Кит Мори - Flotsam and Jetsam

‘So really,’ she said at last, ‘the way I see it, we have seven burglaries of assorted antiques, family knick-knacks, a couple of computer thefts, then there was the break-in at the Chronicle . And, of course, there is this dog and cat business.’

At the mention of this Crusoe momentarily lifted his head and wagged his tail a few times before lying down again and closing his eyes.

‘He’s just showing that he’s on the ball,’ Torquil grinned. ‘But although this murder investigation must take priority, we can’t let these other things slip.’ He turned to the big constable.

‘Ewan, you can do a bit of following up on the burglaries to show that we’ve made a start and are taking home crime seriously.’

‘Aye that’s it, Torquil. Give the big lad a bit of air. He fairly likes gadding about the island on his mum’s old Nippy moped,’ Wallace teased.

‘I’ll give you gadding about, Wallace Drummond,’ Ewan retorted.

‘Do you want us to look into this cat and dog affair then, boss?’ Douglas asked.

Torquil considered for a moment then shook his head. ‘No, I think that Crusoe and I will take a closer look at that when we have the time. It feels personal ever since he came to live with us.’

‘So it’s the Chronicle case then?’

Again Torquil shook his head. ‘No, I started that and I’ll keep it under my wing, too. But we’ll let him stew a little bit, I think.’ Then he grinned. ‘It will be good for him. Besides, I have another idea to teach the wee man a lesson.’ He clapped his hands and stood up abruptly. ‘In fact, no time like the present. I’ll just pop through to my office for a couple of minutes, and then we’ll pool all the information we have about Dr Dent’s murder. Ewan, get the whiteboard ready, will you?’

Ewan wheeled the whiteboard that they used for major cases to the end of the room while the twins moved the table tennis table that they used for occasional recreation against the wall. Morag got out fresh ink markers and laid out paper and pencils for note making. By the time they had the room ready for the meeting Torquil had come back rubbing his hands with glee. Crusoe trotted loyally at his heels.

‘You look pleased, boss,’ said Douglas.

‘Fairly. Let’s just say that phase one has gone smoothly. Now let’s get cracking.’

Torquil picked up a marker and went to the whiteboard. In the middle he wrote DR DIGBY DENT and surrounded it with a circle. Then he added underneath: MURDERED, HEAD INJURY, DROWNED.

And underneath that BODY BEEN MOVED.

‘OK, brainstorming time. What do we know?’

‘He was the midge man,’ said Morag.

‘He was rude,’ added Ewan.

‘He got drunk on that TV show,’ Douglas volunteered.

Wallace glanced at Morag, and then said, ‘He was arrested and held here until he sobered up.’

‘I found him up on the moor,’ Ewan said mournfully, his face going pale at the thought. ‘My hammer was just inches from his head and I thought I had killed him.’

Torquil held up his hand. ‘OK, that’s enough now. Let me get this all down.’

He began making one line notes of all the suggestions so far under the name of Dr Dent, then to the left he wrote FLOTSAM & JETSAM and enclosed it in a square. Underneath it he wrote the names Fergie and Chrissie and circled each.

‘He was rude, as Ewan says. And he came in here to complain about Bruce McNab and his fishing and hunting clients.’

To the right of Dr Dent’s name he wrote FISHING PARTY, put it in a square, and then underneath drew four lines. Under the first he wrote Bruce McNab, circled it, under the second added Sandy King and circled it as well.

‘Who were the others, Morag?’

Morag checked her notes of the meeting she had. ‘Mr Dan Farquarson and Hugh Thompson. They called Thompson Wee Hughie, which is a bit of a misnomer, since he’s built like a proverbial.’

Torquil added the names and circled them, adding Morag’s details underneath. He looked over at her and noticed the blush that had crept into her cheeks. ‘Are you all right, Morag? You look flushed.’

‘Ah, that’s love, boss,’ said Douglas. ‘Tell him, Morag.’

‘Tell me what?’ Torquil asked.

‘I – er – I have been asked out for a drink by Sandy King. Is that a problem, do you think?’

Torquil stared at her for a moment then shrugged. ‘I don’t see any problem, except he is on this board.’

‘But he’s not a suspect, is he, Torquil?’ Wallace queried.

‘We haven’t got as far as making anyone a suspect, Wallace. But we just need to bear this in mind.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘Who knows? It might even be useful.’

He turned his attention to the board again. ‘It isn’t a lot to go on, is it? We’ll need to check things out with the University of the Highlands.’ And so saying he added U of H to the notes underneath the name of Dr Dent.

‘Which reminds me,’ he said after a moment, ‘the Reverend Kenneth Canfield is on the island at the moment. He’s one of Lachlan’s golfing chums. He is the chaplain at the university.’ He added his name and circled it. ‘I’ll have a word with Lachlan and see if he knows anything of interest.’

‘Did Dr Dent have any relatives?’ Morag asked.

‘Not that I know of. Ralph McLelland contacted his GP and as far as they know he was a man on his own. No parents, no siblings, no cousins.’

‘So where do we go from here, boss?’ Wallace asked.

‘We gather as much information as we can. So let’s divvy things up. First we need to find out all that we can about Dent. I think that will mean a bit of phoning about. Morag that’s your forte, isn’t it?’

Morag pouted. ‘How did I guess you were going to say that?’

‘You know me, I think,’ Torquil replied. ‘Just as Wallace and Douglas know what I’m going to ask them to do.’ He looked expectantly at them.

‘It will be the heavy job,’ Wallace replied.

‘Or the dirtiest job,’ Douglas added. ‘But go on, boss, tell us. We’re up for anything.’

‘It’s not dirty and shouldn’t be hard either,’ Torquil returned. ‘I need you lads to go and check out Dent’s cottage. We just need to know that the place is secure.’

‘We can do that,’ Wallace said. ‘But what about Sherlock Holmes over there?’ he said, grinning at Ewan. ‘Isn’t he going to be given something to test his mettle?’

‘I’ll test your mettle, you long drip of—’

‘Ewan! Don’t rise to the bait,’ Torquil said calmly. ‘You’ve got an important series of jobs to do.’

‘Name it Torquil. I am keen to get whoever did this thing.’

‘It isn’t the Dr Dent case, Ewan. As I said, I want you to go and make a start with these burglaries. Then once we’ve got things up and running and we know a bit more about Dr Dent then you can come on board with the murder investigation.’

Ewan’s expression showed his disappointment, but he straightened. ‘Of course, sir. Whatever you say.’

‘And what are you going to do, Torquil?’ Morag asked.

Torquil reached down and scratched Crusoe’s head. ‘I am going to make a start on this cat and dog business. I am going to see Annie McConville first, then I am going to see if I can catch up on Uncle Lachlan to see if I can get hold of the Reverend Kenneth Canfield.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘Let’s aim to meet back here at lunch, and then we’ll see where we go next.’

Ewan made his way along Harbour Street on Nippy. The street was busy with both the market-stalls on the sea-wall side and the multi-coloured shops doing a brisk trade.

He was feeling a little peeved at being kept out of the murder investigation, especially since the Drummond twins had been given a job that he felt he, as the regular constable, should have been given.