Page 122 of The High Island

When she gave a brief nod, she heard him mutter ‘bastard’ under his breath. ‘You need to report him toDIFlett. He’s a police officer, for God’s sake.’

Registering the mixture of concern and anger on his face, she nodded. ‘I will, I promise, but I want to ask about Rachael now.’

They found Kris in the waiting room looking for her.

‘Rachael wants to see you,’ he said, his look so relieved that Jo felt her own fear ease.

She was sitting up in bed, a little colour in her previously chalk-white face. She looked alive and happy, which must mean . . .

‘It’s okay,’ Jo heard her say. ‘The baby’s okay. Thanks to you,’ she added with a soft smile.

Jo, lost for words, simply nodded, aware that her relief at such an outcome must be obvious.

‘You need to know that Hugh was there to help us,’ Rachael was saying. ‘He wasn’t the threat. That was his brother Harald and his son Max. Hugh will explain everything to Inspector Flett. It’s over,’ she added in a thankful voice. ‘The nightmare is over.’

Jo nodded her pleasure at Rachael’s words, all the time aware that her own nightmare was not.

60

They had been recording for over an hour. Erling could sense how tired the man was, but anguish at the death of his granddaughter drove him on.

Arriving back on Mainland, Hugh had declared himself ready and willing to fill in the gaps in his previous statement, given in the immediate aftermath of Eilidh’s death. He’d begun at the point at which his father, Ivor, had declared that he no longer wished to live on Hoy and was moving into a care home in Kirkwall.

‘I suspected then that he was angry with the family about something, but I didn’t know what,’ Hugh had said. ‘I was aware that he’d been looking back at the war years on Hoy. Revisiting his youth, which happens when you get old,’ he’d added. ‘I thought he just wanted away from the present and, of course, the constant family fallouts. His hold over us was diminishing, especially his influence with Harald. I thought he wanted out and it was my turn to keep them all in order.

‘Then came the news that he’d sold the family croft to an English bloke he’d read about inTheOrcadian.’ He’d shaken his head at this.‘Not only that, but Maitland was bent on building an eco-house there.

‘I know now why Ivor wanted the place dug up. But when the lassie’s body was found, your eyes turned on us and Harald wasn’t happy about that.’

He’d continued.

‘I’d suspected the Aberdeen nightclub that Harald owned and Max ran was involved in dealing drugs, but it was far enough away to be ignored . . . until Max ended up in court. In truth, I hoped he’d be sent to prison, but he got off and came home to crow about it.

‘Then Ivor told me about Kris and I saw his coming here as yet another threat. I thought my father had lost his wits on that one. Didn’t see the danger of producing an heir, who I thought was more than likely a fraud. That was why we argued. I couldn’t believe Dad died that night. He’d been so determined. So strong, like the old days.

‘Then I learned the truth from you. That Harald had raped Betty and Kris was his son. No wonder my father was so angry and so determined to acknowledge Kris. But Harald didn’t want Kris here.’

They’d paused the recording there and Erling had coffee and biscuits brought to the interview room. He was concerned at Hugh’s white face and wondered how long it had been since he’d eaten or drunk anything.

The dose of sugar in both the chocolate biscuits and the mug of coffee brought some colour back to his face.

‘You okay to go on now?’ Erling checked. When Hugh nodded a response, he started the recording again and asked Hugh to continue.

‘My father told me that Kris would be in danger when he came here and that I would have to protect him. He said he’d warned Kris, although he didn’t think Kris believed him. So he wanted meto make sure the boy would be okay. The thing is, he never told me when Kris was coming. Then Ivor died.’

‘And you didn’t inform Kris?’ Erling said.

‘I didn’t have a contact. I didn’t even know if what Ivor had said about him was true. Then Kris turned up at the funeral.’ He shook his head. ‘Harald was mad about that. He was fighting me on two fronts now. On Kris and on the drugs.’

‘The county-lines drug gang from Liverpool?’ Erling said.

Hugh nodded. ‘Harald thought he was big enough in the game to deal with them but he wasn’t. I warned Eilidh about them, told her to stay away from that nightclub. But she tried to do what I couldn’t. She warned one of them off. No doubt told them she was going to you lot. And for that my granddaughter died.’

Erling waited, allowing Hugh to regain his composure before asking his next question.

‘Tell me about Kris and Cava.’

‘Ivor mentioned Cava. About going there as a boy to hide from his brothers’ wrath. That if things got bad, Kris might go there. I thought my father was rambling. If Kris was bona fide, which at that point I wasn’t sure he was . . .’ He paused there for a moment, before continuing. ‘Then Kris arrived just in time for Ivor’s funeral.’ He met Erling’s gaze. ‘You were in the cathedral. You saw the anger among my brothers.’