Scott Mariani - The Pretender’s Gold

‘All the same, I have a photo of him, if you wouldn’t mind taking a look. Might ring a bell.’

She shrugged. ‘Sure, but like I say, I’m pretty sure he hasn’t come in here.’

It seemed like a long shot, but Ben took out his phone and went to his stored images. The picture of Boonzie was a few years old, taken when Ben had visited him and Mirella at their place in Italy, but he was confident that Holly would recognise him if she’d seen him. There was only one Boonzie McCulloch in the world and he didn’t change much. Ben angled the phone so Holly could see. She leaned further forward across the bar, squashing her chest on the counter and tickling his hand with the dangling tips of her hair. The images were stored in date order with the most recent first. He’d have to scroll all the way back to near the beginning to get to the one he wanted to show her.

But Holly stopped him dead when she saw the very first picture, Ben’s most recent addition to the file. It was the image of Ewan’s gold coin that Mirella had emailed him earlier that afternoon. Holly spotted it and instantly said, ‘Hey, that looks familiar. Did you find buried treasure too?’

Ben stared at her. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘That.’ She pointed at the picture with a long, glittery nail. ‘It’s not every day you see bling like that getting flashed around. Is it real? Looks real. Just like the other.’

‘When did you see something like this before?’

She pulled away from the phone, as if she’d seen enough. ‘Och, just a few days ago. He was sitting right there, on the same stool you are.’

‘Who was sitting here?’

Holly’s brow creased into a frown and she hesitated before replying, ‘Ross Campbell.’

‘Ross Campbell, the fellow who drowned?’

She nodded sadly, still frowning. ‘You must have heard about it back home where you come from, aye?’ As though accidental drownings in remote parts of Scotland were big news internationally. ‘That was awfy. I didn’t really know Ross that well, but I was so upset when I heard.’ Holly thought about it for a moment, then added in an undertone, ‘You know, some folks’re calling it suicide. But I don’t believe it. When he was in here that night he looked way too pleased wi’ himself to be the suicidal type.’

‘Explain this to me,’ Ben said. ‘Ross Campbell was in here a few nights ago and had a gold coin with him, just like the one in the photo? Is that what you’re saying?’

Holly nodded again. ‘Aye, must’ve been a day or two before … before it happened. Maybe even the very day before. I don’t remember.’

‘And you actually saw the coin?’

‘He showed it to me.’ There was nothing in her eyes but blank sincerity. She was telling the truth.

‘What for?’

‘Well, he was a wee bit pissed, to be honest. Kept going on about he’d struck it rich, found the mother lode, all that. Said he was gonnae leave this shitehole, go off to a tropical beach and never come back again. Asked me to come wi’ him. Me. Can you believe that?’ she added with a brief, wistful smile. ‘And then he was dead.’

‘He had just the one coin?’

She shook her head. ‘That’s all he showed me, but he said he had a whole load more stashed away somewhere. I wiz teasin’ him about it, said, “Ross Campbell, where’d you go gettin’ yer hands on a big pile o’ gold?”’

‘And what did he say to that?’

‘Wouldnae tell me. Said it was his big secret, and he was the only one who knew about it. I said, “No much of a secret if ye’re bletherin’ on about it in this bloody place.”’

Ben had forgotten all about showing Holly the picture of Boonzie. This was more important. Now the gold trail led back to Ewan McCulloch’s dead business partner and the whole mystery had just grown deeper. More significantly, the single coin had turned into a whole stash of them. And if Holly’s account was right, it also meant that Ross alone knew the secret of where the gold had come from. Which implied that Ewan had known little or nothing about any of this himself. He might not even have stumbled across the coin until after Ross’s death.

Ben was about to ask her more questions, but he never got the chance. Because at that moment he felt a large, heavy presence come up behind him and a loud voice said, ‘What’s all this fuckin’ shite aboot Ross Campbell?’

Ben turned. The guy with the flame tattoos was back, and he didn’t look very happy.

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