Untouchable (12 page)

‘You saw these gamekeepers with carcasses full of small white objects. When you asked the gamekeepers what they were they said they were bits of polystyrene packing material. Is that right?’

Paulo realized how lame the story sounded. They’d decided not to mention that Tiff had taken the pills. There was no proof that that was where she’d got them. Without the evidence, there was nothing to it. ‘Yes,’ said Paulo.

‘I’ve been on shoots before,’ said Alex. ‘No one packs carcasses with polystyrene to make them look pretty.’

The officer shrugged. ‘It’s a top-flight luxury establishment. I’ve had tea up there and they put a doily between the cup and the saucer.’ He continued to read from the statement. ‘You think there is smuggling going on. You saw two gamekeepers, who you cannot identify, loading carcasses into a boat off the Kyle of Tongue. Then you saw a carcass washed up in a cave on Rowan Island.’

‘That’s right,’ said Li. She looked at Paulo. This wasn’t going well.

‘It doesn’t sound like much, does it?’ said Alex.

The officer looked at the statement. ‘On the face of it, no. But we’d always rather people came to us with suspicions of any sort – it’s our job to find out whether they’re founded on fact or not. We’ll send an officer up to talk to the laird. From what you’ve said, there might be a bit of minor poaching going on. But I doubt there’s any drug running. We will of course ask to see the packing material but I doubt it’s anything to worry about. The laird’s a prominent figure in the community – he just funded a new computer wing for the local school. Minor members of royalty come on his shoots. I very much doubt he’s up to anything.’ He turned the statement round and indicated a space at the bottom with his pen. ‘If you’d just like to read it and sign here.’

Hex looked up as Paulo, Alex and Li came into the kitchen.

‘Hex, have you found anything?’ asked Alex. He pulled out a chair at the wooden table and sat down opposite him.

As soon as they left the police station Alex had texted Hex and asked him to find whatever information he could about Frank Allen, the laird.

‘Well,’ said Hex, ‘our laird is more barrow boy than Barrow-in-Furness.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Li.

‘He’s not Scottish. He’s from the East End of London and he inherited a lot of money from his father a few years ago, which seems to be when he started the lodge. A number of the Sunday papers have done profiles of him. Before he arrived, Glaickvullin village was tiny, like Tongue. He moved in and did up the castle. First builders came, then farmhands and mechanics. Then, once it was up and running, it was chefs, waitresses, gamekeepers, cleaners, bookkeepers. New shops opened. The local school reopened and he built a computer wing. They were about to close the doctor’s surgery as there weren’t enough people in the village to make it worthwhile. Now there’s a mini hospital there. He’s practically reinvented Glaickvullin.’

Paulo sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. ‘No wonder the police don’t believe us. He’s the local patron saint. Alex, you saw him. What was he like?’

Alex shrugged. ‘Not really a country person. Didn’t fit. But that’s about all I noticed.’

‘I wonder where he got all his money?’ said Li. ‘Does it say?’

‘Property, it seems,’ replied Hex, typing.

Paulo checked his watch and got up. ‘Time for someone to relieve Amber. How’s the patient?’

‘Talkative,’ said Hex. ‘You’ll see.’

Paulo went out and closed the door.

‘We need evidence,’ said Li. ‘How do we get that?’

Alex spoke quietly. ‘There are two places where we’ve seen strange things, the bothy and the moor. We go and do some surveillance. We take the camera. Those guys must be leaving some evidence of what they are really up to, and we’re going to find it. Hex, can you find out any more about our laird and his employees?’

‘Just on that now,’ smiled Hex. He hit
SEND
. Finally he’d found something he wanted to e-mail ScaryHarry about.

‘Our guys operate at night,’ said Li. ‘We could go out after supper.’

Amber came back into the room and clapped Hex on the back. ‘You’ve made a real friend there, honey.’

Hex looked round in horror. ‘Have I?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Amber. She looked at Li and Alex. ‘What’s the score?’

Hex showed Li the grid reference on his GPS. ‘Here’s where you saw the six-wheelers.’

Li nodded.

