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‘I’m not picking that up, by the way,’ said Melissa, moving from the stool and switching on the coffee machine.
‘I’m not bothered,’ said Janie, pretending go back to her novel, but unable to stop herself looking at the cushion. She tried to tell herself that she wasn’t a clean freak, or possibly someone with some type of OCD, but the cushion on the floor now loomed in her mind, almost taunting her.
‘I bet you are. I bet you’re wondering when you can go and pick it up without me noticing,’ said Melissa, with a giggle.
Janie smiled back sarcastically, trying to repress the urge to return the cushion to its rightful place. She’d been with Melissa for some time now, by far her longest relationship after a series of short-lived, and mostly disastrous attempts with both men and women. Melissa was kind, ditzy and funny, and Janie was happier than she could ever remember being.
Melissa busied herself with the coffee machine, and within a minute there were two steaming cups of cappuccino on the breakfast bar. Melissa took one of them and crossed the room, stooping as if to pick up the cushion from the floor, but deciding against it at the last moment, stepping over it theatrically.
‘You’re a horrible girlfriend,’ said Janie as Melissa bent down to kiss her on the top of the head, and placed her coffee on the table in front of her.
‘You know that’s not true.’ Melissa ruffled Janie’s short, choppy hair and returned to her stool, busying herself at her laptop again.
Janie shook her head, and returned to her book, casting a sideways look at the cushion, which seemed to be taunting her. Her phone buzzed on the table in front of her, and she saw that it was a WhatsApp voice call from Barney. She frowned when she saw that it was a group call with Max included.
‘Barney, what are you up to?’ said Janie as she picked up the phone.
‘Yeah, Barney, spill the beans,’ said Max, his voice full of suspicion.
‘Ayup, team. I’m messin’ with me new toy. Click on the link in the chat function, and put me on speaker, this is a belting bit of kit,’ he said.
Janie looked in the chat and clicked on the hyperlink, which opened a browser page, and a video feed began to load, clearly aerial footage of an open, barren land with a smallish loch way below.
‘What are we looking at?’ said Max, his voice tinny from the speakers.
‘That, down there, is the White Loch, and the small boat you cansee in it is currently pulling a body out of it which has just been found by some police divers. So, it looks like Hardie was telling the truth.’
‘I can’t see, Barney, it’s too far away to be clear,’ said Janie.
‘Aye, I know, it’s half the reason I called. Just watch this.’ The loch began to grow quickly, as the footage zoomed in. The wide, panoramic view was replaced with a pin-sharp view of a black RIB, occupied by two uniformed cops with life vests on, hauling a black, greasy-looking form from the water.
‘Jesus, is that a body coming out now?’ said Janie.
‘Looks like it. Cracking imagery, in’t it?’
‘Aye, but you’re gonna get us all in the shit, Barney. Won’t they hear it?’
‘Nay, lad. Zoom’s so bloody good, I’m way out of audible range. Look, here’s Hardie.’ The footage panned across to a liveried pickup truck and a small group of five individuals standing by it. The video feed zoomed in a little tighter, and there he was. Shackled to a stocky man in a suit was Davie Hardie, dressed in prison sweatpants, and a thick coat, looking out to the centre of the loch, a smug grin on his face. Janie felt her cheeks flush at the sight of the gangster.
‘Bastard,’ came Max’s voice over the handset. ‘And his scummy leech of a lawyer, as well,’ he continued as the image stabilised on the pudgy form of Leo Hamilton standing next to Hardie.
‘Looks like he wasn’t lying though,’ said Janie.
‘Maybe,’ said Max.
‘Shall I patch Ross in on this?’ said Barney.
‘Christ, no. He’d go bloody doolally, and we’re better off giving him plausible deniability. How long can you stay on them for, Barney?’
‘Not too much longer. Battery life is good, but I’ve been up half an hour already, and I don’t want the bugger to plunge into the loch. My pal is on the R and D department at the company, and this is a new model, so he’d be miffed if I lost it. Ayup, looks like they’re off,’ said Barney, panning out slightly as the group turned and began walking back towards the road where a minibus was parked up.
‘Want me to keep filming?’ said Barney.
‘Aye, give it a minute, you’ve already smashed the law to pieces, so we may as well be hung for an ox as a lamb,’ said Max.
‘Speak for your bloody self,’ said Janie.
The group arrived at the minibus and they all got in, a uniformed officer getting in the driver’s seat, and it slowly moved off, and turning right, before gathering speed on the road alongside the loch.
