Page 57 of The High Island

‘I am. Is she in?’ Jo asked.

‘I haven’t seen her since early afternoon, when Sam’s taxi brought her back from Kirkwall. Shall I call her room for you?’

‘No need. I’ll just go up and knock on her door,’ Jo told her.

‘Right you are, then,’ she answered with a smile.

As Jo climbed the stairs, she wondered if the receptionist was aware of what had gone down that morning at the offices of Balfour Legal Services, and decided by her demeanour she probably was. Or at least had heard rumours of it.

Reaching Rachael’s room, Jo knocked on the door. ‘It’sDSGreen here, Rachael. Can I have a word with you?’

She listened, awaiting a sound signalling Rachael’s presence in the room. When none came, she tried again. ‘Rachael, it’s me, Jo. Your mobile is disconnected, so I wanted to check you’re okay.’

With still no response, she tried the door and found it unlocked. Perhaps Rachael had just popped out and hadn’t bothered locking it. But out to where? And to do what? Get something to eat maybe? But if she’d left the hotel by the front entrance, surely the receptionist would have spotted her?

‘Rachael,’ she called again as she pushed the door fully open. ‘It’s Jo Green.’

Stepping inside, she found all was silent and definitely empty, since the door to the bathroom also stood open.

Her heart, which had started bumping as she’d climbed the stairs, now took off in earnest. The room wasn’t dishevelled in any way. In fact, it looked much like it had done when she’d last been here. Open suitcase on a stand. Toiletries laid out in the bathroom. A pile of discarded clothes on the chair.

It looked like a room still occupied, but definitely without its guest.

Jo felt for her mobile and, pulling up Rachael’s number, tried it again. But, of course, the outcome remained the same. That robotic voice reciting the same message. Rachael’s mobile was no longer connected. Even if the mobile were in this room, it would not ring.

So where was Rachael? And why had she disconnected her mobile? To avoid any calls from Hugh Mowat?

While she considered this, another thought crept in. Perhaps Rachael wasn’t the one to disconnect her phone. And what if she hadn’t chosen to leave the room of her own free will?

Jo retreated into the corridor to check for another exit from the building. One that avoided passing through reception, thus explaining Rachael’s unobserved departure.

And there was one. A fire escape at the end of the corridor that led down to the car park at the rear of the building, from which Rachael, alone or accompanied, might have departed the hotel, and maybe even Stromness for that matter. Jo found herself already conjuring up an image of Rachael leaving that way. Or being made to leave that way.

Heading out and on to the stairs, Jo made her way down, noting the security camera as she exited at ground level. After which she circled the building and re-entered by the front door, which caused some consternation on the part of the receptionist.

‘Ms Everett’s room is unlocked but empty,’ Jo told her. ‘Although her suitcase and belongings are still in there.’

The young woman looked puzzled. ‘I suppose she might have passed without my noticing her.’

‘I take it you have security cameras?’

‘We do,’ she said, concerned. ‘At the front entrance and at the rear of the building.’

‘Good,’ Jo said. ‘I’d like to take a look at today’s footage.’

26

The scent of something delicious met him when he opened the porch door. He stood for a moment savouring the rich aroma of what he recognized as Rory’s version of boeuf bourguignon.

Entering the kitchen and finding it empty, he stood listening for Rory’s presence elsewhere in the house. Moving into the neighbouring sitting room, he noted that the fire had already been lit and the burning peat was washing the room in a warm glow.

Walking the narrow corridor to the bedroom, he registered no hiss of the shower running and, opening the door, found the bedroom too lay empty, although he made note of the fact that the blackout blind was already in place, suggesting Rory definitely didn’t want to be wakened at daybreak tomorrow morning.

Retreating back through the house, he went outside, realizing now where Rory might be.

Langwell had a walled garden, surrounded by a cluster of stone outhouses from the time when it had been an operating croft. He headed for the one where they kept their dive gear. Rory was likely preparing for their dive together, which Erling could no longer go on.

Reaching the open doorway, Erling steeled himself before entering, conscious he would have to reveal this, and soon.