♦
The following day was fine, with only an edge of cold heralding the coming of the long, dark Scottish winter. The very mountains in the distance were blue, as if taking their colour from the cloudless sky above.
The sea opposite Heather Gillespie’s house was calm. Seals lay on the beach, basking in the sunlight. At the sound of Hamish’s approaching vehicle, they started to waddle towards the sea like so many arthritic and elderly gentlemen.
To Hamish’s surprise, Tom Morrison, Heather’s ex-husband, answered the door. “Surprised to see me?” he said with a grin. “We’re back together. We’ll be getting married again next month.”
“That’s grand,” said Hamish. “Is Heather at home?”
“Come in. I’ll get her.”
When Heather appeared, she looked happy. Hamish hoped it would not turn out that she had murdered her mother in a fit of rage. He suddenly wondered why it was when he had been stalking the professor that the neighbours had all noticed his presence and yet had seen no one at all on the day of Mrs. Gillespie’s murder. Could someone have masqueraded as a postman, or as someone the neighbours would expect to see?
He realised Heather was looking at him with amusement. “I’ve asked you two times if you want tea or coffee,” she said.
“Sorry, I suddenly thought of something. Nothing for me, thanks. I wondered if you had remembered anything about your stepmother that might be useful.”
“I don’t think I can. Apart from humiliating me and breaking up my marriage, I don’t really know what else she got up to.”
“Did she ever hint that she had some sort of power over any of her employers?”
“No, she was too busy exercising power over me and Dad. I’m glad she’s dead. Dad’s cancer has gone into remission. They say it’s a miracle.”
“I know you’ve had a lot on your mind, what with the murder of your mother and getting your marriage back together, but when you get a quiet moment, think of anything she might have found out about anyone and let slip.”
She promised and Hamish left. Now to meet Elspeth and follow the professor.
♦
It was a long and boring day for Hamish and Elspeth. As evening approached, Hamish began to feel irritable because of the attraction Elspeth held for him. He wanted to say something and yet feared a rejection. Also, he knew Elspeth would settle for nothing less than marriage, and he really didn’t feel he wanted to get married.
Suddenly Elspeth said, “There he goes!” They set off in pursuit of the professor.
Elspeth was driving. “Keep well back,” Hamish warned her. “The roads are so empty, and we don’t want him catching sight of us.”
Professor Sander took the Strathbane road, and Hamish groaned. “Maybe that bookshop he visited last time is open late. He’ll buy books and head back home. A whole day wasted.”
“May as well keep going,” said Elspeth, negotiating a hairpin bend. “I’ll be glad when we get to the straight bit. That way I can keep him in sight from a long way off.”
As soon as she saw the professor’s car disappear into the town, she accelerated.
“I’ve lost him,” she mourned.
“No, you haven’t,” said Hamish. “I just saw him turning into the multi-storey car park.”
There were two cars now behind the professor looking for parking spaces. Professor Sander parked on the third floor. Elspeth slid her car into a bay a little way away.
When the professor got out and walked to the lift, they both headed for the stairs and sprinted down.
The streets were busy, so they were able to follow him easily without being seen.
Then, to their surprise, their quarry turned into a McDonald’s.
“We can’t go in there,” said Elspeth. “He’d see us.”
“Let’s wait across the road. He surely won’t be long. It’s fast food.”
After only twenty minutes, Sander emerged and headed for the car park.
“The wee scunner is going home,” complained Hamish.
“You never know,” said Elspeth. “Let’s get the car and follow.”
But the professor’s car veered off on a road down to the docks. They followed, hanging well back.
“Stop here,” said Hamish. “He can’t go much further. This road’s a dead end. Let’s get out and have a look.”
Keeping in the shadow of dark warehouses, still smelling of soot, they crept forward. The professor’s car had stopped, but the engine was still running.
Three youths emerged from the shadows. “I hope he isn’t going to be mugged,” muttered Elspeth. “Then we’d have to do something.”
They saw Professor Sander lower the car window. “Is it drugs?” whispered Elspeth. “Seems to be some sort of deal going on.”
Then two of the youths melted back into the shadows, and one went round to the passenger side of the car and got in.
“Not drugs,” said Hamish. “Rent boy. In the front of the car so a quick blow job. Should be over soon.”
“Are you going to arrest them?”
“I got a good look at the boy from the light in the car when he leaned over with the others. He’s over age.”
“But still…”
“It goes on the whole time in this dump of a town,” said Hamish wearily. “Prostitutes, rent boys, drugs, the lot. But now I can call on him tomorrow and find out if this is the reason Mrs. Gillespie may have been blackmailing him. I am not going to single the professor out and ruin his life. Can you imagine what Blair would make of this?”
“I heard Blair had been suspended.”
“Probably back on the job. The way that man oils up to his superiors is little short of genius. Let’s go.”
They walked back to Elspeth’s car and got in.
“I’m beginning to think Braikie is a den of iniquity,” said Elspeth.
“I’m sure none of us would like our private lives dug into,” said Hamish.
“Can I come with you to the professor’s tomorrow?”
“Now, Elspeth, how do I explain bringing the press along? And remember, all this is off the record. Stop the car when we’re clear of the town. I need to feed the beasts, and I’m right hungry myself.”
♦
Back home, Hamish checked his answering machine and was surprised to find there were no messages for him at all. He had been sure that either Blair or Mary Gannon would have been on the phone, demanding to know what he was doing.
He washed and undressed and got into bed, followed by the dog and cat. “You’d better stay here yourselves tomorrow,” he told them. He suddenly found himself wishing that Elspeth, instead of his animals, were lying beside him. But Elspeth was no longer interested in an affair. It would need to be marriage.
♦
Hamish was prepared to handle the matter of the rent boy delicately – and wished for years afterwards that he had done so – but Professor Sander greeted him with an initial tirade about police harassment and the stupidity of local coppers which he put down to inbreeding.
So Hamish came right out with it. “What were you doing soliciting a rent boy in Strathbane last night?”
Hamish had been kept on the doorstep. The professor’s face turned a muddy colour. “Come in,” he said faintly.
Hamish followed him into his study. Professor Sander sank down into a chair and stared at the floor.
“Is that what Mrs. Gillespie had on you?” Hamish demanded.
“I invited one of them back here.” The bluster had left the professor, and Hamish had to strain to hear what he was saying. “We got drunk and he stayed the night. When I came down in the morning, I found him in the kitchen with Mrs. Gillespie. It was after that the blackmailing started.”
“What did she ask for?”
“Money, of course. But also, she treated me like a servant. If she wanted to go to Inverness, say, I had to drive her. One time, I had to buy her an expensive new television and DVD player. I couldn’t go to the police.”