Smokeheads

by Doug Johnstone

  They got in the back of the police car, leaving the photographer to take a couple of nonchalant snaps through the window. The ambulance pulled away and they followed. Adam noticed the lifeboat untying and heading back out to sea.

  ‘Where are they going?’ he said, pointing.

  Eric followed his finger. ‘Back out to look for your missing friend, of course.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘They’ve rustled up a couple of coastguard boats to help. They’re going to sweep the whole southern coastline of the Oa.’

  ‘Reckon they’ll find him?’

  Eric looked carefully at Adam in the rear-view mirror. ‘Better prepare yourself for the worst, son. If he’s been in that water nearly twenty-four hours, the only thing they’ll be finding is a corpse.’

  They drove out of Port Ellen towards Bowmore. Adam remembered coming the other way less than two days ago, Roddy driving like a maniac, the world still full of possibilities. They passed the place where Joe had first pulled them over for speeding, and Adam felt sick at the sight of it.

  ‘Didn’t think you’d be working the weekend, Eric,’ said Molly.

  He replied over his shoulder. ‘I don’t normally. In fact I’ve almost retired these days, but there’s been an emergency today.’

  Adam looked at Molly, who gave him a silencing stare.

  ‘What kind of emergency?’ she said.

  ‘I’m not meant to say,’ said Eric. ‘But I suppose you’re connected to it.’

  ‘Connected? In what way?’ said Molly.

  Adam looked at her. She sounded and looked calm. He couldn’t believe it was all unravelling like this already.

  ‘Seems they found two dead bodies first thing this morning.’

  ‘Bodies?’

  Eric nodded. ‘In a burnt-out distillery.’

  ‘One of the distilleries has burnt down?’ said Molly.

  ‘No, an illegal still. Quite a big operation, by all accounts. Just a few miles from where you were found, actually.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘They haven’t formally identified the bodies yet, but evidence on the scene suggests it was Joe and Grant.’

  Adam could see Eric looking in the mirror for a reaction from Molly.

  ‘Joe and Grant?’ She sounded shocked and incredulous. ‘In an illegal still?’

  Eric nodded carefully. ‘Place had burned down to the ground with them inside it.’

  ‘Jesus,’ said Molly.

  Eric considered the pair of them in the back. ‘Quite something. I know you and Joe were all over, but I thought you should know, given that you were man and wife for years.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks Eric. I appreciate that. Joe and Grant, wow.’

  ‘Anyway, I’ve been called in as emergency cover,’ Eric said. ‘Same with young Kyle who was called out to the scene of your accident. Obviously we’re understaffed. But some big guns from the mainland are coming over on the ferry, to investigate the whole thing further. I was just told to get you to hospital, make sure you’re OK.’

  ‘We appreciate it, Eric, we really do,’ said Molly.

  ‘That’s right,’ said Adam, feeling totally redundant to the conversation, to this whole place.

  They were approaching Bowmore now, swinging past the round church and down the main street, then hanging a right. The hospital was little more than a converted house with an NHS sign outside. Adam watched as the ambulance pulled up and the crew began moving Roddy inside.

  Eric stopped and got out. He opened the door for Molly and helped her up.

  ‘You’ve been through a lot,’ he said, looking at her carefully. ‘So just take it easy. They’ll give you the once-over here, make sure you’re OK, then I’ll give you a lift back to Port Ellen.’

  He turned to Adam, struggling out of the car. ‘You might want to hang around, make sure your pal is OK.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Well, let’s get you inside, get you both checked out.’

  Molly and Adam followed behind him, looking at each other, Adam’s stomach buzzing with nerves.

  37

  They sat in a beige room with cheap plastic furniture waiting for a doctor to examine them. Outside the dirty window they could see Eric sitting in his police car reading a paper and smoking a pipe. Wasn’t there a law against smoking in work vehicles?

  ‘Think he suspects anything?’ Adam said to Molly.

