78
Martin answered the telephone on the second ring. Maggie Rose was slightly out of breath. ‘Someone’s just bombed off in the Toyota. Don’t know who; we couldn’t get a clear view.’
‘Is your cover blown? Have they spotted you?’
‘They must have. Whoever was driving that car was going like Ayrton What’s-his-name. We couldn’t see how many people were in it. Everything happened so fast. But I don’t think it was Joy at the wheel. I followed her all the way up here. She’s a really good driver; very smooth.
‘What do we do now?’
Martin thought for a moment. ‘Knock the door. If anyone answers, spin them a tale, and piss off. If not, go in. But make sure that no one else sees you.
‘Check it out and call me back. And be careful. Remember, this is a dangerous one.’
‘Understood, sir. She pressed the ‘end’ button on the car phone.
‘Come on, Mario, let’s take a look. Let’s see if the Harveys are receiving guests or if they’ve just stepped out for a bit. Just in case there is someone in there, let’s have some daft story. “Our car’s broken down and we need help. Where’s the nearest garage?” That’ll do.’
They crept quietly to the side door of the house. It was lying ajar. Mario walked round to the back and looked through the kitchen window. He was unable to see below work surface level, but there, in view, was Joy’s upturned purse.
He went back to the door, and stepped halfway through. He called, ‘Hello.’ There was no reply - only the smell of fresh coffee, and something else.
‘Wait here,’ McGuire told Maggie, taking over the command role without thinking. Something in his voice made her obey without a second thought.
He stepped into a small laundry room, with washing machine, tumble dryer and a sink along one wall, and cupboards lining the other. A second open door faced him. He moved into the kitchen and saw what was lying there. He half turned to run out again, but caught himself in time, before betraying his panic to Maggie.
Joy lay stretched out on her back, her head in a pool of blood. A red trickle led from a hole above her left eye. Her hair, above her ear on the right side of her head, was matted with blood and brain tissue from an exit wound. McGuire knelt beside Harvey, who lay on his side. The front of his blue pyjama jacket was dark red, and the bullet hole in his temple stood out vividly. Blood had sprayed along the line of cupboards against which he had fallen.
McGuire closed the door on Maggie, and went quietly through the rest of the house, praying to himself that there had been only one killer. He found the master bedroom, with its two crumpled beds. There was a second bedroom next door, though nothing to indicate that it had been occupied. But the room still smelled of its tenant. McGuire looked at the bed. On the pillow there were several black hairs.
He sprinted back to the kitchen and through to the laundry room, averting his eyes from the carnage on the kitchen floor. Maggie stood there, white-faced.
‘Let’s get the fuck out of here, now,’ he said. They stepped out into the driveway and looked about. There was no one in sight.
In the lane, McGuire made towards the street, but Maggie held him back. ‘No, we’ve got to get that rug.’
They went back to their sand dune and picked it up. Then they walked away from the house towards the end of the beach, from which rose a grassy outcrop, with an ancient ruin as its main landmark. They left the sand behind and circled back towards the Metro: just another couple out for an early morning stroll.
They had not spoken since they left the driveway. In the car, Maggie turned to McGuire. He was shaking. ‘Mario, are you all right? Tell me what was in there.’
‘The Harveys. Shot to fucking bits. Let’s get out of here now, and call Andy Martin on the move.’
‘But shouldn’t we tell the Fife police?’
‘Yes, Sergeant, we should. But we’re not going to. Think about it. If we call the local bobbies, we’re blown, in a big way. We do what Andy Martin tells us, nothing else.’
She thought about it for a moment. ‘There’s no chance they’re still alive?’
‘Maggie, their brains are all over the floor.’
She looked for a moment as if she might be sick. ‘All right, let’s go.’
As Maggie drove away from Elie, heading further east towards St Monans and Anstruther, anywhere, just to put distance between them and the cottage of death, McGuire called Martin. He described the scene in detail.
‘The guy must have been in the house all the time we were watching it. He could have been there for a while. Judging by those groceries, he could have been planning to stay a while longer.
‘Something must have happened for him to panic badly enough to kill them and run for it.’
‘If it’s who I think it is,’ said Martin, ‘he’s twigged us. He’s spotted you on the beach, or they’ve told him about my visit. If it makes you feel better, I think that’s more likely.
‘Look, I want you to stop at the first phone-box you see on the way back to Edinburgh and call in a 999. Anonymously. Then get back to Fettes Avenue. I’ll tell the boss, and we’ll meet you there.’
79
Skinner was at home catching up on paperwork when Martin called. ‘Boss, something’s happened in Fife. We need to see you in the office. Can you come in, now?’
‘Give me forty-five minutes, Andy, and I’ll be with you.’ He and Sarah left Alex to lock up the cottage when she returned to Glasgow that evening for the start of term.
‘Bye, Pops. Bye, Sarah.’ Alex saw them off from the front door. ‘Oh, Dad, I nearly forgot. There’s something I was going to ask you. Call me when you get a chance.’
‘Okay, Baby.’ He kissed her quickly on the cheek and climbed into his car. Just over half an hour later, he strode into Martin’s office. ‘What’s the panic, Andy? Have our people been spotted?’
‘If they have, it’s by the wrong man. The Harveys are dead in their holiday place in Elie. It seems they had a house guest. Maggie and McGuire saw their car go flying out of the drive and off like a bat out of hell. They called in, and I told them to take a look. The Harveys were in the kitchen, dead. Finished off with close-range head shots, Mario said.’
‘They didn’t hear gunfire?’
‘No, and it was quiet there. He must have used a silencer. Maggie and McGuire are on their way back, and the other two are waiting for them downstairs.’
‘Did anyone else see them?’
‘No. Not as far as they know. All the houses seem to be owned by weekenders, and they all looked empty. Apart from the Harveys’.’
‘Did they call the locals?’
‘Yes. An anonymous shout once they got clear. If they’d called in on the record, we’d have blown the enquiry and had some awkward questions from the Fife Chief Constable. I did what I thought was best.’
There was a knock on the door. ‘Come in,’ Martin shouted, and Maggie and McGuire entered, followed by Mackie and McIlhenney, looking tired and dishevelled.
‘Hello, you lot,’ said Skinner. ‘An eventful weekend, I hear. Sit down and tell me about it.’ He noticed that Maggie and McGuire were still pale-faced, and he took in the dark stain on the knee of the detective constable’s slacks.
McGuire caught the glance. ‘The kitchen was like a knacker’s yard, sir. There was blood and stuff all over the place.’
Skinner looked at Maggie Rose. ‘Did you get any sort of a sight of the guy when he got away?’
‘None at all, sir. It all happened very fast, and that car has tinted-glass windows. We watched the place in daylight and darkness; occasionally the Harveys would appear at the window, but no one else. We saw them, or at least Mario did, in the hotel bar last night. There was no one with them.’