The Chessmen l-3

by Peter May

  ‘So Whistler met you on the shore,’ Fin prompted.

  ‘Yes. He was waiting for me as promised. I stripped off my wet clothes and we buried them in the peat. I got dressed, and we made our way down the valley in the moonlight to the track where Whistler had a four-by-four waiting for us. We drove to Harris then, and I got on the ferry from Tarbert to Skye first thing next morning. All togged up like a hiker. A woolly hat and my hood up so no one would recognize me.’

  Mairead spoke for the first time, unexpectedly, and her voice almost startled them in the dark. ‘I met him off the ferry in Skye. I’d driven up there the night before, right after I left you at the Cul de Sac.’

  ‘I told her everything,’ Roddy said. ‘About Jimbo, I mean. And we flew together down here to Spain, to look for a place. Somewhere I could still be a part of the band, at least as far as writing and recording were concerned, but dead to the rest of the world. Lost with my plane somewhere in the sea among the Inner Hebrides.’

  Fin said, ‘So obviously the rest of the band knew the full story.’

  ‘Oh, not about Jimbo,’ Roddy said. ‘We never told anyone about that.’

  Fin looked at Mairead. ‘Must have made it awkward for you with the others when Jimbo’s body turned up in the plane.’

  She lowered her eyes. ‘We’re still dealing with that.’

  Roddy fixed Fin with a very direct look, an appeal in his gaze. ‘If it were ever to come out, Fin — you know, that I was alive. There are still people out there who would come looking for me.’

  Fin sat staring into his wine for a long time before taking a small mouthful. ‘If I say nothing, knowing what I know now, that would make me an accessory after the fact to murder and fraud.’

  ‘I told you we shouldn’t have told him,’ Mairead said. Her voice was hard and edged by tension.

  But Roddy’s eyes never left Fin’s. ‘He’s not going to tell anyone, are you Fin? I mean, who would benefit from it? None of us, that’s for sure. There’s nothing to be served by it. All it would do is put lives at risk.’

  Fin returned his stare. ‘Yours.’

  ‘Yes, mine.’

  Fin thought about it. There was, after all, no apparent connection between Whistler’s killing and the body in the plane. And yet the coincidence was troubling. Whistler had been shocked to find that body. And he must have realized that Roddy hadn’t told him the whole truth, maybe even suspected that he had duped him deliberately. And that Mairead was a part of it. Fin recalled the way Whistler had looked at her at the cemetery. His voice raised in anger outside the Cabarfeidh.

  At the same time, Roddy’s plea for Fin’s silence was not without merit. He must have known the risks of telling him the truth, but was banking on an old friend not betraying him. Mairead, clearly, did not share his faith.

  Fin sighed and pushed his plate away. He still had a sense of something missing. Something obvious that was eluding him, a connection he wasn’t making. ‘Who else knew?’ he said. ‘Not about Jimbo, but about you faking your death.’

  ‘Apart from the band?’

  Fin nodded.

  Roddy shook his head. ‘No one.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes.’ But then he hesitated. ‘Well. . there was one other person. But someone we all trusted implicitly. And still do. I mean, he hasn’t said a word in all these years.’

  Fin frowned. ‘Who?’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  I

  It was the same sun that had burned his skin in Spain, but two and a half thousand miles further north it had been reduced to a pale disc in a hazy sky and barely took the edge off a cold wind blowing down from the north-west.

  The chill blast of that wind came in strong across the moor as Fin stepped off the plane at Stornoway. He hurried towards the terminal building. The Indian summer was long gone, but it was a dry, bright day, and for once rain seemed a long way off.

  The journey home had passed in preoccupied thoughts about Roddy and Whistler and the body in the plane. And no matter how hard he tried to put the thought from his mind, Fin felt a powerful sense of guilt. He had known at once from Whistler’s reaction that there was more to the body they had found than first appeared. And yet he had allowed the issue to drift, failed to confront it until it was too late. If he had forced it earlier, maybe Whistler would still have been alive. And that thought, he knew, would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  But when all other thoughts and emotions had been exhausted, Fin was still left with one. A single name. A name that had come from the lips of a dead man in Spain, leaving Fin troubled and uncertain of how to proceed.

