Hamish Macbeth 18 (2002) - Death of a Celebrity (23 page)

Hamish explained what he wanted and said eagerly, “I’ll pay you for your time, Ian.”

“Och, I’ll do it for the fun, Hamish. I owe you something for catching those schoolboys. So you’re looking for a silver Celtic cross on a chain? It’s a long shot.”

“The light’s fading, Ian.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’ll be dark anyway. I’ve got one of those underwater lamps.”

“Fine, how long will it take you to get ready?”

“I’ll get my gear now.”

Elspeth stood on the waterfront with Lugs. She had just got back from Braikie. She watched with interest as Hamish and Ian loaded scuba-diving equipment into the Land Rover. “What’s happening?” she called.

“I’m thinking it’s better you don’t know,” said Hamish, frightened that if he told Elspeth any more, she might take it upon herself to confront Mary Hendry.

Elspeth watched him drive off and then ran to her own car, got in with Lugs, and set off in pursuit.

Hamish waited patiently beside the pool below the waterfall while Ian suited up and plunged in. He could see flickers of light from Ian’s lamp dancing on the surface.

Suddenly a voice in his ear said, “What’s he looking for?”

Hamish started and turned around. Elspeth was standing over him, Lugs panting beside her. “If you must know,” he said, “Mary Hendry lost a silver Celtic cross on a chain and it’s a slim chance she might have dropped it here.”

Elspeth sat down beside him and hugged her knees. “So why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“I was frightened you would rush off and see Mary Hendry and have another of your turns. Get the flowers from lover-boy?”

“Yes, thanks. So Frank Hendry was insured?”

“Heavily.”

“Didn’t the police divers search the river at the time?”

“No, Blair wrote ‘accident’ on the case and that was that.”

“But you think Frank might have grabbed at his wife’s chain before he went over?”

“Something like that.”

Mary Hendry was standing patiently in Patel’s store behind Joe Kennedy, who was buying a bottle of whisky. “I’d better get back up the river,” Joe was saying. “I feel that lang drip of a policeman is up to something.”

“Our Hamish?” Mr. Patel’s dark face broke into a grin. “What’s he up to?”

“I took a look before I came here. He’s got Ian Chisholm in scuba-diving gear searching the pool under the falls. I bet he’s got that diver picking out the salmon with his hands and throwing them out to him.”

“I should think that’s an impossibility,” said Mr. Patel. “Here’s your whisky. Why, Mrs. Hendry! You’ve dropped your groceries. Wait a minute and I’ll be round there to help you pick them up.”

“When he surfaces again, I’ll get him to quit,” said Hamish gloomily. “Either he’s going to freeze or we are.”

“Look at the stars!” said Elspeth. “How bright they are! And there’s a new moon.”

“Bugger the stars,” said Hamish rudely. “This iss the wild goose chase if effer there was one.”

Elspeth clutched his arm.

“Look!”

A hand rose out of the dark waters of the pool and the starlight shone down and glinted on a silver Celtic cross.

A pair of star-cross’d lovers
.

—William Shakespeare

W
hen the cross had been safely stowed away in one of the forensic envelopes and Ian was getting changed, Elspeth said eagerly, “What now? Do we go and confront her?”

“Procedure, procedure, Elspeth. I phone Strathbane. Carson and detectives will arrive.”

“But you ought to get the credit!”

“Too much credit’ll get me a posting to Strathbane. There’s method in my duty.”

They drove back to the police station. “You’d better be ready to make a statement, Ian,” said Hamish.

He phoned Strathbane and spoke urgently to Carson.

“Good work,” said Carson. “Don’t move. We’ll be right over.”

“What will we do until they get here?” asked Elspeth. “Eat something?”

“I think for this one, they’ll probably take the police helicopter. They’ll be here right soon. But I can fry us some eggs and bacon.”

“I’ll do that.”

“No, it’s my kitchen and I’ll do it.” Hamish somehow didn’t want any woman taking over his kitchen. That would be a start to some woman taking over his life and breaking his heart.

They had just finished eating when Hamish heard the whirr of a helicopter. “That’s them,” he said.

They walked outside. A police helicopter was landing on the waterfront. Carson got out with Jimmy Anderson and Detective Harry MacNab and a policewoman. “Backup’s on its way,” he said. “Where does she live?”

