6 The Queen of Scots Mystery

by Cecilia Peartree

  She started to walk away.

  ‘Is it all right to bring the dog?’ said Christopher. ‘Or will I pop round by my house and leave him there?’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said the inspector. ‘Can someone give me a hand to put this fire out? I don’t think we’d better wait for reinforcements. They’d have to come from Lothian and Borders. There’s already an incident going on in Cowdenbeath.’

  The inspector and Christopher stamped out the fire between them, retrieving bits of half-melted plastic folder in the process.

  ‘What are these anyway?’ said the police officer, poking at the plastic with a stick. He shone his torch down at them.

  ‘Neil Macrae’s books,’ said Amaryllis. ‘The evidence in the case.’

  ‘And what do you mean by that, Miss Peebles?’ he said.

  ‘It’s Ms,’ said Amaryllis. ‘They’re evidence that somebody was tampering with the accounts and was desperate not to be found out.’

  ‘Somebody?’

  ‘Allegedly Jackie Whitmore.’

  ‘Who exactly alleges that?’

  ‘Well, I do, for a start. When are you going to let us tell you all we know?’ Amaryllis demanded.

  ‘I don’t know anything much,’ said Christopher.

  Amaryllis resisted the almost irresistible urge to roll her eyes and say ‘What else is new?’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ she told him. ‘Inspector Armstrong will have to interview both of us together. Otherwise he won’t be able to work out the whole story.’

  ‘I’m not expecting to get anything like the whole story from you two reprobates,’ said the inspector, taking another plastic evidence bag out of the container on his bicycle. ‘Damn! These bits are so hot they’re going to melt it. I’ll have to leave them in situ… Damn! Why the hell did I send Constable Burnet away?’

  ‘Because you wanted him to question Neil Macrae as soon as he comes round?’ suggested Amaryllis.

  ‘I could wait here and look after the evidence until you can get somebody more official,’ said Christopher.

  ‘No! That would be completely irregular. We’ll have to do the interview here,’ said the inspector grudgingly. ‘The first thing I’ve got to say is, don’t tell anybody else what’s happened here tonight.’

  ‘Of course we won’t!’ said Amaryllis, putting on an indignant voice and inwardly repackaging the whole incident into a good story for Jock, Jemima, Dave and above all for Charlie, who out of all of them would be the sorriest to have missed out on it.

  ‘We could go inside this hut or whatever it is, if you don’t want to stand around in the cold,’ said the inspector.

  ‘No!’ said Amaryllis quickly. ‘Well, not unless you think it’s a security risk – how likely is it that someone might overhear us out here.’

  ‘Jackie Whitmore might, if she’s still around,’ said Christopher.

  ‘There’s no sign of her now, though,’ said Amaryllis. She raised her voice a little and called, ‘Jackie! Come out, come out wherever you are!’

  ‘Don’t do that!’ said the inspector. ‘You could be letting her know she’s in trouble.’

  ‘I think she’s got a pretty good idea of that already,’ said Amaryllis.

  ‘OK, well, what happened here tonight? In your own time. But before dawn breaks over the mud-flats, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Do you want me to record the interview on my phone?’ Amaryllis offered. ‘For the record.’

  Inspector Armstrong sighed again.

  ‘I think this had better be off the record, Ms Peebles. It won’t stand up in court either way. Give me a ballpark overview of the situation.’

  ‘Ballpark?’ said Christopher.

  Amaryllis kicked his foot.

  Standing around the warm ashes of the dead fire, they filled him in quickly on the events that had led up to Neil Macrae being carted off in an ambulance.

  ‘But why? That’s what I want to know,’ said Inspector Armstrong when they had finished.

  ‘Why what? Why did she do it?’ said Amaryllis.

  ‘No – why did you do it? What made you follow her?’

