Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 (16 page)

‘Sure,’ Zoe said, sounding more poised than she felt. ‘I don’t want Mac coming with me, though, so let me leave him with someone.’

‘You won’t be long. It’s just in the barn behind the house. But the children mustn’t know.’

‘I understand.’

A few minutes later, with Mac left in Etta’s kitchen, Patrick led Zoe past her car and down a track to a large, green metal shed where several men were gathered around the Mackenzies’ pick-up. As Zoe approached, they moved aside to reveal something lying in the back of the vehicle, covered by a tarpaulin.

Douglas stepped forward. ‘Are you alright about doing this, Zoe?’

‘Of course, if it helps.’

He pulled back the tarpaulin, though only far enough to show her the animal’s head, neck and front legs, all of which were flecked with blood. Its teeth were bared, vicious yellow spikes which would have made short work of Mac if they’d got hold of him. And if this had been the dog that had chased him.

‘This isn’t the dog I saw.’

She heard murmurs of disappointment behind her.

‘You’re sure?’ Douglas asked.

‘Positive. It had a brown coat. This one’s grey and it’s much smaller.’

‘Animals look different when they’re dead,’ Patrick said. ‘I’ve known people not recognise their own pets.’

‘While I’m not familiar with lots of different breeds, I know this one definitely isn’t the same. As well as the difference in overall size, its head is longer and thinner.’

When no one else tried to argue with her, she added, ‘And it’s wearing a collar. The other one didn’t.’

‘Pity it hasn’t got a name-tag,’ Douglas said. ‘Then we could’ve involved the police, got them to pay an official visit to the owners.’

‘What will happen to the body?’ Zoe asked.

‘I’ll drive it back to the practice and check to see if it’s been microchipped,’ Patrick said. ‘Though that seems unlikely. Then I’ll record a few details in case its owners are traced, and have it disposed of.’

‘And I’ll call the knackerman.’ With a grim expression, Kate’s father came from behind Douglas and pulled the tarpaulin back over the dog.

‘How many sheep did you lose?’ Zoe asked.

‘Three this time,’ Ranald said. ‘Vet’s patched up a couple that weren’t seriously hurt, though only time will tell if they’ll survive the shock.’

Patrick took Zoe’s arm. ‘Let’s go back to the house, shall we? Mrs Mackenzie offered me a cup of tea earlier and I think I’ll take her up on the offer now.’

As they went into the hall, Zoe glanced at the grandfather clock Kate said her father wound up every Sunday evening without fail. The time was four forty-five.

She had arranged to meet Mather and John Wilkie at five.

SEVENTEEN

Zoe raced into the health centre car park just after five, having left Mac in Etta’s care after promising Kate she would call round to Tolbyres Cottage later when she collected him. She saw only Paul’s car and one other. Either Mather or John Wilkie was late.

She realised when she entered the building that neither of the men she had arranged to meet was there; the second car must belong to the cleaner, who was about to start hoovering the waiting room floor. Paul looked up from his desk when she put her head round his consulting room door, so she explained why she was there, suddenly concerned her arrangement should have been okayed with him first.

‘If Walter were here, I suspect he would have had something to say about this,’ Paul said. ‘But it sounds to me like you’ve handled a tricky situation very well.’

‘I couldn’t think what else to do,’ Zoe said. ‘We can’t force patients to do the right thing, can we?’

‘How much easier our lives would be if we could, my dear. Let me know how it all turns out, won’t you? And now, I think I hear one of your visitors at the front door.’

DCI Mather stood peering in through the glass. Even at the end of a hot day his ecru linen suit looked freshly pressed. How did he manage that?

‘Sorry I’m late, Zoe. I’ve been talking to Dave Trent.’

‘How’s his wife?’

‘She had to have an emergency caesarean.’

‘Are they both alright?’

‘Annie’s doing fine now, but the baby’s in an incubator.’

‘Oh dear. Is he very tiny?’

‘That’s all I know at the moment.’ Mather adjusted his already straight tie. ‘I’ll tell Dave you were asking. Now, where’s this patient of yours?’

‘He’s not here yet.’

They both looked at the clock on the wall.

Twenty minutes of stilted conversation later, Zoe left Mather in her consulting room and went to the reception desk to call John Wilkie on his mobile and then his landline. No answer either time. She returned to the policeman to admit defeat.

