Page 76 of The High Island

His dark eyes were studying her intently, so much so that Jo found herself shifting a little in her seat.

‘Well?’ she urged, keen to lose his gaze, which felt more like being scrutinized as a possible pick-up than a police officer.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘But I have this feeling we’ve met before. Though not here in Orkney,’ he added.

‘We haven’t,’ she said. ‘So what have you come to report?’

Seemingly in acceptance of this, he explained. ‘There’s a boat sometimes anchoring off Cava. And before you ask, it isn’t a dive boat. I know all the dive boats that frequent that spot.’ He paused there briefly, before adding, ‘And it was there the night before the body was discovered on Lyrawa beach.’

‘How do you know about this boat?’ Jo said.

‘I go night fishing sometimes.’

‘And you were out that night?’ she checked.

He nodded.

‘Alone?’ she asked.

He gave her a wry smile. ‘Definitely alone. I don’t take my dates out fishing with me.’

‘So no one to corroborate this sighting?’ she said sharply, conscious that she might well be blushing. Something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.

Seemingly unfazed by her response, he shook his head. ‘Sorry. Although Tom Maine, up on the hill behind, has an impressive telescope and might well have spotted it too.’

His mention of Mr Maine having placated her somewhat, she said, ‘Might it have been a fishing boat?’

‘It wasn’t any boat that I recognized,’ he stated firmly. ‘I think you should take a look at Cava, especially in the area I saw the vessel anchored. I can take you there if you want?’ he added.

She was momentarily at a loss for words at his offer. She recalled her earlier thoughts on possibly asking Magnus to take her to the deserted island, a place she was intrigued by. Now this ferryman was offering to do just that, and for a wholly different reason.

‘We have a police launch for such tasks,’ she said stiffly.

He shook his head at that. ‘Bad move. Better if whoever it is doesn’t know the police are interested. Any visit to that spot by me wouldn’t raise suspicions.’

He was right about that. ‘What do you think’s happening out there exactly?’ she tried.

‘Something that resulted in a dead man on the beach,’ he told her.

When she didn’t immediately respond to this, he pulled her notebook towards him and she watched as he wrote out his name and number.

‘My boat, theAngel Heart, is at Lyness. I plan to head out tonight around eight. That would give us a good hour before the sun sets to take a look at that spot on Cava. After which, we could hang about for a bit. See if the mystery boat puts in an appearance.’

‘I think you should go,’ Ivan told her firmly when they met up later to compare notes.

‘You could go,’ Jo suggested. ‘Or we could go together?’

‘I’ve received a message from a Flotta relative. He has things to tell me, he says. And he’d rather we met incognito. I’m hoping it’s a lead on Kris. I’m using Maggie’s car, so you can have our vehicle to go to Lyness.’

‘There’s a message from the boss,’ she told him. ‘Asking me to give him a call.’

‘Good, you can run it past him, then. Let him make the decision for you.’

‘There’s something else,’ she said, determined now to reveal what she’d been told in the earlier session regarding Kris’s parentage.

Ivan looked keenly at her. ‘What?’ he said in an encouraging voice.

‘The elderly lady, last in my queue this morning . . .’ She hesitated. ‘I thought it was just malicious gossip, but after everything we’ve heard about the Mowats . . . maybe it could be true.’ Opening hernotebook at the appropriate page, she passed it over. Then watched as Ivan’s intrigued look transformed into something much darker.