The small ferry, p.6
The Small Ferry, page 6
Hope made her way through to the bedroom and looked at a single camp bed in a bare room. The carpet made the place look like a squatter’s den. That and the two bottles of whisky lolling around on the carpet, both empty.
‘Hope, come through to the other room; you need to see this!’ shouted Allinson.
Making her way to third room, Hope gasped as she entered. It was the utility room but the place was a mess. There was blood on the wall and many items had been knocked to the ground. The washing machine door was covered in red as if someone had smashed their head off it. The window, too, was smeared in blood. Carefully, Hope scanned the room, looking for anything significant but she could not find anything.
‘Is there anything else to this abode?’ asked Hope.
‘Shed out the back; I saw it on the way in. It’s nothing much, looks very run down.’
‘Let’s take a look.’
They exited the bungalow through the front door and walked around to the rear. Some two hundred metres away was a rough-looking shack that some may have called a shed. Hope was keen to call it a ruin. She could see two indentations in the ground either side of the shed and wondered why the ground was undulating in such a regular pattern at these points. Elsewhere it just seemed to roll here and there as it chose, rising and falling at random.
Allinson arrived at the shed first and Hope saw him wheel around the ground in front of the door. ‘Wet patch there and what looks like the remnants of a footprint but it’s hard to tell. I’ll leave that for forensics.’
Hope agreed and skirted the area too as Allinson opened the shed door. Hope followed him inside and they found themselves tight up against each other as they tried to take in the items in the tight space. There were tools, most of which looked like they had been hanging there for years. Allinson reached for one and it fell apart in his hands which became covered in rust.
‘Who keeps somewhere like this?’ he said. ‘It’s bloody manky. Do you think he ever came out here?’
‘Yes,’ said Hope, firmly. ‘Look at the floor, very dusty, almost undisturbed except for the lines between the wooden boards. Except it’s not all of them, just a few. Have you a pen knife, Allinson?’
‘Yes, here.’
Taking Allinson’s knife, Hope ran it down the gap between the floorboards and found that only on three gaps did it sink down into the floor. At the others it stopped, showing a depth of only a few millimetres. Hope sighed.
‘It’s all an illusion, Allinson. This is false, meant to keep the casual onlooker at bay. Give me one of the chisels off the shelf there, but one that isn’t going to fall apart in my hands.’
With care, Hope took the chisel and again ran down one of the cracks in the boards, one where the pen knife had dropped down through the gap. Once she was happy she had the chisel in place, she pushed down, levering the board which fought momentarily before lifting up. Allinson joined in and lifted the board up and clear. Hope reached over and lifted the other side up and they looked down into a small hide that held a number of weapons.
‘Bloody hell,’ said Allinson. ‘This guys a right Rambo. Look at this stuff; you don’t buy that off the local DIY shelf.’
‘There’s grenades there, too. We’d better call ordnance when we get clear. Some of the stuff is missing though. But not much, given the space.’
‘Maybe he didn’t have time,’ suggested Allinson.
‘Well, someone has disturbed him and he’s dealt with them to some degree and then grabbed some weapons and run. That’s how it looks. There’s no car and he’s in a stolen one once he’s got to the mainland. Someone wanted our man, wanted him bad. Maybe two sets of people, but then who are these people?’
‘Too many questions, Hope.’
‘I wonder where these came from,’ said Hope, pointing at the weapons. ‘It might help but I reckon his laptop is what we really want. Maybe he had more hides around here.’
‘Did you see the land around here? There’s a bit of symmetry, either side of this shed. Looks like the land was dug down. We should check that out.’
‘Agreed,’ said Hope. ‘You go and check them out. I’ll get on the blower to ordnance. I’m just going to walk away a distance before ringing. Not sure I’ll get a signal anyway—might need to use the radio.’
Walking away from the shed, Hope found that there was indeed no signal. She had to return to the car and use her hand-held radio, calling in the situation and asking for assistance from the explosives division of the military and for more officers to come and stand guard on the site once they had left.
