He pressed reply then it immediately beeped and cut out. He checked the bars on his phone, one flickering to zero. He was walking back into the kitchen when he met Paul.
Paul pointed over Ewan’s shoulder. ‘Try up the hill.’
He jogged through the trees up the track waving his phone in the air trying to pick up a signal. The sun had set but the sky was still light, blue fading to orange in the west. He imagined meteors blazing through the sky all around, smashing into trees, farms and fields, the same down at the loch, pummelling into the water with giant splashes.
His phone rang. He kept walking up the slope, panting with the effort.
‘Hey,’ he said.
‘Did you just hang up on me?’ Nina said.
‘No reception here.’
‘Where?’
‘Come on.’
‘You know I can trace this call.’
Ewan thought about that. They needed triangulation with phone masts. He looked around the spread of hills, couldn’t see any. So if the nearest mast was miles away, did that mean it was less accurate?
‘What can I do for you, Nina?’
She was sipping coffee by the sound of it. He pictured her in her Edinburgh office, it felt like a different planet. Crows blustered from a nearby tree, cawing and clacking. He spotted a buzzard circling high up through wisps of cloud.
‘What’s in Applecross?’
‘What?’
‘You know these people,’ Nina said. ‘What are they doing in Applecross?’
She was lagging behind the action just enough that he wanted to laugh. These people. She didn’t realise he was one of these people, he was all in. He was running with fugitives and working out how to break into an impound lot in the middle of the night to rescue a telepathic octopus. He tried to get the smile off his face, in case she could hear it in his voice.
‘I don’t really know them.’
‘You know more than we do, you’ve met them for a start.’
‘I’m just following the story,’ he deadpanned.
‘How long are you going to keep this up?’ Nina said, sighing. ‘It feels personal. What’s going on with you?’
‘Nothing.’
‘So tell me about Applecross.’
He thought about it. It suited them if the police thought they were in Applecross for as long as possible. Ewan guessed that Applecross wasn’t exactly a metropolis, it wouldn’t take long to go door to door. He wanted to throw them a false lead but couldn’t think what. Anything about Ava they would check with her husband. Lennox had never been outside Edinburgh. And if he mentioned Heather they would find the ex-husband, leading them here.
‘I honestly don’t know,’ he said weakly.
Nina sipped and sighed. ‘I’ve just about had enough. You’re dicking me around so much.’
‘So why call?’
A long pause. ‘Let’s just say I’m not enamoured with our visitors from down south.’
‘Fellowes?’
‘I think it would be best if we find these people first. Fellowes doesn’t intend to bring them in for gentle questioning. You saw the guys he was with.’
‘Where is he?’
Nina laughed. ‘Come on. You don’t tell me anything, then expect me to give up info just like that?’
‘Have you told him about Applecross?’
Silence down the line. ‘Not yet.’
Ewan heard a noise and turned to the trees. The crows had settled back in the branches but were calling to each other, the buzzard still overhead. The crows had strength in numbers, were looking out for each other. Sometimes you can survive even if you’re not top of the food chain.
‘Ewan, you do realise that Scotland runs out eventually? Edinburgh to Ratagan, the campervan in Drumnadrochit, now they’re in Applecross. The Highlands are big but they don’t go on forever. Eventually there’s no place left to run except the Atlantic.’
Ewan thought about Sandy. Maybe that’s where they were heading, back to the water.
‘Campervan?’ He’d waited until she mentioned it so as not to make her suspicious. He was glad this wasn’t a video call, his face would’ve given him away.
‘Come off it, Mr Ahead-of-the-Game. You already know the Highland police have the van.’
‘News to me.’
He wanted to ask if they’d searched it, had forensics in, if Sandy was captured or dead or in some weird lab. But the fact she mentioned the van matter-of-fact was good. It meant the local cops hadn’t searched it yet and Fellowes didn’t know.
‘Found it in a random spot check being repaired in a garage by Loch Ness.’
She was fishing but he didn’t bite.
The sky had darkened but there was still enough light to see. The crows took off again, a fluster of wings as they swirled in a chaotic pattern. The buzzard swooped towards them, aiming for the heart of the birds. Instead of scattering, the crows rose to meet it, shrieking and flapping, a maelstrom of noise. The buzzard turned away to find easier prey. The crows settled back into the tree.
‘So what now?’ Ewan said, then realised his phone had gone dead. At first he thought Nina had just had enough, but his phone had no bars. He wondered how long he’d been listening to a dead line.
He walked back to the house. As he came out of the trees, he saw Heather standing outside the front door, hugging her mug of tea.
‘Hey,’ she said, then, nodding towards the house, ‘I just needed some air.’
Ewan thought about that. She was a beautiful woman, same age as him, and they had flirted on the phone the other day.
‘You never said if anyone would miss you back home,’ Heather said.
‘What?’
‘On the phone yesterday. When you were fishing about my romantic life.’
‘Jesus, Heather, I wasn’t—’
‘It’s OK.’ She pointed her mug at the front door. ‘Now you know, an ex-husband who’s moved on to a younger model.’
There was something more than that, a sorrow that hung over her that he couldn’t place.
‘I’m not doing any better,’ he said. ‘My ex-wife Diana and our two daughters live in Christchurch, New Zealand. With Greg, a property developer they now call Daddy.’
‘I’m sorry.’
He shrugged. ‘It is what it is. You got kids?’
He realised from her face it was a mistake. Sometimes, he just couldn’t shut up, always had to know more.
She recovered and thought for a moment, glanced at him then away.
‘We had a daughter, Rosie.’ She let that ‘had’ hang between them for what seemed like a lifetime. ‘Leukaemia.’
‘Christ, I’m so sorry,’ Ewan said, mortified. ‘I shouldn’t have asked, I’m a fucking idiot.’
She waved that away. ‘It’s OK. It’s part of who I am now. There’s no word for a parent grieving their child, isn’t that insane?’
Ewan wanted to hug her, but knew enough not to. When this was all over, he would get to know her, really get to know her. When this was all over.