  His Suzuki was waiting in the car park where he had left it, still wet and glistening from the last shower. He climbed in and cleared the windscreen and drove out of the airport over the hill to Oliver’s Brae. Sunlight washed across Stornoway’s outer harbour in the distance, glinting off the glass of the new ferry terminal. The town itself would present him with a crossroads of choices. Which was not something he had dealt with well in his life. And it wasn’t until the very last moment that he made his decision, turning south out of town at the roundabout just beyond the Co-op, and setting a course for Uig.

  He had forgotten all about the gala day. The return of all seventy-eight Lewis chessmen to their last resting place for just one day. Sixty-seven of the chess pieces were permanently housed in the British Museum in London, that repository of stolen artefacts from around the world. The remaining eleven were kept in Edinburgh, but still a long way from home. He remembered Whistler’s exhortation the day they had met at his croft for the first time since they were teenagers. They should be in Uig year round. A special exhibition. Not stuck in museums in Edinburgh and London. Then maybe folk would come to see them and we could generate some income here.

  Well, they were generating some income today, Fin thought. There were hundreds of cars and a string of coaches parked up at the side of the road and along the machair, and a thousand or more people on the beach, which had been turned, at low tide, into something like a fairground.

  Fin pulled up short of Uig Lodge and walked across the machair to stand and look out over the sands. The wind blew, as it always did, but God was on the side of the chessmen and had brought the sun with Him. It was the oddest thing to see this normally deserted beach, on the remotest corner of the island, populated by hundreds of tourists, locals and press, all milling amongst temporary wooden stalls and pitched tents. It was like a giant Lowry canvas. There were boat trips coming and going from the far shore, and helicopter rides taking off and landing from a level area below the church at Baile na Cille. There was a giant bouncy castle crawling with shrieking children, a Noddy train. Stalls offered tombola, a coconut shy and the chance to guess the weight of the salmon. There were sheep-milking time trials and haggis-throwing. It was an extraordinary feat of optimism in a climate that, nine days out of ten, would have rained on the parade.

  The church itself was a focus of attention. It was where the chessmen were being displayed in glass cases under tight security, and two chess masters were engaged in a battle of wits with thirty-two of the original pieces. There were crowds around the church, a constant stream of people coming and going, and a line of them snaking up from the beach.

  The centrepiece of the extravaganza on the sands was a giant chessboard, each square two feet by two. Whistler’s chessmen filled the board, proud Viking warriors strutting across their black-and-white battleground in synchronization with the game being played in the church, each move relayed by walkie-talkie to volunteers who moved the pieces.

  Whistler would have been proud to see his carvings animated in this way, Fin thought. The confusion over their commissioning must somehow have been settled. But if Whistler hadn’t been paid before, then he never would be now.

  Fin returned to his jeep and drove on round to the turnoff that led to Whistler’s croft. The carefully tended rectangle of land that stretched down the hill would no doubt fall into des
uetude now, Whistler’s efforts quickly reclaimed by a process of nature that had no respect for the ephemeral efforts of man. He drew in on the gravel outside the blackhouse and saw that the propellers of Whistler’s wind turbines were continuing to generate electricity that would never be used.

  There was no evidence now of the crimescene tape that must have been stretched across the door in the immediate aftermath of Whistler’s murder. The forensics experts from Scenes of Crime would have dusted for fingerprints, taken their pictures, recovered blood and fibres from the mess on the floor, and been long gone. The door was not locked, and Fin pushed it open. The still air inside had a faintly antiseptic edge to it, stuffy and damp. Furniture had been righted, the floor swept clean. The only trace that remained of the mayhem there had once been was the faint, smudged chalk outline they had drawn roughly around the body, the stain of blood where it had pooled on the floor, and the trail of it left by Whistler as he had attempted to drag himself towards the far wall.