  ‘I was suspicious,’ said Amaryllis. She found it hard to identify where her suspicions of the barmaid had begun. It was only when the Lawsons had turned out to be so boring that she had abandoned them and looked for someone else who might have more of a spark. ‘There was more to her than people could see on the surface,’ she added a bit lamely. ‘The new bicycle. The computer shop. Her interest in what was happening at the Queen of Scots. The fact that she had helped Neil with the accounts.’

  ‘But how does that add up to making a fire and pushing him into it?’ the inspector persisted.

  ‘It didn’t necessarily add up to that – but it could have given her a motive for killing Liam.’

  ‘Why could it?’

  ‘Because he knew about accounts,’ said Amaryllis. ‘Everybody always thought about guns when they thought of Liam, but I remembered Penelope telling me his job was actually in accounting and finance. Neil had asked him to have a look at the books, to make sure they were straight for the auditors. Jackie had been fiddling the books without Neil noticing, transferring money into her own account. She knew Liam would find out, being trained in that kind of thing. She couldn’t risk it. She would lose her job and, knowing Neil, she’d be turned into the police and prosecuted for fraud.’

  ‘But – a wee girl like that – how did she overpower a man the size of Liam?’

  ‘It was Zak who overpowered him in the first place,’ Amaryllis reminded him. ‘He left his father lying on the floor in the cellar, remember? He came and told you lot about it the other day.’

  ‘So she came along after that and knocked over the canister?’ said the inspector.

  ‘Yes. She knew about the carbon dioxide, of course. She did take a bit of a risk, because she could have got trapped in the cellar too, with Liam, but my guess is that she hit him while he was still lying there, found the canister and made a hole in it, then slipped out the door to the bar. It might only have been a slow leak, so she wasn’t in much danger as long as Liam didn’t come to properly.’

  ‘Hmm,’ said the inspector. ‘That’s one theory, I suppose.’ He turned to Christopher. ‘So can you add any supporting detail to this fantasy, Mr Wilson?’

  ‘I told you I didn’t know anything,’ said Christopher crossly. ‘You already know about Neil and me seeing the girl come out of the computer shop, and about her interest in the future of the Queen of Scots.. Of course! It was when she found out about Neil possibly selling up that she realised she had to get the books out of the way, or she’d be found out. So that was when she stole everything from the flat… It was silly of her to think she would ever get away with it all. She must have known somebody would want to see the accounts at some point.’

  The inspector shook his head. ‘You’d be amazed what people think they can get away with. Human nature, Mr Wilson. It’s the same every time. Still, it helps us to catch them so it isn’t all bad.’ He sounded almost like an old-fashioned policeman, more sorrowful than angry about the vagaries of his fellow-humans: no longer the young executive who thought in management-speak and no doubt prided himself on his soft skills.

  His phone rang. ‘Armstrong.. Yes… Yes. Thanks – better get yourselves back here to collect the evidence. It’s going to be a long night…’

  Halfway through the call, Amaryllis started to tiptoe away from him. Christopher followed her example, and he thought even the dog was tiptoeing, although it was hard to tell in the darkness. By the time the inspector finished the call, they were almost at the railway line.

  ‘See you later!’ Amaryllis called to him. ‘You know where to find us!’

  Perhaps fortunately, his reply was inaudible.

  Chapter 30 Up, up and away

  Neil shifted uneasily in his hospital bed. His hand was starting to twinge again, feeling raw as he supposed it still was. They had talked about skin grafts but apparently it was too
early to do anything like that. He didn't look forward to a long string of hospital visits. That hadn't been part of the plan.

  Someone knocked on the door of his room. Why had he been given his own room? No wonder there was over-spending in the NHS. He hope they weren't going to present him with a huge bill at the end of his stay. That hadn't been part of the plan either.

  'Hello,' said Jackie, putting her head in first as if she was afraid to bring herself fully into the room until she had assessed the state of his health - or temper - from a safe distance.

  'He grunted. 'What are you doing here? Did anybody see you? It isn’t visiting time yet.'

  'Course not,' she said, and came right in. 'I'm sorry about this.' Her gesture took in the bed, his hand in its layer of bandages, the whole room, the hospital.

