Heartlands

by Kerry Watts

  ‘Thanks, pal. Good luck in your new place.’ The removal man held up a twenty-pound note. ‘And thanks for this. Much appreciated.’

  Rob nodded and smiled as he closed the front door after them. He listened to their truck disappear into the distance, leaving behind it only silence. Rob closed his eyes and breathed slowly, revelling in the peace. All he could hear was the sound of his own breath and he loved it. He wanted to savour every moment. He clicked on the kettle and slid his finger across the worktop. It was smooth, and so clean; cleaner than his last place. He wasn’t sad to leave that old flat behind.

  Cam was apprehensive at first. She wasn’t sure he was ready to take on something so big, but Rob talked her round in the end. Something caught Rob’s attention from the corner of his eye, right outside his kitchen window. He narrowed his eyes and peered round the side of the curtain so as not to scare his visitor. He watched in awe as the kingfisher bobbed and bowed its graceful head in search of lunch in the burn that ran along the back of his new house. Rob smiled as the kettle came to a boil. He unwrapped a mug and rummaged in another box for coffee.

  ‘Shit.’ He was worried he’d forgotten to pack the coffee in the ‘need it quick’ box. He moved aside his notebook, then gasped. He ran his fingers over the dog-eared pages, then pulled out his copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Her leaving gift. She had given a small token to everyone, but still, it meant a lot to him. The book had that effect every time; it was like it had some strange hold on him. But he knew it wasn’t the book; it was the person who had given it him that he remembered the most. Thinking about Gail Robertson still filled Rob with a strange feeling he couldn’t quite put his finger on even now as a grown man. She had had such an impact on his life.

  The dark clouds seemed to follow Rob into town as he walked down the hill past the huge oak trees on either side. The legend of The Black Witch made him question every shadow and crunch he heard until he quickened his pace. The ten-minute walk was enough to refresh him. The tiredness he’d felt was gone. A high-pitched squeal startled him out of his daydream. He couldn’t help but grin at the sight in front of him until guilt made him jog forward.

  ‘Hey, I’ll get them for you,’ he said. ‘Hang on.’

  ‘Thank you so much. Bloody bags. You know what the problem is, don’t you?’

  Rob continued to retrieve the oranges from the pavement and shrugged with a smile.

  ‘They use cheap bags. Paper-thin, they are. As much use as a chocolate kettle.’

  ‘You might be right.’ Rob handed her back her escaped shopping. ‘Here you go.’

  ‘Thanks. I’m sorry, I don’t think I know you, do I? Have we met before?’ She frowned.

  Rob smiled. ‘No, I’m Rob Taylor, how do you do? I’ve just bought the house at the top of Scroggie Hill.’

  The young woman frowned again, then her eyes lit up before she blushed and gasped a little.

  ‘You’re Rob Taylor! The author. I heard a rumour that an author had bought that house. Sheila didn’t say it was you she sold the property to. Wow, I can’t believe this. I love your books.’

  Rob’s heart raced. ‘Yes,’ he replied awkwardly, and turned to walk away.

  ‘Don’t go,’ she urged. ‘Can I buy you a coffee as a thank you? Please.’

  Rob closed his eyes and swallowed hard before he turned back with a smile. ‘Sure, that would be great.’

  Her soft blue eyes caught his and held his gaze. ‘It’s so good to meet you, Rob. I’m Cassie.’

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Rob sat bolt upright in the hotel room bed, sweat pouring from him. The bed sheets were soaking wet. The nightmares always stayed with him, but this one was particularly brutal.

  The alarm clock read three o’clock in the morning. He ran his fingers through his damp hair then wiped his hands on his T-shirt. He had left the house with one suitcase, his phone and laptop. Tom Nicoll left him with no choice. Cassie probably knew the truth by now, but what mattered more to Rob was that Louise knew. The thought that she might believe he had something to do with Shannon’s death hurt him so badly he felt sick. It burned so deep inside that Louise might think that. He’d picked up the phone to call her so many times, but what could he say? He laid his head back down on the pillow. In the morning he would have to figure out what he was going to do and where he should go, because he sure as hell couldn’t go home, thanks to Tom Nicoll.

