Page 48 of The High Island

The silence that followed felt to Erling like the moment before an anticipated bomb exploded. Rising, he motioned Rachael to come to him and immediately ushered her out, telling her to go into Mr Balfour’s office. Following this, he called the officer at the front door to come up, buzzing the door open for him.

A cacophony of anger met him on his return to the room, where he found Eddie still behind his desk, with Hugh standing in front of it and the melee behind Hugh gathered around Harald.

When his officer arrived, Erling told him to blow his whistle.

The blast was enough to hurt his eardrums, but it worked. In the stupefied silence that followed, Erling told everyone but Hugh to leave with the officer.

When Hugh gave a nod to this, a furious Harald exited, the muttering troops dutifully following, leaving silence in their wake.

‘That will is nonsense,’ Hugh told Eddie. ‘And you know it,’ he added, his voice thick with fury. ‘The business with Ivor’s name at the head consists of numerous enterprises, all run by different branches of the family.’ He halted there but only briefly. ‘As to the man calling himself Kris Mowat. Is he even who he says he is?’

‘Ivor appeared to think so,’ Eddie said. ‘However, we will of course confirm his identity.’

‘But what if you can’t find him? According to the lass, he ran off and left her.’

Eddie looked to Erling. ‘Detective Inspector Flett?’ he said, the question in his voice obvious.

‘It’s our job to discover the whereabouts of Kris Mowat, and to confirm his identity,’ Erling said.

‘And if you can’t?’ Hugh said. ‘Or it turns out to be that body on the beach at Lyrawa?’

A glance at Eddie suggested that if he knew the legal answer to that question, he wasn’t willing to voice it at this time. However, he did have something else to say.

‘A smaller envelope with my name on it was included in the one he left for Rachael.’ He showed them the said envelope.

‘For fuck sake,’ Hugh uttered in an exasperated tone.

‘I would have read it out after Ivor’s will, but the reaction that followed suggested I should wait.’ Eddie looked to Erling.

‘Rachael should be party to this,’ Erling told him. ‘I suggest we move back to your office so that she can hear what is said.’

They duly did so, finding Rachael sitting in a seat at the window, staring out. Hearing them enter, she turned and rose, perhaps reading their serious expressions.

When Eddie explained about the second envelope, she acknowledged this with a nod.

‘It’s not necessarily bad news,’ Erling said. ‘Just something private he wanted only Eddie to know.’

Rachael gave a brief nod at this and gathered herself for the news.

Eddie slit the envelope open and, scanning the contents, mustered himself to say, ‘It’s very brief and simply states that Kris Mowat declares Rachael Everett to be his sole beneficiary in the event of his death.’

Erling’s reaction to this was at first elation, as he realized that Kris wanted Rachael and his child looked after should anything happen to him. But this was swiftly followed by the terrible thought that Kris had felt his own life to be in danger when he’d written it.

The trepidation on Rachael’s face was now briefly replaced bysurprise and a fleeting joy, then ultimately horror, as she appeared to follow Erling’s thought process.

‘You,’ she said, pointing at Hugh, ‘Kris was frightened of you and what you might do if Ivor favoured him.’

Hugh was, Erling noted, even angrier now than when the proxy letter had been read out. Apparently mustering his fury and looking pointedly at Rachael and Eddie, he said, ‘You’ll both be hearing from my lawyer regarding the circumstances surrounding my father’s death and in particular the making of his will.’

And with that, Hugh turned on his heel and walked out.

Listening to the slamming of the front door, all three of them were left in little doubt as to Hugh Mowat’s readiness for a fight.

‘I need to consider what just happened here, and what we do about it,’ Eddie said. ‘Also, about the box that Ivor left for Kris,’ he added, looking at Erling. ‘If Rachael is proxy for Kris, then she should get to view its contents.’

Erling had been considering this himself, but they would need to confirm Kris’s identity first. Also, if the body on the beach turned out to be Kris Mowat, then what Ivor had left for Kris in that box might well play a role in uncovering his killer.

He now addressed Rachael. ‘You did well,’ he told her. ‘The Mowat clan can be intimidating.’