As she was on the radio, she watched Allinson walking over to the dip on the right of the shed. He had to walk over three hundred yards and when he arrived, she saw him bend down and start to unscrew something. A few minutes later, he was throwing a large metal circle to one side and reaching down into the ground. She saw him struggle but she was still talking to base and was unable to go over and help. After a few minutes, he stood up and waved his hands at her.
‘Yes,’ shouted Hope, holding the radio to one side.
‘There’s a radio here, and other communications devices that I don’t recognise fully. But it all looks like things to let you talk to people. Some serious shit here, Hope.’
‘Excellent!’ she shouted back. ‘Make a note of them and leave them alone unless you recognise how to work any, or if they have any documentation with them. Then note that down.’
She watched Allinson nod and then return to the hole in the ground. As she came off the radio to base, she saw him replacing the cover on the hole. It was a good idea in case of rain. As Hope made her way from the car, Allinson made his way back to the house and across to the second dip they had seen.
His figure was quite something—at least it had been the night before and now as evening was setting in, Hope let herself enjoy the view of this decent man who had come to her aid. Maybe he was worth pursuing, letting in a bit more. He hadn’t complained, hadn’t been put off by how much of an arse she had been the night before. Instead he had simply loved her. It had been special; realising that now, she felt less angry at the world.
As they closed, Hope saw Allinson approach the second dip. Her eyes then saw something reflect in the falling rays of the sun. It looked long and thin. It came again, glinting very briefly. Like some sort of thin wire, running in a circle around the dip. There was a small metal stake in the ground, hard to see, that the wire passed through before it continued towards another one.
And then Hope’s brain understood what she was seeing. And Allinson, only ten feet from her, stepped forward, about to sweep the wire with his foot. She could not stop his action. She yelled and ran forward throwing herself at the officer.
‘Allinson!’
As she hit him and they fell, she felt the soil around her erupt violently and a loud noise thundered around her. And then the soil was landing on her back with Allinson underneath her.
Chapter 9
Hope stood at the rear of the ambulance and watched the paramedic attending to Allinson, a large bandage being applied to his arm which had received a deep cut. She had got away lightly, a few scratches here and there, but both had been lucky. If they had been closer, or fallen towards the device, it was likely one or both may not have been able to walk away.
Night had descended and there was a circus around the building. Hope had ordered everyone to stay back until they could get experts on the scene to make sure there were no more explosive devices. The area had been cordoned off as best they could but there was going to be a presence kept to ward off any onlookers. Fortunately, they were quite far away from the main residences on Mull. But as Hope watched the paramedics patch up Allinson, she was approached by a uniformed officer.
‘DC McGrath?’
‘Yes.’
‘There’s a woman on the edge of the perimeter looking for ‘the boss’ as she calls it. I think she knows the owner of the building, at least that’s what she says. Do you want to see her, or shall I just get some details given the hour?’
‘Show me,’ said Hope.
The woman was maybe forty or forty-five, and she had the look of a hard-working soul about her. Although not unattractive, her face had been weathered and she stood with a small stoop. She had curves but also the excesses that came with age, and her hair looked in need of a wash, distressed as it was, black intertwined with a touch of white. She wore a fleece that had seen better days and a pair of wellingtons with jeans.
‘Are you the boss?’ asked the woman as she saw Hope approach.
‘Yes I am. The officer says that you know the householder. Is that correct?’
There was a glint in the eye of the woman as she responded. ‘Yes, you could say I know Malkie.’
‘And you are, ma’am?’
‘Ciara Nixon.’ The voice had a harsh tone to it and Hope thought at first it was the west coast of Scotland but further south. Then she recognised the Northern Irish trait of little lip movement as she spoke. ‘I live next door, which is a joke as it’s nearly a half mile away. But is Malkie all right? I knew he was a rascal behind it all, but this is some serious crap he’s in.’
‘Come with me,’ said Hope and led the woman to her car, offering her the passenger seat. Hope sat in the driver’s seat and turned so she was almost lying on the seat to look at the woman.