  'So you should be. This wasn't part of the deal.'

  'I know. But they were following us. I had to do something.'

  'It didn't have to be as drastic as that. I could be scarred for life.'

  'Isn't it worth it? To be able to get away from here and make a new start?'

  New start! Neil often forgot how young she was; if she had seen all the things he had seen in his life, she wouldn't be dreaming about a new start. There was no such thing. But this wasn't the time to disillusion her. Neil was a strong believer in people finding things out for themselves. He knew they wouldn't take any notice otherwise. Just as he hadn't taken any notice at school for all these years. It was only getting out into the real world and making mistakes that had taught him.

  Perhaps sensing they had nothing to say to each other, she moved around the room, looking at the water-jug, the chart at the end of the bed, looking out the window at the blank concrete wall that was his only view. It was early days for him to be getting flowers and get-well cards, he reflected, and she certainly hadn't brought any with her.

  'Does Jock McLean know I'm in here?'

  She shrugged. 'Should he?'

  'I was staying with him - he could be worried if I don't come back.' Surely that wasn't his conscience nagging at him? This was an unfamiliar feeling for Neil. But it was more likely a reaction to the food in the hospital. Even the tea they brought with monotonous regularity didn't taste of anything.

  ‘They’ll be coming after me soon,’ said Jackie, still staring at the concrete wall. ‘I’m sure she knew it was me.’

  ‘Who knew it was you? Was it Amaryllis Peebles?’

  ‘Is that her name?’

  ‘Haven’t you learned anything from hanging about the pub in the evenings?’

  ‘I suppose it was her.’

  ‘You should have been more careful. She’s a spy. She was always going to find out what you were up to.’

  ‘I was careful,’ said Jackie. ‘I don’t know why she suddenly turned up in the yard like that.’

  He sighed. ‘She’d have been following you for hours. She does things like that for fun, you know. Just to keep her skills up to date.’

  ‘She’s mad,’ said Jackie. She turned away from the window and glared at him. ‘How are we going to get away to Spain now?’

  ‘I’ll get away as soon as they let me out of here,’ said Neil. ‘It’s up to you what you do next.’

  ‘Up to me? But – we’re in this together!’ she said, an unpleasant whining note creeping into her voice. He wondered why he had never noticed before that when her mouth formed a straight line, the way it did at the moment, her whole face looked instantly ten years older. What had possessed him to get involved with her in the first place? He could have carried out the whole thing on his own and not had any of these problems. And still had two hands in working order as well.

  He tried to shrug his shoulders, and found one of them wouldn’t shrug. It was because there was a drip going into that arm. He wriggled a bit to get into a more comfortable position.

  ‘It was only ever going to be temporary, Jackie,’ he told her. ‘We both wanted the same thing for a while, that’s all.’

  ‘But we still both want to go to Spain, where it’s warm!’ she said. ‘And run a pub together there.’

  ‘I don’t feel like running a pub any more. I thought I might try something else instead. On my own.’

  He was fortunate in that when she attacked him again, she accidentally pressed the bell that summoned a nurse from the nurse’s station. Otherwise there would have been nobody to re-attach the drip that fell out of his arm, or to tend to the scratches on his face. She had gone by the time someone came running into the room to see to all of it.

  ‘What’s been going on here?’ said the male nurse who answered the call. ‘Will I call security?’

  ‘No, don’t do that,’ said Neil. ‘I don’t want to cause any trouble.’

  The nurse gave him a hard look. ‘Who was it? Girl-friend?’

  ‘Sort of.’

  The nurse looked thoughtful as he fixed the drip, but he didn’t say any more until he had finished with that and cleaned up Neil’s face. ‘I’d better take your blood pressure now I’m here. You look a bit grey in the face – underneath all the scratches, that is. I hope you weren’t thinking of going in for a beauty contest any time soon.’

  This is all I need, thought Neil. They’re all comedians now. He forced a half-smile on to his face. He needed the staff to be on his side.

  ‘Is there any way you can keep visitors out?’ he enquired.