  Jessie was walking up to the Ross’s house when she noticed Blair Crawford sitting in his car across the street. She narrowed her eyes as she knocked on their door.

  ‘Come in, DI Blake.’ Jason opened the door wide for Jessie. ‘Louise is still in bed, I’ll go and get her. Go through, I won’t be a minute.’

  Jessie smiled and made her way into the living room. She picked up Shannon’s school photo and imagined Rob Taylor seeing that photo every time he was there. She thought about him spending time with her. Had he planned it? Did it just happen, like he said it did with Sophie? Did she believe that?

  ‘Hello, sorry, I didn’t know you would be here so early.’ Louise yawned then rubbed sleep from her eyes.

  ‘I’ll go and make us some coffee,’ Jason offered.

  He ran his hand across the back of Louise’s shoulders and Jessie was touched by the way Louise reached for his hand with a soft smile. The way Jason looked at her tugged at Jessie’s heart. Louise sniffed and brushed her bare arms against the early-morning chill, and pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa around her shoulders.

  ‘DC Logan visited you yesterday to let you know how Shannon most likely—’ Jessie paused while Jason returned with coffee for the three of them.

  ‘There isn’t any easy way to tell you this.’

  Jason and Louise glanced briefly at each other then back at Jessie. Part of Jessie wished they weren’t listening so intently, patiently hanging on her every word.

  ‘We have a suspect that we are very keen to talk to in connection to Shannon’s death.’

  Jason slammed his mug on the table, some of its contents cascading over the sides.

  ‘Who is it?’ he growled.

  ‘Jason, let her speak.’

  Jessie feared what Jason would do when she told him.

  ‘How much do you know about your friend Rob Taylor?’

  Jason stood and paced the floor, his fingers clasped so tight that his knuckles turned white.

  ‘Rob! I’m going to fucking kill him.’

  Jason snatched up his car keys and went to leave. Louise blocked his path. She clutched at his shirt.

  ‘Let her finish.’ Louise directed her words straight into Jason’s eyes, her own mind spinning out of control. Jason lifted his hands up and retreated after throwing down his keys, hard, on the chair by the living room door.

  ‘OK, let’s hear it.’ His voice was tense, full of anger.

  ‘Sit down, Jason. Come on, I want you to calm down. I need your help.’

  Jason perched on the edge of the sofa and dropped his head in his hands, rage simmering. He snapped his head up to hear what Jessie had to say. Louise reached for his hand. She nodded at him with a gentle smile, which made him settle back into the cushions and kiss her hand once.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

  ‘This isn’t easy to hear, I know,’ Jessie told them.

  Jason shook his head and Louise tugged the blanket further around her.

  ‘Rob Taylor is not the man you think he is.’

  ‘Clearly!’ Jason leaned forward and released his grip on Louise’s hand.

  ‘Rob Taylor was not his birth name.’

  Louise frowned and joined her husband on the edge of the seat. ‘What do you mean?’

  She knew Rob better than she knew herself. She would know if something wasn’t right; if he was lying. She wouldn’t have let him get close to her or Shannon if she suspected he was any kind of con man.

  ‘In 1996 a teenage girl was raped and murdered by two boys from her class.’

  Lo
uise clamped both hands over her mouth and stood up. ‘Oh God, no, no! I don’t want to hear this.’ She put her hands over her ears, then squeezed the blanket tighter around herself. ‘Jason, this can’t be happening. I know Rob, it’s not him. It can’t be him.’

  She pressed her face into Jason’s shirt and sobbed.

  ‘Finish what you’ve got to say,’ Jason spoke calmly, controlling his rage with a clenched fist.

  Jessie nodded. ‘Her name was Sophie Nicoll and the two boys were Daniel Simpson and Jack MacKay. They were tried as juveniles and sentenced to five years in Carseview young offenders’ institution.’

  Louise sobbed as she listened in horror.

  ‘Jack MacKay committed suicide not long after his incarceration, but Daniel Simpson completed his sentence and, following intensive rehabilitation, was released in 2001 with a new identity. ‘Rob Taylor.’

