Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
It was almost ten o’clock before Amir emerged from the dining room.
He put his phone and his folder into his briefcase and snapped it shut.
‘I don’t think your remaining guests will set foot out of the malthouse now,’ he said to Ally.
‘They seem convinced that someone wants to annihilate their entire family.’
Ally nodded as she accompanied him to the door. ‘It’s certainly beginning to look that way,’ she agreed. ‘Although it doesn’t really make sense, does it? I mean, Archie was an unwanted competitor, but Greg…?’
‘I know,’ Amir said. ‘Now, if you should see or hear anything which might be relevant, would you let me know straight away? I’m up against a brick wall at the moment!’
‘I will,’ Ally replied, wondering if the board might help.
The only problem was that Ally didn’t have a clue as to what names to write on her Post-its!
If it was only Archie, she had likely culprits amongst the bodybuilding/caber tossing contestants, but what about Greg?
Where did Greg come into all of this? Did he upset one of the contestants in the fun run as they raced past?
And why would he do that? Did Greg think that Micky McConnachie, for example, knew something relevant?
Had she got it completely wrong when she thought Greg might have killed Archie?
And who could possibly have been blackmailing him?
Ally could feel a headache coming on.
Patti and Wendy appeared to have shut themselves in their respective rooms, while the girls watched TV in the sitting room. It was late morning when Julie tapped timidly on the kitchen door.
‘Would it be OK if we took Flora for a walk?’ she asked.
Ally was somewhat taken aback. ‘Well, that’s fine by me, but you must really ask your mother.’ She doubted that Patti would agree because this area was now a murder scene.
Julie rolled her eyes. ‘Mom’s in a world of her own,’ she said, just as Janey arrived at the door.
‘Are you planning to go up to Loch Soular again?’ Ally asked.
As she spoke, the thought occurred to her that it was possible, just possible, that there was still some madman on the loose, killing people for no good reason.
After all, the killer didn’t have to be anyone from around these parts.
Then she wondered if Amir had put any police on duty up there, particularly where Greg had been found.
‘Look, girls, you must ask your mum because she may well want to go with you.’ Not, Ally thought, that Patti would be a tower of strength should any madman decide to pounce.
‘I’ll go upstairs and ask her,’ Janey said.
‘No, I’ll go,’ said Julie. ‘You go get the dog.’ With that, she made her way upstairs.
‘I hope Mom agrees,’ Janey said, ‘but otherwise I guess we’ll just have to play with Flora in the garden.’
After a couple of minutes, Julie reappeared. ‘Mom says it’s OK, so let’s go!’
Ally was a little surprised, particularly as Amir had said something to the effect that the women were convinced that someone wanted to annihilate the whole family.
Later that morning, the doorbell rang. When Ally opened the door, she found herself facing a horde of cameras and a microphone being pushed towards her face.
‘Mrs McKinley?’ asked a tall, red-haired man with a beard. ‘Just wondered if you could give us a minute?’
Totally unprepared for this, Ally looked round in confusion. ‘Why do you want to talk to me?’
‘We understand that two of your guests have been murdered, and we wondered how you, and the grieving family, are coping?’
‘We are all coping,’ Ally replied briefly, backing into the hallway.
‘But you have two widows and two fatherless girls in there, I believe?’ the red-haired man persisted.
‘Yes, but I think it’s highly unlikely that any of them will want to talk to you,’ Ally said, about to close the door.
The reporter wasn’t about to be fobbed off. ‘Perhaps you could ask them?’
Ally nodded, closed the door and went to the foot of the staircase. ‘Anyone want to talk to the media?’ she yelled upstairs.
‘No!’ shouted Wendy. ‘Tell them to sod off!’
‘Give me a minute,’ said Patti.
Ally returned to the front door to face the mob, which appeared to have grown in the few minutes since she’d seen them last. She then turned to see an immaculately made-up Patti behind her, wearing a classy cashmere sweater and straight-legged jeans.
Switching on a smile, she walked towards the door to face the barrage of cameras and microphones.
‘Ah!’ said the red-haired reporter. ‘Mrs Armstrong, I believe?’
‘Yes,’ Patti replied confidently. ‘We have to remain here until the killer is found. I heard what you were asking Mrs McKinley, and she was right – we’re all coping as best we can.’
‘So you have no plans to return to Canada any time soon?’
‘I already told you that we have to remain here.’ Patti smiled sadly. ‘Will that be all?’
‘Um, just one more thing, Mrs Armstrong,’ one of the other reporters shouted. ‘Have you any idea who might have done these killings? Do you think it was one person or two?’
