23. Murray
My Discovery took the rough causeway that connected Leth Sholas to Stòr. The tide was out, giving me plenty of time to get over to chat with Ramsay and return before the sea covered the road and disconnected the two islands again.
The road around the island was single track and climbed upward through thick forestation.
There were no signs to the McRaes’ home in the woods, so you’d only stumble upon it by chance if you didn’t know it was there.
The house had a barn that served as Ramsay’s workshop, both situated in a clearing in the woods surrounded by birch and oak trees.
Ramsay’s wife’s vivid turquoise vehicle wasn’t there, but his Defender was. I heard Akiva barking as I pulled up outside the house.
Then Ramsay and the Alaskan malamute walked out of the barn, and Akiva’s barking stopped when I got out of the Discovery.
She didn’t come to me to be petted, though.
The beautiful dog had always been somewhat aloof, saving her affection for Ramsay, Tierney, and Quinn, who was smug that he was the only person, outside of her owners, Akiva liked.
Kelly thought Akiva was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen and had been asking for a dog ever since she first caught sight of her. Perhaps I should ask London if she liked dogs. Maybe a dog would be a comfort to Kelly right now.
Ramsay gestured with his head toward the house. “Come in.”
We got settled inside. Ramsay was grim-faced, as if he knew something bad was coming. When I relayed my conversation with Joshua Hughes, Ramsay cursed, his expression flashing with wrath.
“Those fuckers think they can infiltrate our islands, they’ve got another thing coming,” he warned with quiet menace.
“My thoughts exactly. So, what do I do? I’ve got the recordings of my meeting with Hughes.”
Ramsay gestured for me to show him. I handed over my phone. He listened to the recording with growing anger. “And you have footage as well?”
“Fraser has it.”
Ramsay nodded. “When Quinn rescued the illegal immigrants who had been intimidated into drug trafficking, I wanted to make sure I was in the loop if something like that happened again. I contacted a group of detectives who have been working in Inverness to fight the war on drugs up there. They have been struggling with a London-based gang that has been supplying class A crack cocaine and heroin into Inverness and the surrounding villages. The level of violence and intimidation that comes with these gangs …” Ramsay’s gaze was searching.
“Murray, you need to know the danger you’re in. If you work against them …”
Fear for my family gripped my heart. But I wouldn’t let fear win. “Me and my family are in danger either way.”
“Everyone on this island is in danger either way. So, we’re agreed? We work against them.”
“Agreed. And this stays between us. London, Tierney, they don’t need to know about this. Not yet.”
“Aye, that we can agree on as well. Silver and our baby don’t need the stress right now. I can reach out to one of the detectives in Inverness. It might be passed along to someone closer to home, but it’s a start. We go from there.”
The uncertainty of it made my gut clench. “Hughes said they’d give me time to think about it, but he didn’t say how much time.”
“We’ll move fast.” Ramsay blew out a shaky exhale. “These last few years … I don’t know how much more Glenvulin can take.”
“Aye, but we’re made of stern stuff. If our ancestors could survive potato famine and the Highland Clearances, we can handle this.”
My friend nodded, eyes searching mine again. “Then I’m not going to feel guilty for putting more on your shoulders.”
A kernel of dread unfurled in my gut, but I nodded for him to go on.
“London came to me yesterday. Nick, her ex, contacted her about your marriage. He threatened you all, including Kelly. London wanted to keep it from you because of everything else you have to deal with, but if it were my woman, I’d want to know.”
Anger flashed through me. “Threatened her how?”
Ramsay pulled out his phone, tapped the screen a few times, and held it up.
You think you don’t belong to me because you married one of those morons from Bumfuck Island?
He thinks he can touch what’s mine?
He touches you again and you’re both dead.
Maybe I’ll come for his daughter first.
Don’t get comfortable. Someone will be investigating this sham of a fucking marriage very soon.
My hand clenched tightly around the phone. Then it hit me that London had been dealing with this threat on her own. She hadn’t said a word to me. “Is she all right?”
“She’s scared.”
“I want to kill him. He threatened Kelly too.”
“I’m dealing with it.” Ramsay pried his phone out of my fingers. “I just wanted you to know.”
“I’m her husband. I should deal with it.”
“I have contacts who can permanently extract Nick Huston from London’s life,” Ramsay offered without arrogance. “The best you can do is let London know she’s not alone. That you can carry the weight of her burdens too.”
“I thought I’d done that.” I considered the song link I’d sent her earlier. My way of communicating with her that felt easier to navigate than conversation right now. “I’ll talk to her. You don’t mind if I tell her you told me about Nick?”
“Go for it.”
A while later, I got back into my Discovery to return to the office to update Fraser.
Ramsay promised to contact the detectives immediately, so hopefully we’d have word soon.
As I crossed the causeway, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled the SUV to a stop outside my company offices and checked my mobile.
There was a text from London with a link to a song.
This was me until you sent that song. Thank you.
The song link was Lord Huron’s “Meet Me in the Woods.”
I knew that song by heart.
Despite the conversation we needed to have, relief soothed my agitation. I’d sent the song because I needed London to see herself how I saw her. Not as some lost woman full of regrets but as someone who had come out of something dark, changed for the better, not the worse.
And I was beyond gratified my message got through.
I texted her the song link to “Hallelujah,” and as I walked into the office, my phone beeped. London had replied with the laughter emoji.
It was amazing. I had all this darkness in my life, but a text with a laughter emoji from London Wetherspoon had reminded me my life was filled with more light than dark.