Page 5 of The High Island

‘What about the digger?’ Jo said as they tackled these tasks together.

‘Work stops on site until we find out how long the bodies have been in the ground,’ Erling confirmed. ‘I’ll go tell Hugh and Ian now.’

The three men stood in a row, similar concern on each of their faces. Erling wondered on approach how Hugh felt about the sale of the family homestead. Had he been party to it or one of the objectors?

He soon found out.

‘We’re shutting down the site until the remains have been examined properly,’ Erling told them.

‘So I can go now?’ Ian said, relief in his voice, before a worrying thought obviously crossed his mind. ‘What about the work team arriving tomorrow and Mr Maitland?’

‘Do either of you have a contact for Mr Maitland?’ Erling asked, including Hugh in his look.

Hugh, he noted, looked mightily pleased by the halting of the groundworks.

‘I don’t know the man or his contact details,’ he said sharply.

‘I have a number,’ Ian said. ‘Although I think it’s an intermediary, not his personal number,’ he added.

‘That’ll do,’ Erling told him.

The exchange of numbers accomplished, he indicated that the three men could leave.

‘But what happens now?’ Hugh said.

‘The remains will go with Professor Nelson to his lab atUHIto be examined,’ he told him, before turning to Tommy. ‘The return ferry will be here shortly, Dad. I’ll come and see you later, if that’s okay?’

‘You do that, son,’ Tommy said, his expression serious.

As the three men set off up the track to the waiting cars, Jo asked him what he thought about all of this.

‘Hugh Mowat seems pleased that work is stopping on the building site,’ Erling said. ‘And he says he’s had no contact with the new owners about the sale of the family property. Which may mean Ivor never told his eldest son that he was selling the place. Hence his angry expression when he passed me carrying the coffin in the cathedral.’

‘A family feud?’ Jo said.

‘I suspect so,’ Erling confirmed. ‘Which reminds me, I wonder howPCTulloch got on at the wake.’

‘I checked up while you were talking to the men,’ Jo told him. ‘No blood was spilled, although, according to Tulloch, there was a minor fracas involving sausage rolls.’ She resisted the impulse to laugh. ‘And no arrests were made.’

‘Good,’ Erling said with a smile.

‘Oh, something else.PCTulloch also told me to tell you that Kris Mowat was there. Apparently he’s the youngest of all the Mowats and, the suspicion is, the one most likely to be named in Ivor’s will.’

3

Rachael watched the ferry’s approach, keen now to get back to the main island and Kris. He’d called her as she was walking back to Lyness, promising to be waiting for her at Houton.

His voice had sounded weird, as though something had happened that had annoyed or upset him.

She knew by now it was better not to ask what that something was, so hadn’t mentioned it. Nor had she said anything about the digger at the derelict croft house. Anyway, she reminded herself, she wasn’t even sure the place had anything to do with the Mowats.

Now aboard the ferry, she took her seat and checked for the dry biscuits she kept in her bag, in case of nausea. Since she’d found out about the pregnancy, travelling had become a worry, especially on water. She’d never been a great sailor.

Nibbling the biscuit, she settled back, her eyes closed, aware that watching the choppy waters would only make matters worse.

She would have to tell Kris soon. She had in fact planned the moment, until he’d suddenly proposed that she accompany him to Orkney, ‘to see to some family business’.

The suggestion had come as such a surprise, she’d found herself agreeing immediately, while deciding that news of the pregnancy could wait a little longer. The truth was she’d felt relieved at the delay, because she had no idea how he would react. She also wasn’t sure what she felt about it herself.