‘Can’t say I’m surprised.’

‘Well I am. He seemed to genuinely want to help.’

‘Hardly anyone wants to help the police. We’re used to it. Now will you tell me who he is so I can do it my way?’

Shaking her head, Zoe said, ‘I wish I could, but . . . ‘

‘Patient confidentiality. I know.’ Mather pulled a business card from his breast pocket. ‘Thanks for trying. If you see him again, give him this, will you? And you can pass on my assurance that whatever he tells us, we won’t prosecute him for poaching.’

‘I’m not sure that’s what he’s worried about.’

Zoe let Mather out of the front door and relocked it. She checked Paul’s office but only the cleaner was there, dusting the few empty surfaces he could find. Returning to the reception desk, she made a note of John Wilkie’s address on a scrap of paper then closed the computer down.

The Wilkies’ semi-detached home sat back from a stretch of road Zoe had travelled along many times on her way to Kelso. She pulled into the parking area on the opposite side of the road and crossed to a green front door beside which hung a basket of trailing ivy and geraniums. It opened before she had a chance to knock.

‘I knew you wouldn’t leave him be.’ The woman stood guard over the entrance, her arms crossed, a hard expression on an otherwise attractive face. ‘Whatever you say, he’s not going to the police.’

‘Please let me speak to John, Mrs Wilkie. I won’t try to make him do anything he’s not comfortable with.’

A voice came from inside the house. ‘Let her in, Heather.’

Heather spun round and marched back along the hall. ‘He’s in there,’ she said, pointing to her left but continuing deeper into the house. Zoe found John in the family’s sitting room, sharing his black leather armchair with a tortoiseshell cat. When he made to lift the cat from his lap, she said, ‘Please don’t disturb her on my account.’

John invited her to sit down, then they both started to speak at once.

‘Doctor, I—’

‘John, you—’

He smiled apologetically; Zoe gestured at him to carry on.

‘Doctor, I’m sorry I didn’t turn up, but I have to consider my wife and child. Heather’s very worried about what’ll happen if I get involved.’

‘I understand your reasoning, but that young lad was someone’s child as well. Don’t you think we should all do what we can to help catch the men who killed him?’

‘I can’t believe you’re telling us we should help the police.’ Zoe jumped at Heather’s voice. She had silently entered the room and now stood with her back to a collection of framed photographs of wild birds. ‘It didn’t exactly turn out well for you last year.’

‘This is nothing like what happened to me.’

‘Oh no? Murderers are wicked people who’ll stop at nothing to get away with their crimes. Can the police guarantee John would be safe if he came forward as a witness?’

‘I can’t speak for the police.’

‘And yet you’re here on their behalf.’

The ensuing silence was broken by a little girl bursting into the room. Aged about seven, she wore an orange summer dress and matching flip-flops.

‘Daddy, you were s’posed to be having tea with me.’

‘Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll be there in a minute.’

The girl looked at Zoe. ‘Who are you?’

‘That’s not very polite,’ her father said. ‘Come and say hello properly to Doctor Moreland.’

‘Hello. You’re having a baby.’

Zoe shot a smile at John to show she wasn’t upset by his daughter’s directness. ‘You’re right, I am. What’s your name?’

‘Ailsa Jane Wilkie.’

‘Hello, Ailsa. I’m Zoe.’

‘Daddy said you’re a doctor. I’ve got a book about doctors.’ Ailsa went over to a shelf, brought back a book with a picture of a mouse wearing a stethoscope on the cover and laid it on Zoe’s lap.

‘Doctor Moreland’s got to go now,’ Heather said.

Conditioned by being an only child to doing what grown-ups told her, Ailsa looked disappointed but returned the book to its shelf. Zoe got up and John rose too, put the cat on his chair, and escorted her to the front door.

‘You probably think me an awful coward,’ he said.

Zoe replied in what she hoped was a noncommittal tone. ‘You must do what you think is for the best.’

She passed him Mather’s card, and left.

EIGHTEEN

After apologising to Etta for being away so long and thanking her for looking after Mac, Zoe bundled the dog into her Jeep without bothering to strap him in and drove the short distance to Kate’s house. Although called Tolbyres Cottage, it was on a much larger scale than her own home, having been created from a pair of semis originally built for farm workers. The conversion had never been finished, but she hardly noticed the two front doors, two staircases and wall jutting halfway across the sitting room any more.