‘Have you been on Mull long?’ asked Hope.
‘Nearly ten years—left the province when that bastard started hitting me. It was never worth it anyway.’ There was just a hint of regret in the statement but Hope decided not to pursue the thought as she had more important things to look into.
‘You said you knew Malthe.’
‘Malthe? You mean Malkie. I knew he was foreign but he always called himself Malkie. I never did get his surname, not that it mattered.’ The woman seemed suddenly down.
‘Are you okay?’ asked Hope.
‘Is he dead?’
‘Why do you ask?’
‘Well, all this, dear. I mean, look at it. Explosions tonight and then there was that commotion when he went away. I knew something was up. There was this one-armed man who visited him, saw him a couple of times over the last year. I never spoke to the man but I recognised the accent one day when I overheard him talking to Malkie.’
‘What was he talking about?’ asked Hope.
‘Oh, I don’t recall, love, but it was an accent from home, close to Belfast but not proper Belfast if you catch my meaning. It was somewhere around there, I’d say—smooth talker though, like he’d polished our rough spots.’
‘Did Malkie say who he was?’
‘No, dear, you need to understand, I knew Malkie, and he told me things but not things like that. His affairs were private, a no-go area. It was the only time he got angry . . . when I asked about his past and any people he knew. So I didn’t.’
‘So what sort of a relationship did you and Malkie have?’
The woman crossed herself and then bowed her head for a moment. ‘May the good God above forgive but a woman has needs. We were companions; I think that’s the word that makes sense. We just kept each other company on nights. He would come round and fix whatever was needing doing in my house and then we’d talk and stay warm by the fire. And we’d also . . . well, you know dear . . . we all have our needs, don’t we? It doesn’t go away from some of us, and well, he was a man so he had his.’
Hope smiled. She could not understand the woman’s embarrassment at this revelation and it did not matter to the investigation. But the commotion she mentioned and this one-armed man did. ‘What was all this commotion you talked about?’
‘A week ago, he came over to the house with a bottle of red wine. He cooked me dinner, fish, some foreign dish, and then he sits me down by the fire. He told me he had to go, there was going to be trouble but that he’d be back in touch with me but that it could be a while. Then we stayed up all night and well, you know. It was a very sweet night but also a very sad one. I knew I was losing him.’
The woman broke down in tears and Hope let her cry. After a few minutes, she raised her head and looked at Hope. ‘You don’t always get second chances, and he was mine. So tell me, is he dead?’
Hope nodded and the woman bent over sobbing. She left the woman for a few minutes before asking her further questions. ‘Did you see any of the others that caused this commotion?’
‘No. He told me to stay clear. For my safety. But when he didn’t come over after three days, I went to look and I could tell something was wrong. He always knew when I was coming and he’d come to the door. But the door was ajar. I went inside and saw the mess in the back room. So I just left. But when I saw you people with your lights and that, I thought I might get an answer. Didn’t I bloody just.’
‘We might need you further, Ciara, to come in and make a statement. But I’ll get someone to drive you home and then stay outside; you might be in danger.’
The woman shook her head. ‘I’m in no danger—Malkie said so. Said they would want him only. No civilians would be hurt. Said he’d done something terrible and this would be his punishment if it came. But he said I was safe. And he meant it.’
‘Maybe so, but I have reason to disagree, so I’ll be placing a car outside your house.’
The woman looked almost terrified at the suggestion. ‘No, the neighbours will know about me and Malkie. Just send an unmarked one and they can come inside and use the front room. No one knew about Malkie and my relationship with him. No one knew we were special to each other. Malkie was careful of that, and me too, until now. But what’s it matter now he’s dead?’
The woman began crying again and Hope left the car to organise someone staying with her tonight. Hope felt for the woman and when she said it was all over and saw her loss, something inside clutched at Hope and dug its nails into her. Not the time, too much to do. She saw Allinson stepping out of the rear of the ambulance and she wanted to be back in the room in Cromarty, being held for the night. What happened to me? I used to be strong, she mused.
