Page 25 of The High Island

Switching his thoughts to what had followed at Seaview raised his spirits a little. Magnus had agreed to take over the background work on the possible existence of Stella. Something he would have been loath to ask his official team to do. Spending time and energy on a historical crime was not a priority. No matter how much he wanted to discover the identity of the supposed Stella.

He called Jo as soon as he considered it time for her to be up and about.

‘A good night?’ he enquired when her sleepy voice answered.

‘Great,’ she said. ‘What about yours?’

‘I made some progress on the Mowat family tree with Tommy. Then spent the rest of the evening watching the hill fire on Hoy.’

The silence as she absorbed this indicated that her great night out had not been interrupted by news of the fire.

‘Can you meet me at Houton in, say, half an hour?’ he said.

As expected, hisDSdidn’t ask for any explanation, just told him she would be there.

That done, he called the station to indicate that he andDSGreen were bound for Hoy to meet with Willie Halcro regarding the fire.

The morning was clear and dry, with a light breeze. Perfect May weather, which he knew could change at any minute. Cresting thehill, he had a fine view over Houton Bay, the waters of the Flow and the hills of Hoy. Gone were the smoke and flames of last night, although he imagined he could make out the blackened landscape the fire had created.

Descending towards the terminal, he noted he was one of a few cars intent on boarding the first ferry across. Joining the waiting queue, he spotted his sergeant’s arrival shortly thereafter.

Parking her vehicle, she approached him on foot, and at a brisk speed.

‘No rush,’ he told her as she slid into the passenger seat. ‘They haven’t started us boarding yet.’

‘I was going to call you, but I thought, since I would see you in person when I got here . . .’ She tailed off and, extracting her mobile, pressed play, then passed it to him to listen.

Erling recognized the voice right away, and immediately an image of the speaker presented itself in his mind. Rachael was crying as she spoke, so that the words were virtually obliterated, but he got the gist of what she was trying to say.

Kris Mowat had not returned to their room at the Stromness Hotel the previous night. His mobile simply rang out when she called him. She had left numerous messages. And now she was certain that something bad had happened to him.

There was a pause as she attempted to gather herself, then, more calmly now, she said, ‘The reading of the will is tomorrow morning. They don’t want Kris there. I think they’ve done something to stop him being there.’ She ended with a pleading request thatDSGreen should call her back.

Perturbed by this, Erling looked to Jo, who immediately said that she’d tried, but it had just gone to voicemail.

‘When did this message arrive?’ Erling said.

‘My mobile was on “do not disturb” overnight. I found the message just after you phoned this morning,’ she told him.

‘Okay, call the hotel,’ Erling said. ‘Check if she’s still there. If she is, leave a message at the desk that we’ll be round later today.’

As the signal came for them to board the ferry, Jo did as he suggested.

Erling waited until they were settled in the ferry’s lounge before he explained the reason for their Hoy visit.

‘Someone set fire to the digger?’ Jo repeated in amazement. ‘But who would do that and why?’

Erling had tried to answer that question himself and had come up with a few alternatives, all of which he associated with the Mowat clan’s apparent anger at Ivor’s secret selling of the land to Maitland.

As though anticipating his answer, Jo said, ‘You think one of the family might have set fire to the digger to further delay the building work?’

‘It’s a possibility,’ Erling said.

‘So how does Kris Mowat fit into all of this?’ Jo asked. ‘And why does his girlfriend think the Mowat family don’t want him at the reading of the will?’

‘Tommy says the speculation is that Kris will be the main beneficiary,’ Erling said. ‘Which the family aren’t happy about. And Hugh did say they’re contesting the sale of the land since they believe Ivor had lost his wits at the end.’

‘Whether Kris is there or not won’t change what’s in the will,’ Jo said.