The Fireraisers

by Malcolm Archibald

  'It's the noose for you, boy!' Duff said.

  'I was just obeying orders!' Cattanach clutched his bleeding head.

  'Whose orders?' Watters threatened with the weighted end of his cane.

  'Mr Beaumont's.' Cattanach cowered away. 'He said he'd look after me. He said there was a plot to sink Lady of Blackness, and I was to guard it and he'd look after me. If I'm for the noose then so is he.' He spat at Duff. 'Did you think he was the saint that everybody said he was?'

  'Guard Cattanach,' Watters said. 'Put Mr Beaumont under arrest as well.' Watters turned his attention to Varthley and Willie. 'Right you two, what's all this nonsense about? You know these two ladies were not involved…'

  'That's her.' Willie was nearly frantic as he rattled the handcuffs. 'That's the woman. I told you she was foreign!'

  'Miss Caskie is no more foreign than I am.' Scuddamore shook him. 'You're a lying little tyke.'

  'You're foreign too,' Willie said. 'You're as foreign as a Frog. You're no' from Dundee!'

  Watters breathed out slowly as realisation dawned. To Willie, trapped by poverty in the hell's kitchen of Dundee's slums, any outsider would be a foreigner. It was a new concept to Watters, and one he blamed himself for not recognising. Willie had no idea of national or international boundaries; to him, his own sordid corner of Dundee was the world. He would see even the countryside round about as alien and therefore foreign. 'Hold her, Scuddamore!'

  'Why?' Watters directed his question at Elizabeth. 'Why pay somebody to attack your special friend? Why pay somebody to burn down Mr Beaumont's mill?' He no longer wished to speculate. 'Not that it matters; you'll be in jail for a long time for instigating fire-raising.'

  'It would be about the slave question,' Scuddamore said.

  Elizabeth's laughter mocked them all. 'Slaves! You really don't know anything, do you? You know nothing and understand even less! It's nothing to do with slaves.' She jabbed a finger toward Beaumont. 'It's all to do with him! It's that manipulative tyrant!'

  'We'll talk about all this in the police office.' Watters looked up. He had not heard Mrs Foreman arrive. She smiled at him.

  'Oh, Sergeant Watters,' Mrs Foreman said. 'Isn't this exciting?'

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: DUNDEE: DECEMBER 1862

  If Mackay's fingers had danced the polka before, now they performed a Highland jig as both hands drummed on his desk. 'This has been a most confusing case, Watters. It has been most confusing indeed. I confess that I am nearly as much at a loss now as I was when the events occurred.'

  'Yes, sir,' Watters said.

  Mackay stilled his fingers, sighed, and leaned back on his seat. 'Tell me what's happened, Watters. Start with Mr Beaumont.'

  'Yes, sir. Mr Beaumont was aware that somebody was targeting his business without knowing who it was. He heard about the threat to destroy Lady of Blackness, so hired an ex-Royal Navy steward, Cattanach, to infiltrate the crew under the name of Jones. When they were in Calcutta, Cattanach saw the fellow in the hold with gunpowder and fuses, crept up, and killed him with this.' Watters placed Cattanach's spike on the desk.

  Mackay nodded slowly. 'We can't charge Mr Beaumont with protecting his own ship.'

  'No, sir, but we can charge him with concealing a crime by not handing Cattanach over to us when he knew he was guilty of murder.'

  Mackay grunted. 'That will ruin his business credentials, which will be the worst punishment possible for such a man. Now, let's look at Cattanach. As the murder was on board a British ship, he was technically on British soil, so he'll be charged with murder or at least culpable homicide.'

  'Yes, sir,' Watters agreed.

  'Do we know who the murdered man was?'

  Watters consulted the notes he had made during his interrogation of Elizabeth Caskie. 'I believe so, sir. Do you recall the case of the Honourable Peter Turnbull?'

  Mackay nodded. 'I recall Turnbull, the aristocrat who went missing owing thousands of pounds.'

  'That's the fellow. I doubt he'll ever pay his debtors.' Watters permitted himself a small smile. 'Elizabeth Caskie was quite talkative once we got her into the interview room.'

  'Was she indeed? What the devil did Turnbull have to do with anything? How the devil did Elizabeth Caskie contact him?' Mackay stilled his fingers. 'And why did he agree to act the incendiary?'

  'The world of the minor landowners is small, sir,' Watters said. 'Turnbull had gambling debts; he owed two thousand to Caskie. Elizabeth arranged for him to ship out to India with a hundred pounds to start a new life and his debts to Caskie quashed in exchange for destroying Lady of Blackness. That's her story anyway.'

  Mackay's fingers rapped on the desk again. 'We'll contact Turnbull's family for identification. Now, Elizabeth Caskie. Tell me about her.'

  'On her own admission, sir, she was the prime instigator.'

  'For God's sake, why?' Mackay shook his head. 'She is a close friend of Beaumont's younger daughter; she had everything anybody could possibly want. Why go against Mr Beaumont?'

  Watters consulted his notes. 'Two reasons, sir. Firstly, The Caskies were in financial difficulties, while Beaumont was a major commercial rival. William Caskie was a gambler, as we know. That was one reason he agreed to build a ship for the South; he would recoup his losses.'

  'Foolish fellow.' Mackay's fingers were drumming again.

  'Yes, sir. If William Caskie's business failed, then Elizabeth would face relative poverty, which she could not stand.'

  'She would still be comfortably off.'

  'Yes, sir, but her sort needs wealth, not mere comfort.'

  Mackay's fingers increased their dancing. 'And the second reason?'