  Molly looked out the window. ‘Maybe, but I’m more worried about the mainland police. I don’t know if anyone on Islay was working with Joe and Grant, but even if they were, they’d surely just want all this to go away after what’s happened.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘You don’t know what it’s like living on an island. There’s a certain mentality, a community feeling. We’ve always been separate from the mainland, they’ve ignored us for centuries, that’s just the way we like it. We like to sort things out our own way.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t like it here that much?’

  ‘I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not part of it.’

  ‘So if you islanders look out for each other, where does that leave me and Roddy?’

  Molly frowned. ‘Let’s just concentrate on the mainland cops coming over on the ferry. For all we know, they could be the same guys we saw last night in the speedboat, couldn’t they?’

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Couldn’t you organise a Wicker Man reception for them?’ said Adam, smiling.

  Molly laughed. ‘I wish.’

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

  ‘I can’t believe no one missed me,’ she said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Twenty-four hours in hell and no one even texted to see if I was OK. No one even knew I was gone.’

  Adam dug his phone out. Four bars on the signal now, battery fine, no calls or texts.

  ‘Snap,’ he said, laughing grimly. ‘We really are a couple of sadsacks, aren’t we?’

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ said Molly, nudging him in the ribs.

  ‘Ow.’

  The door opened and a stocky young woman wearing a white coat came in.

  ‘Molly, you OK?’ she said in a concerned voice.

  ‘Hi, Carol,’ said Molly. ‘We’re both doing fine, I think.’

  Molly turned to Adam. ‘This is Carol, Dr Mackay. Carol, this is Adam.’

  ‘Quite something you’ve been through,’ said Carol in a fussy voice. ‘Can’t believe you were out there all night. And after a crash like that. How do you feel?’

  ‘Fine,’ said Molly. ‘Pretty tired, but OK.’

  The doctor examined them, taking blood pressure and temperature, checking eyes, ears and throats, asking about aches and pains, checking fingers and toes. Adam stared at his hands as Carol held them, thinking about the microscopic fragments of Luke’s brain probably stuck under his nails. He felt a shiver run through him, making Carol stop.

  ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’

  Adam nodded. ‘Just need some sleep.’

  Carol nodded too. ‘Terrible business about your friends. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in shock. Horrible, just horrible. Here’s hoping they find the one that’s still out there.’

  Adam looked at Molly, who spoke. ‘Eric didn’t think there would be much chance of survival.’

  Carol shrugged. ‘You never know with these things.’ She looked out the window. ‘Did Eric tell you about Joe and Grant?’

  Molly sighed. ‘He mentioned it.’

  ‘Shocking, really shocking,’ said Carol. ‘Had the bodies in here earlier, what a state. Almost nothing left of them. They haven’t formally identified them, but their badges were on the scene, so they’re pretty sure.’

  ‘I see.’

  Carol looked at Molly. ‘I know you and Joe weren’t … well anyway, it’s still horrific.’

  ‘Yeah.’

  Carol shook her head. ‘Nothing happens around here for years at a tim
e, and now suddenly two tragic incidents within a few miles of each other on the same night. An amazing coincidence, don’t you think?’

  Adam felt his jaw clench.

  Molly looked Carol in the eye. ‘Amazing.’

  Adam butted in. ‘Any news on Roddy? The guy with the shoulder injury?’

  ‘Dr Stuart said he must’ve had some balls,’ said Carol. ‘Sitting with that in his shoulder for almost twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Adam. ‘He’s quite something.’

  ‘I know Dr Stuart is taking him into surgery at the moment, I can go and find out the latest, if you like.’

  ‘That would be great,’ said Adam, giving her a feeble smile.

  As she bustled out of the room, he turned to Molly.

  ‘Reckon we can keep this up?’ he said.

  ‘What choice do we have?’

  ‘I keep forgetting I’m supposed to be hoping they find Luke,’ said Adam. ‘This is a nightmare.’

  They sat in silence for a while, too exhausted to speak. Adam felt his eyes begin to close, a thick wooziness sweeping over him. Confused pictures began swirling round and merging in his mind, images of the crash, Ethan face down in the rockpool, Joe grinning at them, Luke slumped on the floor, Molly bent over the cask, the chase through the geese, drowning under ice, Joe rolling around on the floor engulfed in flames, Luke’s terrible missing face, the still burning in the night, the grimly comical sight of them struggling with the barrel along the coast, it all merged into a sickening whole, a dizzying mess of vivid, lurid nightmares, endlessly repeating over and over till he felt like screaming.

