Raven Black (6 page)

'Whar's du fae?' he demanded. It was what came into his head. If he'd thought about it, he'd have used different words, as he had with the girls, so if this stranger
had
come from the south he would have understood. But it seemed he understood anyway.

'Fae Fair Isle: the man said, echoing the rhythm of Magnus's words. Then, after a beat, 'Originally. I trained in Aberdeen and now I'm working out of Lerwick.' He held out his hand. 'My name's Perez.'

'That's a strange kind of name for a Fair Isle man! Perez smiled but he didn't explain. Still Magnus didn't take the hand. The old man was thinking he'd never been to Fair Isle. There was no roll-on roll-off ferry even now.

The trip took three hours in the mail boat from Grutness, the harbour in the south close to the airport. He'd seen pictures once of the island. It had a big craig on its east side.

The minister who'd lived in that house next to the chapel had been preacher on Fair Isle. There'd been a slide show in the community hall and Magnus had gone with his mother. But he couldn't remember any more details.

'What like is it there?' he asked.

'I like it fine!

'Why did you leave then?'

'Oh you know. There's not an awful lot of work! Magnus saw the hand then and reached out and shook it.

'You'd best come in; he said. He looked past Perez down the bank and saw a constable in uniform staring up at him.

'Come away in; he said, more urgently.

Perez had to stoop to get through the door and once he was inside the room, he seemed to fill it.

'Sit down; Magnus said. It made him nervous, seeing this tall man towering over him. He pulled out a chair from the table and waited for Perez to take it. He'd been expecting the police to come to his house all morning and now he didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think.

'Sit down! It was the raven. It stuck its beak through the bars of the cage and repeated the words, running them into each other. 'Sitdownsitdownsitdownsit.'

Magnus took an old jersey and threw it over the cage. He was afraid the interruption would make the policeman angry. But Perez seemed only amused. 'Did you teach it to do that? I didn't know ravens could speak.'

'They're clever birds! Magnus could feel the smile appearing, could do nothing about it. He turned his head, hoping it would go away of its own free will.

'Did you see the ravens down the hill this morning?'

'They're always there; Magnus said.

'There's been a death. A young girl!

'Catherine! He couldn't help it. Like the daft grin, the words had come out despite his efforts to stop them.

Tell
them nothing
his mother had said. Her last words to him when the two policemen came to take him into Lerwick all that time ago.
You've done nothing,
so
tell them nothing.

'How did you know she was dead, Magnus?' Perez was speaking very clearly and very slowly. 'How did you know it was Catherine who was on the hill?'

Magnus shook his head. Tell
them nothing.

'Did you see what happened to her down there?

Did you see how she died?'

Magnus looked wildly around him.

'Perhaps you saw the ravens and wondered what had disturbed them!

'Yes; he said gratefully.

'And you went out to look?'

'Yes! Magnus nodded violently.

'Why didn't you tell the police, Magnus?'

'She was already dead. I couldn't have saved her! 'But the police should have been told!

'There's no phone in the house. How could I tell you?'

'One of your neighbours would have a phone. You could have asked them to call for you.'

'They don't speak to me.'

There was a silence. Underneath the jersey the raven scratched and scuffled.

'When did you see her?' Perez asked. 'What time was it when you went down the hill to look?'

'After the bairns had gone into school. I heard the bell as I left the house.' Magnus thought that was a clever answer.

His mother wouldn't have minded him telling that.

There was another pause while Perez wrote some words in a notebook. At last he looked up. 'How long have you lived here on your own, Magnus?'

'Since my mother died.'

'When was that?'

Magnus tried to find an answer. How many years would it have been? He couldn't guess.

'Agnes died too,' he said, so he wouldn't have to

work out the number of years in his head.

'Who was Agnes?'

'She was my sister. She caught the whooping cough. It was more bad than anyone realized. She was ten.'

He shut his mouth tight. It was none of the policeman's business.

