Alex Henry had an office in the museum, a solid grey building close to the library, up the hill from the harbour. He said he'd meet them there. When they arrived the light was on and the door was open. He was standing by a tray in the corner with a kettle in his hand. 'I was making tea,' he said. 'Is that all right? There's only powdered milk!
He was a squat, thickset man. Perez could see him on a boat. He'd have a low centre of gravity and he'd keep his balance in a storm. He was wearing a handknitted sweater and baggy jeans bought through a catalogue without trying them first.
'You didn't mind not coming up to the house, Jimmy,' he said. 'It's been a difficult time, especially for Sally.
Everywhere we go there are reminders!
'Not at all!
His office was very small and they sat in the museum itself, surrounded by exhibits, models of brochs and Viking boats, chairs and spinning wheels. There was a special display about Up Helly Aa. That wouldn't be long, Perez thought. It was always a nightmare to police. The islands full of visitors. The fire. The booze.
'How can I help you?'
'It's possible that Catherine's death is linked to the Bruce girl,' Perez said. 'We're talking to every man who lives in the Ravenswick area. You know we have to cover all the angles!
, 'Of course!
'Can you tell us what you remember of Catriona?'
'Now, after all this time, very little. Then it was such a terrible thing. So shocking. We had Sally by then, though she was only little, and I couldn't imagine what the Bruces could be going through. When it happened you thought it was impossible you'd ever forget It was all people talked about!
Perez was surprised that the man was so forthcoming. He didn't know him well, but Alex had never been one for volunteering information. When the Henrys went out as a couple it was Margaret who did the talking. The only time you couldn't shut him up was when he got started on the islands' wildlife.
'What did people say?'
'That Magnus had killed her. His father had died. It was just him and his mother. It was Mary, the old lady that kept the croft together. She was gone eighty when she died, tiny, but strong as an ox. Formidable. He did most of the work around the place, but just what she told him. She wouldn't hear a word spoken against him. I remember one day there were people gathered outside the house, calling for Magnus to give himself up and tell where the girl's body lay. The old lady came out. She screamed at them. My Magnus is a good boy. He hasn't hurt anyone, They admired her for sticking up for him, but it did no good. They still thought him guilty.'
'And you? What did you think?'
'I find it hard to have firm views on anything, unless I'm given proof. Too much the scientist, I suppose. I didn't think there was the evidence to convict him. I thought if he had killed her, in a moment of rage maybe, or more likely by accident, then he'd have admitted it. I couldn't see him lying. But I have no other explanation about what happened to the girl.'
'Did Catriona ever come into your house?'
'Aye, occasionally. We were friendly with her parents. Not in and out of each other's houses every day.
Margaret and I don't live like that. But special times. They used to come in for Boxing Day tea. We'd go to them New Year's Eve, take Sally with us, put her to bed upstairs, then carry her out still asleep when we went home. You know how it is.'
Oh yes, Perez thought. I know how it is. Is that how it'll be for me on fair Isle? Everything planned and the same for years to come.
'What were they like, the parents?'
'Quiet people. Kind. Kenneth's father had farmed that land and that was all he'd wanted to do since he was a lad.
But after Catriona went, he couldn't face it. They sold off the house and the land separately and then they moved south.'
'There were no problems? You never suspected that the parents might be involved?'
'Never once. It always crosses your mind, doesn't it, when you see fathers on the television and there's a child gone missing. I wonder if it could be you, if this is all an act. That's what we've come to. We can't trust anyone. But with Kenneth and Sandra, no, we never thought like that. Not once.'
'Were there any other children?'
Perez knew, of course. He'd read the file over and over. But he was getting more of a feel for the family by listening to Alex than he had from pages of witness statements.
'There was a peerie boy. Brian. two years younger than Catriona. Margaret taught them both.'
'Where were you that day, Alex? The day Catriona went missing?'
'I was working here, preparing papers for a planning committee. I didn't go home. I had a meeting the next day in Kirkwall and went straight down to Sumburgh to get the plane out. I didn't hear that Catriona was gone until I phoned Margaret that night. She said everyone was out searching. I was sure they'd find the girl, either dead at the bottom of Raven's Head, or alive on the hill, lost and scared. I never thought she'd just vanish.'
'Couldn't the tide have taken her? If she'd fallen from the diff?' Taylor spoke for the first time.
'Only on a high spring tide with a strong wind behind it. There's a shelf of rock and a shingle beach which only gets covered twice a year. The weather was bad but it was a neap tide and the wind was offshore. If she'd have fallen she'd still have been there when the cliff rescue team looked the next day.'
'What sort of child was Catriona?' Perez asked.
'Margaret must have talked about her. Was she the sort who might wander off?'
'Perhaps that's why I wasn't too worried when I heard she was missing. She was a minx by all accounts. A bit precocious anyway. Always showing off in class, Margaret said. She thought Sandra spoiled her. But they were an older couple, her and Kenneth. They'd had to wait a while for kids to come along:
'Catriona wasn't easy then?'
'Lively: Alex conceded. 'She was certainly that: 'Bad she run away before?'
'Not run away. But she caused a bit of a stir the week before she vanished. Nobody could find her. Kenneth was down at the schoolhouse looking for her. They discovered her in Hillhead. Mary Tait was baking and Catriona wanted to wait until the scones came out of the oven. Mary said she insisted. Just refused to leave. That's why everyone assumed she was there when it happened again:
'Where do the family live now?'
'I don't know. Margaret might remember. We had a Christmas card the first year, but nothing after:
'And what did you make of Catherine Ross?' There was a long pause. 'She was a young woman,'
Alex said. 'Not a child:
'Only the same age as your daughter:
'Well maybe she's a young woman too, only we don't want to see it. Margaret doesn't at least. Sally's never had much confidence. She's a pretty lass, just not skinny like some of those stars they all read about. She's always been worried about putting on weight. Catherine was different though. More sure of herself. More sophisticated. Margaret didn't like it. She thought Sal was overpowered by her, that she was leading Sal astray: And what did you think?'
'I was pleased that Sally had a friend of her own age living so close. At first we both were. It can't have been easy for Sally being the teacher's daughter. It sets you apart right from the beginning. She found it hard to make friends with other children. I was worried about her, thought at one time she was being bullied. Margaret didn't think there was too much to - worry about and we let it go. We hoped it would be better when she moved to the Anderson, but she never seemed happy there either. It was worse if anything. Sally didn't seem to have any friends at all. Not until Catherine arrived. Perhaps she just tried too hard to belong and that put the other kids off: