Ann Cleeves - Thin Air

Or fund her habit , Sandy thought.

‘And I only have so much to give, Sandy. I had to make a choice. Between my birth mother and the mother who took me on thirty years ago.’

‘You made the right decision.’ He wished he could tell Louisa how much he admired her, but it was all he could think of to say.

‘I’m sure I did, but it doesn’t stop me thinking about the other woman occasionally.’ She got to her feet. Obviously she’d decided it was time for him to go. ‘This was the easy choice. Running away north to be in my comfort zone. It feels a bit cowardly.’

‘You made the right decision.’ He repeated the words slowly, hoping that she might believe him this time.

‘Is this all you came for, Sandy? To ask me about a children’s song. You could have done that over the phone.’

‘I was glad of the excuse to spend some time with you,’ he said. ‘And pleased to escape from the investigation for a while.’

There was another awkward silence, broken by the sound of Mavis’s gentle snoring. He glanced out to the garden to see if her birds were still feeding on the table, but the mist had come in again and it was hard to make out anything other than grey shapes that looked more like bats than birds. Louisa walked with him to his car. There was a chill in the air and he thought some years there was no real summer at all.

‘Does the name Monica mean anything to you?’ he asked suddenly. ‘It’s cropped up in our inquiries. Maybe a character involved in the Peerie Lizzie legend in some way.’

Louisa shook her head. ‘It doesn’t sound like a local name,’ she said. ‘Not a traditional name certainly. I don’t think anyone living in the islands at the time of Peerie Lizzie would be called that. Though I have a feeling that I might have heard it recently.’

‘Will you get in touch if you remember where that might have been?’

‘Of course, Sandy. You gave me your number when you were last at the school. I’ll phone you if anything comes to mind.’

They stood without speaking again, frozen by a sudden embarrassment. ‘I should go back,’ Louisa said, ‘just in case my mother wakes up.’

Sandy leaned forward and kissed her cheek. He thought he must look like one of the garden birds pecking at seed. ‘Thank you. It was kind of you to see me. After I was horrid to you all those years ago. I’m sorry about that.’

She gave a laugh, very natural and giggly like a schoolgirl’s. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Sandy Wilson. It was never you that my father threatened to thrash for breaking my heart. It was Billy Leask. I told you that my mother gets confused.’

This time he was the one who was blushing. He got into his car and was just about to close the door when she said. ‘Come back, Sandy. Whenever you need a break from your work. And don’t go back to Lerwick without coming to say goodbye.’

Waiting for the ferry to Unst, he wondered what Jimmy Perez would make of his disappearing to Yell without telling anyone or asking permission. Then he thought that Jimmy would probably understand.

Willow and Perez were alone in the kitchen of Springfield House. Sandy had left a message to say that he was going to Yell to check with the teacher if any of the local kids had learned Peerie Lizzie’s song as a party piece.

‘I’ve heard back from an old colleague who works for the Met,’ Willow said. ‘He’s been digging around into the financial affairs of Bright Star.’

‘And?’

‘You were right. Eleanor’s company was on the brink of failure. It was only the ghost commission that persuaded the banks to give her some slack.’

‘So she had that stress,’ Perez said, ‘as well as the loss of the baby.’

Willow didn’t know how to reply to that. He always made her feel that she was cold, lacking in compassion. She wanted to talk to Perez about the case, not feel pity for a woman she’d never met. She was thinking about time, how it was slipping away from them, and her concern that at the end of the weekend they’d be forced to leave Unst and set up base in Lerwick. Then there wouldn’t be the same focus or concentration on the investigation. It would be a kind of failure. She’d just started trying to explain when David Gordon came in from the garden. He mumbled something that she could hardly make out: that he would take a tray to his room and wouldn’t see them again that evening. He stood just inside the room and seemed set to grab a sandwich and run. There were smears of mud on his forehead and a rip in his checked shirt. The distinguished former academic had disappeared.

‘Come in,’ Willow said. ‘I was just going to make some tea.’

‘Is there any news?’ Now David’s voice was clearer – demanding, almost aggressive. ‘Do you know who killed Charles?’ He’d taken off his wellingtons at the door and wore thick white socks. He padded towards them and sat down at the table.

Willow didn’t reply directly. ‘Are you up to answering a few questions?’

‘If it’ll help.’

‘We found a digital recorder in the office. It had belonged to Eleanor and we know that it was in her possession on the day of the party. Any idea how it got from Sletts to Springfield?’

‘None. Unless Charles found it somewhere. It certainly has nothing to do with me.’ He looked up at her. ‘Could the woman have dropped it on the island?’

Like her phone . Willow couldn’t believe that. Eleanor wandering round Unst and dropping things wherever she went. Too much of a coincidence. ‘I suppose it’s possible.’ She poured tea and went to join him at the table. Perez was leaning against the bench. She thought again that he had the knack of making himself invisible. ‘More likely, don’t you think, that the two of them met up.’ Our two victims. Charles and Eleanor. Where did they meet, and what could they have had to say to each other?

‘Charles had already told you that he never set up a meeting.’

‘And you told us that you thought Charles was making plans, keeping secrets from you.’ Willow’s voice was sharp. She wanted to jolt David Gordon into a response. ‘Perhaps he was keeping secrets from us too, telling lies, and he and Eleanor got together on the afternoon of the hamefarin’. Are you sure she didn’t come here? She had use of a car and it’s not so far from Sletts.’

David shook his head. ‘We were catering for a fortieth birthday that day. Lunch and afternoon tea, and lots of the guests stayed over. We were both busy for most of the afternoon. I don’t think Charles would have had a moment to slip away to a meeting until late in the evening, and by that time of course the party would have been well under way in the Meoness community hall.’

‘I don’t suppose any of Caroline’s family spent the night here?’ Willow thought it would be the kind of place southerners might like to stay.

Again David shook his head. ‘Caroline asked if we could put up a few of her guests, but we were already full. The birthday party.’

‘And you weren’t invited to the hamefarin’?’ Willow thought that was odd. Grusche baked for them and supplied their eggs. This was a close community and usually everyone would be asked along.

‘We were invited, but we didn’t go. Charles said he might slip out later; he was always up for a celebration. The last thing I needed after a full day in the hotel was being dragged around the dance floor.’ He gave a self-deprecating shrug. ‘As you can imagine, I’m not much of a dancer. Not much of a party animal at all. Charles loved dancing and seemed to remember the steps when he’d only been told them once.’

‘Do you think Charles could have called into the hamefarin’ when you’d sorted out your visitors here?’ Nobody had seen him, Willow thought, and he wasn’t on the guest list supplied by Caroline, but he might have put in a brief appearance. Any proof that the two victims had met would give them something to work on.