I saw Samir Anand.
There’s no point trying to get justice for him.
They’re going to get away with it, just like they get away with everything.
Was it real? If it was, it seemed it was probably referring to the drug gang. Organized crime. But then a thought crept into my head. Gangsters aren’t the only people good at evading the law. People who have friends in high places– like chief constables and politicians– tend to get away with stuff, too.
I tried to dismiss it. Surely there wasn’t a connection between the Grants and this dead boy? It was far more likely to be drug dealers.
But even as I pushed the thought away, it still lingered. A question.
I was going crazy and I couldn’t stay stuck in the house a minute longer. I needed to get out. To help look for Jasmine.
26
It was dark outside now and still snowing, a bitter wind stinging my face the moment I stepped outside, making me rethink my plan. All around me, the snow was piled high, fresh and white. It was far too cold to walk all the way to the village without making myself ill.
I had an idea.
I phoned Susan.
‘I know you need me to come in and make a statement, but I’m stuck with no car. Could you come and pick me up?’
‘Do you think I’m a taxi service?’
She agreed, though, and ten minutes later, she picked me up. She told me that, with no official police buildings on the peninsula, she was using the visitors’ centre as a temporary base, somewhere the crime scene investigators and detectives could work from and, if necessary, the search teams.
‘The roads still seem okay,’ I said. The surface was coated with a thin crust of compressed snow, with two lines of tyre tracks revealing the black beneath.
‘The coast road isn’t too bad,’ Susan said. ‘There’s been enough traffic all day to keep it driveable, anyway. It’s the road on to the peninsula that’s the problem. Very heavy snow across the Highlands towards Inverness.’
‘So we’re still stuck here on our own?’
She gripped the wheel hard. ‘It’s Hogmanay. The pubs arefull already, there are millions of people out drinking, and every officer who’s on duty is needed in the big towns. It’s the worst possible day for someone to go missing. Add the snow and you have what I believe is referred to as a perfect shitstorm. Inverness have promised me they’ll get a team here as soon as the roads open again.’
‘Charles and Zack have both been on the phone to the chief constable.’
‘I know they have. Demanding a fleet of snowploughs with vans full of officers behind them. I’m afraid they’re going to have to wait.’
‘Have you been looking for Jasmine?’
‘Of course I have. We have a couple of community support officers, too. We’ve all been out looking. To be honest, though, Patrick, there aren’t many places to hide around here.’
‘Does that mean you think she’s dead?’
She didn’t reply, and a minute later we arrived at the visitors’ centre. From here, it would only be a short walk to the village.
It was a squat building with a flat roof. Just beyond it stood the church and, between the two buildings, a small cemetery. Elizabeth’s grave was there somewhere, I guessed.
We went inside. The visitors’ centre was essentially a small museum, filled with exhibits that looked like they had been created by keen amateurs. Models showing what Applecross was like in the past, an old radio, an antique fishing net and neolithic tools. There were boards all around the walls describing the history of the peninsula, including one focused on the caves, with a large black-and-white photo of the Serpent Stone taking pride of place. There was also a board describing how Applecross had once been a Victorian shooting estate, where the landed gentry would come to hunt and stalk deer. I guessed that would have been part of the attraction for Charles.
‘Please take a seat.’ She was less friendly than she had been earlier. All business. She asked me to repeat everything I’d already told her, writing it down in neat, cursive script.
‘So you haven’t remembered anything else since we spoke at the caves?’
‘Like what?’
‘I’m talking about before the incident. Anything solid that would back up your accusations.’