  Jessie watched the couple attempt to absorb her words.

  ‘Right now, we have no evidence to suggest that he has done anything. We only have the fact that he is missing and, of course, his history.’

  ‘What do you mean, he’s missing?’ Louise exclaimed.

  ‘When the information eventually arrived on my desk, we had to consider Rob a suspect, and by the time we went to talk to him he was already gone.’

  Then Louise remembered the letter. He wasn’t abandoning Cassie. He was running away from what he’d done.

  ‘Louise, I wonder if you, with your connection to Rob, could perhaps—’

  Jason glanced from Louise to Jessie and back again, puzzled by her suggestion.

  ‘What connection? What’s that supposed to mean?’

  The flush on Louise’s face helped connect the dots.

  ‘Louise, tell me you didn’t, you haven’t…?’ He pulled away from her when she reached out for him. ‘How could you do that to me, to us?’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she tried to whisper through her tears.

  Jason slapped her hands away.

  ‘You fucked him, the man who killed our daughter.’ He spun on his heels and walked out of the front door, slamming it hard behind him.

  ‘I should go after him,’ Louise cried.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen, but please, I need your help. Do you know where Rob could be?’

  ‘God, I’ve been so stupid.’ Louise tossed the blanket onto the floor. ‘I have to talk to Jason. I’ve hurt him so badly.’

  Louise opened the front door but it was too late, Jason was gone. So was Blair Crawford, Jessie noticed, once she’d caught up with Louise.

  ‘Come back inside, we need to talk.’

  ‘Ben, you scared me,’ Jessie said as they bumped into him in the kitchen.

  ‘Sorry, I just need something to eat,’ he answered, his face sombre, the black rings under his eyes evidence of another sleepless night.

  ‘You go up, I’ll bring you a sandwich in a bit.’ Louise smiled at her brother as he turned to head back to his room. ‘He misses Shannon, too.’ She choked back her tears. ‘He took a load of pills the other day. This is all affecting him so deeply. Ben is so much more sensitive than he makes out.’

  ‘I’m sorry. Can you think of anywhere Rob would go? We need to talk to him,’ Jessie urged.

  ‘Look, if I knew I would tell you. Do you think I want to help him hide from you?’

  ‘I want you to call him.’ Jessie instructed her.

  Louise felt nauseous at the thought of hearing his voice. How could she talk to him when he might have harmed her daughter? Still, she relented. She had no choice.

  ‘What do you want me to say?’

  Blair Crawford paid Maggie for the bottle of Glen Moray whisky and took it and the two glasses up to his room. Jason Ross had been in such a mess when he’d stumbled in front of his car that he couldn’t leave him like that. He gave Jason his room key to clean himself up. It wouldn’t be a problem if he hid out for a while. The two men had a lot to talk about.

  ‘Thanks.’ Jason sank the entire glass in two large gulps then waved it in front of Blair for a refill. ‘Same again.’

  ‘This is the good stuff, take your time with it.’ Blair placed the bottle on the dressing table and watched Jason sink that glass, too.

  ‘Just keep pouring, my friend. I’ve got stuff in here I need to forget.’ Jason tapped his fingers on the side of his head. ‘Stuff you wouldn’t believe. Fuck, stuff I cannot actually believe.’

  ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Blair refilled his glass.

  ‘I told you, you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Man.’

  Jason pinched his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

  ‘Try me. I’m a great listener.’

  Chapter Sixty

  The sound of his phone vibrating on the hard floor woke Rob from a deep sleep. A sleep that hadn’t come easily after that nightmare.

  ‘Louise, I’m so glad you called. It’s so good to hear your voice.’

  When his words were greeted with silence, he spoke again. ‘Louise, is that you? Please talk to me,’ he begged.

  His voice tore through her, ripping at her emotions. He still sounded the same. None of this could really be true, could it?

  ‘Tell me the truth,’ she murmured. ‘Did you hurt Shannon?’

  ‘Please, Louise, you have to believe me. I haven’t hurt Shannon. I would never hurt her. I love her like she’s my own flesh and blood. You must know that.’

  Rob’s heart thundered, and his chest tightened like a vice. He struggled to breathe.

