The line went dead before Perez had a chance to reply.
Monty's was probably the best place to eat in Lerwick. It was where the tourists went every evening once they found it, along with the expat English, who raved about the local produce to their friends. It was a bit pricy for the locals if it wasn't a special occasion. The room was small and the tables were close together, but as Duncan had said, a Monday night in January, it was quiet. He was already there when Perez arrived. He'd ordered a bottle of red and was one big glass in. When he saw Perez, he stood up and held out his hand.
'Congratulations!
'It's not all over yet.'
'That's not what folks are saying!
Perez shrugged. 'What did you have for me?'
Duncan was looking better than the last time they'd met, but not a whole lot better. He was shaved and smartly dressed and he'd had a haircut, but Perez thought he wasn't getting much sleep. He'd lost the old Hunter arrogance.
'I've been thinking about that party at the Haa! 'The one Catherine Ross came to?'
'Yes! There was a pause while the waitress took their order. 'Look, I was out of it, OK?'
'But you've remembered something?'
'You were asking about Robert. He didn't come with Catherine. He'd been there earlier, talking to Celia before anyone else turned up. I'm not sure what it was about. Family stuff I suppose. Pretty intense, at least-' He broke off suddenly. 'Perhaps he was persuading her to go home with him. He never liked me and he could always twist her round his little finger!
Perez looked at him, wondering what this was really all about. It had nothing to do with helping the police with their enquiries, that was for sure. Duncan wouldn't see the point. With him, there was always a hidden agenda. He could manipulate for Shetland.
'Catherine and Robert knew each other: Duncan said. 'I mean, when she walked in, you could tell!
'How?' Perez was losing patience.
'He was talking to Celia in the kitchen. She'd been putting together some food. That was where the drinks were.
So that was where I was. Catherine came in with a group of other people and Robert saw her. It was a shock.
He wasn't expecting it. He broke off his conversation with his mother and just stared at her. Like thunderstruck. Like there was no way she should have been there!
'Was he pleased to see her?'
'I think so. Pleased but a bit nervous perhaps.
Anxious!
'How did she react to him?'
'She didn't. She gave no sign that she knew him, not then. She poured herself a drink and started chatting to me.
Flirting, I suppose. She was one of those women who make you feel special. They can make you believe you're interesting, funny. Fran could never do that. She could never be bothered to make the effort. But Catherine, oh, she was very good!
'She was only sixteen!
'But sophisticated,' Duncan said. 'Experienced! And a virgin.
'Is that all you have to tell me? Hardly worth a dinner at Monty's!
'While she was flirting with me, she had one eye on Robert. I don't know why. I mean, I can't imagine for a minute that she fancied him. But at one point they disappeared together. At least, I think so. I mean, I'm pretty sure.
It was before Celia hit me with the news that she was leaving. But you know how it is with parties. Good parties, at least. You get into an interesting conversation and everything around you fades into the background. You hear the music but you're not really listening. You know there are other people there, but you're not aware of what they're doing. They're just bodies moving, dancing'
'Throwing up?'
'Not that early in the evening.' Duncan said crossly.
He paused. 'No need to take the piss, man. I'm trying to help. Honestly. There was one point when I noticed neither of them was there. I'd enjoyed the girl's company. OK, I was looking for her. I looked all over for her. She'd got to me somehow. She had style. And when I've thought about it since, I've realized Robert wasn't there either. I told you it might not be important.'
The waitress came with their food. Perez didn't recognize her, although she was about his age and she sounded local. He was preoccupied for a moment trying to place her. Duncan started eating immediately, sulking because Perez wasn't more grateful for the information.
'Where did they go?'
'I'm not sure. I didn't search the whole place. It wasn't that important.'
'But they were in the house?'
'For fuck's sake I don't know. Maybe they went for a drive. Had wild and passionate sex in the back of Robert's van. Only I don't see it. Like I said before, she was an attractive young woman. Robert's a thug. A spoilt mummy's boy. Good looking I suppose if you like the blond Viking type, but she was too bright to be taken in by that.'
And what are you? Perez thought. You're a bully.
It wasn't such a big deal, the event which had made him see Duncan in a different light. It might have happened anywhere. Here, where the web of relationships caught you and held you and wouldn't let you go, it was the sort of thing you had to deal with every day. Duncan had been speeding. Crazy speeds down the road from the north. Sandy Wilson had stopped him. He'd realized he'd been drinking and said he'd have to test him. But Sandy Wilson's dad worked for Duncan's company. He was a joiner, who could turn his hand to anything, and he worked on the renovations of the buildings Duncan bought.
Duncan threatened to sack the father if Sandy did him for drink driving. Perez wasn't sure he would have done it; good craftsmen were hard to come by. But Sandy believed him and Duncan got away with just a spot fine for speeding. Blackmail. Perez found out about it later. Sandy got drunk one night and blurted out the whole story.
Perez kept it to himself. Sandy was a pea-brained bigot, but he didn't deserve to be dumped on. And anyway Perez owed Duncan, didn't he? He'd saved his life when they were at school, saved him from the Foula boys, at least. But the debt was paid and he felt he didn’t owe him any more. That was why he hated Duncan. Not because he was a bully but because he'd forced Perez to see him as one. Because when he was fourteen, he'd been Perez's best friend.
'How long were Robert and Catherine away?' Perez asked.
Duncan shrugged. 'An hour? No more than that. Less maybe. It wasn't that late. Before Celia said she'd had enough, at least. I was still sober enough to stand. And I remember Catherine coming back. Maybe they had been outside. She looked flushed, red-cheeked, as if she'd been in the cold. And she seemed elated. I told you. That was when she told me she wanted to go .into film. She had so many dreams, she said, so many projects in her head she wasn't sure she'd have time to work on them all . . : He broke off and for a moment Perez could believe that he was sad. For the girl. Not
just sorry for himself.
'And how was Robert Isbister?'
'I don't know. I didn't see him again. He didn't come back:
After the meal they stood together outside the restaurant, in a narrow alley at the bottom of steep steps.
'Why don't we go on somewhere,' Duncan said.
'Have a few drinks. Like the old days:
Perez was tempted. It would have been good to get very drunk with someone who didn't work for the police.
But Duncan was too eager and Perez wondered again what the evening was all about. It couldn't be, surely, that Duncan was lonely too, that at school he'd needed the shy boy from Fair Isle as much as Perez had needed him?