Death in the Black Wood, Oliver Davies [short story to read TXT] 📗

Death in the Black Wood

Deadly Highlands book 3

Oliver Davies

Contents

Prologue

1. The Ally

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

10. Shay

Chapter 11

12. The Ally

13. Caitlin

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

16. Caitlin

17. Shay

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

21. The Ally

22. Caitlin

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

25. Shay

26. The Ally

27. Shay

28. The Ally

Chapter 29

Epilogue

A Message from the Author

Prologue

Chief Superintendent Bernard Anderson ducked under cover outside the emergency department of Raigmore Hospital and stamped the snow from his boots as he closed up his umbrella. The snow was still falling thickly; heavy, silent flakes descending unhurriedly through the almost windless air. It was late afternoon by then and had been snowing, steadily, for hours, with no sign of a letup yet. The gritters were doing their best, but traffic was in chaos and slowed to a crawl. A thick fall like this in town was not a common sight, even at the beginning of March.

Well, Anderson decided, once he’d shed the last of it, he’d better get in there and find out what the hell they were dealing with.

Inside the entrance, he found James McKinnon and Simon Philips waiting for him. James looked pretty much as Anderson had expected to find him, like a man who hadn’t eaten or slept properly for days but was learning to breathe normally again after having an intolerable weight lifted from his chest. That was perfectly understandable. What was less easy to interpret was the anxious concern that still seemed to have him in its grip.

“Sorry I took so long getting here, James,” Anderson apologised. His summons down to Edinburgh yesterday had come at a very bad time. He shook James’ hand warmly, “How’s young Jimmy?”

The ghost of a smile twitched across McKinnon’s face as his dark eyes sparked with much more like their usual fire, shaving a couple of years off his haggard appearance as his shoulders straightened.

“He’s in good shape, all things considered. June and Gary are with him now. The doctors all say everything looks good. They think they’ll be able to send him home tomorrow.”

Considering what would have happened, if not for the Keanes, that was such good news that Anderson was lost for words to describe how he felt about it. He contented himself with patting James on the shoulder before turning his attention to DI Philips, who was hovering nearby.

Philips looked far less worn than his boss, but that left eye of his was quite a sight. It was swollen almost shut, the bruising still an angry flare of reds and pinks, too fresh to have darkened yet. Whatever had hit him, that was very recent. Oh dear, was there any chance that hadn’t been Conall’s doing?

Philips met his gaze steadily with his good eye.

“Had a bit of an accident there, Simon?” Anderson enquired mildly.

“I’m afraid so, Sir. My own fault. I stupidly walked right into something I really shouldn’t have. I must try to remember to be a bit more careful in the future.” Well, alright then. Thank goodness Philips wasn’t inclined to be petty about it. A sensible attitude to take if he didn’t want to be ostracised by the entire department.

“The Keane boys are in a little room down this way, Sir. Daniel’s with them too.” James led Anderson past the reception area and down a corridor, out of hearing range of the few people sitting waiting to be seen. “I should warn you that Shay is in no condition to give an official statement today.” Reaching a wider area, an alcove where the porters could temporarily wheel a bed out of the way, Anderson came to a halt.

“Is he badly hurt?” he asked worriedly.

“He says he’s not, but he was pretty incoherent when we arrived at the scene. He’d been dosed up with some kind of hallucinogenic and repeatedly shocked with both a taser and a cattle coaxer.” One to incapacitate, the other to inflict localised pain. Christ! What the hell had happened since he’d gone missing almost three days ago?

“I think you’d better fill me in a little better before I talk to them, James.”

McKinnon’s account was brief and to the point. He had received a call from DCI Conall Keane at one-thirty-five that afternoon informing him that both Jimmy Stewart and Shay had been found. The boy was unconscious but breathing easily and had a steady pulse. Apart from a few minor electrical burns and bruises, he appeared to be unharmed. McKinnon had called for an ambulance to be sent out to the address, just outside Balloch. He had then immediately proceeded to the scene himself, along with DI Philips, leaving instructions for a SOCO team to follow them out there as soon as they could.

On arriving at the given address, a moderately sized detached house, they had found the front door open and heard an agitated but somewhat muffled voice from within. The voice was coming from the cellar. Descending, they had found DCI Conall Keane, Shay Keane, young Jimmy Stewart, and the prone, unmoving figure of an adult male.

“There were two barred, adjoining cells down there. Jimmy was in the open one, and Conall had locked himself and Shay into the other, so nobody else could get near him,” McKinnon told Anderson. “Shay was pacing up and down, looking pretty wild, babbling agitatedly in furious Irish. He’d been extensively worked over, from what I could see. His torso was covered in electrical burns.”

“His torso?” Anderson asked. “So he was dressed like the earlier victims?”

“Aye. Conall had managed to coax him back into his jacket and shoes before we arrived, but he told us Shay had been barefoot, in nothing but his trousers when he’d first seen him. He must have been freezing down there. There was nothing in that cell but an old mattress.” McKinnon shook his head. “Anyway, once the ambulance crew had taken Jimmy out of there, Conall walked Shay up to his car so our SOCO boys could