Page 71 of The High Island

DSGowan gave him a wide smile. ‘Been in Caithness five years now, but the accent’s still from my home city.’

‘Liverpool?’ Erling tried, although he already knew the answer.

‘Scouser, born and bred. Joined the police force there at nineteen.’

Erling waited a moment before saying, ‘A big change coming to a mostly rural area from a major English city.’

‘And the best decision I ever made. Although Scotland has its own share of rogues and scumbags,’ he said.

‘It has indeed,’ Erling agreed.

Introductions over, Erling waved the new arrival to a seat and asked if he’d been brought up to speed on why he was needed here.

‘DCGunn gave me a broad outline regarding the Mowat family and their missing heir, Kris. Plus the dead body on the beach of theneighbouring island. And I believe Kris’s girlfriend’s gone missing now too?’

Erling indicated all that to be true. ‘Then there’s our concerns regarding stronger street-drug shipments getting into Kirkwall. Probably through county lines via Aberdeen. Have you had similar problems on your patch?’

‘Inverness definitely has a problem with county lines. Mainly coming in from Liverpool. There’s a big pool of vulnerable people’s homes in the city being used as distribution points. That’s moved on north to the towns in Caithness, Thurso, Wick, but on a smaller scale. We’re liaising with local communities to locate any cuckoo-in-the-nest scenarios.’

‘Here in Orkney, we were alerted by Leo Strachan, the lead street pastor. So we’ve upped our street presence in Kirkwall clubs, last night and tonight. Plain clothes, of course. Not being a kent face hereabouts, you would be a welcome addition to tonight’s surveillance.’

‘Sure. Happy to go along. It’ll be interesting to observe your clubbing scene first hand.’

‘Right. I’ll getDCGunn to introduce you to the team now and show you where we are with the current cases. I forgot to ask if you’ve been to Orkney before?’

‘No, I haven’t, although I have a former colleague who moved here relatively recently.’

There was a moment while Erling tried to work out who that might be. Then, ‘You meanDSJo Green?’ he said.

‘Yeah. We worked together in Caithness. How’s she settled in in Orkney?’

Erling suddenly found himself unwilling to discuss Jo withDSGowan, especially since, to his knowledge, she’d claimed not to have worked with him at all. In fact, she’d denied even knowinghim.Why would she do that?he wondered, before saying, ‘Jo’s out on Hoy at present. You can catch up with her when she gets back.’

Erling thoughtDSGowan was about to ask when that would be exactly, but he seemed to stop himself, before saying, ‘That would be good.’

Handing Gowan over to a returningDCGunn, Erling sat down to think over their conversation.

He’d definitely been thrown at first by the passing likeness in colouring and build to Rory, but it had been the voice that had most disturbed him. Worst still was the realization that, being of similar age to Rory, Gowan had been a serving officer during the time of Rory’s interaction with the law. Might Gowan even recognize him?

Erling stopped himself there. There was little chance of the two men meeting. Rory never came to the police station and he would be safely back on Flotta on Monday anyway. If not immediately returning to work in the North Sea.

But what about his detective sergeant? Why on earth would Jo deny all knowledge ofDSAngus Gowan?

He thought back to their earlier interchange. Jo had been the one to take the call about Gowan’s late arrival at Stromness. He realized now she’d been relieved to find she would already be on Hoy, so wouldn’t meet him.

Something must have happened between the two of them.Something his detective sergeant wasn’t comfortable with. Well, he decided, if Jo wasn’t easy in his company, then he would strive to keep them apart. As much as that was possible, and at least until she chose to tell him why she had misgivings aboutDSGowan.

Checking the time, he registered that the Hoy team would likely have ended their morning interviews and may even now be checking in at their accommodation or already on their reconnaissance trip round the island.

When Jo answered his call, he read her voice as guarded, so he kept his own tone as normal as possible.

‘How did this morning go?’ he asked.

A short pause, then, ‘We were kept busy. Mostly older residents and not much love for the Mowats on display.’ She halted briefly before adding, ‘We were flagged down on our way to the fire site by a Mr Maine, a star gazer witha powerful telescope. He reported boy racers using the road as a racetrack and probably getting high in the ruins of the croft.’

‘He thought they might be the fire-raisers?’ Erling said.

‘Could be, especially if one of them is a Mowat. He gavePCTulloch two car registration numbers. I’ve sent them through for checking. Also, he spotted a boat late at night between the bay and Cava. Definitely not a dive boat.’