  ‘Sure… apart from the police. They don’t like to be kept out. I’m thinking maybe we should put in a call to them. You don’t want your girl-friend going off attacking anybody else.’

  Personally Neil didn’t care if Jackie attacked someone else. He didn’t want her to have another go at him, certainly. But on the other hand, he didn’t want the police questioning her at this particular point. There was no knowing what sort of trouble she would get him into. He wouldn’t put it past her to go to them on her own initiative this time, out of spite.

  When the nurse had gone, he lay there for a while, planning his escape. He would have to get as far away from Pitkirtly as he could, as soon as they let him out of this place. He wouldn’t go back for any of his belongings – he didn’t care about them. He had a very tiny twinge of conscience about disappearing without letting Jock McLean know he was going, but this was only temporary. He didn’t owe Jock anything. Or any of the rest of them. Pitkirtly had done nothing for him, except to land him in the biggest mess he had ever been in. It was time to see what Spain could do for him. So it was goodbye to the Queen of Scots, and hola! España. He smiled to himself.

  Chapter 31 Time up

  Amaryllis didn't bother to take any flowers with her. She wasn't that hypocritical. She marched into the ward like the representative of an invading army and not at all like someone who had come to nurture the sick and spread cheer and optimism in the face of illness and death.

  She decided more people should behave like her. Surely patients must get fed up with the relentless procession of calm, quiet, cheerful, sweet people who came to see them? Wouldn't they prefer the bracing breeze of rough normality?

  One of the nurses looked up from the desk and said something, perhaps to tell her not to go on, but she marched on as if she were perfectly entitled to come storming in when it wasn't even visiting time yet. Experience of barging into various other situations had taught her that this was the approach that worked best. She didn't even need to wear a stethoscope to convince them. Her attitude and bearing would do the trick.

  Neil Macrae was in a side ward and the door was closed, but again Amaryllis didn't flinch at the idea of barging in. She was aware of a slight disturbance somewhere in the corridor behind her. She was confident, though, that she would achieve her goal before anyone interrupted. She certainly hoped she would manage it before Christopher and Charlie, who were attempting to park Charlie’s car, caught up with her. Neither of them knew what she was planning, and they wouldn’t have let her come here at all if they had known.

  He didn’t look all that well, lying there
in the institutional bed with one hand bandaged up and a line in one arm. Amaryllis hadn’t realised, either, that he had injured his face somehow. It was almost as if – she looked at him closely – something or someone had scratched him.

  She had an idea about who might have done that.

  His eyes widened with surprise, and something less easily identifiable.

  ‘How did you…?’

  ‘I just walked in,’ said Amaryllis. ‘Wasn’t I meant to?’

  ‘It isn’t visiting time yet,’ he growled.

  ‘I’m not exactly a visitor,’ she said.

  ‘No?’

  ‘No. Think of me as an avenging Greek god.’

  ‘Goddess,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t think you’ve ever paid me a compliment before. Thanks.’

  ‘It wasn’t a compliment, I was correcting your grammar,’ he said.

  ‘Vocabulary,’ she said. ‘Not grammar.’

  ‘So what do you want?’

  ‘You,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Or rather, your confession.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, maybe not a confession, Neil. I already know what you’ve done. An explanation would be nice, though.’

  He was silent. They stared at each other.

  ‘I could make you tell me,’ she said at last. ‘I know all the techniques.’

  ‘Believe me, nothing you can do to intimidate me can compare with sticking my hand in the fire,’ he said.

  ‘Why did Jackie do that? When you were partners in crime?’

  ‘It was your fault,’ he said. ‘You were following her. You spooked her.’

  ‘And Christopher was following you.’

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘I didn’t know that. Why?’

  ‘I suppose he’s been hanging around with me too long and picked up some of my methods,’ said Amaryllis lightly. ‘Anyway, he had to walk the dog somewhere.’

  He shook his head. ‘You’re such amateurs. You won’t be able to prove anything, you know.’