18. Murray
Iwas fucking dumfungled. I’d barely slept a wink and … everything was a mess.
While I made Kelly French toast last night, she’d suggested London and I no longer needed to be married, now that we had enough proof against Jill for sole custody.
I’d tried to explain that we’d get in trouble if it looked like we’d married just to get Jill off the company’s books and Kelly had forlornly nodded in understanding.
I’d felt at once guilty for letting her down again and guilty for not explaining how much London needed this marriage too.
But it was not my story to tell, and frankly, I didn’t want Kelly’s head filled with any more darkness.
It was bad enough my fourteen-year-old was strategizing her guardianship like a war general.
I’d gotten up early, checked on Kelly, saw she was out for the count, and then ventured upstairs to find London had already departed.
She must have left before it was even light outside.
It was only when I checked my phone that I realized London had sent a text explaining she’d left early to catch up on work at the B and B, but I knew she was trying to give me and Kelly space.
I felt shite for her too. I hated the idea of London feeling like she wasn’t wanted.
Mum showed up an hour later to look after Kelly so I could go into the office to meet this thug who had infiltrated my company.
“Where’s London?” Mum asked as we walked into the empty kitchen. “Murray, you said I could properly meet this woman you’ve married and she’s not even living here?”
“She is,” I’d assured Mum as I made her a cup of tea. “She had to leave early to make up for missing work yesterday.”
Mum harrumphed under her breath. “Well, I’m staying for dinner tonight so I can have a proper conversation with her.”
I handed her the tea. “She might not show. Kelly … Kelly made it clear that she doesn’t trust anyone but you and me, and while she understands why London’s here, London isn’t welcome.”
“Kelly did that?” Mum looked horrified. “Our Kelly?”
“Aye. You can’t blame her. She’s been through hell with Jill. The fact that she’s kept on a brave face and a sweet disposition for this long is a miracle. She’s finally snapped and I won’t reprimand her for that. I just … I wish she hadn’t chosen London as an easy target.”
“No matter what a child has gone through, it doesn’t give them the right to treat people unkindly.” Mum was stern. “You don’t let her get away with it. She’s pushing boundaries because Jill put none in place and it’s your job to treat her normally. If she behaves badly, there are consequences.”
“Not today there aren’t.”
“Murray Shaw, I might not be happy with your decision to marry a woman you barely know. But what’s done is done.
And when you decided to marry London, you invited her into your home.
She is now your responsibility. You can’t let Kelly chase her out of what is now her home too, no matter what Kelly’s been through. ”
“Mum—”
My mother waved her hand to end the conversation. “I’ll talk to my granddaughter.”
A mountain of guilt rode my shoulders as I left Mum to watch my daughter and head into the office.
I hadn’t heard back from my solicitor yet, but I hoped once it hit nine o’clock, I’d get a call informing me the emergency order had gone through and Kelly was mine permanently while they investigated Jill.
First, I had to deal with this Joshua Hughes person.
Fraser met me at the office and proudly revealed his wee puffin statue. Sure enough, no one would know it was a camera unless they got a good look at it. We faffed about with it on my desk until we felt it looked like it belonged there.
“I told everyone to come in half an hour later,” Fraser said as we waited anxiously for this prick to appear. “So you could have privacy and a better chance of a clear recording of the conversation.”
We weren’t just relying on the puffin camera. I had my phone strapped under the desk on the side Hughes would be sitting and as soon as we saw his car pull up, I’d hit record.
“What’s the plan here, cuz? I mean, the big-picture plan?”
Stubborn fury steeled my voice as I replied, “To take this to the police and let them deal with it.”
“These guys are seriously fucking dangerous. They planted one of their own in Jill and Kelly’s life.”
Aye, and it was the very reason I couldn’t sleep last night. Every time I closed my eyes, I thought about having stood in the kitchen with Dorian Walsh, walking out of that house, leaving my daughter there with a criminal. A sociopathic criminal for all I knew.
The sound of gravel under tires cut off whatever Fraser was about to say next. I rounded my desk and hit record on the phone as my cousin went to let Joshua Hughes into the office.
He was younger than I expected. Probably only in his early twenties. Good-looking, clean cut. There was an arrogant swagger to his walk as he followed Fraser into my office. The arsehole had the audacity to hold out his hand to me to shake.
