonsie and Lugs will be fine. Gosh, it’s like dealing with a man with a possessive wife waiting at home.”
“All right, then. That would be grand.”
♦
Over dinner, Hamish told her all about the happenings in Grianach. When he had finished, Priscilla said, “You must still be in shock. Have you considered that?”
Hamish stared at her for a long moment. Was he? Was that what had prompted his sudden desire to propose to Elspeth? And it was hard to think of Elspeth with the cool beauty of Priscilla facing him across the table.
“I might be,” he said.
“I called on your mother the other day,” said Priscilla.
“I was over in Rogart and thought I would look her up. You should go home a bit more often, Hamish.”
“I’ll try. I bought presents for her in Grianach. Oh, I’ve one for you. Ma was so upset about the wedding. She made me feel ashamed, particularly when it got out that Irena was a prostitute.”