SHOLTO SPOTTED Darian at the end of the garden and came toward him at a sort of trot, a man trying not to run because that would draw unwanted attention but unable to walk because urgency shoved him forward. He paused when he saw Asti, unsure of her before he decided that caution had to be thrown into the storm that was brewing.
“I just saw Bran Kennedy, the head of Raven, and I think he saw me.”
Darian frowned. “You think?”
“He gave that little shudder he always gives when he sees me. Even from across the long room I’m sure of it. He’ll be coming after us and he won’t be alone.”
They both looked up toward the French doors and it wasn’t the head of Raven Investigators in Challaid they saw but Alan Dudley, his thuggish junior, doing a terrible job of standing in the doorway and searching the garden while trying to look like he wasn’t. That told them Kennedy wasn’t at the party to enjoy himself. He was providing security and had help with him.
Sholto said, “How do we get out of here without them seeing us?”
Darian looked over his shoulder at the loch and said, “How’s your swimming?”
Asti Hobnil, who had been listening, said, “I don’t think you need to get your nice threads wet. See those bushes over there? Go round behind them in the gap at the bottom and you’ll end up on a path that runs along the side of the house, keeps you as far from the party room as possible. If they haven’t alerted the front gate you can make a run for the ferry. If they come down this way I’ll stall them. Shouldn’t be hard, last thing Harold Sutherland would want is a scene.”
Darian and Sholto both stared at her and Darian said, “Uh…thank you.”
She smiled. “I told you, I’m a spy, it’s my duty to help fellow rogues, Mr. Incognito.”
Dudley had left the doorway and was walking slowly through the garden, which meant there was no time left for conversation. They turned and walked with conspicuous speed across to their left and behind a tall hedge that ran up toward the house and hid the large greenhouse and toolshed from view of the main lawn. They moved quick, Darian striding and Sholto shuffling, until they found themselves on the narrow path Asti had promised would appear.
At the front corner of the house they stopped and peered round, checking for Ravens. All they could see was the idle rich making their way in and out of the doors to the party room on the other side of the building so they stepped out. There was a long, curving path that led to the drive and then the gate. From now on it was walking only because innocent men didn’t run. The innocent probably didn’t walk as quickly as Darian and Sholto did either, but they were trying their best. There was no way to look anything other than odd as they strolled past the two girls at the gate on their way out just twenty minutes after going in. One of them gave Darian a curious look as he passed them and he tried to respond with the most adorably innocent smile he could muster, not breaking stride in the process.
On the walk along the lane to the pier they were the only people leaving and passed a few stragglers heading the other way. They both looked back over their shoulders and saw no one pursuing them. The only people at the boat were the two sailors working it and timing was perfect because they were just about to leave. Darian and Sholto stood nervously under the canopy on deck as they inched away from the pier and into the dark water between the island and the mainland.
The older of the two sailors, a man in his forties with the sort of beard and thick jumper combination that seemed designed to announce his occupation to the world, joined them at the railing. “Nothing wrong is there, lads, leaving so soon?”
Even though the man was smiling Sholto shook his head vigorously and said, “No, not at all, not at all, absolutely not.”
The sailor laughed, and leaning back on his heels he said, “Would I lose my shirt if I put a bet on you two being nervous about security waiting for you at Cruinn Pier?”
Darian judged the man perfectly when he said, “You can probably hang on to your clothing.”
“Thought so. Come into the cabin so they don’t see you. If they’re there we can hide you below until they bugger off. You wouldn’t be the first.”
They went inside where it was a little warmer and a little quieter and where they could see anyone on the pier before anyone on the pier saw them.
Sholto said, “How did you know?”
The sailor said, “The only people at these parties who get their suits at Polla Clothing are either working the event or not supposed to be there and the waiters don’t get to leave this early. I managed to live forty-three years without being able to tell the difference between something off the rack and a tailored suit. It’s only in the last three since I started working this route that I’ve seen enough of the latter to get it.”
“You haven’t fallen in love with the posh hard enough to turn us in?”
“Ha, some of them are all right, but I’m a man of the sea, not a man of the bank. So what did you lads nick?”
“Nothing, we just didn’t have an invite.”
“Ah, okay. We see that often enough, people running from the security, most of them manage to grab a keepsake on the way out, a candlestick that turns out to be worth six hundred quid, something like that.”
“You can get candlesticks worth six hundred quid?”
“Oh, aye, a lot of these rich folk, they’re full of…”
Sholto said, “Shit?”
“I was going to say creativity, but I suppose that, too.”
As the boat edged toward Cruinn Pier a radio crackled and a garbled message came through that the sailor leaned in to listen to. He turned to Darian and Sholto. “That’s them telling us to look out for you. Of course, we haven’t seen you.”
As his crewmate steered the boat into dock the older man went out and stepped onto the pier to secure the vessel. From the cabin Darian and Sholto could see a handful of people waiting for the ramp to be let down for them, but they all looked dressed to thrill, not kill.
The sailor came back inside and said, “No one dressed cheaply enough to be security; you two can make a run for it.”
They thanked him, even though he seemed to consider helping people get one over Harold Sutherland’s security team a privilege, and got off the ferry. They practically sprinted to the Fiat at the far corner of the small car park. Sholto mumbled under his breath as the car started and they pulled away. They both remained silent, scanning the mirrors, until they were out of Barton and down into Cnocaid, which felt just far enough to relax. Now that Sholto was heading steadily east toward Bank and Darian’s flat they could talk.
He said to Darian, “So what did we learn tonight, apart from the fact that I was right about rich people being more trouble than even they are worth, that we should wear trainers to their parties and that this city would be nothing without its sailors?”
Darian said, “I learned that on the evening Freya went missing Harold Sutherland was at Challaid’s match with Motherwell, so all the way across the city from where she was last seen.”
“Okay, but you would expect him to have concocted a neat wee alibi for the time it happened, because he was hardly going to do it himself, was he?”
“No, I suppose not, but the more I see him the less I can picture him showering Freya with expensive gifts. It would be far too desperate for someone like him, women cooing in his ear at the party the whole time we were there. He would see buying her a car as crass. A man like that would be smart enough to know what a woman like Freya would want from him. He’d know her pride wouldn’t let her be bought.”
“Or maybe the charm is all part of the act and when it failed with Freya he lost the plot. Maybe it failed with Ruby as well and that’s why he targeted her.”
“We seem to be accusing a lot of Sutherlands of acting. Do you believe Harold is performing?”
“Not really. He doesn’t strike me as the sort, but you’d be amazed how often I’ve said that before and very quickly been proven wrong.”
Darian said, “I still think tonight was worth the effort, just to learn a little more about that family.”
Sholto muttered noncommittally and then pointed out they were on Havurn Road and coming up to Darian’s flat on the corner. He found a spot and parked.