'It must have been lonely here, after your mother died.'

Magnus didn't answer.

'You'd be glad of some company.'

Still he said nothing.

'Catherine was a friend of yours, wasn't she?'

'Yes,' Magnus said. 'A friend.'

'You met her yesterday on the bus from town.' 'She'd been to a party.'

'A party?' Perez said. 'All night? Are you sure?'
Had she?
That was right, wasn't it? Magnus had to think about it. He couldn't remember. She hadn't said much at all.

'She looked tired,' he said. 'She'd stayed out all night. I think she said it was a party.'

'How was she dressed?'

'Not in fancy clothes,' Magnus admitted, 'but then they don't dress up much for going out these days.'

'When you went out to look at her on the hill you'd have seen what she was wearing. Had she changed since you saw her yesterday?'

'I don't think so.' Then he wondered if he should have given a different answer, if the question had been a trick. 'I remember the red scarf.'

'Did she tell you where the party was?'

'She didn't say. She didn't notice me then. Only later when we both got off the bus together.'

'How did she seem?' Perez asked.

'Tired, I said.'

'But sad tired or happy tired?'

'She came into the house,' Magnus said suddenly.

'For tea.'

There was a silence. Magnus knew he'd made a mistake. He continued quickly, 'She wanted to take my photo. For a project. She wanted to come.'

'Did she take the photo?'

'She took several.'

'Had she been in the house before?' Perez asked.

He didn't seem troubled by what Magnus had told him. There was no fuss, no threat, no outrage.

'New Year's Eve. Catherine and Sally. They were on their way home. They saw the light and called in to wish me happy new year!

'Sally?'

'Sally Henry, the teacher's lass!

'But yesterday Catherine was on her own?'

'On her own. Yes!

'Did she stay long?'

'She took some cake,' Magnus said. 'A cup of tea! 'So she wasn't here all afternoon?'

'No. Not long!

'What time was it, when she left?'

'I can't say for sure!

Perez looked around the room. 'That's a fine clock' 'It belonged to my mother!

'It keeps good time?'

'I check it with the wireless every night!

'You'd have noticed what time the girl left, surely.

The clock, sitting there on the shelf. You'd have glanced at it when she went out. It would be automatic!

Magnus opened his mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. His thoughts seemed frozen, sluggish.

'I don't remember,' he said at last. 'Was it light when she left you?' 'Oh yes, it was still light!

'Because this time of the year, it gets dark so early. . ! Perez paused," looked towards Magnus as if expecting him to change his mind. When there was no response he continued, 'Where was she going?'

'Home!

'Did she say that was where she was going?'

'No, but that was the direction she was headed in. 'To that house halfway down the bank where the building work was done. The one with all the glass at the front. She lives there!

'Did you see her go in?'

Was that another trick? Magnus looked at the policeman. He became aware that his mouth was open and he shut it.

'It'd only be natural,' Perez said. 'You'd watch her go down the hill, wouldn't you? Nothing wrong with watching a pretty young girl anyway. But you must spend a lot of time sitting here looking at the view.

This weather, there's not much else to do!

'Yes,' Magnus said. 'I saw her go in!

They sat. The silence lasted for such a long time that Magnus wondered if that was it, if the policeman would go now and leave him alone. Suddenly he wasn't even sure that was what he wanted. 'Would you like some tea?' he asked. He frowned, imagining how it would be in the house, with the policeman gone, and only the noise of the ravens calling from the hill outside.

'Yes,' Perez said. "Tea would be fine!

Neither of them spoke until the tea was made and they were sitting together back at the table.

'Eight years ago,' Perez said, 'a girl went missing. She was younger than Catherine, but not that much younger.

Catriona, she was called. Did you know her, Magnus?'

Magnus wanted to shut his eyes to shut out the question, but knew that if he did, he'd imagine himself back in the police station with the fist pulling back from his face, the taste of blood in his mouth.

