Smokeheads (16 page)

They sat in a beige room with cheap plastic furniture waiting for a doctor to examine them. Outside the dirty window they could see Eric sitting in his police car reading a paper and smoking a pipe. Wasn’t there a law against smoking in work vehicles?

‘Think he suspects anything?’ Adam said to Molly.

Molly looked out the window. ‘Maybe, but I’m more worried about the mainland police. I don’t know if anyone on Islay was working with Joe and Grant, but even if they were, they’d surely just want all this to go away after what’s happened.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘You don’t know what it’s like living on an island. There’s a certain mentality, a community feeling. We’ve always been separate from the mainland, they’ve ignored us for centuries, that’s just the way we like it. We like to sort things out our own way.’

‘I thought you didn’t like it here that much?’

‘I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not part of it.’

‘So if you islanders look out for each other, where does that leave me and Roddy?’

Molly frowned. ‘Let’s just concentrate on the mainland cops coming over on the ferry. For all we know, they could be the same guys we saw last night in the speedboat, couldn’t they?’

‘Shit.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Couldn’t you organise a
Wicker Man
reception for them?’ said Adam, smiling.

Molly laughed. ‘I wish.’

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

‘I can’t believe no one missed me,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Twenty-four hours in hell and no one even texted to see if I was OK. No one even knew I was gone.’

Adam dug his phone out. Four bars on the signal now, battery fine, no calls or texts.

‘Snap,’ he said, laughing grimly. ‘We really are a couple of sadsacks, aren’t we?’

‘Speak for yourself,’ said Molly, nudging him in the ribs.

‘Ow.’

The door opened and a stocky young woman wearing a white coat came in.

‘Molly, you OK?’ she said in a concerned voice.

‘Hi, Carol,’ said Molly. ‘We’re both doing fine, I think.’

Molly turned to Adam. ‘This is Carol, Dr Mackay. Carol, this is Adam.’

‘Quite something you’ve been through,’ said Carol in a fussy voice. ‘Can’t believe you were out there all night. And after a crash like that. How do you feel?’

‘Fine,’ said Molly. ‘Pretty tired, but OK.’

The doctor examined them, taking blood pressure and temperature, checking eyes, ears and throats, asking about aches and pains, checking fingers and toes. Adam stared at his hands as Carol held them, thinking about the microscopic fragments of Luke’s brain probably stuck under his nails. He felt a shiver run through him, making Carol stop.

‘Are you sure you’re OK?’

Adam nodded. ‘Just need some sleep.’

Carol nodded too. ‘Terrible business about your friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in shock. Horrible, just horrible. Here’s hoping they find the one that’s still out there.’

Adam looked at Molly, who spoke. ‘Eric didn’t think there would be much chance of survival.’

Carol shrugged. ‘You never know with these things.’ She looked out the window. ‘Did Eric tell you about Joe and Grant?’

Molly sighed. ‘He mentioned it.’

‘Shocking, really shocking,’ said Carol. ‘Had the bodies in here earlier, what a state. Almost nothing left of them. They haven’t formally identified them, but their badges were on the scene, so they’re pretty sure.’

‘I see.’

Carol looked at Molly. ‘I know you and Joe weren’t … well anyway, it’s still horrific.’

‘Yeah.’

Carol shook her head. ‘Nothing happens around here for years at a time, and now suddenly two tragic incidents within a few miles of each other on the same night. An amazing coincidence, don’t you think?’

Adam felt his jaw clench.

Molly looked Carol in the eye. ‘Amazing.’

Adam butted in. ‘Any news on Roddy? The guy with the shoulder injury?’

‘Dr Stuart said he must’ve had some balls,’ said Carol. ‘Sitting with that in his shoulder for almost twenty-four hours.’

‘Yeah,’ said Adam. ‘He’s quite something.’

‘I know Dr Stuart is taking him into surgery at the moment, I can go and find out the latest, if you like.’

‘That would be great,’ said Adam, giving her a feeble smile.

As she bustled out of the room, he turned to Molly.

‘Reckon we can keep this up?’ he said.

‘What choice do we have?’

‘I keep forgetting I’m supposed to be hoping they find Luke,’ said Adam. ‘This is a nightmare.’

