I walked out to the patio. The rain had stopped and high, dry stone walls gave protection from the prevailing wind, so that the corner was pleasantly warm.
“Hello, everybody. Sergeant Gillies has asked me to let you know that the ambulance men will be removing Mr. MacAulay’s body. They will take him to the morgue at Stornoway.”
Andy MacAulay looked up, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.
“Thank you.”
You can’t fake the kind of distress he was experiencing, and my heart went out to him. His fiancée jerked her head in my direction. “Andy’s had a dreadful shock. I hope you’re not expecting him to say anything.” I recognized the accent now — there was an American northeastern clip. His hand was locked in hers, and she had the fierce look of a woman who is ready to stand by her man no matter what: aggressive, ready to throw me out bodily if necessary.
She frowned. “Didn’t we see you at the airport?”
“Yes, you did. My name is Morris. Christine Morris. I’m with the Canadian police force.”
“Well this is Andy MacAulay, and I’m his fiancée, Coral-Lyn Pitchers. That’s Coral as in reef — not Carol — and Pitchers as in baseball.” She reeled it off as if I were officially taking notes. I had the impression she was accustomed to being interviewed, perhaps because of her involvement with the Lord’s Day Observance Society. But I’d guess that even earlier than that, she’d had to divert lewd jokes from the male population. Her dress wasn’t tight-fitting at all, but she was snugly belted at the waist, and she couldn’t hide the size of her unusually ample breasts.
The other woman had turned from her sea watch and she came forward with her hand outstretched.
“Hallo to you, Miss Morris. I’m Lisa MacKenzie. I worked for Mr. MacAulay.”
I was right about the piercings. She had a silver ring through her left eyebrow and several in each ear. She was older than I expected from her slim build and spiky hair, and was pale and drawn, but quite in control of herself.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I had no official right to ask her, of course, and I didn’t know how the other two would react, but I could tell she needed to unburden herself of the experience of finding a decaying corpse.
“I have a key.” She paused, and I caught the look that Coral-Lyn threw at her. So did Lisa, and her voice got an edge of defiance. “I am... that is, I was... employed by Mr. MacAulay. I do odd jobs, gardening, tidying, and so on.... Keep him company.”
“Do you live here?”
She looked a little discomfited.
“He was kind enough to let me have the use of the spare room. I’m a student in Skye, so it was easier for me to stay two or three days at a time. Mostly on the weekends.”
Suddenly, she stared at something over my shoulder and I guessed the ambulance men were bringing down MacAulay’s body. Andy and Coral-Lyn didn’t notice, since she was busy whispering comforting words into his ear.
I brought Lisa’s attention back to me. “How soon after you came into the house, did you go upstairs?”
“Not right away. There was a dreadful smell, and I thought something had been left in the rubbish bin and gone rotten. I went into the kitchen to look, but the bin was empty. I threw open some of the windows.” She bit her lip. “I realized the house was unnaturally quiet. Tormod always played his radio or sometimes the television, but I couldn’t hear anything. I called out to him a few times, but of course there was no answer.”
She paused and I could see her remembering what happened next. I nodded sympathetically.
“I went up to the bedroom.”
Andy and his fiancée were both listening now.
“As soon as I opened the door and saw him on the bed, I knew he was dead. I ran back downstairs and telephoned Dr. MacBeth. Tormod’s been ill for a little while, you see, and Dr. MacBeth was his doctor.”
“What did you do after that?”
“I telephoned Andy on his mobile phone and asked him to come at once.”
“We were still at the airport,” said Coral-Lyn. “We knew something was dreadfully wrong and we got here as fast as we could. By the time we arrived, Constable Fraser was here.”
“Dr. MacBeth told me to telephone the police,” interrupted Lisa. She was anxious to show Coral-Lyn she had done all the right things, but I could sense the antagonism between them.
“Did you go upstairs?” I asked Andy, wanting to get an answer out of him that wasn’t monitored by his fiancée.
He shook his head. “The constable confirmed that Granda was dead and recommended we come outside and wait until Dr. MacBeth arrived. Coral-Lyn was feeling quite sick because of the ... because of the odour.”
“I’m very smell-sensitive,” interjected Coral-Lyn as if it were a mark of virtue. She got the conversation back from Andy.
“We were completely devastated, of course. I mean, we knew he wasn’t in the best of health, but when Andy saw him last, which was Thursday afternoon, he was quite well, wasn’t he, Honey?”
“Oh yes.”
She touched Andy’s head. “He’s so upset because he usually comes to visit Granda on Fridays, but he had a meeting that kept him late at the church, so he couldn’t come. He thinks that, if he had been here, he might have been able to do something. Isn’t that right, Honey?”
Andy nodded.
I gave that a respectful beat, then asked, “Did he say anything about expecting visitors the following day?”
“No, not at all.”
Andy blinked, averted his eyes, and touched his finger to the bridge of his nose. Coral-Lyn kept her eyes fixed on me. “Why do you ask?”
“The nearest neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. MacLean, said they saw a car coming from the direction of the house on Friday night.”
The door to the patio opened and Gillies came out.
“Your granddad has been moved to Stornoway, Andy.”
Coral-Lyn jumped up. “We’d better get going then. We have a lot of arrangements to make. Come on, Darling. I’ll drive us.”
Andy got to his feet and she took his hand. He let himself be led out like a small boy.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Lisa said, “I don’t know about you both, but I could stand a strong cup of tea. Shall I mash some, Gill?”
“Please.”
“How about a drop of malt in it?”
“Great. We could do with it.”
Actually, he looked fine, but I sat down on the iron bench, aware once again of his tact.
“I’ll be back in a tick,” said Lisa. She seemed revived at having something to do, and also, I guessed, because Andy and Coral-Lyn had left. It was my turn now to stare towards the grey sea.
If you ask me, she’s at the bottom of the Atlantic.
I couldn’t absorb the notion that my mother, after surviving all the years of turbulence and heavy drinking, might have died in a car accident.
Unexpectedly, a patch of blue sky had appeared overhead, and the capricious sun shone apologetically into the patio. In each corner was a large cement flowerpot, filled with yellow daisies and trailing ivy. Lisa’s job, I assumed. I yawned, suddenly feeling very sleepy. I could hear a bee buzzing near my leg, but it wasn’t interested in me, only its hunt for nectar. I was sorely tempted to swing my legs around, stretch out on the bench, and fall into blissful unconsciousness. I glanced over at Gillies, who was watching me.
“You’re exhausted. As soon as we’ve downed the tea, I’ll drive you to the hotel. There’s not a lot more you can do here.”
“Isn’t there? I feel as if I should be doing something, though.”
“This isn’t exactly your case, Christine. We’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise.”
I liked the way he said my name, and his tone was kind, not the least dismissive. I leaned back against the hard iron bench and closed my eyes. The sun was so soft and warm. I felt as if my face was being caressed.