“Over there. The flat above the craft shop.”

“Right. You go back to the police station, Macbeth, and leave this to us.”

“But I’m the one who’s found out everything,” protested Hamish.

“I’ll call round afterwards and let you know what happens,” said Carson, not meeting his eyes.

“This is outrageous!” shouted Elspeth, who had followed Hamish out to meet the helicopter.

Hamish pulled her away. “It’s no use,” he said. “Let’s stand here and watch.”

Carson and the detectives and policewoman marched to the craft shop and climbed the stairs at the side that led to the flat above. The detective chief inspector rang the bell. Then he hammered on the door. No reply. He stood back and nodded to Jimmy. Both Jimmy and Harry threw their shoulders against the door, to no effect.

“Try opening it,” said the policewoman.

Carson turned the handle and the door swung open. They rushed inside. In the bedroom, two suitcases full of clothes lay open on the bed, but of Mary Hendry, there was no sign.

Hamish and Elspeth were joined by Ian. “She’s gone,” said Hamish. “I know it.”

“I know where she might be if she thought the game was up. You could hear that helicopter for miles,” said Elspeth.

Hamish swung round. “Where?”

“It’s a long shot. The falls.”

“Let’s get in the Land Rover,” said Hamish. “It’s worth a try.”

Carson came out on the steps of Mary Hendry’s flat in time to see Hamish speeding off. He felt angry because he knew he should have taken Hamish with them, he should never have listened to complaints from CID.

Hamish, Ian, and Elspeth were soon climbing up towards the falls, their torches sending yellow beams of light across the heather. They stopped by the pool at the bottom of the falls to catch their breath.

Hamish shone his torch up at the top of the falls. “There she is,” he cried. “Don’t do it, Mary.”

She was standing in the water at the very edge of the falls, just where Hamish had guessed she had pushed her husband over.

Hamish scrabbled up the side of the falls with Elspeth and Ian behind him.

He began to edge his way towards her through the swirling water.

“Don’t come any nearer,” shouted Mary.

They were only about two feet apart now.

“I knew the game was up when Joe Kennedy told me you were diving up at the falls,” she said. “There’s no way I’m spending the rest of my life in prison.”

“Why did you do it?” asked Hamish.

“He was a bastard, that’s why. Kept me practically in rags so that he could drink and drink and use his fists on me.”

“But why kill Felicity?”

“That bitch had it coming. I went up the back road for a walk to clear my head and I saw her. I knew she was coming to see me because she’d phoned me the day before. So when she called round, I told her I’d seen her. If she kept quiet about me, I’d keep quiet about her. She seemed glad to talk.”

Elspeth crouched on the bank, listening to every word. Despite the roar of the falls, every word that Mary said reached her clearly.

“She said she’d taken enough. She said she’d been planning it since Crystal arrived. I told her that I’d killed Frank. We were sisters in crime. But when I read she was going to do that programme, I got frightened. I had nothing on her, but she could bring the police and the insurance company down on my back. I phoned her and said I was prepared to talk about it on camera because it was weighing on my conscience. She was so vain, I think she even forgot that I had witnessed her murdering someone. So she got it, right in the chest. Frank had a shotgun he’d never bothered registering.”

“Mary, if you can prove Frank was a nasty husband, they’ll go easy on you. Don’t be silly. I’ll get you a good lawyer.”

“I had years of it,” said Mary bitterly. “Years! He made my life a hell.”

“Look, come on, Mary. Don’t jump. It’s a nasty death. Here, take my hand.”

Hamish held out his hand.

“Did you find it?” she asked.

“What? The cross? Yes.”

“I knew things would go wrong for me ever since I lost that cross.”

“Mary,” coaxed Hamish. “It’s a cold, cold night and the water’s freezing. If you’re in prison, at least you’ll be alive. Come, now. Take my hand.”

He leaned nearer while Elspeth and Ian held their breaths.

Suddenly a great beam of light shone up and on Mary and Hamish. A stentorian voice through a megaphone shouted, “Mary Hendry. You are under arrest.”

“
NO!
” shouted Hamish.

And Mary jumped.

Her body hurtled down into the falls and onto the jagged rocks below. The cascading water tore at her body, which slowly dislodged itself from the rocks and sank into the swirling waters of the pool and disappeared from sight.