  Fin perched on the edge of the worn and battered old settee and looked around the room. He remembered his aunt’s indignation at the state of the place, and her fury at finding only beer in the fridge. He recalled sitting on this very settee, still shivering after his rescue from certain death in the Tathabhal stream, drinking tea laced with Mr Macaskill’s whisky. And he remembered how Whistler had hugged him on the day they had been reunited for the first time in half a lifetime. His big, whiskered face rough against Fin’s, the warmth and affection in his eyes. And he felt grief well up inside him. Followed moments later by anger, and a determination to focus.

  He blinked to clear his vision and examined the chalk outline on the floor. One leg trailed straight out behind, the other pulled up, the knee on a level with the waist. One of Whistler’s arms lay at his side, the other stretched out beyond his head. And Fin recalled George Gunn’s words the day he had slipped into his cell at the police station. It looks like he crawled across the floor while you were still unconscious. You could see the trail of blood where he’d dragged himself over it, almost as if he was trying to reach something.

  Fin tried to picture what he might have been trying to reach. And then suddenly it came to him, and everything dropped into place, like the counters on a slot machine. He was certain then he knew who had killed Whistler. But he was still struggling with the why.

  He recovered his mobile phone from his pocket and found the number he was looking for in its memory.

  He heard Gunn’s voice when he answered after the third ring.

  ‘George?’

  Gunn sighed. ‘No more favours, Mr Macleod.’

  ‘No favours, George. But I need you to come down to Uig, and I think I can show you who killed Whistler.’

  There was a long silence. ‘Why can’t you just tell me?’

  ‘Because I need to be sure first. And I need you to bring something with you.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The crime scene pics of the body. Just the wide shots.’

  He heard Gunn’s sharp intake of breath. ‘You must be joking, Mr Macleod!’

  ‘I know you can access them George. Even if just to take photocopies.’

  ‘You’re going to get me drummed out of the force.’

  Fin couldn’t resist a smile. ‘Thanks, George.’ He hesitated. ‘And there’s just one other thing.’ Gunn’s exasperation exploded in his ear.

  II

  Fin left the claustrophobia of the blackhouse to find a place to sit on the hill, looking down over the beach, while he waited for Gunn. It could be a good hour and a half.

  He had lost count of the number of times he and Whistler had sat together on the hill below the house, just talking. Sometimes for hours. There had never been a shortage of words between them, but their silences had been comfortable, too.

  He saw a figure drowned in red and blue waterproofs two sizes too big, climbing up the track towards him. Only a small corner of the tattoo on her neck was visible beneath the big blue collar and the hood that piled up against the back of her head. She wore wellies below the leggings, and what looked like a wetsuit beneath the waterproofs. All the studs and earrings were gone, and her face was oddly naked without them. Her eyes were shadowed, her pale face drawn and devoid of make-up.

  She stopped and looked down at him where he sat. ‘I was on the beach and saw you drive up to the house.’ She saw how his quizzical eyes took in her waterproofs and she almost smiled. ‘I promised ages ago I’d help out with the boat rides. Wasn’t going to do it at first, but then I thought it might take my mind off things.’ She shrugged and stared out gloomily across the distant beach. ‘But all those people having a good time. .’ She turned a sad smile back on him. ‘Just makes you feel worse somehow.’ She hesitated. ‘Okay if I sit down beside you?’

  ‘Sure.’

  And it felt strange for Whistler’s little girl to be sitting next to him where Whistler had once sat.

  ‘Why are you here?’ she said.

  Fin avoided meeting her eyes and rested his forearms on his knees to look over them beyond the beach, to where the tide was still on its way out and shallow white breakers burst in long, uneven lines over wet golden sand. ‘I wanted to take a look for myself at where your dad was killed. I don’t remember much about it. Someone just about cracked my skull moments after I found him.’

  ‘Why? I mean, what did you think you were going to see?’

