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He ju to Sarge then?’

He prayed that he wouldn’t colour up even as he kneas doing so

‘DC Mead, sorry, I was ?’

‘They found Marie O’Dowd’s body’

He swigged down three mouthfuls of coffee and took the toast with him

‘And I think I’ve found Loopy Les,’ she said as they went up the stairs ‘College of FE Senior Assistant in the Humanities Library Leslie Blade I tried the public libraries – nobody in any of them here or in Bevham called Leslie Unless he’s in a school I haven’t tried yet, looks like this must be him And,’ she said, as they headed towards the car park, ‘unifor’

As they crossed the yard, Ben Vanek stuffed the remains of the now cold toast into his mouth and sed it in a lump which he kneould sit in the s I stay on the Chantelle case,’ Steph said ‘If the boyfriend gets charged, Marie O’Dowd’ll be open-and-shut Bor-ing Shall I drive?’

Twenty-three

It was the quietness that woke hiot to his feet and went to look out

The gale had died down The cottage had been battered by it for days but now everything was still The heavy clouds had been bloay, leaving a sky pricked all over with bright stars and a huge moon that rode the surface of the water The sense of quiet was extraordinary

Si out, but he had not slept well for the last few nights, because of the wind hurling itself at the panes until they rattled like loose teeth So now, glad of the calht flooded in, and the patch of sky he could see as he lay there was clear silver blue

He was alone Kirsty had coh he hadhis tilad, as ever, to be by hi had scarcely beenand had see had been stress-free, he thought as he dressed – the first time in his history of relationships – and for that he held Kirsty McLeod in great affection

Twenty minutes later he had put fruit cake, cheese, some of his favourite dark chocolate and a bottle of water into the rucksack with his drawing things, and was heading west across the island After an hour’s walking, he ca into its walls was a single small tree, bent half over by the wind He settled down in the sun

There was never complete silence here, always some birdcall, or the wash of the sea, but without any wind it was as quiet as he had known it He worked steadily, doing several s to le He ate and drank and got up a couple of tis, and when the sun was full on his face, took a fifteen-minute nap And for the whole time he was conscious of a deep sense of contentment, a freedom from any petty irritations or discoain whether this hat he should do, where he should be, whether he should resign from the force and spend at least half his year on Taransay, the rest travelling and perhaps with Cat, if he gave up his flat But it hen he i his home over to someone else, or, more likely, to be turned into yet another suite of offices, that he felt sure he could never do it It was not the flat as such that he cared about – though he did – but what the flat represented, the privacy and quiet space, his own rootedness

He was concentrating so hard that at first he did not hear the sound of the vehicle, until it drew up on the track a few yards away and the door slalas Boyd, Kirsty’s far Scottish oval of a face reddened by the sun

‘What’s wrong?’

Serrailler was six foot four but when he stood up Boyd was of a height with hi twice then asked if solas to the jeep, stuffing things into his rucksack as he went

‘Who? My fa into his seat ‘Your Chief Constable, I’ht back’

He did not speak again for the five-e

This is the last day, Serrailler thought, looking out to where the dark seal heads were bobbing up and diving down, bobbing and diving in the silver water

‘Thanks for that,’ he said to Douglas, as they climbed out of the jeep ‘Good of you’

‘It was nae bother’

He faced Si,’ he said, and without a split second of warning, swung his fist into Serrailler’s jaw ‘That’s for Kirsty’

The line froot through within a couple of minutes He touched his jaw a couple of times It was tender but a clean hit Boyd hadn’t drawn blood

He had a seat reserved on the chopper the next e tidied When he was done he thought of walking across to the pub to have a last drink and say his farewells But whether or not Kirsty knew about the crack Douglas had given him, he decided better not and instead went for a solitary walk along the shoreline and then to bed early, to sleep to the soft sound of the waves turning over and back on the shingle

At ten thirty the next reen Taransay recede as they cliain

Twenty-four

‘You knoe really could have done with an extra pair of hands last night, Leslie Three people were doith this stoo whether to call the rehearsal off altogether If you kneelco, but you could have added your voice to the chorus, it was very sparse’

Ten o to lunch early He prayed for a student to come up to the desk with a difficult enquiry that only he could answer, but the library was quiet and those ere here showed no signs of needing anything at all

‘Won’t you think about it?’

He wondered what his excuse for killing June Petrie would be Extrehbours had driven the, and they often rinding on about his joining the Lafferton Savoyards to sing in The Mikado when he had made it clear to the point of rudeness that he would never do so must count as extrehtlike that, he’d just hear you sing a few bars of so easy like a hymn’

‘I don’t know any hyht to know better than to start an argument with her because she always had a pat answer to whatever objection he raised

‘He’d train your voice hiood at that You’d be amazed the bricks he’s made out of straw in his tio to the Gents By the time he had done that and collected his lunch box, it would be one He didn’t need to go to the Gents but if he did it ht spare June Petrie’s life

Afterwards, he realised he had not even seen them come into the library, they were just there at the counter in front of hi for a Leslie Blade,’ the young man said

‘This is Mr Blade, the Assistant Humanities Librarian’ June Petrie, in a flash ‘Who wants hinored her Showed a card

‘I’eant Ben Vanek, this is DC Mead Is there somewhere we can have a word in private please, sir?’

‘What’s wrong, has so awful happened? Leslie, will you be –’

‘There’s the office,’ Leslie Blade said ‘But I was actually just going for my lunch –’

‘If you’d show us the way please?’ the young wo happened to her? Her carer should be there now, Hilary, if so has happened to your mother Is anyone likely to interrupt us here?’

‘No, the Chief Librarian is on the late shift and everyone else will be going to lunch I was going to lunch If this is about the book thefts, then you would need to speak to Mr Dalton, the Chief Librarian actually, he –’

‘It has nothing to do with book thefts Do you know a young woman called Chantelle Buckley?’

So for it

‘Is she a student? I don’t know all the new students by name, or even the older ones come to that, we have over –’

‘No, Chantelle Buckley was a young woman whose body was found in the canal last weekend As far as I know she had no connection with the college Did you know her?’

He had a flash picture of the girl’s photograph on the television during the local news

‘Mr Blade?’