Hamish slowly picked his way back to the bank and slumped beside Elspeth. “The fools,” he said. “The bloody fools.”

Back at the police station, Hamish grimly typed his report and then placed it with the little cross on his desk. The police divers were recovering Mary Hendry’s body. He knew Carson would be with him presently. He had typed up statements from Elspeth and Ian, who were waiting in the kitchen.

He walked through. “Thanks,” he said curtly. “You can both go home. I’ve no doubt our famous CID will be calling on you tomorrow.”

“Don’t you want me to stay?” asked Elspeth plaintively. “As moral backup?”

Hamish’s face softened. “No, you’ve done your bit, lassie. Go home and get a good night’s sleep.”

Elspeth rose and shivered. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget the sight of her going over the falls. If only they had left you alone.”

Carson walked in. Elspeth and Ian stood up to leave. “You,” said Elspeth, facing Carson, “are a stupid bastard.”

They both walked out.

“I have your report, sir,” said Hamish, “and the cross as evidence.”

“You should have told us where you were going,” said Carson, sitting down.

“I wish you’d never come,” said Hamish, sitting down as well. “I nearly had her.”

“At least it saves the state a court case,” said Carson. “How did you guess it was her?”

“At Mrs. McClellan’s funeral, there was an insurance investigator from America. That got me thinking about insurance, and when I found out she’d insured her husband for a lot of money, I started asking around. Mrs. Wellington said that right after Frank’s death, Mary was going mad with worry over a Celtic cross she had lost, so I got Ian to dive in the pool. Och, it’s all in the report,” said Hamish wearily. “I’ll get it for you.”

He came back and placed the report in front of Carson. “That’s your copy. I’ve sent a copy to police headquarters.”

“Thank you. Fine bit of detecting.”

“So why did you keep me off the case? If you had not, I would have told you about my guess that she was at the falls and suggested you leave it to me.”

“I was following procedure,” said Carson heavily. “CID were complaining that I was keeping them off the case. It’s your fault for wanting to stay a village constable.”

“It’s because I’m a village constable that I solved your murders for you. I know people better than I know police procedure. With your permission, sir, I’d like to go to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Certainly. We’ll meet again tomorrow. I’ll need to stay here for the night.”

“I believe they have rooms at the Tommel Castle Hotel, sir.”

Carson rose and looked at Hamish awkwardly, but Hamish, who had risen as well, stood there, ramrod stiff, his blank eyes staring at Carson’s left shoulder.

Lugs, sensing his master’s anger, let out a low growl.

“Right. I’ll be off then.” Carson walked to the door. Hamish glared at his retreating back and experienced a spurt of rage.

Lugs leapt from his corner and bit the retreating detective chief inspector on the backside.

Carson swung round, his eyes blazing. Hamish looked at him steadily.

“Good night, sir,” he said.

Carson went off.

“Come here, Lugs,” said Hamish, stooping down and picking up his dog. “You shouldnae hae done that but I’m right glad you did. Let’s go to bed.”

Carson was a churchgoing man and had a healthy conscience, and that conscience was bothering him. He had to admit to himself that it was not only complaints from CID that had made him keep Hamish away, but vanity on his part. He wanted the solution to the case to be all his own.

He knew that Hamish could probably have talked Mary Hendry out of jumping over the falls. He remembered the good times he had enjoyed at the police station and felt he had lost a friend.

Jimmy Anderson was subdued as he took statements from Elspeth and Ian the following day. Both of them let him know what they thought about heavy-handed interference in a case that Hamish had solved for them.

The normal place for himself and Carson and the rest of the police force to meet in such circumstances would have been at the police station. But by tacit consent, they agreed to meet at the Tommel Castle Hotel, where they were conscious of sour looks from the staff, for the news of what had happened had been spread by Elspeth and Ian.

Frank Hendry’s shotgun had been found under Mary’s bed. They had no doubt that the lab would prove it had been used to kill Felicity.

For his part, Hamish went about his usual crofting chores, not at all surprised that none of them had called on him. He had to admit that he had brought things on himself. He should have challenged and charged Mary and then sent in his report. It was no use blaming Carson for her death when he felt he was as much to blame. Did ever a man have such dread of promotion?