The Dark Fear (8 page)

              ‘They’re a decent bunch. Tilly has made some good friends. Your girlfriend might find the other ladies living on the estate can provide a social network for her.’ Newton noticed the shadow that passed across James’ face. ‘Is Ms Bevan here now?’

              He shook his head. ‘Dani is a senior police officer, she works very long hours. Her base is in Glasgow. I don’t expect she’ll be spending a great deal of time here.’

              Newton couldn’t hide his bemusement. ‘I see. Tilly works in the public sector too, they may find some things in common…’ He sipped his drink, looking awkward.

              ‘I’ve taken the week off to get myself settled in. Perhaps you could give me a full tour of the estate sometime, if you’re not too busy?’ James did his best to sound cheerful.

              ‘Of course. I can do my job perfectly well with company. Once we’ve finished our coffees, I could take you now?’

              ‘Great,’ James replied. ‘I’ll dig out my wellies.’

*

They’d walked beyond Langford Hall in the direction of the undulating countryside to the west. Despite maintaining a steady pace for at least an hour, James didn’t feel as if they’d covered a great deal of the estate.

              Newton kept pausing to check the locks on gates and the state of fences and stone walls. James felt determined to get to know this landscape as well as he could.

              ‘What lies beyond that copse of trees?’ He asked his guide.

              ‘If you kept walking, you’d eventually reach the train line that goes into Edinburgh Waverley. Longniddry Station is about two miles from here.’

              The pair continued in silence until they reached the line of elms.

              ‘Did you know the Gascoigne family – the ones who lived at Oak Lodge before there were short-term tenants?’

              ‘It was a long time ago when they moved away but I do remember the family fairly well. The Lodge was quite a different place back then. Lynda was very sociable. I went to several dinner parties there. It was before I’d met Tilly. They injected some welcome life into the estate.’

              ‘Why did they leave?’

              ‘Tim’s company opened an office in Chicago. The whole family upped sticks and moved across. Mrs March is still in touch with Lynda I’m sure. The children will be all grown up now.’ There was a hint of wistfulness to Aiden’s voice.

              James cleared his throat. ‘I hope to revive the lodge to something of its previous glory.’

              Aiden flashed him a slightly sceptical glance, but didn’t get a chance to reply.

              The crack of a gunshot broke the quiet. Newton’s immediate reaction was to shove his companion to the ground. ‘Get down into that dip and cover your head!’ He rasped.

              Newton remained standing. He cocked his own gun and surveyed the scene. ‘This is private property!’ He called into the gloom. ‘Hold your bloody fire – before you kill someone!’

              A second shot came. James could have sworn he felt the metal skim the hairs on the crown of his head. ‘Holy shit,’ he muttered into the earth, frozen still.

              It sounded as if Newton was on the move. James could hear his sturdy boots pounding through the leaves and twigs. Selfishly, he didn’t want to be left on his own out there. James slowly shifted forwards, commando-style, until he was crouching behind a fallen log. He stopped and listened, intently.

              It felt like he was huddled there for an eternity. Then he heard heavy footfalls approaching. They got closer and closer to the log. James sensed his bowels loosening.

              ‘Mr Irving! Are you still here?’

              James tentatively raised his head. ‘What’s happening?’

                  Newton reached out his hand and helped him up. ‘I believe they’ve scarpered down towards the train tracks. I saw a couple of them in the distance but didn’t get enough of a view to provide a description.’

              ‘And they were armed? What the hell were they doing shooting guns in here?’

              Newton began marching back in the direction of Langford Hall. ‘In the more remote parts of the estate we get this a lot, I’m afraid. Young men from gun clubs come to practise - sometimes it’s only with air rifles, at others it’s the real thing.’

              ‘What were those men shooting today?’ James felt his legs begin to wobble beneath him, as the shock set in.

              ‘I believe it was air pellets, but they can still do a great deal of damage to people and livestock.’

              ‘Will you call the police?’ James suddenly realised he was deferring entirely to Newton. There was absolutely nothing stopping him from calling 999 on his mobile. It just seemed as if they were in the estate manager’s territory and somehow under an entirely different jurisdiction.

              ‘I’ll call from the Hall. Mr March will want to know about it first.’

              Before he did that, Newton escorted James back to the lodge. ‘Have a hot bath and a glass of whisky, that will sort you out,’ he announced, guiding James over the threshold. ‘I’ll ring later to see how you are.’ With that, the man was gone.

              James climbed the stairs, as if on autopilot, immediately turning on the taps of the old fashioned roll-top bath. He sat on the edge whilst it filled up, noticing his right leg jumping up and down of its own volition. Then he thought about Dani and how Alex Galloway had been shot dead in the car-park just across the road.

              James removed his clothes and carefully climbed into the hot water, feeling it envelope and soothe his numbed limbs, wondering if he hadn’t made a really terrible mistake.

Chapter 14

S
haron Moffett flicked through the
post-mortem
report. Alex Galloway had a severe furring of the left coronary artery. The pathologist reckoned he was about three months away from a major heart-attack. But this was just additional information. The man had died as a result of a point blank gunshot wound to the forehead. The effects were predictably devastating to the brain.

              Their search team had found the bullet amongst the undergrowth at the side of the path. It was currently being analysed by the forensic lab. Sharon read through DC Calder’s statement again. He’d estimated a height of 5’11 for their perpetrator. Calder sensed the man was of a heavy build but couldn’t be sure due to the puffiness of his jacket.

              It wasn’t much to go on. There was no CCTV camera at the car-park, or along the road which ran parallel to the bents. Calder hadn’t been able to recall any of the other vehicles that were parked up there on the evening of the killing. He said that only Galloway’s white Land Rover had been overly conspicuous.

