Jimmy sat down at the kitchen table. “Where’s Old Iron Knickers?”
“Herself is up at the castle, dining with Charlie and the colonel and his missus.”
“Charlie! But he’s only a constable. What about me? Or at least, you.”
“She likes Charlie. I often wonder about our Charlie. Women fancy him but he doesnae even bat a hormone.”
Jimmy took a gulp of whisky. “Probably a virgin.”
“In this wicked day and age?”
“Could be. Doesnae fancy you, does he?”
“Not a bit. I’ve got to search the area up there again. Find anything?”
“The pathologist said that the tide didn’t reach where she was and maybe she was killed elsewhere and dumped.”
“Was she strangled with hands or a ligature?”
“He thinks it could ha’ been done wi’ something like a scarf.”
“No sign of her luggage?” asked Hamish.
Jimmy sighed. “Probably at the bottom of a peat bog somewhere.”
“You’d better stay the night,” said Hamish. “I’ll put clean sheets in the cell.”
“The mattress in that cell is as hard as buggery. Anyway, how do you know a storm is coming? Heard it on the radio?”
“Heard it in my bones.”
“Don’t believe you. I’m off. It’s Hallowe’en on Saturday. Expect any trouble?”
“Nothing up here,” said Hamish. “Usually just wee kids out guising.”
Jimmy left by the kitchen door. The station was protected by the tall cliffs at the end of the sea loch. It was only when he was driving along the waterfront that he became aware of the force of the wind. As he moved up onto the moors, the wind shrieked and buffeted at the car. He had just gained the top of a hill when an enormous blast hit the car and blew it over on its side. Jimmy was pinned by the air bag. His car lights were still working, and he saw to his horror that the first flurries of snow were dancing in their beams.
Jimmy felt like crying. He couldn’t reach his pocket to get out his mobile phone.
Then his car was lit up by an approaching vehicle. It stopped behind him. The next thing he knew Hamish Macbeth appeared on the passenger side, wrenched open the door, leaned over and stuck a knife in the air bag, and slowly and carefully hauled Jimmy out.
“Thanks,” said Jimmy. “I thought I was a goner. Miracle you turned up.”
“No miracle,” said Hamish, helping him into the Land Rover. “I realised that wee car of yours might run into trouble. Anything broken?”
“Don’t think so.”
“I’ll get the local garage to rescue your car in the morning. Let’s get out o’ here. It’s going to get worse.”
The world had turned into a blinding white wilderness. Hamish drove through it, leaning forward to make sure he did not go off the road.
Jimmy gave a gasp of relief as he was once more back in the sanctuary of the station.
“I could do with a dram as well,” said Hamish. “What a night!”
“No point in you searching for clues tomorrow,” said Jimmy, seizing the whisky bottle and pouring out a couple of stiff drams.
“It’ll be melted by then,” said Hamish. “Listen! The gale’s moved round to the west.”
“How the hell you opt to live in this scary part o’ the world is beyond me,” said Jimmy.
“According to the Herring woman,” said Hamish, “Harrison got a lawyer, had a faint fit, and they couldnae talk to him. Didnae they point out that you cannae get a lawyer in Scotland unless the police let you have one?”
“I think that applies after you’ve been charged. Tell you what,” said Jimmy. “Let’s have a crack at the auld scunner ourselves. That’d be one in the eye for Iron Knickers.”
As they set out the next morning, Jimmy was amazed to see the snow had melted and only a light breeze danced over the glittering waves on the loch.
“How disabled is old Harrison?” asked Jimmy. “When folk start calling lawyers, it’s usually a sign they’re as guilty as hell.”
“I thought of that,” said Hamish. “I’d like a keek at his medical records. Have you thought of sending a search team to look over the hotel?”
“That would be stepping on Herring’s toes. Anyway, there wouldnae be any traces of blood. She was strangled.”
“I was thinking that there might have been some sort of a struggle. Furniture kicked. That sort of thing.”
“I’ll put it to her.” Jimmy phoned the hotel to find that Fiona and Charlie had left to go to Strathbane to study any reports on the guests that might already have come in. He phoned Fiona at police headquarters and told her his idea.
“Your idea, Jimmy?”
“Och, Hamish, I need all the kudos I can get. You don’t want promotion. I want Blair’s job. He cannae go on knocking back the booze forever.”
Hamish drove up the drive towards the hunting box. “Michty me!” exclaimed Jimmy. “When folk say box you expect a square building. Now I see it in daylight, it looks as if it belongs to the Addams family.”