FIFTY-FOUR

The southerly turn the launch took after they had headed east for long enough to clear the Vatersay coast made Haskurlay an ever likelier destination. The ride became rougher as they entered the open sea, forcing Howlett to slow slightly. Ailsa reckoned it would take an hour or so to reach the island. For that hour, at least, they were probably safe.

There was time enough, then, for them to discuss what had brought them to such a desperate plight. Ailsa sat hunched on the bench, massaging her chafed wrists, as Harry told her of the Operation Clean Sheet reunion; of the crop of mysterious deaths it had sparked off; of the house fires in Cardiff and Swindon; of the attempts he and Chipchase had made to discover the truth; and of their ill-fated journey to Vatersay.

Much of this Ailsa already knew. 'I moved to Glasgow long ago, thinking I could put the mystery of Father and Andrew's disappearance behind me. But I never quite succeeded. The ache of not knowing ruined Mother's life. Murdo's too, I think. When Lester Maynard, a total stranger, left me a house in Henley and a good bit of money besides, I tried to tell myself it had nothing to do with what had happened to Father and Andrew. But I knew in my heart it had to be connected. Then Dougie McLeish told Murdo that Maynard had been to Barra a few years before, enquiring about the drowning of a man called Nixon. And Murdo told me. There was no doubt in my mind at that point. The rumours of some sort of military exercise on Haskurlay were true. But still I couldn't be sure Father and Andrew had fallen foul of it. Not till four years ago, too late for Mother sadly, when their bodies were found at last, buried on the island. And even then certainty wasn't proof. The authorities did as little as they could get away with doing. The case was filed and forgotten. It's what I tried to do with it myself. It's certainly what my husband wanted me to do with it.

'Then, two weeks ago, Peter Askew contacted me. He said he was an old friend of Lester Maynard's and was in possession of information he felt he ought to pass on to me. He wondered if I'd agree to meet him. Naturally, I did. He came to London the following day. This would have been a couple of days before he turned up on your doorstep in Swindon. We met at a cafe near South Kensington Tube station. He was nervous, hesitant, unsure, it seemed to me, of what he should or shouldn't tell me, how much of the truth he could afford to reveal. The upshot was this. The discovery of the bodies on Haskurlay had confirmed the accuracy of a statement Maynard had arranged to be sent to him after his death. They'd been very close at one point, he said. I didn't pry into exactly what that meant. I had the impression that if I put any pressure on him he might clam up completely. He knew who was responsible for the deaths of my father and brother. He wanted to give that person a chance to come to terms with his responsibility, which, bafflingly, he said he might well be unaware of. An RAF reunion they were both to attend the following weekend would give him the opportunity to broach the subject. Then he'd feel free to show me the statement and explain everything.

'He was never able to do that, of course. It wasn't me or Karen Snow he met on his way up to Scotland later that week. I believe it must have been the man who killed Father and Andrew. But he didn't react as Askew had hoped. He decided to suppress the evidence of his guilt by eliminating Askew and anyone else he had reason to believe might know what he'd done.'

'Lloyd was beginning to remember things,' Harry observed. 'That made him a target. And our man probably suspected Dangerfield had an ulterior motive for arranging the reunion in the first place. But three killings were never going to be written off as accidents or suicides. Someone had to take the rap.'

'And by going to ground I effectively volunteered for the role,' grumbled Chipchase. 'Bloody hell.'

'With me lined up as your accomplice,' said Harry. 'Askew must have seen or heard something on the train that alarmed him. He must have realized our man was planning to move against him. So, he tried to ensure the truth would come out whatever happened to him by posting the disk containing Maynard's statement to me during the stopover in Edinburgh. But why send it to me?'

'He must have trusted you to bring the truth out in the open,' said Ailsa. 'Perhaps you were never on Haskurlay and therefore had no reason to conceal what happened there. Perhaps neither of you were. If so, our man may be punishing you for having no share in his guilt.'

'It has to be Tancred,' said Chipchase. 'He could easily have met Askew in London on the q.t.'

'So could Judd,' Harry pointed out.

'But he's in Fuerte-bloody-ventura.'

'That proves nothing. He—'

'For the moment, it doesn't matter who it is,' Ailsa cut in. 'What matters is what he's arranged for us.'

'A nasty end,' muttered Chipchase. 'That's what.'

'These men he's hired are utterly ruthless. They kill without hesitation. I came up here when I heard of Askew's death and the two deaths that followed it because I thought I'd be safe so far away from everything. I dare say I would have been but for our man's uncertainty over whether Askew might have sent me a copy of the disk. But all I actually achieved by taking refuge with Murdo was to put him in the line of fire.' Ailsa's voice faltered. She blinked away some tears. 'It was all so sudden. I thought the gunshots were backfires from the engine of the truck. Then that man… Frank… burst into the house and clapped a gun to my head. I thought he meant to kill me there and then. In some ways, I wish he had.'

'He needed us on the scene,' said Harry. 'He's putting together a set of circumstances and a sequence of events that will persuade the police we killed your father and brother fifty years ago, then Askew, Lloyd and Dangerfield last week, then Murdo and…'

'Me.'

'Yes. Hence the old RAF pistol he's using. Hence the statement left on display. He said he had the doctored disk, but he's more likely to have hidden it in the house, where the police will eventually find it. They'll conclude you were in possession of it all along and we came up here to destroy it and… to eliminate you and Murdo.'

'Why take us to Haskurlay?' asked Chipchase.

'I'm not sure. But they don't intend any of us to come back. That's clear. This case has to be closed down. Because of the security angle, the police will be happy to do that. If there's no-one around to be charged or tried. So, what's the story they're setting up? We're losing it. We're no longer in control. We steal this boat, kill Murdo, kidnap Ailsa, take her to Haskurlay. And then… your guess is as good as mine.'

'Or as bad. For our long-term, medium-term or even bloody short-term health.'

'Yes. They mean to end this on Haskurlay.'

'To end us.'

"Fraid so.'

'How do we stop them, Harry? Tell me you have an idea.'

'I can't tell you that.'

'Great. Just great.'

'But maybe… in however long we have left…'

'We can come up with one?'

'Yes. Maybe.'

'Or maybe not.'

Harry nodded in reluctant agreement. 'Exactly.'