They sat in silence for a while, too exhausted to speak. Adam felt his eyes begin to close, a thick wooziness sweeping over him. Confused pictures began swirling round and merging in his mind, images of the crash, Ethan face down in the rockpool, Joe grinning at them, Luke slumped on the floor, Molly bent over the cask, the chase through the geese, drowning under ice, Joe rolling around on the floor engulfed in flames, Luke’s terrible missing face, the still burning in the night, the grimly comical sight of them struggling with the barrel along the coast, it all merged into a sickening whole, a dizzying mess of vivid, lurid nightmares, endlessly repeating over and over till he felt like screaming.

He snapped awake as the door opened, Carol coming back in. He looked round and saw Molly curled up asleep on the floor. He looked at the time on his phone. He’d been out for almost an hour.

‘Sorry I took so long,’ said Carol quietly, looking at Molly sleeping. ‘You can go and see your friend now.’

‘Is he OK?’

She tiptoed over to a cabinet and took out a rough woollen blanket, placing it gently over Molly.

‘He’s out of surgery,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know if he’ll be conscious or not. Dr Stuart says he’s an extremely fit guy, otherwise it could’ve been a lot worse. There’s still a slim chance he could lose the arm, though. There’s a big risk of septicaemia. You can’t walk around with metal sticking out of your shoulder and not expect to get a serious infection.’

‘But he’s going to be OK, yeah?’

Carol nodded and held the door open for him. They both looked at Molly asleep on the floor, something like a smile touching the corners of her mouth. How the hell can she be happy? thought Adam. How can any of us be happy? How can any of us sleep soundly ever again?

He dragged his eyes away from her and tiptoed out of the room.

Even with extensive blood loss, possible poisoning and a totally fucked arm, Roddy still somehow managed to look good. He was topless, the entire right side of his chest and shoulder heavily bandaged, all the way down to his elbow. His flat stomach and rippling muscles were sickening to Adam, and while his face was pale, the skin tone on his body suggested he’d just come off the beach. Which he had, of course.

Roddy was sleeping with a peaceful look on his face. Adam stood over him, examining the faint lines bunched around his eyes. They’d been friends for twenty years. Over that time they’d both changed beyond recognition, but they’d somehow stayed in each other’s orbit. How had that happened? Adam thought about how he felt when he briefly thought Roddy was dead back at the crash site. They seemed to need each other, a symbiotic relationship which didn’t necessarily do either of them any good. Or did it? Adam got to feel morally superior, while Roddy got to flaunt his successful lifestyle in Adam’s face. Or maybe it was the other way around – Adam got to reinforce his loser status by witnessing Roddy’s success, while Roddy caught the occasional glimpse of what life could’ve been if he’d had a moral compass. Whatever, they certainly had something to keep them together now, this whole horrific escapade. This struggle for survival would tether them to each other until the grave.

Roddy’s eyes flickered then opened. He rolled his head to the side and looked at his bandaged arm, then turned to Adam.

‘I’m gonna miss that piece of shit metal spike,’ he said, grimacing through a smile.

‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like I’ve just spent twenty-four hours running around the wilderness with a bit of car in my shoulder, trying not to get killed by a maniac.’

Adam looked round at the open door, then went to close it.

‘That never happened, of course,’ he said.

‘Of course,’ said Roddy. ‘What the fuck do you take me for?’

‘I just wanted to make sure you were clear about our story,’ said Adam. ‘You were pretty out of it back there sometimes.’

‘All thanks to Uncle Charlie. What happened to my case, by the way?’

Adam shook his head. ‘I chucked it over the side of the lifeboat while you were out for the count. Thought it was for the best.’

‘Shame, I could do with some now,’ said Roddy, his body tensing as he shifted his weight.

‘Here,’ said Adam, lifting a button attached to a drip going into Roddy’s hand. ‘The nurse showed me, this is morphine. You press it to get more.’

Roddy grinned. ‘Drugs on tap? That’s a fucking sweet deal.’

He pressed the button and waited a few seconds. He stared at Adam, his eyes widening then narrowing. ‘Oh fuck, that’s good shit.’ He sank into his pillows.

‘So,’ said Adam. ‘Our story?’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Roddy dreamily. ‘We crashed. Found Ethan. Luke missing. Set a fire and sat around all night till morning. Simple.’

‘Cool,’ said Adam. ‘They’ve found Joe and Grant already.’

Roddy gazed glassily through the morphine. ‘I knew they would. A fire that size was bound to attract attention. What’re they saying?’

‘We spoke to that copper Eric that Molly knows.’

‘Did you tell him what really happened?’