As soon as she opened the Jeep’s passenger door, Mac jumped down and rushed away, coming to an abrupt halt as he encountered the only enemy he’d made in his short life: a bantam cockerel named Clyde. Requiring no physical contact to assert his authority, the tiny chicken puffed out his chest and flapped his wings, which was enough to send Mac scurrying back to Zoe.

‘Shoo, Clyde!’ She waved her arms and Clyde retreated to the base of the pear tree where a brown hen nearly twice his size was enjoying the early evening sun. Never one to pass up an opportunity, he jumped on top of her, bounced up and down for a few seconds and jumped off again. The hen shook herself and resumed pecking at the ground.

Kate appeared on her doorstep in time to observe the cockerel’s antics. ‘That’s what you could do with part of your field. Keep poultry. As you’ve seen, they’re very entertaining.’

On the point of rejecting this idea, Zoe realised it might be worth considering. What was the point of bringing up a child in the country if you don’t let them have a pet or two? ‘Maybe. You’ll have to tell me more about what it involves.’

‘Frankie’s the livestock expert these days. He’ll show you.’

‘He told me at your party that he’s planning on keeping goats next.’

‘He saw them at last year’s Kelso Show. I hoped he would have forgotten about them by now.’ Kate leaned back against the door to open it. ‘Come away in. Do you want some more cake? You didn’t finish the piece I gave you earlier.’

‘Only if I get to say how big it is.’

During the winter, Zoe’s favourite position in Kate’s kitchen was leaning against the Aga, but it had been too hot to do that for quite some time. Even Bluto, the family’s ginger cat, had been forced to abandon his preferred spot on the plate rack above the stove and now spent most of his time under the hedge surrounding Kate’s back garden. The temperature was, if anything, higher than it had been at lunchtime. They walked through the house and out the back door.

‘Have a seat,’ Kate said. ‘I’ll bring you a glass of Mum’s lemonade and a wee wedge of cake.’

‘Thanks. It’s very quiet—where is everybody?’

‘They’re staying at Richard’s tonight. Because his children are being educated in a posh private school over the Border, they haven’t broken up yet and couldn’t come to my party. He and Charlotte are giving them their own do this evening.’

‘Does that mean you’ll have company later?’

Kate screwed up her face. ‘I’m not sure if Erskine’ll turn up. We had a bit of a tiff last time I saw him.’

‘But it’s your birthday.’

‘He won’t even remember.’

‘Are things really so bad between you?’

‘If I get started talking about it I might not be able to stop.’

‘In which case, you’d better get our drinks first.’

Zoe leaned back on the seat and rubbed her side. As usual at this time of evening, the baby was working on his kick-boxing skills, but today she gained no pleasure from picturing those little arms and legs waving around inside her. Having well and truly messed up with John Wilkie, she now felt guilty at her relief that Mather was unlikely to show up at Kate’s home.

Kate reappeared carrying a tray and wearing the pink scarf Zoe had given her as a birthday gift. ‘Thank you so much for this. It’s just my colour.’

‘I hoped it would be.’

‘And the book about gravestones looks fascinating.’

‘You’re the only person I know who’d appreciate it.’

‘We’ve both been so busy, I haven’t had a chance to tell you how useful our trip to the Allankirk graveyard was.’

‘Have you solved the mystery?’

‘As best as anyone could, given so many missing records. I’m pretty certain now that Adam was actually Grace and Archibald’s nephew. He’d been born to Lily and I’ve managed to identify his real father and go back a generation. He came from a family of Northumberland farmers.’

‘That’s brilliant. Is your client pleased?’

‘He doesn’t know yet. I’m meeting him on Monday to get his agreement before going any further back.’ As Zoe’s mouth was full of birthday cake, Kate continued, ‘Douglas told me the dog they shot wasn’t the one you saw chasing Mac. Horrible to think there could be a whole pack of vicious dogs out there.’

‘I’m glad he believed me. Some of the other men looked as though they didn’t. But the dead dog was completely different to the one I saw.’

‘Take no notice of them. You’re a woman, and pregnant to boot. Secretly, they’re a bit scared of you. Except for your friend the vet, of course.’

Zoe arched her eyebrows at this, unable to protest due to having taken another mouthful of cake.