Shadows of Deceit (16 page)

Harry and Andrew arrived at Westport after dark. As they turned into the lane by the derelict cottages they saw the profile of the Scammell looming up in front of them. The dim, slotted, car beams, necessary for blackout regulations provided only minimal illumination. In the final three or four miles Harry had to brake hard on several occasions to avoid hitting stray sheep that were wandering along the road. The men greeted each other and checked the time. It was now approaching midnight.

“Time for some food I think,” Tommy suggested.

“We can all shelter in the back of the lorry until it’s time to go.” The journey south down the peninsula started off dry around the Tarbet area but had now turned to a fine, misty drizzle that was blowing inland. They could hear the sea pounding the beaches either side of them as they settled in the lorry with a few bottles of beer and some sandwiches to share. Andrew deliberately avoided sitting near Steve, he wanted to circumvent any possibility of another row developing. As it happened Steve had fallen asleep and was relying on Tommy to wake him when they had to move on to the beach.

At 2.30 a.m. Tommy roused everyone. The weather had now worsened. Heavy rain was being thrown inland by strong, constant winds driving through the dunes. Numerous rivulets of water were cascading onto the track and merging into a fast flowing continuous stream just in front of the lorry. The wooden shutters on the cottages produced a whistling siren of eerie sound pitches as the damp wind streamed across them. The men unloaded the dingy and carefully placed it onto a two-wheeled trailer that they could drag to the beach. They donned long black oilskin coats that Tommy had procured, and slowly made their way down towards the sea.

The ground was now saturated. In daylight it would have been dangerous to proceed on foot, now in the darkness it was treacherous. Their boots sank deep into the muddy furrows of the track, and more alarmingly, each of the men had to be pulled free from patches of sucking quicksand. They left the dingy at the end of the track. It had been agreed earlier that Steve and Tommy would signal out to sea from the end of one of the rocky outcrops with the lantern and Andrew and Harry would do the same on the opposite side of the small cove. The two teams parted and, after clambering along the slippery rocks, each one managed to take shelter in the rocky outcrops. Apart from the noise of the waves breaking on the beaches either side of them, the cove itself provided a quieter calmer environment whilst they waited. After about half and hour Steve decided he needed to relieve himself and clambered back towards the beach to find an area that he could safely stand up on whilst still being protected from the weather. Just as he began his return journey a few minutes later, he was confronted by a snarling, vicious looking animal that had crept up to him unnoticed. The quietness of the cove was now pierced by Steve shouting hysterically as he faced the ferocious growling of an enormous feral dog that was standing its ground in front of him. Harry was the first to hear and he immediately began moving back towards the beach to see what was happening. As he approached he could just make out, through the clinging sea spray, that Steve was now violently kicking the Alsatian in the head. But the dog kept returning to an attack position. Harry managed to get a little nearer and could now clearly see that the animal was becoming even more aggressive. It bared its teeth and salivated in long silvery threads, its wild eyes wide open as it fixed its stare on Steve before moving in for the kill. For a few brief moments they scrutinised each other only feet apart and then the dog sprang forward but again it was kicked hard by Steve as it landed. Harry picked up a rock, partly in self defence if the animal decided to attack him, or, more hopefully, if he could get close enough to finish it off. Despite its injuries the dog returned to attack again only this time Steve managed an even harder kick to its head. The dog fell to the ground and whimpered, its paws twitching and pulling as it tried without success to stand up. Steve stepped towards it and in a frenzy of uncontrolled anger kicked repeatedly at its head.

“Steve that’s enough you’ve got him, he’s dead!” Harry shouted.

But Steve’s fury continued unabated. In a blind rage he persisted to direct violence against the dead animal.

Harry ran towards him and held him

“That’s enough Steve; he’s finished it’s over!”

Harry pulled him away and they both fell to the ground.

Steve was hunting for air to fill his lungs, his face rigid, his wild eyes still fixed on the animal.

“Nobody, not even a fucking animal, will get the better of me!”

He gasped, as he tried to get to his feet to continue the onslaught. Harry held on to him,

“Its OK now. He’s dead.”

But Steve continued, his eyes still fixed on the animal; he wasn’t responding to Harry.

“Get off of me!”

Harry released him and immediately Steve jumped to his feet intending to carry on the assault. His anger was now of someone deranged. He seemed to be experiencing pleasure or intense gratification from continuing his attack. His mind was no longer focused on the task ahead for the group. He was unhinged and determined to seek revenge. Harry tried again to calm him down.

Tommy arrived on the scene and shouted,

“Inspector!”

Steve was distracted.

“Inspector!” Tommy shouted even louder.

Steve turned to face him pausing briefly, he lowered his head and sank down onto his knees. It was over. Tommy rushed over to Steve, who was now panting for breath.

“It’s all OK, Inspector, the prisoner is safe now.”

Steve used his hands to wipe his face and was slowly helped to his feet by Tommy.

“Steve it’s all finished, we need you now. Remember the task in hand, remember our instructions, the boat should be here soon.”

After a few minutes Steve had calmed down and Tommy encouraged him back out to their positions on the outcrop. Steve said nothing . Harry was totally bewildered by what he had just witnessed. He moved away to rejoin Andrew on their side of the cove.

“What on earth spooked Steve?” Andrew asked.

“A really wild and vicious dog began to attack him but he managed to overwhelm it by some well placed kicks to the head. I doubt if I could have done it more efficiently.” Harry said.

“Then what?”

“Well he went berserk, crazy. He just continued kicking the thing that was already long dead. Just persistently kicking it, obsessional really. Then Tommy arrived and shouted ‘Inspector’ at him, and that seemed to stop him. It was really odd. Have you seen him like this before?”

