Page 98 of The High Island

‘Tell me about yesterday,’ Jo said.

‘Eilidh wanted to go to Kirkwall to see Helen and stay overnight.I said no. She didn’t argue, just said she would go over today instead. I went to see my friend down the road. When I got back I could hear music playing in her room. I didn’t go in. Just left her to it.’

Her voice broke a little then. ‘When I shouted her down for pizza later, she didn’t come. I went upstairs and her room was empty. I called and texted her, but there was no reply. I just knew she’d got the ferry across to Houton.’

‘Who would have picked her up there, do you think?’ Jo said.

‘I thought probably Helen with her brother, Ragnar, driving.’ Her face told Jo her thoughts on that.

‘Why don’t you like Ragnar?’ she asked.

‘Because he’s trouble. On Hoy, when he’s here, and on Mainland.’

At this point, Jo nodded to Ivan, who took the cue to exit and put a call in to find the bold Ragnar’s whereabouts.

‘I don’t trust Ragnar or his friends. I told her that. And he’s just like his father, Max, and his grandfather.’

‘What about drugs?’ Jo said. ‘Were you aware if Eilidh was taking them?’

Liz shrugged in a resigned fashion. ‘I didn’t ask. I decided to trust her to be careful whatever she did.’ She looked to Jo. ‘Is all this my fault? I know Jason, her father, will blame me.’

Jo’s heart went out to the woman. She wanted to shout out,No, it’s not your fault. Teenagers did what they wanted to do, regardlessof threats or promises. As for the missing father, she would make up her mind on his role in all of this when she met him.

48

Erling had thought carefully about which officer he should choose to partner him on his interview with Hugh Mowat.

In normal circumstances,DSGreen would have been his choice, but he’d sent her back to Hoy, in part because of the officer who now sat beside him. And the circumstances were not normal.DSGowan had experience of county-lines gangs, and was also a Liverpudlian. Whatever had gone down last night in the Kirkwall nightclub, he had been closest to it. As he had been in the tragic death of Hugh Mowat’s grandchild.

On entry to the interview room, Hugh had looked like a man who’d died and been resuscitated, much against his will. But his surprise at finding an unknown officer sitting next to Erling had seemed to breathe life into him again. However fleeting it might turn out to be.

IntroducingDSGowan, Erling explained that he had been the one to answer the emergency call to the harbour. And that it had been he and Pastor Strachan who had pulled Eilidh from the water and tried to resuscitate her.

Hugh listened to all he had to say, his gaze firmly fixed on Gowan, then said a simple thank you.

Following on from this, Erling explained that they’d like Hugh to give them his part in the story.

Hugh nodded, as though feeling on safe ground, before offering his explanation.

‘I received a call from Liz, Eilidh’s mother, early this morning. She said Eilidh had snuck out of the house yesterday, after beingrefused permission to spend the evening in Kirkwall, and wasn’t answering her phone. Liz was convinced she’d gone into Kirkwall anyway. When rumours reached her that a young girl’s body had been retrieved from the harbour, she was desperate to know if it was Eilidh. So I came in here to speak to you,’ he said, directing his gaze at Erling.

‘Was Eilidh in the habit of going against her mother’s wishes?’ Erling said.

‘She was a teenager.’ Hugh shrugged. ‘But not a troublesome one,’ he added, as though he had experience in that area.

‘Was she involved in the drug scene in Kirkwall?’ Gowan asked pointedly.

Erling watched as Hugh’s expression darkened. ‘I don’t know.’

‘There will be a post-mortem, which will reveal if any drugs contributed to Eilidh’s death,’ Erling explained. ‘But from the description given of Eilidh’s last moments by an American visitor, who saw her from his room window at the Kirkwall Hotel, Eilidh was disorientated and shoeless. She looked very much like someone under the influence of drink or drugs or both.’

Continuing, Erling said, ‘Pastor Strachan saw Eilidh outside the club with a tall, dark-haired male, mid-twenties. He had her by the arm. He also had what sounded like a Scouse accent. Do you know who that man might be?’

Hugh remained silent, although Erling could see the turbulent thoughts reflected in his eyes.

‘Stronger drugs are getting into Orkney,’ Erling added firmly. ‘We believe via county-lines gangs, likely originating in Liverpool. Perhaps your granddaughter was a victim of this?’

Hugh’s head sank towards his chest.