He stared into space.

'You did know her, didn't you Magnus? She came to visit you for tea too. Like Catherine. She was very bonny, I hear!

'She was never found,' Magnus said. He tried to compose the muscles in his jaw to stop the dreadful smile. He fixed his lips tight shut and remembered his mother's words.
Tell them nothing.

Perez drove back to Lerwick after leaving Magnus Tait's house. He wanted to talk to Catherine's father and knew that the man was still at the high school. There might not be much he could do at this stage the man would be in shock - but it seemed respectful to introduce himself and explain the procedures. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to lose a child.

Not really. Sarah, his wife, had had a miscarriage, and that for a while had seemed like the end of the world. He'd tried not to show how much it hurt him. He hadn't wanted Sarah to feel that he loved her any less, or blamed her for the loss of the baby. Of course it had been himself he'd blamed. Himself and the weight of his family's expectations. He'd felt that almost physically, pictured it as a crushing pressure, which made it impossible for the baby to survive. It would have been a boy. The pregnancy had been sufficiently advanced for them to know that. There would have been another Perez to carry on the family line.

Perhaps he'd played the role too skilfully. Perhaps Sarah had thought he really didn't care. Though surely she must have known him well enough to realize it was an act for her benefit. It was from the miscarriage that he charted the breakdown of his marriage. Sarah grew grey and distant. He spent more time at work. When she told him she was leaving, it was almost a relief. He couldn't bear to see her looking so miserable.

Now she was married to a GP and living somewhere in the Borders. It seemed she'd had no problems conceiving with her new partner. There were already three children and the Christmas card - it had been a very civilized divorce and they still kept in touch informed him that there was another baby on the way. He imagined her sometimes living in one of those solid country houses he'd glimpsed from the train south. He'd see her in a kitchen which looked out over woods and a meadow.

She'd be giving the kids their tea, a baby on her hip, laughing. Not being part of that seemed a sort of bereavement.

Bad enough. What must it be like for Catherine's father to lose a real child?

Euan Ross was sitting in the head teacher's office, on an easy chair, next to a round coffee table. This would be where the head would sit when he came out from behind his desk to put anxious parents or nervous students at ease. The female uniformed officer beside him looked as if she longed to be somewhere else. Anywhere else. Ross was an angular man in his mid-forties, greying. When he saw Perez, he reached into his pocket for a pair of spectacles. He wore dark trousers, a jacket and tie, everything smart, too smart for most of the teachers Perez had come across.

If he hadn't known, Perez would have put him down as a lawyer or accountant. There was a tea tray on the table. It was untouched and looked as if it had been there some time.

Perez introduced himself.

'I want to see my daughter,' Ross said. 'I've tried to explain how important that is.'

'Of course, But I'm afraid that will be later. No one is allowed to disturb her now. We have to preserve the crime scene.'

Ross had been sitting very upright, but now he collapsed and put his head in his hands. 'I can't believe it. Not until I see her.' He looked up. 'I was with my wife when she died. She'd been ill for months and we'd been expecting it. But even then I couldn't quite believe it. I kept expecting her to turn her head to me and smile.'

Perez didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet. 'How did Catherine die?' Ross asked. 'No one will tell me anything.' He looked at the policewoman. She pretended not to hear.

'We believe she was strangled,' Perez said. 'We'll know more when the team from Inverness arrives. They have more experience of serious crime than we do.'

'Who would want to kill her?'

He didn't seem to be expecting an answer, but Perez took advantage of the question. 'We're hoping you'll have the information to help us discover that. There isn't anyone who comes immediately to mind? A boyfriend she's recently dumped? Anyone who might be jealous, angry?'

'No. At least there might be, but I'm not the person to ask. You'd think we'd be close. There are only the two of us after all. But she didn't confide in me, Inspector. I know very little of what she got up to. We lived under the same roof, but sometimes I thought we were strangers.'