Chapter 19
NINETEEN
While she and Ross were eating sandwiches at lunchtime, Ally told him about her conversation with Wendy.
‘What I don’t understand is why this Joel thinks he can solve the case when the police can’t, and when he doesn’t know anyone in the village.
But even Patti seems to think he’s going to get things moving because she’s finally left her bedroom and is sitting in there waiting for something to happen. ’
‘Just as well he doesn’t know that if he goes into the Craigmonie Bar most nights of the week, he’ll find all the suspects commiserating with each other over pints of beer,’ Ross said with a grin.
But Joel was just getting started and, according to Wendy – who was admiring Ross’s spadework in the garden – they were now heading for the castle because Joel was convinced that the Earl of Locharran must surely know what was going on.
Ally wondered if she should phone Hamish to warn him, but then decided she’d like to know how he’d act spontaneously and, doubtless, very politely.
Leaving the girls with their mother, Wendy and Joel set off for the castle and, shortly after they left, Amir appeared at the back door, having driven up in an unmarked car.
‘I didn’t want to draw attention to myself,’ he told Ally and Ross, ‘in case they started questioning me again.’ He grinned, and Ally, as usual, delighted in his beautiful smile.
‘I’ve had quite a morning with this son of the victim.
He’s upset the constable on the door, he’s shouted at me for being inefficient and I believe he’s going to have a go at the earl next. ’ He emitted a loud sigh.
‘I think you need a cup of tea, Amir,’ Ally said.
‘That’s very kind. Is he staying here?’
‘No, he’s at the Craigmonie. We ate down there last night and met him shortly after he got here,’ Ally said.
‘Would you believe he wanted a list of the suspects?’ Amir asked. ‘He’s actually planning to interrogate each of them and come up with an answer.’
‘I hardly dare to ask,’ Ross said, ‘but are you any further on with the investigation?’
Amir nodded. ‘A little. We’re concentrating on Angus at the moment, but I can’t tell you more than that.
I’m just hoping Joel won’t come across Angus.
Not that Angus would give him the time of day!
’ He accepted the mug of tea from Ally. ‘But if he’s not staying here, then there’s no point in my asking you to ask him to keep his nose out of this investigation.
’ He paused. ‘But, to be fair to the man, we are talking about his father and his uncle, so we can hardly blame him for wanting to get justice done quickly.’
‘I could perhaps have a word with Wendy,’ Ally said. ‘She’s been very brave and is holding this family together at the moment.’
‘Yes, maybe you could encourage her to dampen down her son’s enthusiasm a little for solving the case.
I can assure you, and her, that we’re doing every damn thing we can to bring this to a close, and I think we’re getting there, albeit slowly.
’ Amir replaced his mug on the table. ‘I must go. I’ll let you know as much as I’m allowed to in due course. ’
After he’d gone, Ally realised that her supply of coffee was rapidly running out. ‘I’m going to have to pop down to the shop,’ she said.
‘And I’ve got one more flower bed to do,’ Ross said.
Queenie was, as usual, gossiping with a little clique of four local women as Ally entered the shop, and they stopped chattering when they noticed her arrival.
‘Ye’ll no’ be needin’ much now with half yer guests bumped off!’ Queenie greeted her cheerfully.
Ally ignored the remark. ‘I’ve just come for some coffee,’ she said.
‘Ye’ll have another visitor now though,’ Queenie continued. ‘The son, isn’t he?’
‘He’s not staying with me; he’s at the Craigmonie,’ Ally said, wondering how on earth they already knew about Joel. She picked some tomatoes out of the display. ‘I’ll have these as well, Queenie.’
‘Aye, that’ll be why he was in here askin’ questions this mornin’,’ Queenie said.
‘What, he’s been in here already?’ Ally was amazed. ‘What sort of questions?’
‘Well, he was lookin’ for addresses of the caber tossers and the runners in the earl’s running competition, or whatever it was.’
‘I hope you didn’t give him any addresses,’ Ally said.
‘Aye, well, he was awful nice and polite, so I gave him one or two, didn’t I, Bessie?’
Bessie, who’d suddenly appeared from the storeroom, nodded. ‘Aye, ye did that.’
Ally sighed. ‘You shouldn’t have. He’s out to cause trouble and seems to think he’s more qualified than the police to solve these killings.’
‘Well, the police aren’t doin’ much,’ Queenie snapped.
‘They’re needin’ a kick up the arse,’ remarked the tiniest of the women, which was followed by nods of agreement from the others.
‘And I told him that what he was needin’ to do was to go into the Craigmonie Bar any night of the week, and most of the folk he was after would be there,’ Queenie added. ‘It’d save him knockin’ on all them doors, wouldn’t it?’