“I’ve not witnessed it, but I know that his uncontrollable temper has got him into trouble before.”

“How come?”

“There was a story that some petty thief died after being arrested. At the Police Station, it was Steve’s watch. Something unpleasant happened to the guy but it was all hushed up. Tommy told me about it.”

“Jesus. I’ve not seen anyone behave like that before, not even in the Army.”

“You said it was a dog that attacked him, not a fox maybe?”

“No it was a dog, an Alsatian. Really wild and fierce it was.” Harry paused, “You know something, when Eileen and I came down here we discovered a mauled sheep just back up the track. I bet it was the same dog that did that, scavenging for food.”

The brief silence that followed was interrupted by Tommy shouting across from the other outcrop,

“Shine your lantern out to sea, it’s time to meet up with Darlath.” Andrew lit the lantern, that was shaded so that only seafarers away from land could see it, and held it high.

The earlier rain had now turned to a light drizzle again. This they felt was preferable, despite the odd percolation of water finding a way down the inside of their collars. They waited silently until Andrew spotted the light of a boat in the distance beyond where the large waves were forming. They had previously agreed to remain silent until a prearranged signal came from the skipper. There was always a chance that the Royal Navy would be patrolling the area and could be inquisitive to determine why two lights were shining out to sea. Despite the difficulty of gauging the distance from the boat to the shore, Harry felt that the craft was getting nearer to them.

“A hundred yards or so I think,” he whispered.

They waited again as the lights appeared to be closer. The sound of the boat’s pulsing engine could also be heard now. A few seconds later the vessels port light was extinguished; that was the signal they were waiting for.

Tommy shouted first,

“Ahoy there!”

Darlath returned the call,

“Hi there. Turn your lanterns off.”

The vessel came nearer and nearer until it scraped the shingle bed a few yards from the shore line.

The skipper dropped anchor and shouted to one of his crew,

“Kill the engine and switch the starboard light off now as well. We need to get unloaded quickly and away again.”

The strong Irish accent carried on the wind towards the group. In spite of the constant drizzle it was possible to see just enough without lights. The four of them quickly scrambled back along the outcrops and waited for instructions on the shore. A small rowing boat was lowered over the side by two of the crew. Then Darlath clambered down and received several cardboard boxes of goods. When the boat was full one of the crew also climbed down and the two of them rowed to the waters edge.

“Here we are lads take the boxes and stack them up the beach.”

The four set to work but were immediately swamped by waves that almost swept them into the water. However, they just managed to stay on their feet despite the strong undertow dragging them seaward as the water receded.

“I’ll row back again with Pat here - ,” Darlath shouted, “ - then next time we’ll swap over so we all get a turn.”

They rowed back the few yards filling the boat and landing the goods as before. Darlath jumped out of the vessel as they neared the beach and struggled to stride ashore with the foam breaking about knee height around him. He passed the rope to Harry who held on until the crew member had also landed. Tommy waded out followed by Harry. Andrew held out his arm to pull Darlath onto the beach,

“Good to see you again. It must have been a rough crossing?”

Steve had recovered sufficiently to utter quietly,

“How cosy for you both.” But the remark went unheard.

“I’m so relieved to see everyone here - ” Darlath said.

“ - the crossing was fine to begin with but it’s stormy nearer to this coast.”

Several crossings later all the boxes had been unloaded and stacked. Darlath shouted his farewells to the skipper as the engine was started and the vessel slowly moved back into the deep water and quickly disappeared into the blackness.

The five men moved up to the track, loaded the boxes into the dingy and pulled the trailer back up to the lorry. After several repeat runs all the goods had been stashed away safely.

They were all now totally exhausted and thoroughly wet through. The combination of seawater and constant rain had permeated through to their skin. All of them had endured the cold clammy poultice of wet clothes clinging to their bodies, together with the now foul-smelling mash of fabric that covered their feet.

The change of clothes they had brought with them we’re already damp and difficult to pull on. They sat uncomfortably in the vehicle until daybreak. The episode with the dog was not mentioned by anyone. It had been agreed that Tommy and Steve would drive the Scammell back followed by Harry, Andrew and Darlath in the car.

The early morning brought fine, dry but cold weather. As the sun rose over the hills to the east the lorry, with Tommy and Steve, set off north heading towards the hamlets of Muasdale, Tayinloan, Ronachan Point then onward up to Tarbert, Inveraray and finally south towards Glasgow. The goods would be dropped off at Michael’s cottage and stored there for a few days whilst onward distribution and sales were finalised.

An hour later with the gentle warmth of sunlight providing some potential comfort, the others set off in the car; now in better spirits. On the way Harry stopped to buy some food that the three of them ate on the roadside north of Tarbet.

“Everything went very smoothly Darlath, you must be pleased?” Andrew said.

“It was a good arrangement; we’ll use that boat and crew again. However, time is pushing us I’m afraid. I need to be in Edinburgh again tomorrow before heading back to Dublin.”

“Will you be seeing your Dad?” Harry asked.

“I should, but I think I’ll ‘phone him later. Harry - ” Darlath paused, “ - I know you’re aware of our situation.” He nodded towards Andrew and continued,

“But I need to talk to Andrew quietly about my father and what he saw the other evening.”

“Look I’m happy to go for a walk and let you two...”

Darlath interrupted,

“No I don’t mind as long as Andrew doesn’t?”

“No carry on Darlath. We trust you Harry. What the hell did your Father see?”

“He saw you leave his hotel last time!”

“What!”

“Don’t look so worried Andrew.”

Darlath explained what had occurred that evening at the hotel. Andrew found it all very amusing.