              The bullet was really all that their team had. Sharon hoped to God they retrieved useful evidence from it. She knew that some of her department were relaxed about the investigation. Galloway’s death wasn’t going to cause them any sleepless nights. But to Moffett, it was an important case. If these criminal gangs were allowed to go around executing each other as they pleased, where did that leave the police?

              She gathered up the evidence and knocked at Bob Gordon’s door. ‘Have you got a minute, boss?’

              ‘Aye, come in Sharon.’

              ‘I want to go back to the murder site, see if there’s something we missed.’

              ‘The techs did a thorough enough search. The sea has been in and out several times since. There won’t be any traces left.’ The DCI had barely glanced up from his files.

              ‘I know, but I’m curious to see the layout of the carpark again. I want to pinpoint where the accomplice was situated.’

              ‘Fine, it won’t do any harm. Aren’t you needed on your disciplinary panel?’

              ‘DCI Bevan went back to Glasgow. We’ve suspended our deliberations whilst the Galloway investigation continues.’

              ‘Okay, fine. You may as well take the department camera and get some more shots.’

*

The water was completely calm as DS Moffett gazed out to where a container ship was perched on the horizon. She turned and marched back towards the gap in the thick bracken which led to the car-park. The path had been re-opened. The techies had no hope of retrieving any further material from the crime scene.

              Sharon climbed the bank to examine the tank trap which was half buried in the sand and vegetation. She kicked around the dirt in the position where DC Calder was found slumped and unconscious.

              It would have been easy for someone in one of the cars to jog up and strike the detective from behind. They already knew the wind that evening had partially masked the sound of the gunshot. Calder wouldn’t have heard them approach. Moffett snapped a few shots with the camera.

              She paced out the route that the killer’s compatriot would have taken back down to the parked cars. Sharon noticed a new vehicle positioned near to her own. A man was sitting in the driver’s seat, not making any move to get out.

              Moffett approached the car and tapped on the window.

              The man rolled it down.

              Sharon immediately recognised him. ‘DCI Lamb. What are you doing here, sir?’

              Stuart Lamb squinted his eyes. ‘I’ve come for a walk on the beach. It’s a free country. Do I know you?’

              ‘I’m DS Moffett, I work out of the Knox Street Headquarters. Our paths may have crossed from time to time.’

              ‘But you know who I am?’

              Sharon raised her eyebrows ironically.

              ‘Okay, fair enough. I suppose every officer in Scotland knows who I am.’

              ‘You really shouldn’t be here, sir. I am investigating Alex Galloway’s murder under the command of DCI Gordon. I wouldn’t want to have to put in my report that I saw you here. My superior wouldn’t like it.’

              Stuart opened the door and climbed out. He offered his hand to her and she shook it. ‘Pleased to meet you, DS Moffett. Look, I spent months trying to build a case against Galloway and all our efforts were scuppered at the last moment. Now, I find myself suspended from duty and likely to lose my rank, at the very least. I’m as interested to find out what happened to Galloway here as you are.’ He tipped his head. ‘You’ll excuse me if I can’t summon up the same confidence in the Eastern Division to solve this crime as you can.’

              Sharon nodded. ‘I get your point. But you need to sit this one out, DCI Lamb. If you head home now, I’ll leave your name out of my report. But whenever something concrete arises in the investigation, I’ll give you a call, okay?’

              Stuart smiled. ‘That sounds like a good deal. Why would you want to be so helpful to me, Detective Sergeant?’

              ‘Let’s just say that I’ve reviewed the details of your case and there are some elements of your treatment by the division that make me uncomfortable.’

              ‘Well, thank you. After twenty seven years of service, it’s certainly nice to know I’ve still got a handful of friends left on the force.’

              Sharon stood and watched as Stuart Lamb got back into his car and drove away, leaving her alone and facing the line of dark trees opposite. Something made her lift the camera and take a succession of shots in that direction too.

Chapter 15

A
fter a couple of nights in her own bed, DCI Bevan was heading back to Edinburgh. She’d insisted that Andy take a break too, although Dani still wanted his assistance on this Galloway investigation. He was an officer she totally trusted.

              It was selfish, but Dani felt annoyed that she no longer had James’ Marchmont flat to stay in when she was over in the east. The place had been cramped, sure, but it was bloody convenient. Now, she couldn’t book a hotel room in the city without mortally offending her boyfriend, who would have placed dire significance on the action. This relationship business was turning into a nuisance.

              When she’d spoken to James on the phone the previous evening he’d sounded distant and reserved, as if he was holding something back from her. Dani didn’t have the time to worry about what it could be. She needed a partner whose hand didn’t need holding every five minutes. It sounded brutal, but it was true. James had his family close by. She knew he’d be okay.

              In fact, she’d be seeing his father that afternoon. Dani swung her little hatchback into the car-park of St Clare’s Church on Pentland Avenue. The service wasn’t due to start for ten minutes, but the DCI still felt as if there weren’t many vehicles there.

              Dani had noticed a while back, that some of the most well-connected criminals, untouchable to the police and surrounded by acolytes and hangers-on in life, seemed to be strangely friendless in death, as if their power over others had petered away along with their final breath. She wondered if these men had known themselves how fragile their influence really was.

              Sliding along one of the pews, half way into the church, Dani noticed the widow and teenage children seated at the front. The coffin was already there, with a modest arrangement of fresh flowers at its base.

              There were so few folk present that it was easy to spot Jim Irving, a couple of rows behind the family. There were other sturdily built men in dark rain jackets dotted about the pews too, who she took for police officers.

              Dani stepped forward to join Jim, after the brief, emotionless service was over.

              ‘Hello, Dani,’ he said warmly, taking her hand. ‘James told me you’d be here.’

              ‘Are you going to the cemetery?’ She enquired.