  He snapped awake as the door opened, Carol coming back in. He looked round and saw Molly curled up asleep on the floor. He looked at the time on his phone. He’d been out for almost an hour.

  ‘Sorry I took so long,’ said Carol quietly, looking at Molly sleeping. ‘You can go and see your friend now.’

  ‘Is he OK?’

  She tiptoed over to a cabinet and took out a rough woollen blanket, placing it gently over Molly.

  ‘He’s out of surgery,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know if he’ll be conscious or not. Dr Stuart says he’s an extremely fit guy, otherwise it could’ve been a lot worse. There’s still a slim chance he could lose the arm, though. There’s a big risk of septicaemia. You can’t walk around with metal sticking out of your shoulder and not expect to get a serious infection.’

  ‘But he’s going to be OK, yeah?’

  Carol nodded and held the door open for him. They both looked at Molly asleep on the floor, something like a smile touching the corners of her mouth. How the hell can she be happy? thought Adam. How can any of us be happy? How can any of us sleep soundly ever again?

  He dragged his eyes away from her and tiptoed out of the room.

  38

  Even with extensive blood loss, possible poisoning and a totally fucked arm, Roddy still somehow managed to look good. He was topless, the entire right side of his chest and shoulder heavily bandaged, all the way down to his elbow. His flat stomach and rippling muscles were sickening to Adam, and while his face was pale, the skin tone on his body suggested he’d just come off the beach. Which he had, of course.

  Roddy was sleeping with a peaceful look on his face. Adam stood over him, examining the faint lines bunched around his eyes. They’d been friends for twenty years. Over that time they’d both changed beyond recognition, but they’d somehow stayed in each other’s orbit. How had that happened? Adam thought about how he felt when he briefly thought Roddy was dead back at the crash site. They seemed to need each other, a symbiotic relationship which didn’t necessarily do either of them any good. Or did it? Adam got to feel morally superior, while Roddy got to flaunt his successful lifestyle in Adam’s face. Or maybe it was the other way around – Adam got to reinforce his loser status by witnessing Roddy’s success, while Roddy caught the occasional glimpse of what life could’ve been if he’d had a moral compass. Whatever, they certainly had something to keep them together now, this whole horrific escapade. This struggle for survival would tether them to each other until the grave.

  Roddy’s eyes flickered then opened. He rolled his head to the side and looked at his bandaged arm, then turned to Adam.

  ‘I’m gonna miss that piece of shit metal spike,’ he said, grimacing through a smile.

  ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Like I’ve just spent twenty-four hours running around the wilderness with a bit of car in my shoulder, trying not to get killed by a maniac.’

  Adam looked round at the open door, then went to close it.

  ‘That never happened, of course,’ he said.

  ‘Of course,’ said Roddy. ‘What the fuck do you take me for?’

  ‘I just wanted to make sure you were clear about our story,’ said Adam. ‘You were pretty out of it back there sometimes.’

  ‘All thanks to Uncle Charlie. What happened to my case, by the way?’

  Adam shook his head. ‘I chucked it over the side of the lifeboat while you were out for the count. Thought it was for the best.’

  ‘Shame, I could do with some now,’ said Roddy, his body tensing as he shifted his weight.

  ‘Here,’ said Adam, lifting a button attached to a drip going into Roddy’s hand. ‘The nurse showed me, this is morphine. You press it to get more.’

  Roddy grinned. ‘Drugs on tap? That’s a fucking sweet deal.’

  He pressed the button and waited a few seconds. He stared at Adam, his eyes widening then narrowing. ‘Oh fuck, that’s good shit.’ He sank into his pillows.

  ‘So,’ said Adam. ‘Our story?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Roddy dreamily. ‘We crashed. Found Ethan. Luke missing. Set a fire and sat around all night till morning. Simple.’