It was dark. There was no moon. A chilly wind blew across the open moor. Ever since the rain it had been a lot colder. They were glad of their black fleeces and balaclavas. They had smeared camouflage cream on their faces, necks and wrists so that they could blend seamlessly into the landscape.

Li swept her torch around the area. ‘Where are we going to lay up?’

Hex’s torch found a wiggly trench in the ground. A dry stream bed. ‘Perfect,’ he said, and vaulted in.

He vaulted straight back out.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s full of freezing water,’ he groaned. ‘I’d forgotten about all that rain.’

Li jumped in. The water lapped over her boots. She knelt down and shuddered. ‘Let’s hope we don’t have to wait for long.’

Hex slipped in again, grumbled and ducked down. It was unpleasant but it was good cover. They could see in all directions and if headlights came along they could stay out of sight.

Li shook herself, trying to get warm. ‘Of course, they may not come here again.’

‘They’d better come,’ shivered Hex.

A light burned in the window of the bothy down below, so that it looked like a tiny lantern. Amber and Alex lay on their stomachs watching it, camouflaged like Li and Hex.

Amber was checking the map. ‘Is that it?’ There was always a chance they’d got the wrong bothy in the dark.

Alex checked the grid reference. ‘Yes, that’s the one.’

The two friends switched their torches off. They crept down the hill carefully, working by feel. In the light from the window they could see the six-wheeled ATV – and another vehicle, a normal quad. Did the gamekeepers have guests? In the window they could see three figures. It seemed they did.

Alex stopped and sat down. He took the video camera out of his pack and began filming. ‘This is the perfect hideaway,’ he whispered. ‘Miles from any roads. No one’s going to stumble across it in the night by accident.’

‘Except if they’re in a drug-induced haze.’

Alex knew she was joking but he still couldn’t get the experience out of his mind. ‘It wasn’t a haze,’ he said. ‘It was like being possessed.’

‘Do you think Tiff’s taken the same thing?’

‘No,’ muttered Alex. ‘She’s enjoying it. There’s no way you could enjoy what I had.’

The men were still just standing in the room, talking. ‘Come on,’ growled Alex softly. ‘Stop discussing the football and do something weird, like you did the other night.’

A chink of light appeared about a metre to the left of the window. The door was opening. A figure came out, silhouetted against the golden lamplight. He was tall, heavily built.

‘Ah,’ muttered Alex. ‘We haven’t seen you before. Smile for the camera.’

One of the gamekeepers came out, carrying something large and heavy in his arms. Amber squeezed Alex’s arm. It was a deer carcass.

The other man came out with another deer carcass. They loaded them onto the six-wheeler. The big man got on the quad and started it. The headlights winked on. Instinctively Amber and Alex ducked, but they were well hidden. One of the gamekeepers went to lock the door, then climbed on the ATV behind the other. The two bikes revved and roared away.

‘Is that it?’ said Amber.

Alex lowered the camera and switched it off. ‘We should have given the camera to Hex and Li.’

‘I wonder how Paulo’s getting on with Tiff,’ said Li.

‘I hope he’s braced for some deep, meaningful conversations,’ said Hex. ‘That drug’s made her very introspective.’

The sound of a lone vehicle drifted across the night sky. Immediately they focused on the job. The sound came closer and a waft of exhaust fumes drifted over to them. Li spotted a cluster of headlights, bouncing through the sky.

‘Two vehicles,’ she whispered. ‘There was only one before. They’ve brought a friend.’

The two friends ducked well down in the stream bed. Now they would see what really went on here.

They heard the bikes pull up and the engines stop, but they kept down as low as possible. Their heads were only metres away from the wheels.

The six-wheeler’s lights were still on. One of the gamekeepers walked a short way away from it, shining a torch on the ground. The other unclipped some elastic ropes securing the carcasses.

The other bike, a normal quad, had a lone rider. He stood up, silhouetted against the six-wheeler’s lights. He was big, very powerfully built, well over six feet tall. Even in silhouette they could see he was dressed differently from the gamekeepers. He wore baggy jeans and a hoodie pulled up so that he looked like he was wearing a shroud. He was powerfully built and the baggy clothes made him look even bigger. City clothes, thought Hex. Not country gear.

