MY ANORAK HAD been scarcely adequate for the rigours of an evening in Kylie and I was happy to linger a little by the parlour fire when we got back to the Mackenzie house. James and his wife were the only others present. She sat placidly knitting a gorgeous sweater. He sat smoking a big, long-stemmed pipe of the sort you can buy in gift shops in Oslo. He looked up to give me a keen glance when I entered the parlour alone.
‘Have you seen young Alex?’
‘He went up to his room.’
He nodded and pointed to the decanter with his pipe. I helped myself. I was finding that in these latitudes Scotch was less of a luxury and more a way of life. I carried my glass to the hearth and stood basking in the comfortable warmth. Mrs Mackenzie’s needles clicked cheerfully and her husband drew unhurried puffs.
‘Is it cool outbye?’
‘It is.’
‘I heard you had a crack with Robbie.’
This didn’t surprise me. I imagined Robert Mackenzie’s first move would have been to phone the head of the clan.
‘Are you further forward?’
‘I found his daughter interesting.’
‘She’s a wilful lassie,’ Mrs Mackenzie said. ‘I doubt she’s been spoiled. With all the laddies to tease her you cannot wonder if her head has been turned.’
‘Robbie you can trust,’ James Mackenzie said. ‘Robbie was always a douce laddie. And Ailsie has a good heart, though sometimes her manner is a wee brisk.’ He puffed rapidly once or twice. ‘What had Alex to say?’
‘He accounted for his movements on Tuesday and Wednesday.’
‘He is a discreet lad.’
‘I think you may say that.’
‘Aye. In that he takes after Colin.’
‘But you would not think him Colin’s son,’ put in Mrs Mackenzie. ‘It is hard to ken who the lad favours. It will be from his mother’s side, I am thinking. There is not black eyes among the Mackenzies.’
‘There was Alistair Mackenzie,’ her husband said. ‘But you would not ken him, he was from Harris.’
‘They are no near kin, James.’
‘They are not far away. We have called them cousins since before the Union.’
Mrs Mackenzie seemed moved to dispute this and her husband seemed content with the change of subject, so I drank up briefly and said my goodnights and reluctantly withdrew from the comfortable fire. I was weary after my long day, but I still had some work that would not wait. In the silence of my room I unbuckled my briefcase, uncapped my pen and began to write. My notes were selective rather than detailed, or I would have been scribbling until the dawn. You will recall that they were required to stretch back to my initial sparring with Inspector Sinclair. They ranged through my interview with Earle, my second encounter with Sinclair, the conversation at dinner, and my visit to the hotel; and ended with what I found not the least troubling section, my exchange with Alex on the clifftop. I had covered much ground. What concerned me professionally was that I had failed to uncover a firm lead. I was extending the list of suspects almost to infinity without arriving at a prospect who would appeal to Sinclair. There was scarcely a Mackenzie who could be eliminated, nor any other member of the trawler’s crew. I might lay more definite suspicion at one or two doors, but none of it supported by evidential fact. I had my instincts, but they were irrelevant: no doubt Sinclair had plenty of his own. And of anything more substantial I could detect no glimmer in all my scribblings.
It was while I was revolving this depressing conclusion that I heard a faint rustle at my door, and glancing up I saw that an envelope had been slipped underneath it. I rose quietly and moved swiftly but I was too late to catch the messenger. The envelope was addressed: ‘George’, and I recognized Anne’s flaring handwriting. I opened it. ‘Dear George [I read], I had to write this in the bathroom. Mother – oh dear!!! George, get Uncle Iain on his own. He saw what happened. Grandad rang him at the quay after Earle left. I know he went up to watch. They all know it wasn’t Earle – you must get them to talk to you!!! George I love Earle. If he still wants me I’ll have him. Please George. Anne.’
I preserved that letter, which is why I can reproduce the punctuation with so much confidence. But it told me nothing I hadn’t guessed anyway, nor suggested a line that I didn’t intend to follow.