  ‘Is that the truth?’

  All Louise could make out were rapid, panting breaths until a deep, gravelly voice she didn’t recognise spoke.

  ‘I didn’t do it,’ he insisted. ‘I would never hurt you or Shannon.’

  The silence that followed felt like for ever to Rob. ‘Louise, are you still there?’

  ‘But you have hurt someone before, haven’t you?’ Louise rubbed a tear from the tip of her nose.

  The vice tightened around Rob and he sucked in as much air as he could, but it wasn’t enough.

  ‘Rob, where are you?’

  Jessie rang the bell on the reception desk and was greeted by a chirpy, middle-aged woman wearing a badge with the name Madge written in capital letters, who bustled towards them with enthusiasm in her walk.

  ‘Hello there, what can I do for you?’

  Jessie held up her ID and pulled Rob’s photo out of her pocket while Dylan reached for his. ‘I am Detective Inspector Blake, and this is my colleague Detective Constable Logan. I would appreciate it if you could let us have access to a room booked in the name of Rob Taylor. I believe he arrived a couple of nights ago. Six foot three with blond hair. This is him here.’

  Jessie handed her Rob’s photo, but Madge shook her head. ‘I don’t recognise him, I’m afraid.’

  ‘This is rather important, so if you could check your books, that would be great.’

  ‘Wait here, I’ll go and get the diary. I won’t be a minute.’

  ‘Thank you, that’s really helpful.’ Dylan smiled politely.

  Jessie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. When the caller ID read unknown number, she tapped the reject button without hesitation. Seconds later the buzzing returned, this time forcing her to put her phone on silent and stuff it back at the bottom of her pocket.

  Dylan shot a concerned glance in Jessie’s direction. That wasn’t like her.

  ‘What?’ she asked when Dylan stared at her.

  ‘I didn’t say anything, Jess,’ he answered.

  ‘What have you heard?’ she barked, then instantly regretted it. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. I know you were only trying to help.’

  ‘It’s none of my business, I know, but it’s obvious there’s something going on, that’s all.’ He shrugged.

  Neither of them could continue the conversation as Madge bustled back towards them. Jessie was grateful for that. Any longer and she might have told him.

  ‘I’m sorry to keep you
waiting.’ She laid the huge diary on the desk and lifted her glasses from the chain that dangled above her ample bosom. ‘Right, Rob Taylor, you said.’ She flicked through several pages, backward and forward, then removed her glasses. ‘I’m sorry, there’s nobody here in that name. There’s not even anyone who arrived two days ago. All of our rooms are booked for a convention in Dundee. Most of the guests have been here for a week.’

  Jessie glanced at Dylan, who was staring at her in confusion. Louise had lied to them.

  Rob answered the door after only one knock.

  ‘I’m so glad you came. You have to believe me. I had nothing to do with it. I would never hurt Shannon or you.’

  Louise felt guilty that she’d sent the two detectives to the wrong hotel, but she had to see Rob first. She would know when she saw him if he was guilty. She would see it in his eyes. He still looked the same. His eyes still melted her heart when she looked at him.

  ‘But you have hurt someone, haven’t you?’ Her voice struggled to be heard.

  Rob’s head dropped as he turned away from her. He sat on the edge of his bed and sighed.

  ‘I’m not that mixed-up teenage boy any more. They helped me. They made me a better man. You know me, Lou, better than anyone ever has.’

  Louise scoffed. ‘How can you sit there and say that? I don’t know. Nobody knows you, Rob. Or do I call you Daniel? Which is it? Does Cassie know?’

  ‘Louise, please, it doesn’t matter who knows. I haven’t done anything to Shannon.’ He gazed into her eyes. ‘I just want to get on with my life. I’ve been punished. Forgive me, Lou, please. I didn’t deliberately deceive you or Cassie. I had strict conditions I had to adhere to, that’s all.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Louise murmured as she turned for the door. ‘Goodbye, Rob.’

  Louise had been wrong to think she could do this. Her baby was dead. It might not be at Rob’s hands, but he was capable of it all the same. She couldn’t forgive him. Not for the lies. Not for his past.