Chapter 50
Ethan, swiftly answering her second call, soon appeared at the open door and immediately came to help her move Mackie into the recovery position on the floor.
Checking for a pulse again, she found it more easily now, although exposing the old man’s face had revealed a bloodied bruise on his forehead.
‘Did he knock his head on something when he collapsed?’ Ethan said, puzzled.
No, she thought, examining the injury more closely. ‘This didn’t come from his fall onto the bed,’ she said. ‘It looks more from an object or maybe even a fist?’
She imagined Mackie phoning her from this room and not his usual place by the fire. So where was his phone? A quick glance round told her it wasn’t in here.
‘Can you check the living room for his mobile?’ she said. ‘Remember, don’t handle anything. Just shout if you find it.’
When Ethan headed out to do as requested, she began checking this room properly.
Mackie had called her, say, twenty minutes ago. He’d used his phone to do that. So it must be in the house somewhere.
She checked his trouser pockets first, then the surrounding furniture, and lastly under the bed, in the vague hope he might have dropped it when he fell.
The mobile was definitely not in this room.
Not wanting to leave Mackie alone, she waited for Ethan to reappear. When he did, she read his expression.
‘It’s not in the living room?’ she said.
‘Nor the kitchen, bathroom or the storeroom. I checked them all.’
She stared at him, perplexed. ‘But he called me from it,’ she voiced her concern.
‘So whoever was here took it?’ Ethan said. ‘After they hit the old man?’ His replay of what had likely happened here reflected her own.
He was waiting and watching her, aware there was something she wasn’t telling him. Eventually he said, ‘Is this about what you and Mackie were working on?’
She nodded. ‘I think it might be. He had photos on his mobile he wanted to show me. It sounded urgent.’
‘And someone found out about them?’
‘Mackie wouldn’t have handed over his mobile without a fight,’ she said. ‘Maybe he came in here to call me . . .’ She tailed off.
‘And his visitor followed?’ Ethan halted there. ‘What if someone he knew came here and asked why he was working with the police?’
At that moment they heard the approaching whine of the siren.
‘I’ll stay here with Mackie. You go and meet them,’ Jo said, before adding, ‘God, that drive.’
‘If anyone can get up here, it’ll be an ambulance driver,’ Ethan assured her.
He was right. When she finally emerged from the cottage, Jo found the ambulance had been reversed up the steep brae and stood, doors open, ready to admit the stretcher.
When asked if she wanted to go with Mackie, she explained that, as a police officer, she was required to stay at the scene.
‘I could follow the ambulance,’ Ethan offered. ‘And stay with him in the Balfour, until you can come?’
She nodded gratefully, already on the line to the station asking for back-up.
Standing now in the empty sitting room, she watched as a sudden flame rose from the topmost peat, hoping it was a sign that Mackie would recover and return home soon.
While she waited for the SOCO van and a squad car to take her to Kirkwall, she went through each room again.
The easiest explanation for what had happened – that Mackie had become dizzy or ill and fallen, dropping his mobile in the process – was what she wanted to believe, even though she now knew it to be false.
So who had been in the cottage apart from Mackie? The tea tray suggested Yvanna, but it could have been prepared yesterday. She’d checked and the milk was still in the fridge. The biscuits still in the tin.
And if Mackie had had a visitor, why would they take his mobile?
Ethan had known that the police had been consulting with Mackie.
So it was likely others, particularly among the Mowat family, would have known too.
Ethan, however, had admitted that he didn’t know how Mackie was helping with their enquiries.
Perhaps Mackie’s visitor had come to find out?
The Mowat clan would surely know by now about the box left by Ivor for Kris. Perhaps even about some of its contents. If they’d learned about the notebook and her visits to Mackie’s place . . .
But Mackie didn’t have the notebook.
Had he been forced to tell his visitor about the pages he’d photographed? Or did they take the phone to check his correspondence with her?
Mackie was prone to leaving his front door open and welcoming those who came to visit. Had he simply welcomed in his attacker?
The more she thought about a possible sequence of events, the more convinced of foul play she became.
Mackie had been keen, even desperate, to speak to her about the pages he’d found difficulty with. She had to assume that, after enlarging the writing via his phone, he’d discovered what was in there. And whatever it was, he needed to tell her about it in person.
Was it chance his attacker had arrived just then? Or had Mackie called someone apart from her?
Spotting the arrival of the SOCO van, plus a squad car, she went out to greet them. After giving Eleanor a quick résumé of events as she saw them into the cottage, Jo asked PC Alexander to take her back to Kirkwall.
On the way, she explained what she thought had happened to Mackie.
‘You think one of the Mowats found out that you and Mackie were working on Ivor’s notebook and wanted to read what was in there?’ he said.
‘Who else would go to Mackie’s place, rough up an old man and take his phone?’ Jo said.
‘Well, they must have arrived by car. Maybe one of his near neighbours spotted it.’
‘And when word gets out about the arrival of the ambulance and police car,’ Jo said hopefully, ‘folk will phone in.’
They lapsed into silence then, Jo wondering what had been so important in those tightly written pages to concern Mackie. Well, his attacker might have Mackie’s phone, but the actual notebook was safely in the evidence room.
As they approached Kirkwall, she considered calling Ethan. They would surely have Mackie at the hospital by now, the ambulance having left with its sirens blaring and lights flashing.
No, she decided. Ethan would call as soon as he had news. And she had to believe that no news was good news.