  ‘Cool,’ said Adam. ‘They’ve found Joe and Grant already.’

  Roddy gazed glassily through the morphine. ‘I knew they would. A fire that size was bound to attract attention. What’re they saying?’

  ‘We spoke to that copper Eric that Molly knows.’

  ‘Did you tell him what really happened?’

  Adam shook his head. ‘Molly thought it best to just stick to our story with him too.’

  ‘Clever girl,’ said Roddy. ‘She’s right. Can’t be too careful. The fewer people know the truth the better.’

  ‘I don’t think anyone is linking us to the fire at the still, not yet anyway. I get the impression that the other Islay cops weren’t in on the bootlegging thing. Molly seems to reckon they’ll just want it all to go away, so they’re not looking too hard for reasons not to brush it under the carpet.’

  ‘It can’t be that easy?’

  ‘It’s not,’ said Adam, shaking his head. ‘Cops are coming from the mainland to look into it. Eric reckons they’ll want to speak to us.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘Oh, a lifeboat and a couple of coastguard boats are sweeping the coast off the Oa, searching for Luke. Remember to look hopeful that they find him.’

  ‘They’re surely not expecting to find him alive after this time?’

  ‘No, they’re searching for the body, really. Fingers crossed they don’t find it for a while. Even if they do, hopefully we’ve done enough that forensics won’t twig.’

  ‘Depends how good a job you made of getting that bullet out.’

  ‘I got it out fine, OK?’

  ‘OK, only fucking saying.’

  ‘Well don’t bother,’ said Adam. ‘You have no idea what I went through when you were out cold back there.’

  Roddy looked at his shoulder. ‘I kind of had my own shit to worry about, you know.’

  Adam could feel his heart racing and made a conscious effort to calm down. ‘I know. Look, we just have to stay calm and stick to what we said, OK?’

  ‘Not a problem.’

  The door opened and Eric poked his head round. He looked at Roddy. ‘How you doing, son?’

  ‘Not too bad, considering.’

  ‘That’s good.
’ Eric looked at Adam. ‘Can you follow me please, Mr Strachan? A couple of gentlemen from Strathclyde CID in Glasgow have arrived and want to have a quick word with you.’ He turned back to Roddy. ‘Then they want to speak with you, Mr Hunter, if you’re up to it?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Roddy.

  Adam patted Roddy on his good shoulder and gave him a furtive glance. Roddy smiled and pressed the button for more morphine, sinking further into his bed covers.

  ‘That is good shit,’ he said to himself as Adam headed out the door.

  39

  ‘I believe you’ve been through quite an ordeal.’

  Adam was back in the same beige room as before, facing a tall, muscular man with a square jaw and close-cropped hair. No uniform, but he’d shown Adam his ID, Detective Inspector Ritchie. The guy looked more like a bouncer than a copper, though was there really much difference?

  ‘Where’s Molly?’

  The DI gave him a look. ‘Ms Gillespie is giving her version of events to my colleague.’

  ‘Version of events?’

  ‘Just routine,’ said Ritchie. ‘With any incident like this, we want to establish the chain of events, make sure we know exactly what happened.’

  ‘But it was just a car accident.’

  Ritchie smiled, no warmth in it.

  ‘A car accident resulting in one fatality, one serious injury and one missing person, presumed dead.’

  ‘Presumed dead?’

  ‘You strike me as an intelligent man,’ said Ritchie. ‘If your friend has been in the water since the crash, he has very little chance of survival at this time of year.’

  ‘If?’

  Ritchie stared at Adam. ‘Presuming you never saw him in the water, how do you know for sure that’s where he ended up?’

  Adam’s mind raced. ‘We searched all over for him after the crash, didn’t find anything.’

  ‘Maybe he woke up first, went to get help but got into trouble.’

  Adam frowned. ‘What kind of trouble?’

  ‘You tell me.’

  Adam looked at Ritchie. ‘He wouldn’t have gone off without helping us first. He would’ve woken us. When I came round, Molly and Roddy were still in the car, they needed to be got out. He would’ve done that, not just wandered off.’