“Ina looked after me real well. I can’t cook. I hate shopping. Och, man, I wish she was back.” Fergus began to cry.
“Wheesht, now,” said Hamish. “You’ll just need to get used to the fact that she’s gone.”
“I’ll make a cup of tea,” said Elspeth, and she disappeared into the kitchen.
“Are you all right financially?” asked Hamish.
“Oh, aye.” Fergus gave a great gulping sob and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Her life was insured.”
“How much?”
“Seventy-five thousand pounds. Thon creature Blair was trying to make me admit I murdered her for the money but he can’t prove otherwise.”
“Maybe you should take a holiday,” said Elspeth. “Get right away.”
“I can’t. Hamish, you’ve just got to find out who killed my Ina.”
“Fergus, I think she knew something about the killer,” said Hamish. “Didn’t she even give you a hint about who it might be?”
“No, but we didnae talk all that much come to think of it. I watched the telly of an evening and herself would knit or go out to one of those women’s meetings at the kirk.”
“I want you to keep thinking about it all the same,” said Hamish earnestly. “Anything at all she might have said.”
♦
“Now what?” asked Elspeth when they were outside. The day was still and misty, and little pearls of moisture glinted in her frizzy hair.
“I think I’ll get back ower to Bonar Bridge. Maybe I might pick up something there.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, just be careful.”
♦
Hamish wanted rid of her because he wanted to see Priscilla. He wondered if the old longing for her would ever go away.
He returned to the police station to collect his dog and cat, making sure first that no members of the press were lurking about, and then drove to the hotel.
The Tommel Castle Hotel had once been the home of the Halburton-Smythes. It was one of those mock Gothic castles that had sprung up in the Highlands in Victoria’s reign when landowners wanted to copy Balmoral. Colonel Halburton-Smythe had fallen on hard times, and it was Hamish who had suggested he turn his home into a hotel. The establishment had flourished, and the colonel was fond of bragging that it had all been his own idea.
He asked for Priscilla and was told she was over in the gift shop helping the new Polish girl with the stock. Hamish uneasily remembered talking to Elspeth in the lounge and looking up and seeing that Polish maid. Had she said anything about Elspeth writing the horoscopes? Then he reflected dismally that even if she hadn’t, the gossip grapevine of Lochdubh had probably found out already. Nessie Currie would have seen to that.
He wondered if any of the villagers were protecting someone. He desperately didn’t want it to be anyone from the village.
He opened the door of the gift shop and went in. Priscilla and a Polish girl were sorting out a box of Shetland wool shawls, all of them as fine as gossamer.
“I’m just about finished here,” said Priscilla. “Want to talk?”
“Yes,” said Hamish. “If you can spare the time.”
She smiled. “I’ve always got time for you.”
Hamish turned away to hide the sudden rush of gladness on his face.
Priscilla finished giving the girl instructions and then said, “Let’s go. I could do with a coffee.”
Elspeth arrived to pick up her laptop just as they were both disappearing into the hotel. Straight back to her like a homing pigeon, thought Elspeth. He only said he was going to Bonar to get rid of me.
They sat in the lounge. Hamish could remember when it had been the family drawing room. Priscilla ordered coffee and biscuits and asked, “How far have you got today?”
Hamish told her about the interview with Fergus. “It might be an idea to go over and see this paper mill,” said Priscilla. “It’s just outside Strathbane on this side, isn’t it?”
“Maybe I’ll go there,” said Hamish. “Although I feel I should really be keeping an eye on Elspeth.”
“Oh, the horoscopes. How did you find out?”
“From the barman. I don’t know where he got it from. But don’t worry about Elspeth. She’s a good reporter, and good reporters know how to take care of themselves. When we finish our coffee we’ll go over.”
“We?”
“Yes, we.”
♦
Hamish was driving them along the road to Strathbane when he suddenly said, “There’s a Land Rover following us and I think I recognise it. I think it belongs to two deer poachers I arrested. They must be out on bail. We might be in for a bit of trouble.”
“Got your rifle?”
“In the back.”
Priscilla began to climb over into the back of the Land Rover. “What are you doing?” cried Hamish.
“I’d feel better if we were armed. Where is the ammo? Oh, got it. Are they coming closer?”
“Yes, they must have a souped-up engine. I’ll call for backup.”
He looked in the rearview mirror and saw a gun protruding from the passenger side of the pursuing vehicle. “Get down, Priscilla,” he shouted.
He felt a blast of cold air as Priscilla lowered one of the windows in the back. “Keep straight, Hamish. Don’t swerve. I’m going to shoot their tyres out.”
There was a blast of gunfire and Priscilla cried, “Got ‘em. Stop, Hamish. They’ve gone off the road.”
“Stay where you are,” said Hamish, jumping out of the Land Rover, but Priscilla joined him, carrying the rifle.
Hamish phoned for backup. Then he said to Priscilla, “They’re armed. We’re not going down there on our own.”
“How unexciting,” said Priscilla calmly. “Can you see where they’ve gone? It’s hard to make out anything in this mist.”
The poachers’ vehicle had gone off the edge of the road and down a steep heathery slope.
“No,” said Hamish. “They must have gone down a good way. You’re a good shot, Priscilla.”
“Haven’t lost my touch,” she said.
“Are the dog and cat all right?”
“They seem to be. I’ll let them out. Is there going to be a fuss about me being with you, Hamish?”
“No. I haven’t had a day off in ages. I’ll say it’s my time off. Daviot’s such a snob, he won’t dare complain about you being with me.”
When an armed squad arrived headed by Daviot, Hamish waited patiently, thinking of all the paperwork he would have to do if the men had been killed in the crash or even injured.
Blair then arrived and was looking about to blast Hamish when he saw Daviot talking to Priscilla, and his face fell.
Hamish told him what had happened. “Your day off, is it?” demanded Blair. “And who gie’d ye the permission?”
“I did,” said Jimmy’s voice behind Blair. “Constable Macbeth hasn’t had a day off in ages.”
The mist began to swirl and thin in a rising wind. The leader of the armed force came back up the brae. “Their vehicle’s there but they’re long gone. Their Land Rover ran into a big rock right down at the bottom o’ the hill. The thick heather must ha’ slowed their speed, because there’s hardly a dunt in the vehicle.”
“I want a full search for them,” ordered Daviot. “Hamish, I will let you and Miss Halburton-Smyfhe get on, but I will expect a statement from you by this evening. Do give that rifle to Detective Anderson. If you shot one of the men by mistake, then we will need it for evidence.”
“I shot the tyre out,” said Priscilla. “I never miss.” She laughed and held out the rifle to Jimmy. A flash went off. Hamish cursed. Elspeth and her photographer were standing at the edge of the group.
Elspeth came forward. “I would appreciate a statement, Superintendent Daviot.”
Daviot forced a smile. Elspeth had always been kind to the police. “Very well, Miss Grant.”