  ‘I was a cop for a lot of years, Anna. I thought maybe, I don’t know, that I might see something that the rest had missed.’

  ‘And did you?’

  He paused for just a split second before shaking his head. ‘No.’ Then he turned to look at her, and was shocked again by how much of her father there was in her eyes. He was momentarily discomposed, and she stared back at him candidly, searching for something in his. ‘Who gave permission to use the chessmen?’ he said.

  ‘I did. Jamie Wooldridge said they were needed for the gala day.’

  And Fin remembered how Jamie had denied knowing anything about them.

  ‘He said there had been some confusion about whether or not his father had commissioned them. But that had all been cleared up, and he apologized for not paying for them before now. Told me he would pay me after the gala.’ She turned away to look seaward, her jaw setting in the same stubborn way Fin had so often seen in her dad. ‘But I don’t want his money. I want the chessmen. I want to keep them.’ She fought to control her voice. ‘My dad made them. That makes them mine now, doesn’t it?’ She turned her father’s fiery eyes on him.

  Fin nodded. ‘It does.’

  ‘Everything about them. Every curve and line and chiselled feature was made by my dad. They came from his heart and his hand, and if there’s anything of him left in this world it’s in those chessmen.’

  Fin was startled by her unexpected eloquence, the depth of her feelings and her ability to express them. This after all was the girl who no more than a week ago had reluctantly confessed, I fucking love my dad, after describing him as an arsehole, and a fucking embarrassment. A girl who could barely compose a sentence without peppering it with profanities. All a carefully constructed image, he saw now. A protective shell. One that would win her respect from her peers, but at the same time keep her safe from her vulnerabilities. Shed now, along with all the piercings. He remembered Fionnlagh’s description of her. Smart kid. But brains are wasted on her. Her father’s daughter, in almost every way.

  ‘I want to keep them for ever,’ she said. ‘And that way I’ll always have a part of him with me.’

  Fin reached out to touch her face. ‘You’re the biggest and best part of him there is, Anna. Make him proud of that.’

  Her eyes filled up and she got quickly to her feet. ‘I’d better go. They’ll be needing me down there. With this weather there’s bound to be a big demand for the boat rides.’

  Even as she spoke, a helicopter swooped up over the dunes and flew low overhead. ‘Helicopter rides, too,’ Fin shouted about the roar of
its rotors. He stood up, and she hesitated a moment.

  ‘Can I talk to you sometimes, Mr Macleod? I don’t want to be a nuisance or anything. But it seems like you knew him better than anyone. I’d like to get to know him a little better myself.’

  ‘I’d like that,’ Fin said. And he had a sudden urge to hold her, as if in holding her he could be close to Whistler one last time. But he didn’t.

  She smiled wanly. ‘Thanks.’ And she hurried off down the track towards the beach.

  III

  Detective Sergeant George Gunn parked his car at the foot of the track that led to Whistler’s blackhouse. He looked up and saw Fin sitting among the tall grasses, knees pulled up below his chin, a soft westerly blowing through his hair. The sound of distant bagpipes floated up from the beach on the wind. He began a weary trek up the hill.

  Fin watched him all the way, and heard the swish, swish of his black nylon anorak before he heard his breath coming hard and fast from the effort of the climb. He had a green folder tucked under one arm, and he stopped and glowered down at Fin. Fin noticed the shine on his shoes, and the crease in his trousers. An extra-generous application of oil was helping keep his black hair in place despite the wind.

  ‘You’ve gone way above and beyond the call of friendship this time, Mr Macleod. I’ve had to go delving into an inquiry I’m not a part of to get the things you wanted. It has been noticed and questions are being asked.’

  ‘But you got everything?’

  Gunn glared at him. ‘The social work report is redundant now as far as the courts are concerned. Mr Macaskill is dead, so the case disputing custody has fallen by default. It was, however, considered relevant to the murder inquiry, and so is still part of the evidence.’

  ‘And you got a look at it?’

  ‘I have a copy of it right here.’ He patted the green folder.