  'She is an evil, unprincipled woman, sir.' Watters waited for condemnation.

  'Explain further,' Mackay demanded.

  'The less business that Beaumont got, the more could go to Caskie, so Elizabeth disrupted the mills with fires, tried to sink Beaumont's ships, and made the world, and us, believe that there was a conspiracy against Beaumont. It was pure coincidence that the Federal agents had a similar notion. It was Elizabeth who suggested that Amy should go to Newport. She planned the attack.'

  'That's very cold-blooded,' Mackay said.

  Watters nodded. 'Amy endured worse at the dance when she mentioned suffering for fashion and beliefs. I wondered at her choice of words at the time and thought she might be involved in some way. I was wrong about her.'

  'I suppose that Elizabeth also put the mannequin in Beaumont's bed,' Mackay said.

  'Elizabeth was staying at Mount Pleasant at the time,' Watters confirmed.

  Mackay took a deep breath. 'You mentioned Amy. Was she involved in this blasted case?'

  'I think Amy was unaware of anything,' Watters said.

  Mackay sighed. 'So you completed your case, Watters. Or rather, your cases, for it seems two ran side by side.'

  'Yes, sir.' Watters did not mention his suspicions about Mrs Foreman and Mrs Caskie. Mrs Foreman evidently did not like Mrs Caskie, with her hints at poisoning, but that had not been his case.

  'The thing is,' Watters said, 'if they had kept their cool, even then, they could all have got off with it. We had nothing concrete, only speculation combined with vague theories. The word of young Willie or Varthley would never have stood up in court against respectable people such as Beaumont and Elizabeth Caskie.'

  'It just goes to show,' Mackay said. 'These supposedly respectable people are only actors. Behind the façade, they can be as crooked, devious, and downright unpleasant as any garrotter from Couttie's Wynd.' He sighed. 'And if you tell anybody that I said that, I will deny it.'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'There remains William Caskie,' Watters said.

  'William Caskie did not break the law,' Mackay said. 'But you can rest assured that he did not get off scot-free. He is deep in debt and nobody will lend him money now. Mr Caskie faces a future of poverty. If he is lucky, he may find a job as a before-the-mast seaman.' Mackay's smile was bleak. 'Well done, Watters.'


  'Just one more thing, sir.' Watters took a deep breath. 'Why did you give the case to me, a mere sergeant, rather than to an inspector?'

  Mackay's fingers began another dance. 'There was nothing sinister, Watters. One of my inspectors may be retiring soon. I may need a good man.' His smile lit up the bright Highland eyes. 'I would not tell Marie that yet. Now dismiss.'

  'Yes, sir.' Lifting his hat and cane, Watters left the room. If he hurried, he could grab a few holes at the golf course. He swung his cane, smiling.

  HISTORICAL NOTES

  The American Civil War divided public opinion in Great Britain. While many of the working classes despised the slave system, there was respect for the bravery of the Confederate soldiers. The sometimes high-handed attitude of the Federal Navy also created resentment among some people.

  Scottish fishermen lived perilous lives with many casualties, often due to the open boats they used in the treacherous waters off the Scottish coast. Until 1883, there was no obligation to report the death of a fisherman at sea. From that year, any death at sea had to be reported to the Board of Trade.

  The ship name Alexander MacGillivray was the son of an exiled Jacobite and a Cree Indian. In the eighteenth century, he became chief of the entire Cree nation. History claims that he commanded over 30,000 warriors and at one time held the balance of power in the American South when Great Britain, Spain, and the United States competed for control.

  Uniforms: the Confederate Navy found it difficult to obtain sufficient uniforms, so often used whatever they could, charging the poorly paid recruits for the privilege.

  Men: perennially short of men, the Confederate Navy filled its ships from whatever sources it could. Attempts to draft from the army often failed as commanders refused to part with soldiers who were precious when facing a numerically superior enemy. Confederate naval commanders often asked for volunteers from the ships they captured, so the sailors who manned Federal merchant vessels would often change allegiance to avoid imprisonment.

  Ratcliffe Highway – was a famous or notorious seaman's haunt in the nineteenth century. A street of bright shops and shady pubs, at night it teemed with prostitutes and sailors. Well-known for its sudden violence, the Highway was backed by a network of horrible lanes and alleys, into which it was not advisable to stray. The White Swan or Paddy's Goose was perhaps the most famous seaman's pub in the Highway.

  Leviathan – the first train ferry in the world, opened between Granton, near Edinburgh, and Burntisland in Fife in 1850. The ferry was designed by Thomas Grainger and built by Thomas Napier in Govan. The arrangements for loading were designed by Sir Thomas Bouch, who later designed the ill-fated first Tay Bridge that collapsed in 1879. The opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890 ended this rail ferry across the Forth.

  Malcolm Archibald

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  AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

  Born and raised in Edinburgh, Malcolm Archibald was educated at the University of Dundee, a city to which he has a strong attachment. He has experience in many fields and writes about the Scottish whaling industry as well as historical fiction and fantasy.

  BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR

  Jack Windrush -Series Windrush

  Windrush: Crimea

  Windrush: Blood Price

  Windrush: Cry Havelock

  Windrush: Jayanti's Pawns

  A Wild Rough Lot

  Dance If Ye Can: A Dictionary of Scottish Battles

  Fireraisers

  Like The Thistle Seed: The Scots Abroad

  Our Land of Palestine

  Shadow of the Wolf

  The Swordswoman

  The Shining One (The Swordswoman Book 2)

  Falcon Warrior (The Swordswoman Book 3)

  Melcorka of Alba (The Swordswoman Book 4)