Too Soon a Death: A Scottish mystery where cosy crime meets tartan noir: Borders Mysteries Book 2 (27 page)

Margaret looked down at her mobile. ‘Hector says it’s a twenty-seven-year-old man. They’ve not released any other details.’

Was it the bogus Simon Telford?
That phone call Trent received while he was with Zoe must have been more useful than he’d let on. Her mobile buzzed from inside her bag, which she’d thrust into its usual place under the desk. She bent down and groaned when she couldn’t reach it. Surely the baby hadn’t grown that much in the space of one night? She slid her foot through the bag’s handle and pulled it closer, while Margaret watched with an amused look on her face but made no comment.

The text was from Douglas:
Have you heard news? They’ve got arsonist.

‘Your phone will be red hot for a while,’ Margaret said. ‘I’ll leave you to it. See you before you go home.’

As soon as Zoe had replied to Douglas’s text, asking how Kate was today, another message came in, from Patrick this time:
News reporting arsonist arrested. Did you know?

Just heard. Great news.

Douglas phoned instead of texting back. ‘Do you know who it is they’ve arrested? I’ve left a message for Sergeant Trent but he’s not rung me back yet.’

‘I’m sure the police will tell you when they know they’ve got the right person.’

‘At least it’s not Ken. They’ve questioned him but he hasn’t been arrested.’

‘That’s a relief. How’s Kate?’

‘The doctors are going to start reducing her sedation again tomorrow. This time they’ve agreed Mum can stay with her, so she’ll see a familiar face as she’s coming to.’

‘Excellent. Believe it or not, the fact she has a tube in her throat is good news. It’s far more comfortable than being intubated through the mouth and having to wear a mask. The only problem is she won’t be able to speak.’

‘They warned us about that and showed us the whiteboard she’ll be given to write on. It looked far too small to cope with everything Sis’ll want to say.’

Once Douglas had rung off, Zoe was struck by a compulsion to get in touch with Sergeant Trent. She knew she mustn’t, but felt driven to find out if the man arrested was indeed Kate’s mysterious client. Would the police get to the bottom of why he’d set fire to Kate’s house? In many ways this was the worst part of the whole affair, trying to imagine how Kate had provoked such hatred in another person that he would try to kill her.

She decided to leave all her non-urgent paperwork until tomorrow, and go home; suddenly an afternoon with no company except Mac seemed inviting. Twenty minutes later, as she stood up to leave, her mobile buzzed again with a text. It was from her father.
Heard news re Mackenzie firesetter. Hope she’s recovering. A

Once back at Keeper’s Cottage, Zoe scoured all the news websites she could find, including ScotlandsNews.Scot, in the hope of learning more about the arrest made by Police Scotland in connection with Kate’s fire. The only additional information she could glean told her the unnamed man came from the Edinburgh area. Still fighting the urge to call Sergeant Trent, she went out to the garage to distract herself with more clearing out of redundant possessions. Even then, she could think of little else, her mobile sitting on top of a box, goading her.

At last a call came from a constable wanting to make an appointment for Trent to see her. But not until Friday morning.

‘I’m surprised you’re no’ on maternity leave by now, hen,’ Thursday morning’s final patient said. Mr Griffiths’ grin, which suggested he thought he was being helpful, disintegrated as he was overtaken by another coughing fit. He took out a grey handkerchief and spat into it. Zoe felt sure she saw blood.

‘I’m going to refer you to a consultant in respiratory medicine at the BGH,’ she said firmly. The old man didn’t argue. He had become less combative in his recent visits, as if he knew it wasn’t pollen he should be worrying about.

He had a point, though. She could no longer kid herself that being this big wasn’t exhausting and problematic. Earlier, she’d struggled to reach the far side of a patient’s chest when he lay on the couch without her bump leaning up against him, which had embarrassed both of them. However, the situation with Walter made her regular attendance at the health centre vital, and anyway, what would she do if she gave up work now? Keeper’s Cottage was nearly ready for its new occupant, and she needed work to keep her mind off other things. Her anxiety about Kate wasn’t uppermost in her mind when she had patients to deal with, and she’d almost managed to forget her stalker. There had been no sign of him for more than a fortnight. Perhaps he’d lost interest in her.