‘I have no idea,’ Patti shouted, ‘but perhaps you should be asking the police instead of harassing innocent, grieving women. Thank you.’ With that, she backed into the hallway, having closed the door firmly.
‘You have to know how to deal with these people,’ she informed Ally, who was standing behind her.
Ally really didn’t know what to make of Patti. Was she really grieving either man? Or was this confidence, this put-together appearance, just a coping mechanism?
Then, as she began to make her way upstairs again, Patti suddenly paused. ‘Where are the girls?’
‘They’ve taken Flora for a walk, if you remember,’ Ally replied.
‘What?’ Patti rotated and began to descend the stairs again. ‘Did you say they’d gone for a walk?’
‘Yes, an hour or so ago. Julie went upstairs to ask your permission – don’t you remember?’
‘She did not!’ A furious Patti rounded on Ally. ‘You’re lying!’
‘I am not lying!’ Ally shouted back. ‘They asked my permission, and I told them it was OK as far as I was concerned, but they had to ask you. I saw Julie going upstairs!’
Patti narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘She did not ask for my permission. And I certainly would not have agreed. Not with someone clearly out to murder my family!’
At that very moment, Janey appeared with the dog.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Patti yelled. ‘And where is your sister?’
Janey looked around guiltily. ‘She’ll be back in a moment, Mom.’
‘Why is she not with you?’ Patti asked.
‘Well, she wanted to stay on for a while,’ Janey said, looking at the floor.
‘She wanted to stay on for a while!’ Patti exclaimed in fury. ‘And where, exactly, did she want to stay on for a while?’
‘The castle,’ Janey muttered.
‘The castle!’ Patti glared at her. ‘What the hell were you doing at the castle?’
‘We fancied a change from Loch Soular,’ Janey said. ‘We thought it would be nice to see Uncle Angus.’
‘You’ve never shown the slightest interest in Uncle Angus,’ Patti said through her teeth. ‘I don’t suppose for one minute that it was anything to do with that over-sexed young ghillie, was it?’
‘We just bumped into him…’ Janey began.
‘I’m going right up there now!’ She turned to Ally, who’d just shut Flora in the kitchen. ‘I’d like you to drive me up there, please.’ She hesitated. ‘If you wouldn’t mind?’
Ally nodded. ‘OK,’ she said.
Patti got herself ready very noisily, while instructing Wendy, at the top of her voice, to take Janey into the sitting room and neither of them were to move one inch until she got back with the errant Julie.
She was still breathing heavily when Ally directed her to the car, leaving by the back door, just in case any of the press might still be hanging around.
‘I’m sorry to drag you into all of this,’ Patti muttered as they drove upwards, ‘but speed is of the essence. Just wait until I find that daughter of mine!’
Ally tried hard to think of something reassuring to say.
‘She’s seventeen, Patti, and so it’s hardly unusual for her to be interested in the opposite sex – particularly as she’s been more or less incarcerated in the malthouse since you all arrived here.
’ She wondered if she should add something about the problems she’d had with Carol years ago.
Patti snorted. ‘I don’t know anything about this guy, and I hold Uncle Angus entirely responsible because he must know what goes on with his staff.’
Ally sighed loudly. ‘Angus is an old man, and he can’t be everywhere.
Not only that, there’s an absolute warren of outbuildings up there, and he can’t be checking them all every five minutes.
Besides, this boy might be a good-looker, but he seems decent enough, and I’m sure he wouldn’t take advantage of Julie. ’
‘But she could be leading him on,’ Patti said.
When they approached the building which contained Angus’s office, Ally parked the car, and Patti marched inside and out again. ‘No one in there!’ she hollered.
That isn’t altogether surprising, Ally thought, as you’d hardly have a little love-in in the main office, although such liaisons did exist, of course, in all manner of public spots.
‘We need to find Angus,’ Ally said, ‘so let’s try the kennels.’
‘It’s not Angus that’s worrying me,’ Patti snapped.
Ally bristled for a moment. ‘Angus will know the likeliest places that Tom might use to woo his girlfriends,’ she replied tersely.
‘Sorry, I wasn’t getting at you,’ Patti said with a hint of contrition. ‘I’m just worried.’
They’d glanced into several other buildings and sheds before they finally located Angus. He was having a cup of tea with Gordon Soutar, on a bench outside of Gordon’s front door.
‘What you lookin’ for?’ Angus growled.
‘I’m looking for my daughter and that young Lothario that you’re supposed to be overseeing,’ Patti said loudly.