Adam shook his head. ‘Molly thought it best to just stick to our story with him too.’

‘Clever girl,’ said Roddy. ‘She’s right. Can’t be too careful. The fewer people know the truth the better.’

‘I don’t think anyone is linking us to the fire at the still, not yet anyway. I get the impression that the other Islay cops weren’t in on the bootlegging thing. Molly seems to reckon they’ll just want it all to go away, so they’re not looking too hard for reasons not to brush it under the carpet.’

‘It can’t be that easy?’

‘It’s not,’ said Adam, shaking his head. ‘Cops are coming from the mainland to look into it. Eric reckons they’ll want to speak to us.’

‘Right.’

‘Oh, a lifeboat and a couple of coastguard boats are sweeping the coast off the Oa, searching for Luke. Remember to look hopeful that they find him.’

‘They’re surely not expecting to find him alive after this time?’

‘No, they’re searching for the body, really. Fingers crossed they don’t find it for a while. Even if they do, hopefully we’ve done enough that forensics won’t twig.’

‘Depends how good a job you made of getting that bullet out.’

‘I got it out fine, OK?’

‘OK, only fucking saying.’

‘Well don’t bother,’ said Adam. ‘You have no idea what I went through when you were out cold back there.’

Roddy looked at his shoulder. ‘I kind of had my own shit to worry about, you know.’

Adam could feel his heart racing and made a conscious effort to calm down. ‘I know. Look, we just have to stay calm and stick to what we said, OK?’

‘Not a problem.’

The door opened and Eric poked his head round. He looked at Roddy. ‘How you doing, son?’

‘Not too bad, considering.’

‘That’s good.’ Eric looked at Adam. ‘Can you follow me please, Mr Strachan? A couple of gentlemen from Strathclyde CID in Glasgow have arrived and want to have a quick word with you.’ He turned back to Roddy. ‘Then they want to speak with you, Mr Hunter, if you’re up to it?’

‘Sure,’ said Roddy.

Adam patted Roddy on his good shoulder and gave him a furtive glance. Roddy smiled and pressed the button for more morphine, sinking further into his bed covers.

‘That is good shit,’ he said to himself as Adam headed out the door.

‘I believe you’ve been through quite an ordeal.’

Adam was back in the same beige room as before, facing a tall, muscular man with a square jaw and close-cropped hair. No uniform, but he’d shown Adam his ID, Detective Inspector Ritchie. The guy looked more like a bouncer than a copper, though was there really much difference?

‘Where’s Molly?’

The DI gave him a look. ‘Ms Gillespie is giving her version of events to my colleague.’

‘Version of events?’

‘Just routine,’ said Ritchie. ‘With any incident like this, we want to establish the chain of events, make sure we know exactly what happened.’

‘But it was just a car accident.’

Ritchie smiled, no warmth in it.

‘A car accident resulting in one fatality, one serious injury and one missing person, presumed dead.’

‘Presumed dead?’

‘You strike me as an intelligent man,’ said Ritchie. ‘If your friend has been in the water since the crash, he has very little chance of survival at this time of year.’

‘If?’

Ritchie stared at Adam. ‘Presuming you never saw him in the water, how do you know for sure that’s where he ended up?’

Adam’s mind raced. ‘We searched all over for him after the crash, didn’t find anything.’

‘Maybe he woke up first, went to get help but got into trouble.’

Adam frowned. ‘What kind of trouble?’

‘You tell me.’

Adam looked at Ritchie. ‘He wouldn’t have gone off without helping us first. He would’ve woken us. When I came round, Molly and Roddy were still in the car, they needed to be got out. He would’ve done that, not just wandered off.’

‘Maybe he was concussed and confused.’

‘He wouldn’t just wander off.’

‘Or maybe he got out of the car before it went over the cliff.’

‘What?’ Adam could feel himself getting flustered. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Maybe he realised you were heading over a cliff, and somehow got out before the car went over.’

Adam shook his head. ‘Then he would’ve gone for help, wouldn’t he?’

‘We just have to consider all the possibilities,’ said Ritchie. The DI was absent-mindedly staring out the grimy window. ‘You understand that, don’t you?’

‘Of course.’

Ritchie turned back. ‘So, tell me what happened in your own words.’

‘Doesn’t there have to be two of you present for a police interview?’ said Adam.

Ritchie smiled. ‘I think you’ve been watching too much
Taggart
, Mr Strachan. This isn’t a formal interview, just a little chat to establish what happened. There’s no need to be so defensive.’