As Thursday wore on and she received no word about Kate’s condition, Zoe’s earlier anxiety returned with a vengeance. Even if Etta hadn’t remained with Kate all day, Douglas had usually phoned by now to give her an update. She tried to stay positive but couldn’t help remembering one of her patients from years ago who had raced upstairs to save his children when their home caught fire. Rescued by firefighters in an embrace with his two daughters who were already dead, he suffered respiratory failure on the way to the hospital and was later found to be brain-damaged. He died of pneumonia a few months later. Tragedies happen. The Mackenzies had no immunity against them just because they were nice people.

She carried her mobile everywhere she went, but in the end it was the house phone that rang. In her rush to answer it, she almost tripped over the cat.

‘Hello, Zoe.’

‘Etta, what news?’

‘They . . . they think she’s going to be alright.’ Kate’s mother sounded close to tears. ‘She started getting agitated again and we feared the worst but then she woke up enough for me to tell her what had happened. She seemed to understand. She can’t speak—of course you know that—but she nodded and gave me one of her lovely smiles before going back to sleep.’

Zoe felt like crying with relief too. ‘Oh Etta, I’m so glad. Thanks for letting me know.’

‘I’ve come home to tell Ranald the news and spend a night in my own bed. One of the boys will take me back over tomorrow.’

‘If no one’s told Erskine Mather yet, would you mind if I did?’

‘He was there. Last night he came to find me and we had a long talk. What’s happened to Kate has made him realise how important she is to him. I’ve told Ranald we must get used to treating him like a member of this family.’

‘I’m pleased,’ Zoe said.

‘We’re not going to take the children over until the air-pipe in Kate’s neck has been removed. The girls may be scared by it.’

‘Unlike Frankie, who’d be fascinated and want to check the other patients to see if they had them too.’

Etta laughed. ‘The minute she’s properly awake, I’m sure Kate will want to see you.’

‘I’ll be over there as soon as you tell me she’s ready for visitors.’

Zoe was about to draw the conversation to a close when Etta asked, ‘Are you in tomorrow? Joan’s been baking non-stop since I went away. We have far too much, so I’ll send someone over with a few bits and pieces.’

‘Thank you, that would be lovely, but I’ve got a visitor in the morning and have to work in the afternoon.’

‘Tomorrow evening, then. I expect you could do with some more eggs too.’

After she got off the phone, Zoe made herself a cup of tea and sat for a while on the patio. She stared up at the darkening sky, letting the news that Kate was going to be alright sink in.

THIRTY-ONE

Unlike his previous visit, Sergeant Trent was late arriving at Keeper’s Cottage on Friday morning. Not very late but enough to make Zoe, who was anxious to hear about the man who’d been arrested, look out of her window for him every few minutes. When he eventually arrived, she was surprised to see Constable Geddes get out of the car too.

She let them in. Mac ignored Trent and went straight to the young constable, following him through the house. After declining coffee, Trent held up his briefcase. ‘We have another video identification parade for you to look at, Doctor.’

‘Am I more likely to recognise someone this time, Sergeant?’

Putting on a stern face, Trent said, ‘You know I can’t answer that. Come on, Geddes, you’re here to learn so why don’t you have a go at setting it up?’

The first subject Zoe was shown bore a close resemblance to the man she had been introduced to in John Lewis. His large-featured face suggested a well-built body, and his nose bulged about halfway down, suggesting it had once been broken. The second was less like him, his lips far too thin.

She knew who the third man was as soon as his head and shoulders came into view.

‘That’s him,’ she said, pointing at the laptop’s screen.

Geddes glanced at his superior, who nodded. ‘Where have you seen this person before?’ the constable asked.

‘He’s the man who I was introduced to by Kate Mackenzie in John Lewis. She believed him to be Simon Telford, and she was researching his family tree.’

Geddes beamed and went to close the laptop. Trent put out a hand. ‘Steady on. We must show the witness the rest of the video, remember?’

Zoe shot a sympathetic smile at the young policeman, then watched the screen in silence as she was shown another two men. The entire process was then repeated, and again she said, ‘That’s the man I believed to be Simon Telford,’ as the third image came up.

Trent shut the laptop. ‘You can take this back out to the car now,’ he told Geddes. ‘And check in, make sure there are no messages.’

Geddes looked ready to argue but nodded when Trent gave him a hard stare and left the room, Mac trailing behind him.