Angus took a slurp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘Why’s that?’ he asked. Then he grinned. ‘Are ye lonely already?’
‘Don’t be so bloody offensive!’ Patti exploded. ‘That boy is cavorting around here somewhere with my daughter!’
‘Ah, yer daughter,’ said Angus. He still had a smirk on his face. ‘So what? She obviously takes after her mother.’ He cackled with laughter.
Ally had to replace a restraining hand on Patti’s arm because she could see that Patti was ready to do damage, her face reddening in fury.
‘We just want to find her,’ Ally interjected quickly.
Angus turned to Gordon. ‘Where was it ye found him last time?’
‘At the back of the wee barn, just up the hill there,’ Gordon replied, pointing upwards vaguely. ‘That’s very likely where he’ll be!’
Ally knew that there was a big barn and a wee barn, but, to her anyway, they seemed to be similar in size, although she’d never had reason to venture into either of them. Now, in spite of Patti shouting at the top of her voice, there was no sign of them in the first barn.
‘Julie Armstrong, where are you?’ Patti thundered.
As they entered the second barn, Ally was aware of a solitary figure among the hay bales piled up at the rear and, the next thing they knew, Julie was emerging alone and sobbing.
‘Where is he?’ shouted Patti, looking around.
‘I don’t know,’ wept Julie. ‘He left suddenly a few minutes ago because—’
‘Because of what?’ Patti yelled, looking behind the bales. ‘Because he’d had his wicked way with you?’
Julie turned on her mother. ‘Of course he bloody well didn’t! It was just something he said.’
‘Do you expect me to believe that?’ Patti ranted.
Ally knew she had to mediate somehow or other. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘we all need to calm down, go back home, have a cup of tea, and then you two can sort yourselves out!’
‘Thanks, Ally,’ said Julie. Then, turning to glare again at her mother: ‘Thank God someone’s being reasonable!’
Ally could only hope that Patti’s still-burning fury might lessen as they made their way back down the rough path to Ally’s car in total silence.
She could still recall similar scenes with her own errant daughter in the past. But, when they got back, Patti stomped straight upstairs to her bedroom and slammed the door, leaving both Ally and Julie open-mouthed in the hall.
‘Typical of her,’ Julie said witheringly. ‘Thank God for Auntie Wendy.’
Ally felt desperately sorry for the girl. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘would it help if you came into the kitchen with Flora and myself? I can offer you a Coke?’
Julie smiled through her tears. ‘Thanks, Ally, I’d like that.’
It helped, of course, that Flora made a great fuss of Julie as she lowered herself into one of Ally’s comfortable armchairs.
‘Your mum just needs time to calm down,’ Ally said. ‘It was only because she was so worried about you, and she’ll soon come round, I’m sure.’
Julie shook her head. ‘You don’t know Mom! She’s been real peculiar since Dad was killed, and I can understand that. He was my dad, and I loved him dearly.’ She looked around for a tissue, which Ally supplied from a box on the table.
‘Had Tom upset you in some way?’ Ally asked casually as she made herself some coffee.
Julie shook her head. ‘He’s real cute, and I enjoyed kissing him, but then…’
‘But then what?’ Ally prompted.
‘He said that I was so lovely that he couldn’t believe I had a mother “like that”.’
‘Like what?’ Ally was agog.
‘I’m too ashamed to tell you!’ The girl was becoming almost incoherent again. ‘Just said it was something to do with my dad. And that he’d overheard her talking with Uncle Angus.’
Ally could scarcely believe what she was hearing. ‘Julie,’ she said gently, ‘you don’t need to tell me, but you need to tell this to the police! It could be important!’
‘He said, “I shouldn’t have told you that,” and said I wasn’t to tell anyone,’ Julie muttered.
Ally shook her head in despair. ‘You must tell the police! Would you like me to call Detective Inspector Kandahar right now?’
Julie shrugged. ‘I don’t want to get Tom, or Mom, into trouble,’ she muttered.
‘You don’t want to get Tom into trouble?’ Ally exclaimed. ‘Are you serious, Julie? This guy might well have withheld information from the police.’
‘I guess so,’ Julie admitted sadly. ‘But it was a lie. I know it was a lie!’
‘I’m phoning right now,’ Ally said, picking up her phone. ‘And please don’t tell your mother what you’ve just told me!’
‘I can’t…’ Julie stood up, looking very dejected as she made her way towards the door.
‘Promise that you make no mention of this to anyone until you talk to the detective?’ Ally called out. ‘Promise?’
Julie shrugged. ‘OK, OK, if you think it’s important.’
‘I think it’s very important,’ Ally said.