‘I’m not being defensive,’ said Adam, his blood pumping faster.

‘So tell me what happened.’

‘We were driving back from Stremnishmore, and …’

‘What were you doing there?’

Adam took a moment. ‘Looking at the old distillery.’

‘Why?’

‘What does this have to do with anything?’

‘Context, Mr Strachan.’

‘Fine, I had plans to renovate it, get it working again.’

‘And?’

Adam stared at Ritchie. ‘I was trying to persuade Roddy to invest in the idea.’

‘I take it from your tone he said no.’

Adam nodded. ‘We were on our way back when a sheep came out of nowhere, and Roddy swerved to avoid it. Unfortunately we were right at the edge of the cliff, and went over.’

‘Mr Hunter was driving?’

‘Yes.’

‘Had he been drinking?’

‘What?’

‘It’s a simple question. Had Mr Hunter been drinking?’

Adam thought back to the hipflask Roddy was glugging from as he drove.

‘No,’ he said.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Pretty sure.’

‘Had he been taking any drugs?’

‘What’s this all about?’

Ritchie stared hard at Adam. ‘A blood sample taken from Mr Hunter during surgery reveals a high level of cocaine in his system.’

Adam felt the air buzz around him. ‘You’d have to take that up with Roddy.’

‘I’m asking you.’

‘And I’m telling you I don’t know anything about it. Look, we’ve been through a hell of a lot here, I don’t need you …’

Ritchie raised a placating hand. ‘Settle down, Mr Strachan, I’m only asking a few questions.’

Adam could feel his pulse in his forehead, thumping away. Without realising it, he pressed the button on his broken watch. Serenity now.

‘So,’ said Ritchie. ‘You’re a whisky expert.’

‘Not so much an expert,’ said Adam. ‘More an enthusiastic amateur.’

‘And you wanted to start a distillery.’

‘That was the plan.’

‘Had any previous experience of distilling?’

‘No.’

‘Not even a little moonshine set-up at home?’

Adam realised he was rubbing at his hands, picking under his fingernails. He made a conscious effort to stop.

‘That would be illegal.’

‘That’s a no, then?’

‘That’s a no.’

‘Do you know anything about illegal stills?’

‘Why would you ask something like that?’

Ritchie looked out the window. ‘Just chatting.’ He turned. ‘So, back to the crash. What happened next?’

Adam rubbed his forehead. ‘I woke first. I’d been thrown clear, landed further up the slope. I found Molly and Roddy in the car, got them both out. Then we went looking for the others. I found Ethan, his head was totally …’ He stopped to take a breath. ‘We took his body back to the car and waited there.’

‘See, this is what I don’t quite understand.’

‘What?’

‘You just sat there all night waiting by the car?’

‘That’s right.’

‘You didn’t think to go and get help?’

‘We couldn’t get back up the cliff.’

‘But you could’ve walked round the coast. Maybe found a way up.’

‘We didn’t think Roddy was up to it, he was pretty badly injured. And we didn’t want to just leave him.’

‘So you didn’t leave the scene of the accident at all?’

‘Except to search for Luke in the surrounding area, no.’

‘You didn’t head west along the coast for a few miles.’

‘I told you, no. What are you talking about?’

‘I’m surprised you haven’t heard from the local busybodies.’

‘Heard what?’

‘Your friend Ethan was not the only person to die on the Oa last night.’

‘What do you mean?’

Ritchie examined Adam closely. Adam felt his stomach clench and he struggled to swallow.

‘There was an incident a few miles along the coast.’

‘What kind of incident?’

‘Two bodies found in a burnt-out building.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Adam, his voice sounding flat in his own ears.

‘It was an illegal still.’

Adam raised his eyebrows. ‘That’s what the whisky questions were about? You think I had something to do with that? Come on.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘No, but you’re bloody well implying it.’

Ritchie stared at him. ‘So you never came across an illegal still last night.’

‘I told you, we didn’t leave the car.’

Ritchie looked away. ‘I believe you were acquainted with the people we found in the still.’

Adam could hardly breathe. ‘I doubt it, I don’t really know anyone here. I’ve only been on the island for two days.’

‘They were police officers,’ said Ritchie. ‘Joe McInnes and Grant Nichol. You had an altercation with them in the Ardview Inn on Friday night.’

‘Those two? I wouldn’t say I knew them.’

