Page 113 of The High Island

He was lying, she was sure of it. Somehow he’d found out where she was working on the notebook and couldn’t resist capturing her on her own.

‘Well, as you can see, he isn’t here,’ she said as though in dismissal. She contemplated sitting down again, but instinct told her that wouldn’t be the right move. Facing him square on was safer.

He was trying to read her, wondering what he might get away with. She met his look, her own unflinching.

‘What did you tell him?’ he said, his voice hard.

When she didn’t answer, he began to edge towards her.

‘Come any closer and I’ll sound the alarm,’ she told him.

He smiled. ‘You wouldn’t.’

‘Try me,’ she said.

He gave a little laugh and turned on his heel. Exiting, he shut the door firmly behind him.

Jo sank back into the seat, her legs turned to water. Any thoughts she’d had that Gus may have volunteered to come here with the purpose of confronting her were now confirmed.

She hadn’t revealed the full extent of his animosity towards her toDIFlett. Only that they’d gone out together for a while and she had broken it off. She hadn’t told Erling that when Gus had learned of the abortion ofhis child, his fury towards her had doubled.

Taking a deep breath, she called the boss and told him of her discovery of the hidden wordKalfeyin the section of the notebook relating to Kris and his imminent visit to Orkney.

‘There’s also stuff about Harald’s branch of the family being a possible threat to Kris when he arrives,’ she told him.

‘Right. Tomorrow, at first light, we do a thorough search of Cava,’ he told her. Then, ‘Have you finished translating all three pages, Sergeant?’

‘One more to go,’ she said.

‘Stay there until you finish,’ he ordered. ‘We can’t afford to miss anything.’

The final page, she discovered, was about the other wrong Ivor had wanted to make right.

It was the story of Stella.

It carried on from his earlier mention of ‘the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen’.

It seemed that Ivor’s dive into the past of Hoy in its war years had unlocked more of his childhood memories. The trauma of some of them had led to them being buried, perhaps to save his own sanity. Stella’s story was one of those.

She had arrived at their croft asking for milk, just as Mackie had said, and had stolen the wee boy’s heart. Loving her from afar, Ivor had had to watch as Stella and his older brother, William, became wartime lovers. That was bad enough, but what followed was much worse.

After Stella was recalled from Orkney and sent back south, William had taken up with a local girl. They’d married, and when Stella had later turned up at the Mowat croft, a baby in her arms, Ivor, alone there at the time, had told her about William’s marriage.

The effect of this on Stella had been terrible. Ivor, seeing her distress, had begged her to stay, told her he would marry her when he was old enough. That he loved her.

She’d looked at him with pity then and, turning, walked away.

He found her body later, hanging in an outhouse, the baby already dead at her feet.

His older brothers had buried Stella and the baby nearby and forbade him ever to talk of her again. Ivor, still a child, believed it wasall his fault, and never did. Until he’d begun trawling his wartime memories and been contacted by Kris.

Jo wondered if he’d told Hugh this story, the night of the argument. Did Ivor think the only way he could force a reveal of the existence of the grave was by selling the land to Maitland for the eco-house? Perhaps Hugh hadn’t wanted the eyes of the law on the family, even about something that had happened so long ago.

56

The cross-body phone bag had hitched a ride on a small fishing vessel, theBetsy Ann, and was only spotted as she’d chugged out of the harbour. Waterproof, it had seemingly protected Eilidh’s mobile from the weather, but not from the danger the girl had found herself in.

The mood was sombre as an image of the now-unlocked phone appeared on screen. The background photo was a selfie of Eilidh with Helen. They were standing together on a beach with what looked like the dark mass of Hoy behind them.