The Ardmore Inheritance, Rob Wyllie [best novels for students TXT] 📗

She saw him give Jill an enquiring glance, as if seeking permission for what he was about to say.

''Oh aye, perfectly legit in every way, more or less. We're the cops, remember? But anyways, to business. Now you know we don't often use private investigators,' he continued, sounding as if he felt the need to justify what he was about to say, 'but there's this brand new case that's recently come in to our wee department, one that you could call hyper-sensitive, not to put too fine a point on it. Would you agree with that description ma'am?'

Jill Smart smiled at Maggie. 'Yes, I described it to Frank as dynamite and I've heard nothing to change my mind since I said it.'

'And of course when I found where the scene of the crime was,' Frank said, nodding in Jimmy's direction, 'well I thought it might fit in pretty well with your wee Macallan matter.'

Jimmy gave him a sharp look. 'God's sake, you can't mean Lochmorehead? That would be just too much of a coincidence.'

'Nearly right. Two miles away. On the Ardmore naval base, in one of the tied houses there. A wife of one of the sailors was murdered. The poor woman was stabbed to death and her two-year old had her throat cut. It was an absolute tragedy so it was. Bloody horrific.'

'No way, we're not getting involved in this,' Jimmy said, raising his voice. 'No way.'

Maggie looked at him, alarmed. 'What's the matter Jimmy?' Then she remembered once again what he'd said about the place being cursed. And she remembered the other thing he'd said too, about the woman who'd been murdered, the woman who'd been at school with Flora and the Macallan twins.

'Is it Morag Frank?' she asked quietly. 'Morag Robertson. Is she the woman you're talking about?'

He nodded. 'Aye. Morag McKay was her married name but yes, it's her. But listen, it was only an idea. Don't worry if you'd rather not do it. I'm sure we can work out a plan B.'

'No no, it's no problem, honestly,' Jimmy said, giving his brother a half-smile. 'It just came as a bit of a shock, that's all. I met her the once, at that party, and it was only a few months later when she was killed. She seemed a really nice lady, really friendly and she was looking forward so much to her husband coming home. Her murder really shook the community as you can imagine. A terrible thing.'

'I can understand that,' Maggie said, relieved that her colleague seemed to be feeling better about the matter. 'Frank, we'll do what we can to help of course.'

'Well that's great,' he said. 'To be honest, I've not completely worked out what I need you to do. It's just that there's a bit of a half-cocked idea forming in my mind, something that we cops definitely couldn't do ourselves.'

Maggie smiled. 'I'm intrigued.'

'Aye, well careful what you wish for,' Frank said, then gave Jill Smart another enquiring look. 'So ma'am is it ok if we agree a budget now? I thought maybe thirty or forty hours max should cover it with these guys. We might not use all of it, but I'd like to get it in place, just in case.'

Maggie shot Jimmy a knowing smile, a smile he returned with interest, signifying he was thinking exactly the same thing as her. If there was already a budget, there must be a case number, and knowing how much DCI Smart guarded the release of that most precious of administrative devices, and how much Frank Stewart coveted them and how hard he usually had to fight to get one, it could only mean one thing.

This case must be bloody serious.

Chapter 10

Kirsty Macallan had returned from her video shoot in Mallorca, the assignment being for a Japanese manufacturer of sport-utility vehicles who was about to release a ground-breaking pure electric version onto the market, a vehicle that promised to lay down a new marker for the sector by offering double the range over the competition, eliminating range anxiety in a single leap. At least that's how she described it to Maggie and Jimmy as they sipped coffee in the expensively-equipped kitchen of her Fulham mid-terrace home.

'I'm impressed,' Maggie said smiling, 'by your technical knowledge I mean. I know where to put the key in my old Golf and that's just about it. '

'I memorised the press release,' Kirsty said in way of explanation. 'I've always found it pays to have some empathy with the product set you're working with. And it shows respect for the customer, don't you think?'

Maggie couldn't help noticing that whilst she was addressing both of them, her eyes were continually wandering in Jimmy's direction. And then she remembered that Jimmy Stewart and Kirsty Macallan had previous, albeit unrequited.

Kirsty gave a fond smile as she saw her husband wandering in with their little daughter in his arms, the child giggling as he nuzzled his stubble against her cheek.

'Come and join us darling, won't you?'

'Yeah sure babe. Did you tell these guys that they're loaning us a top-of-the-range one for a full year and putting in a fast-charging adaptor too? Wicked, isn't it?'

Rory Overton was tall and muscular with chiselled good looks that somehow had remained unblemished despite nearly ten years as a professional rugby player. 'He was a winger,' Jimmy had tried to explain to her on the way over, she knowing next to nothing about the game, 'lightning fast, about the quickest in the premiership. He could do the hundred metres in ten seconds and you wouldn't have wanted to get in his way if he was coming straight at you.'

'So you guys are the detectives, right?' Overton said, smiling. 'Going to sort out this mess for us I hear. I'm Rory by the way, Kirsty's husband. Although you've probably worked that out already, being detectives. And this