‘You knew them enough to throw punches at them.’

‘They attacked us, completely unprovoked.’

‘You were having a drink with McInnes’s wife.’

‘Ex-wife,’ said Adam. ‘And I didn’t think having a drink with someone was a bloody crime.’

‘And police records have a note of Mr Hunter receiving a speeding ticket from McInnes earlier in the day.’

‘I don’t know what you’re getting at here.’

‘Why was Ms Gillespie in the car with you yesterday?’

‘What?’

‘I was wondering why someone you’d just met was going with you to a disused distillery.’

‘I’ve met Molly on previous trips to Islay.’

‘So you knew her when she was still McInnes’s wife?’

‘It’s not like that,’ said Adam, feeling sweat under his arms and on his palms. ‘You’re twisting everything round.’

‘I’m just trying to work out what your relationship is with these people.’

‘I don’t have one.’

‘And yet Ms Gillespie was in the car yesterday.’

‘She just came along for the ride.’ Adam could hear his voice rising, couldn’t stop it. ‘I’d told her my plans for the distillery, she wanted to see the place.’

‘So she was just unlucky to be in the car when you crashed.’

‘We were all pretty bloody unlucky, don’t you think?’

Ritchie examined his fingernails calmly.

‘So, back to the crash.’

‘Jesus, I’ve told you everything.’

‘You waited at the car all night.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Setting it on fire to create a smoke signal?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And the fire burned all night?’

‘Yeah.’

‘How?’

‘What?’

‘How did you keep it going all night?’

‘We found a canister of petrol in the boot.’

‘And that was enough to keep it going all night?’

‘We had to ration it, we didn’t know when we would be found, if at all.’

‘Don’t you think it’s a bit odd that you had a smoke signal going all night, but no one saw it till morning?’

Adam shrugged. ‘It’s pretty remote out there. I don’t suppose many folk are out and about on the Oa at night in the middle of winter.’

Ritchie gave him a sideways look. ‘So you didn’t see anything while you waited there.’

‘Like what?’

‘I don’t know, you tell me.’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘You didn’t see any boats out at sea?’

‘Boats?’

‘Yes.’

Adam shook his head, thinking of the police speedboat. ‘If we’d seen a boat, we would’ve tried to get their attention, wouldn’t we?’

‘So you didn’t see anything out at sea the whole time you were there.’

Adam shook his head again.

‘And you didn’t see any smoke or flames round the coast to the west?’

‘From this illegal still, you mean?’

‘Precisely.’

‘Nothing. We were pretty much concentrating on trying to stay warm and stay alive, you know.’

‘So you don’t know anything about the still?’

‘We’ve been over this already,’ Adam said, getting angry. ‘If we were there, wouldn’t there be some evidence of that?’

‘Don’t worry, a forensic team is on its way from the mainland to examine the scene.’

Adam swallowed hard, struggled to breathe. He felt incredibly hot. ‘Well, if they come up with anything, which they won’t, we can chat again then.’

Ritchie watched him closely. Silence buzzed around the room.

‘Do you know how many suspicious deaths there have been in Islay in the last twenty years?’ Ritchie said eventually.

‘Of course I don’t.’

‘Before last night, none.’

‘So what?’

‘So you don’t think it’s a little odd?’

‘What?’

‘That not one single person has died in strange circumstances for twenty years in the whole of this island, then suddenly two separate incidents within five miles of each other throw up three, probably four, dead bodies?’

‘There is such a thing as coincidence, you know.’

‘In my line of work, coincidences almost always turn out to be connected. So I’m wondering if these two incidents are really coincidental at all.’

‘I can assure you they are.’

‘Can you?’

‘Yes.’ Adam stuck his chin out in an act of defiance he didn’t really feel. ‘Look, are we finished here? Any chance I can go and get some sleep? I’ve been through a pretty traumatic experience, you know, I don’t need all this bullshit.’

‘You’re free to go, Mr Strachan. We have your details. Please don’t leave the island until we’ve finished our inquiries.’

‘I have got a life to get back to, you know.’

Ritchie glanced at him. ‘But of course you’ll want to stay until the coastguard have finished their search for your friend?’

Adam blinked, his eyelids heavy as slabs. ‘Of course.’

‘We’ll be in touch again soon, once forensics have taken a look at the two sites.’

‘You do that,’ said Adam, heading out the door as calmly as he could. He felt his legs shake beneath him and hoped he would get out of sight before they gave way.