When the big man talked, the other two stopped what they were doing and listened attentively. That could only mean one thing.

Li whispered to Hex, ‘Those gamekeepers are really scared of this guy.’

One of them put the torch in his mouth, ghoulishly reddening his face. He knelt down and there was a metallic noise; then his face was obscured by a shadow. The big man waited, his face dark under the hood. What were they doing?

The kneeling gamekeeper pulled something out of the ground and went behind it. Down behind it. Li and Hex heard a sound like feet on metal rungs.

A few moments later there was another sound like an engine starting.

Li gripped Hex’s arm. It was the sound she had heard in the cave.

A light flooded into the sky from deep in the ground, as though someone had turned a spotlight on. It illuminated the cloud above – and the big square trapdoor that the man had opened in the ground. So that’s where he had disappeared.

Li and Hex held their breath. Something was buried under the heather.

They heard feet on rungs again. The second gamekeeper was waiting with one of the deer carcasses. Arms reached out from behind the trapdoor and dug into the carcass. Li and Hex caught a glimpse of something blue, bright royal blue, being pulled out of the split where the carcass had been gutted. A small blue drum, about the size of a rugby ball.

The gamekeeper descended out of sight and the big man followed him down. The other gamekeeper dumped the remaining carcass beside the trapdoor, climbed down a few rungs, eased another blue drum out of the carcass, then disappeared.

The light shone into the night sky. It seemed to beckon:
Come closer. Come and look.
It seemed wrong to just sit there.

The two friends heard footsteps coming up the ladder again. The trapdoor was pulled down sharply, extinguishing the light.

Li let out her breath very slowly. ‘That sound was what I heard in the cave. It’s a generator.’

Hex spoke rapidly, excitedly. ‘That’s the missing link. That’s their factory. And who’s that big guy?’

‘Should we report back? Or should we stay?’

‘I think we’d better stay,’ said Hex.

Tiff was lying on the sofa, huddled in a purple blanket. A reading lamp threw a soft pool of light over her blonde hair. Paulo was sitting against the radiator, still watching her.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Tiff.

The pattern had been the same for the past few hours. She would look like she was going to sleep, then would suddenly start talking, nattering about whatever popped into her butterfly brain.

Paulo wished he felt as wide awake as she did. ‘Sorry for what?’

‘I stole your stash,’ said Tiff.

‘My what?’ said Paulo.

‘Your stash. I’ve seen E before. I know what it looks like.’

Paulo sighed. ‘I don’t take drugs,’ he said. ‘And you shouldn’t either.’

‘What were you doing with that stuff then?’ said Tiff. ‘I found it in your pocket.’

How much should he tell her? She might say the wrong thing somewhere and ruin their cover. ‘I was going to take them to the police,’ he explained. At least that was the truth.

The front door banged and then Alex and Amber walked in.

‘Are you guys still here?’ said Amber. ‘I’d have thought you’d be tired by now.’

Paulo yawned forcefully. ‘One of us is.’

‘Where have you been?’ asked Tiff.

‘Night orienteering,’ said Alex. ‘You wouldn’t have liked it.’

Tiff checked who had come back. ‘Where’s Hex? I’m not going to sleep before he gets back.’

‘He’s coming,’ said Amber. ‘They went a different way. Paulo, I’ll take over if you want.’

Paulo got up and stumbled out. ‘Goodnight all.’

Amber settled down on the beanbag next to the radiator. She waved at Alex as he went out.

Tiff looked at Amber somewhat balefully, then put her head down on a cushion, as if trying to get comfortable. The gesture said,
I’m not going to talk to you
. Fine, thought Amber. I don’t want to talk to you either. In fact maybe she’d get some sleep.

But Tiff started talking again. Her voice was quiet, the hostility gone. ‘My mum married again,’ she told Amber. ‘She doesn’t want a kid around. She can’t wait to get away on her own with my stepfather.’ There was none of the usual sarcasm in her voice. Not even bitterness. Just sadness.

‘I’m nothing more than a babysitting problem,’ she went on. ‘I have to be farmed out, sent on trips and kept occupied. Brainwashed so that I don’t want anything. They want a robot, not a daughter. They’ve no idea who I am. I don’t matter.’