Which is exactly what Ross said, Ally thought, and would well and truly set the cat among the pigeons. She placed the tomatoes on the counter, along with a bag of coffee, and got out her purse.
‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘I daresay it would save him knocking on doors.’
As she walked home, Ally wondered if she should have asked Queenie whose addresses she’d actually given to Joel. Since Queenie ran the post office as well, she did, of course, have everyone’s addresses, and Ally could only hope that it wasn’t the McConnachie brothers’ ones that she’d handed over.
She had a bad feeling about it, which proved to be right because she’d hardly opened the door and put the kettle on when a grim-faced Morag came barging in through the back door. She came straight to the point. ‘Did you give that bloody Canadian our address?’
‘No, I did not,’ Ally replied. ‘I would never do that without your permission. Looks like you might be in need of some tea?’
Morag nodded as she sat down heavily in one of the armchairs. ‘Somebody gave that man our address, Ally, and if it wasn’t you, then who was it?’
‘Perhaps it could be the person who does know everyone’s addresses?’ Ally supplied hopefully.
Morag narrowed her eyes and gave it some thought. ‘Well now, that would be Queenie McDougall,’ she said after a moment.
‘Exactly right,’ Ally confirmed. ‘Apparently, he was in the shop looking for addresses for all the competitors in the games, and of the runners too.’
‘I’ll never speak to that Queenie again!
Never! Why would she do that? I bet she gave him directions as well!
’ Morag accepted a mug of tea from Ally and, after a large gulp, continued, ‘He comes bangin’ on our door a couple of hours ago wantin’ to speak to Bobby McConnachie, if you please!
Our Bobby was very busy upstairs with his video games and that, so I knew he wouldn’t want to be disturbed, and I told the Canadian that Bobby wasn’t in.
And then I asked what was it he was wantin’ anyway.
And the Canadian said that he had reason to believe that Bobby knew somethin’ about who killed his father and his uncle and that he’d come back later. Bloody nerve!’
‘Well, I don’t suppose you can blame him for wanting to ensure that the killers are arrested. He seems to think that the police are dragging their feet and that he can do better. So I think he’s upsetting a few people, Morag, not just you.’
‘Aye, that’s as may be,’ said Morag, ‘but my lads will no’ put up with bein’ accused of somethin’ they didn’t do, and by someone who wasn’t even here when it happened!’ Morag’s voice had risen to a crescendo. ‘Have you any of them chocolate digestives left?’
Ally got out the biscuit tin and placed it, open, on the table alongside Morag’s chair.
Morag took out a biscuit and dipped it into her tea, then got it into her mouth a split second before it was about to disintegrate into her mug.
This was a feat which must have taken Morag years to perfect because she loved these biscuits, and Ally had never seen her drop one crumb into her tea yet.
‘Well,’ said Morag, ‘I’m goin’ right down to give that Queenie a piece of my mind! And I’m goin’ to tell her that I’ll be takin’ my custom elsewhere.’
Ally raised her eyebrows. ‘Like where?’
‘I’ll just have to go a bit further afield, but that woman’s not gettin’ another penny of my hard-earned cash, let me tell you.’ Morag helped herself to another biscuit and repeated the whole ritual. ‘Wait until I tell Murdo,’ she muttered through the crumbs. ‘He’ll go mad!’
Ally couldn’t quite see mild-mannered Murdo getting particularly excited about this. She wondered for a moment if she should warn Morag that Joel Watson might well be in the Craigmonie Bar this evening, but then decided not to. Let things run their course.
By the time Morag had digested the second biscuit and drained her tea, she’d calmed down considerably. And as she stood up to go, she said, ‘Aye, well, you can see why I was annoyed, can’t you? I’m off now to have a few words with that Queenie McDougall. See you in the mornin’!’
‘I’ve just seen the Watson woman going down the road,’ Ross said as he came in from the garden. ‘I expect she’s going to join up with her son at the Craigmonie.’
‘He’s certainly causing a few ripples,’ Ally said as she continued to cook supper. ‘I’m betting he’ll be in the bar this evening, as both you and Queenie predicted. I’ve just had a visit from Morag; did you see her come in?’
‘I did,’ Ross admitted with a grin, ‘and I took one look at her face and decided to stay out until she’d gone!’
‘Apparently, Joel has already been knocking on her door, having got some addresses from Queenie, and she is not pleased,’ Ally said, rolling her eyes. ‘She’s off now to have a go at Queenie and, in her own words, take her custom elsewhere!’
‘That won’t last long,’ Ross said. ‘It must be twenty miles to the nearest grocer, and she doesn’t drive. Poor old Murdo!’