I stared at it like it was filth and turned my back on him, silently telling him I wasn’t afraid of him.
I sat down and gestured to the seat in front of my desk. “You wanted to talk. Talk.”
“You’re understandably upset, Mr. Shaw.” Hughes folded himself into the chair, crossing one leg over the other, casual and unbothered as if we were just sitting down to have a normal business conversation. “I want to assure you, however, that our proposal is going to benefit you as well.”
“What exactly is your proposal, Joshua?”
The right corner of his mouth quirked upward and then he looked around the room, glancing up into the corners and then studying the bookshelves behind my desk. “Are there recording devices in the room?”
“Why would there be recording devices?” I asked blandly.
“There is CCTV on the front of the property,” Fraser offered, leaning back against the wall, arms crossed.
I was proud of how calm he appeared. Totally unruffled.
“So you’ve been recorded coming into the building.
But it’s illegal to film your employees without permission, so there’s no CCTV inside since we don’t carry anything of physical value in the office. ”
“Even so … before we begin, I’d like to ask you both to hand over your phones to me. Just until our conversation is over.”
“Fuck you,” Fraser replied blandly. “You’re the one who wanted the meeting. You don’t get to dictate shit.”
“It’s fine.” I let out a sharp huff as I pulled open my desk drawer and retrieved my old phone I’d brought along just for this purpose. I pretended to switch it off. “There, it’s even turned off for you.” With a flick of my wrist, I sent it spinning across the desk to him.
Hughes caught it with a nod of thanks and then he took Fraser’s phone. “Both switched off. Great. Now we can proceed.”
“Then proceed. I have a business to run.”
“A very successful business, Mr. Shaw. My bosses wanted to send along their congratulations. You’ve taken a small family enterprise and turned it into a fishing empire.”
I felt nothing but contempt for the prick. “Enough blowin’ smoke up my arse. Who are your bosses and what the fuck do you want?”
“Fair enough. I work for the Walsh brothers. They’re enterprising people themselves, and run a very successful organization. The youngest brother, Dorian, had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of your ex-wife Jill.”
“You mean the bastard who’s in prison for drug possession and dealing?”
“Out on bail now. So is your wife, in case you were wondering.”
“Ex-wife. Did you pay her bail?”
“Dorian did.”
“In exchange for her silence?”
Joshua shrugged. “The good news is the mother of your daughter is no longer in jail, which means Kelly can return to Jill.”
I curled my upper lip. “Sorry to break it to you, arsehole, but that’s not how it works. Not even you can pay for Jill to get her parental rights back after this.”
“Well, that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we’re all bonded now.
” He grinned, and that’s when I saw the flash of malice in it.
For all his civilized outward appearance, this young lad was a crook.
And he enjoyed being one. “My employers need legitimate fishing boats to transport our product across the Islands and Highlands and to Ireland. For a while we were getting away with posting small packages through the post office, but Police Scotland are onto us and it’s a much slower method of distribution than we need.
We considered the human trafficking route until the mess last year when the boat of immigrants were rescued, along with large quantities of drugs.
Right here on this island, if I’m not mistaken? ”
I didn’t correct him that the boat was rescued by the LSLS.
Hughes leaned forward. “Here’s the deal: Our boat goes out from Southport to meet yours just off the coast of Ireland.
We’ll provide you with a schedule, and you stop in at multiple ports to offload our product with our people.
In exchange for your cooperation, we’re willing to pay you ten percent of the net profit on each of those deliveries.
Now that’s a very generous offer, Mr. Shaw. ”
Silence fell between us for a few seconds and even though my heart beat hard and fast in my chest, I refused to let it show.
“Let’s be clear: You want me to transport your drugs across the west coast in exchange for payment?”
“That’s correct.”
“And what made you think I’d ever say yes to this?”
Joshua Hughes smirked. “Have you heard of the term cuckooing?”
I gave an impatient swipe of my hand.
“It’s what the police up here call it.” Hughes leaned forward in his seat.
“We find someone vulnerable and we take over their property so we can deal out of their house. Sometimes they’re addicts themselves or they have no one to protect them or they’re in financial crisis and we offer to help in exchange for the use of their property.