‘So you’ve got him?’ Zoe said as soon as they were alone.

‘Aye. This was just a formality. He’s already admitted doing it, and has been charged with fire-raising on the strength of the other evidence against him.’

‘Such as?’

‘He’d decanted petrol from his car into a washing-up liquid bottle which we found thrown into a hedge not far from the scene. This had his fingerprints on it, and the residue of fuel left inside was analysed and proven to match the petrol which started the fire. Better still, a drip of the same mix of fuel was found on the bottom of a pair of his trousers.’

‘Has he said why he did it?’

Trent chewed his lip, evidently debating with himself how much more he should tell her. She gave him a beseeching look. ‘Please.’

‘Well . . . he’s actually named Trevor Kennedy, and it was the real Simon Telford’s father who put us onto him. Trevor is also his son.’

Zoe gasped. ‘Oh my God. But Simon doesn’t know about him?’

‘No one does, apparently. The boy’s mother had a brief fling with her boss and Trevor was the result. Mr Telford has never publicly acknowledged him and it would appear Trevor’s become obsessed with making him do so.’

‘He thought getting a family tree would do the trick?’

‘It sounds misguided to us but to Trevor it made perfect sense. Simon’s mother is English, whereas his own is a Scot. In Trevor’s mixed-up mind, a family tree demonstrating he was continuing his father’s Celtic heritage would trump Simon being the legitimate but half-English son.’

‘No wonder he was so upset when Kate discovered the likelihood that only a few generations back his father’s family was English too. But I’ll never understand how he believed he was justified in trying to kill Kate because of it.’

‘He says he was just angry and hitting out at her property. He never intended to hurt anyone.’

Zoe snorted. ‘It was only luck the children weren’t there too.’

‘He swears he knocked on the door and when there was no reply—’

‘—she’s deaf, for goodness’ sake!’

‘You’re right, but he claims that when there was no reply, he assumed no one was home.’ Seeing the expression on Zoe’s face, Trent added, ‘It’s all bollocks, of course, and he’ll be going away for a long time, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it. Ironically, in a way his plan’s worked, because his father’s the one who’s paying for his fancy solicitor.’

‘Have you told the Mackenzies? They’ll feel a lot better if they know the person responsible has actually admitted he did it.’

Trent didn’t get a chance to answer Zoe’s question because Constable Geddes rushed back into the room. ‘I’m sorry, Doctor, but your dog’s got out. He’s headed off down the road.’

‘Oh no,’ Zoe said, pushing herself up out of her chair.

‘Don’t just stand there, son,’ Trent said. ‘Who left the door open, eh? Get after him.’

‘It’s not a busy road but cars do tend to speed along it,’ Zoe said.

‘Don’t you worry, we’ll bring him back,’ Trent said. He followed Geddes out of the house. By the time Zoe had walked the short distance to the road and looked up and down it in both directions, there was no sign of either Mac or his pursuers. He’d only done this once before, but today was a lesson: she’d have to put up a front fence and gate before long, to be sure of keeping both her dog and her child safe.

She heard someone call her name and turned to see Trent coming back towards Keeper’s Cottage followed by Geddes, who clung on to Mac’s collar. She went to meet them.

‘There’s a dead badger on the side of the road up there,’ Geddes said. ‘He must’ve smelt it.’

‘Bad boy,’ Zoe scolded, bending towards the dog then recoiling. ‘Ugh!’

‘Aye, he was rolling on it,’ Geddes said. ‘They do that.’

Persuading Mac to walk into the shower and stay there while she sprayed him down proved problematic, especially as just water did nothing to remove the stink of dead badger from his coat. In the end, Zoe had to use some of her own shampoo on him. Her dress clung to her stomach by the time she’d rinsed off the final suds, and the parts of her which had managed to stay dry were then drenched when Mac shook himself as soon as she released him.

They both went outside to sit in the sun, though it soon proved too hot and they sought out the shade, Mac under a bush, Zoe under the umbrella. The next time she looked at her mobile it was gone noon. Helen’s funeral would be underway now. She wondered how Andrew was bearing up.

Paul had insisted on taking both surgeries that day. ‘Things have quietened down now, with people going away on holiday. Rest up while you have the chance.’ She had only half-heartedly argued with him, and was pleased to be able to spend the afternoon reading and ordering a few baby basics online.