‘All because he dared to ask to speak to Bobby,’ Ally told him. ‘And Bobby was in, but would have been annoyed to be disturbed when he was playing with his video games, according to Morag, so she said he wasn’t in. She really spoils that son of hers.’
‘You’re right. He’s the youngest, of course, but the rest of his siblings are all doing OK.
I mean Micky’s no saint, but at least he does some plumbing and has a wife and daughter and a mortgage.
And then there’s Debbie, whose husband Sam is a waiter in the Craigmonie dining room, you know?
And Gordon very sensibly left the McConnachie household and went off to work on the oil rigs and lives in Aberdeen with his wife and kids.
’ Ross scratched his head. ‘Oh, and I almost forgot Geordie – he must be the oldest of the brood. I’m trying to remember where he went – I think it was Australia. ’
‘So she’s hanging on to her youngest,’ Ally said. ‘I suppose it’s kind of natural…?’
Ross sniffed. ‘I’m not sure I agree. Never mind, after supper I fancy a nice quiet evening watching a film or something. Let them all get on with it! What do you think?’
‘I think it’s a wonderful idea,’ Ally agreed, ‘if we can.’
Ally knew she was probably tempting fate because just as they’d settled down after supper to watch some old episodes of Friends, there was a kerfuffle in the hall.
‘I’ll go,’ Ross volunteered. ‘I’ll be back in five minutes. Pause the TV for a moment!’
Five minutes passed, and then another five minutes, and then Ally switched off the TV and went out into the hallway to see what was going on. And there stood a tear-stained, exhausted-looking Wendy and an exasperated-looking Ross leading her into the kitchen.
He sighed loudly as he spotted Ally. ‘I think we might need something to drink. Wendy has had a bad experience.’
Still sobbing, Wendy was led into the kitchen and sat down in the chair which seemed to have been occupied all day with people with problems.
‘What would you like to drink?’ Ally asked Wendy. ‘Brandy?’ Ally glanced at Ross, who’d opened the door of the drinks’ cupboard.
‘Yeah, great,’ Wendy replied.
‘Whatever’s the matter, Wendy?’ Ally asked solicitously as Ross handed her a drink.
‘It’s Joel – I’ve had to leave him in his bedroom with swollen eyes and bags of ice. He asked me to go home because he didn’t want a fuss. Fuss! Can you begin to imagine how it feels to have a gang of drinkers attack your son?’
‘Someone attacked Joel?’ Ally asked.
‘No, not someone; there must have been five of them. Five! What kind of country is this, Ally?’
‘Tell us what happened,’ Ally said, glancing at Ross.
‘Joel only asked some very reasonable questions,’ said Wendy.
‘Like, why were they so jealous that Archie won all the contests, and why were they all there or thereabouts when his own dear father was just having a walk, minding his own business, and had never upset any of them? All very reasonable questions, don’t you think? ’
‘So what happened then?’ Ally asked cautiously.
‘Well, they all denied having anything to do with it,’ said Wendy. She took a few deep breaths. ‘And then, I guess, maybe Joel lost it a bit…’
‘Lost it?’ Ross asked, frowning.
‘Yeah, well, it had to be one of them, didn’t it? And you can understand how frustrated poor Joel was. One of the big guys was goading him, really goading him, copying his actions, his mannerisms, everything…’
‘And?’
‘Poor Joel was annoyed – and upset. I mean he’s probably still suffering from jet lag, for God’s sake. Anyway, he took a swipe at the big guy who was goading him, which sent him reeling. I mean, you can’t blame Joel for that now, can you?’
Neither Ally nor Ross uttered a word.
‘And then the others all joined in!’
‘What exactly do you mean?’ Ross asked.
‘Well, because he’d punched the big guy, they all seemed to have a go at him,’ Wendy said sadly, ‘and they almost knocked him senseless. My poor Joel. They were barbaric!’
‘What happened then?’ Ally asked.
‘Well, the bartender was no damned use because he’d joined the others,’ Wendy exclaimed. ‘So I got hold of the manager, and the manager called the police.’
‘What did the police say?’ Ross asked.
Ally couldn’t begin to imagine Amir’s reaction – if he was there.
‘The police said that Joel should go to his room and everyone else should calm down, and if there was any further trouble, every single one of them would end up in the police station accused of being drunk and disorderly. Can you imagine? Drunk and disorderly – my son!’
With that, she snorted angrily, finished her drink, said goodnight and marched upstairs to her bedroom.
‘Fancy watching some more of Friends?’ Ally asked as she heard Wendy’s door slam.
‘Oh, why not?’ Ross replied. ‘We need cheering up!’
But Ally couldn’t really concentrate on the programme. Joel had certainly stirred things up in the short time he’d been here, and she could only hope that he wasn’t next on the killer’s list.