” His eyes gleamed. “What we want from you … well, it’s cuckooing on another level, Mr. Shaw. ”
“I’m not vulnerable, you miserable wee pissant.”
Joshua chuckled dryly. “You’re wrong. My employers always get their way, Mr. Shaw.
Even if that means doing a little or a lot of damage to get their way.
” He pulled a phone out of his inside jacket pocket and tapped on the screen.
Then he turned it to me and there was a photo of Kelly in her Edinburgh school uniform.
“Tasty little piece, your daughter. She’d look even tastier with a machete through her neck, don’t you think? ”
“You fucking—” Fraser pushed off the wall, face a mask of rage, but I stood abruptly, gesturing for him to stop.
Even though my own fury rushed through my blood like fire, I leaned casually across the desk. “You even look at my daughter, and you’ll wish I only used a machete by the time I’m done with you.”
Hughes didn’t even flinch at my quiet threat. Instead, he turned the phone screen, tapped it again, and showed me another photo. “I’m not really into pedophilia, so she’s more my taste.”
It was a photo of London.
“You traded up with the second wife, eh? Younger than you. Hot as fuck.” He licked his lips. “It would be my pleasure to give her the ride of her life. Right before I shot her in that pretty face.”
Fraser glowered at me as if to say Let me at him, but I didn’t want to give the bastard the satisfaction of reacting.
“No?” He frowned and tapped the screen again.
This time it showed a photo of Mum. “All these lovely women in your life. All ready and waiting to be violated before dying a violent death.” Hughes chuckled, eyes bright with that malice and madness.
I realized why he was the bloke they sent to do the negotiating. He was criminally insane.
It took everything within me not to mash his face into my office wall.
“I’ll say this once and only once. I will never let you or your gang of thugs traffic drugs through my company.
And if you even so much as come near my family, I’ll wipe that smirk off your face with the knife I use to gut fish and then I’ll drop your body at the bottom of the sea.
I doubt anyone will care enough to come looking for you. ”
Hughes’s mouth twisted in an upside-down smirk.
“That might have been the most impressive threat I’ve heard yet because I actually think you’re capable of doing just that.
Which is why I want you on board and cooperative.
” He stood abruptly and tossed our phones onto the desk.
“Take some time to think about it. We’ll be in touch. ”
An awful silence fell between me and Fraser as we waited for Hughes to leave the building.
Our breathing was heavy but neither of us spoke as I rounded the desk to remove the phone from under it to check if it recorded the conversation properly.
To my relief it had. Fraser and I shared a morose look as he switched his phone back on to bring up the camera app for the puffin statue.
About a minute of silence later, the sound of our conversation with Joshua filled the room from his phone, and he turned it so I could see that the statue had captured good footage.
“What now?” my cousin asked grimly. “These people are not to be messed with, Murray. These are violent criminals.”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Though I knew that was wishful thinking. “We need to find out more about the Walsh brothers.”
“And then what?”
“Police.” I shrugged wearily. “But I think I’ll talk to Ramsay first.”
“McRae? Why McRae? Do you think it’s wise to tell people about this?”
“Ramsay was in the military.” At least that was the story he told people.
But all of us lads in the pipe band had our suspicions that Ramsay McRae was more than ex-military.
We were pretty damn sure he was an ex special agent for the British government.
There was a possibility he could investigate this and give me advice on how to proceed.
“So?”
“Just … let me handle it from here.” I gave my cousin a stern look. “And aye, this stays between us.”
“He threatened Aunty Fiona.” Fraser glowered. “And Kelly. And London. Eileen and my kids could be next.” He referred to his wife and twin daughters.
“I’m aware,” I snapped and then winced. “Listen, I know. But there’s not a lot they can do on an island and get away with it. Look at that moron who attacked Taran last year. Where did he think he was going to hide on an island?”
“These guys are smarter than that.”
“Are they? They came to me thinking that they could … what was it he called it? Cuckooing? They’re fucking morons if they think that I will allow my company to be dragged into their filth. I’d rather shut the whole thing down.”
Fraser shrugged. “Maybe we should.”
I didn’t think that would stop these people. “I’ll talk to Ramsay first. Trust me. I have a feeling he’ll know what to do.”
From there, who knew what would happen. But I had to believe that I could protect Kelly, Mum, and London and still not give into these bastards.
I couldn’t fail them. Not again.