‘How you feeling, Allinson?’ asked Hope.
‘Just a few scratches and a bit of a deep cut. But a lot better than I would have been if you hadn’t intervened. I owe you one, McGrath. That was a bit too close for my liking.’
‘As long as you are all right. I’ll ring the boss and give him an update and see what he wants. Personally, as we are waiting for the explosives’ guys and forensics, I think we should get some rest and come back in the morning. There won’t be much to do before then.’
She left Allinson and returned to the car to make her call. As she sat with the mobile to her ear, she watched Allinson walking among the other officers and his easy way with them. Everyone seemed to like him, even those that didn’t know him. Hope certainly found him an easy blanket to wrap around herself.
‘Yes, Hope, tell me it’s gone well down your end.’ Macleod sounded frustrated.
‘Are you okay, sir, you sound a bit shaken?’
‘I nearly got my wingman killed today. These people are bit more serious than we are used to. It’s not just a case of finding them; they know how to come after you. But how are things on Mull?’
‘It’s okay, sir.’ Hope debated how to put the explosion to Macleod but honesty was usually best. ‘We saw the spot where he stole the car from but there’s nothing there really. Here on Mull his house was interesting, like someone just passing through, very sparse. But his back room was a mess, a fight and blood spilt on the day he left by the looks of it. Allinson spotted a shed out the back and there were weapons secreted under it. He then spotted two dips that turned out to be hides. One had radio equipment and the other was booby trapped. We nearly lost Allinson but no harm done and the military are on their way. So there might be something more there.’
‘Sounds eventful. Everyone okay?’
‘Yes, but it was close. I also found his woman down here, a Ciara Nixon. She was enlightening. It seemed he was very discreet and she was his main source of companionship. They were—Macleod didn’t like the term shagging—intimate. She’s pretty cut up about it but she’d no idea where he’d gone. He kept her out of anything he had going on to protect her.’
She heard Macleod sigh down the mobile. ‘I hoped you would have more as we lost our lead up here. Found the Mini and then lost them. They also disposed of the young girl the ferryman got close to. Slit her throat and dumped her at a caravan park. And it was the women in the Mini, I’m sure of that.’
‘Well, it was the men down here that chased him out; Ciara says so. She reported seeing Malthe meeting a one-armed man with a Belfast accent, but a softer one.’
‘One-armed man?’ said Macleod. ‘Sounds like it’s all going like a TV movie. We need something real we can get our teeth into. At the moment we are chasing ghosts; we need to know what this is about. What’s your plans?’
‘Bed, sir. It’s dark here and we are waiting for the ordnance guys and the forensics before we can get at much else, so I’ve put some protection on Ciara Nixon, just in case, and I am going to bed somewhere, when I work out where.’
‘Okay, Hope, it’s your call down there. Just get me something tomorrow. We need something to tag onto.’
‘Yes sir.’
Hope switched the call off and sat in the car staring at the dashboard. They were just chasing ghosts at the moment. They didn’t even know what this was all about and there were two dead already. She saw Allinson walking over and rolled down her window.
‘Allinson, get us a place to stay from the local guys, somewhere decent and I’ll make sure everything’s set for tonight.’
Hope exited the car and spent a half hour ensuring everything was in order before she sat in the passenger seat as Allinson drove her in the dark. Her brain was muddled now and she needed sleep. When the car rolled up to a small hotel, she laboured with her small bag to the reception and then with her keys to her door.
‘Do you want to eat?’ asked Allinson. ‘You know you really should.’
Hope agreed and after a quick dinner she made for her room. Allinson said he would remain in the bar area to watch some television and she had wished him a pleasant night. After a shower, Hope climbed under her sheets and lay in the dark. Sleep did not arrive and she was soon on her mobile, checking messages and generally doing nothing. And then she felt the cold. It was not real, just an incessant shiver without him beside her.
