The Blackhouse (46 page)

‘So he
was
my father.’ All the bitterness and disappointment collected in the tears that hovered in Fionnlagh’s eyes.

Marsaili hesitated. ‘The truth, Fionnlagh?’ She shook her head. ‘The truth is that I don’t know. I really don’t. After Fin and I split up in Glasgow I came back to Lewis, miserable and unhappy. And straight into the arms of Artair. He was only too pleased to give me the comfort I was looking for.’ She sighed. ‘And I never knew whether it was Artair or Fin who had made me pregnant.’

Fionnlagh went limp, his gaze falling listlessly on the flashing lights of the police cars. He blinked away his tears, determined to harden himself to a world of uncertainty. ‘We’ll never know, then.’

Marsaili said, ‘We can find out.’

‘No!’ Fionnlagh nearly shouted it. ‘I don’t want to know! If I don’t, then he doesn’t ever have to have been my father.’

Fin smoothed open the piece of paper in his hand and dipped his eyes to look at it. He felt his throat constricting. ‘It’s too late for that now, Fionnlagh.’ The boy looked at him, a sudden dread in his eyes.

‘What do you mean?’

The sound of voices crackled across police wavebands in the nearby cars.

‘Last night, I asked DS Gunn to call the lab handling the DNA samples taken on Wednesday. They cross-checked yours and Artair’s.’ Both Fionnlagh and Marsaili fixed him with looks that carried the hopes and fears of two lifetimes. Fin folded the slip of paper into his pocket. ‘Do you like football, Fionnlagh?’ The boy frowned. ‘Because if you do, I can get us tickets to the next Scotland game in Glasgow. That’s what fathers and sons do, isn’t it? Go to the football together?’

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to offer my grateful thanks to those who gave so generously of their time and expertise during my researches for
The Blackhouse
. In particular, I’d like to express my gratitude to pathologist Steven C. Campman, MD, medical examiner, San Diego, California; Derek (Pluto) Murray, Gaelic actor and broadcaster; Detective Sergeant George Murray, Northern Constabulary, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis; John ‘Dods’ Macfarlane, Angus ‘Bobby’ Morrison and Angus ‘Angie’ Gunn, guga hunters from Ness, Isle of Lewis; Calum ‘Pugwash’ Murray and Murdo ‘Beag’ Murray, skipper and first mate of the
Heather Isle
, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis; Donald Macritchie, teacher of maths and geography at Lionel School, Ness, Isle of Lewis; Evelyn Coull, Gaelic actress and broadcaster; Dr Brian Michie, general practitioner, police surgeon and locum pathologist, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis; An Comunn Eachdraidh, the Ness Historical Society, Ness, Isle of Lewis. I must also offer thanks and congratulations to John Beatty for his book
Sula, The Seabird-Hunters of Lewis
, which provided me with a wonderful photographic and written record of the annual pilgrimage made by the men of Ness to cull 2,000 guga on the island of Sula Sgeir. And I would like to give a special thanks to the people of the Isle of Lewis for their generosity and warmth during my five years filming on the island, and during my researches for this book.

Table of Contents

PROLOGUE