Death of a Dreamer (17 page)

Mr Patel said he only ordered two copies a month, the locals being more interested in magazines that dealt with television soaps than anything to do with films.

‘Who bought them?’

‘Mrs Wellington bought one.’ Hamish blinked in amazement. He’d never have guessed that the tweedy minister’s wife would want to read about movie stars.

‘And the other one?’

‘Oh, it was that wee woman who was married to the artist.’

They hurried back to tell Jimmy. ‘Good work,’ he said. ‘Bring her in.’

They found Dora Fleming crossing the humpback bridge on her way to the boarding house. They marched her back to the police unit and took her inside.

‘What’s this all about?’ she demanded.

‘This,’ said Jimmy, pointing to the piece from the film magazine. ‘This was lying by the fire door at Sea View. We think you used it to wedge the fire door when you crept out
so you’d be able to get back in again.’

‘Don’t be daft. It’s just a piece of paper.’

‘It’s from a film magazine which you bought. The paper’s glossy, and we should get your prints off it. In fact, we’ll fingerprint you now.’

‘I want a lawyer,’ she screeched.

‘You’ve already got her fingerprints,’ interposed Robin. ‘We took the fingerprints of everyone who might be concerned right after Mr Addenfest’s murder.’

‘So we did,’ said Jimmy with his foxy grin. ‘Right, young woman, where did you go, when, and why?’

‘I didnae go anywhere!’

‘We’ll look at the steps down from the fire door,’ said Jimmy. ‘I’m sure we’ll find some footprints.’

She stared at him in mulish silence.

‘Right,’ said Jimmy. ‘I am taking you into police headquarters for questioning. Hamish, you and Robin go back to Sea View and have a look at the steps down from the fire door.
See if you can find anything.’

As two policemen escorted Dora out to the car which was to take her to Strathbane, Jimmy phoned Daviot, who was up at the hotel arranging a room for the press conference. He told him of
Hamish’s find. ‘It was a right smart piece of work on Macbeth’s part,’ said Jimmy. ‘You can at least tell the press we’ve got a suspect.’

Mrs Dunne took Hamish and Robin round to the back of the house where an iron staircase led down from the fire door. ‘We’d better not add our own footprints,’
said Hamish. The stairs led down to a weedy back garden. ‘We’ll just need to search through the garden and see if we can find anything.’

He knelt down and began to feel his way through the rough grass with his fingers. Robin was wearing a skirt and did not want to ladder her tights by following Hamish’s example.

‘I’ve got to go to the loo,’ she called. ‘Be back soon.’

She went round to the front of the house, knocked, and asked Mrs Dunne if she could use her bathroom.

‘Don’t leave a mess,’ said Mrs Dunne. ‘I keep a clean house.’

Robin carefully reapplied her make-up. Daviot’s rejection of her request to be at the press conference rankled, and she knew she would feel more confident if she brushed her hair and made
up her face.

When she went out again, she saw Daviot’s car heading along the waterfront and eagerly flagged him down.

Daviot lowered the window. ‘What is it, Detective Constable Mackenzie?’

‘I had a marvellous piece of luck,’ said Robin. ‘I found a piece of a magazine by the fire door at Sea View which had been used to wedge the door. I found out Dora Fleming had
bought that magazine and –’

He interrupted her, his voice cold and measured. ‘I have already heard of Hamish Macbeth’s detective work. Do not try to take credit from another officer again.’

The car window rolled up in her face, he tapped his driver on the shoulder, and the car moved on.

Robin felt miserable. She had dreamt of taking over Blair’s job one day. She trailed back to the garden to find Hamish putting something into an envelope.

‘What have you found?’ she asked.

‘A used condom.’

‘So what’s special about that? The local lads probably use this garden for a bit of nooky.’

‘No, they don’t,’ said Hamish. ‘I’ll take this straight over to Strathbane. Are you coming?’

But Robin did not want to run into Daviot.

Hamish did not have any hope of a speedy DNA analysis of the used condom, but for once, Daviot was really desperate for answers. Forensic swabs were taken from Jock and the men
living in the boarding house and sent to the forensic laboratory in Aberdeen along with the condom.

While he waited for the results, the investigation seemed to have temporarily ground to a halt. Mrs Daviot phoned him in high excitement to say that her husband, once the case was closed, was
going to take her on a second honeymoon. Robin came into the police station just as Hamish was putting down the phone.

‘That was Mrs Daviot,’ said Hamish.

Robin eyed him warily. ‘If she’s looking for her husband, he’s on his way from Strathbane.’

‘She just wanted to tell me that they are going on a second honeymoon once this case is over. Now, isn’t that romantic?’

‘Oh, sure,’ she said sarcastically. ‘I’ve got some news about Mrs Addenfest.’

‘What’s that?’

‘She said she arrived at Glasgow airport after she had been notified of Hal’s death. But she was in the country before Hal died. She arrived at London airport two days before his
murder. I don’t know how she hoped to conceal it. Checked with New York police, and they said they got the number of her cell phone – that’s American for mobile – and called
her on that with the news because she was out when they visited her flat and her maid gave them the number.’

‘He can’t have left her that broke if she had a maid. Didn’t the maid tell the police she had gone to Britain?’

‘The maid has about two words of English. Mrs Addenfest’s over at the unit. I’ve come to fetch you.’

They walked out together. ‘Men are bastards,’ said Robin, suddenly and viciously.

‘You’re talking to one.’

She shrugged in reply.

Gloria Addenfest was seated before Jimmy in the unit. Her perfume hit them like a scented wall when they walked in.

Hamish felt a rush of gratitude for Jimmy. He was so used to Blair keeping him away from every interview.

‘Now we’re all here,’ said Jimmy, ‘you’d better explain why you lied to us about your arrival in this country.’

‘I thought it looked bad,’ said Gloria, crossing her long legs. ‘So I lied. No big deal. I didn’t murder him.’

‘So when did you really arrive up here?’

‘Right after the cops phoned me about him being murdered. I came straight up from London.’

‘What were you doing in London?’

‘Look, it’s like this, see.’ Gloria lit a cigarette. ‘I’ll come clean. I really meant to come up here and confront the little rat. They had an audit at his company
and found Hal had been embezzling. I remembered his high and mighty moral tone at the divorce proceedings, the way his lawyers made me look like a whore. I wanted to see his face when I told him
his firm’s lawyers had been to the police and were trying to get an extradition order. I just wanted to see the look on his stupid face. But I stayed in London.’

‘Why?’

‘Do I have to tell you?’

Hamish regarded her with amusement. ‘You met someone on the plane over,’ he said.

She flushed angrily. ‘Well, okay. He was in pharmaceuticals, and we hit it off. He said he’d show me a good time. We moved into the Ritz together and started to do the
town.’

‘Name?’ asked Jimmy

‘Must I? He’s married.’

‘Name!’

‘James Roden. He’s still at the Ritz as far as I know.’

‘We’ll check out your alibi. In the meantime, stay in Lochdubh and give us your passport. Now, how much had Mr Addenfest embezzled?’

‘Close to a million. He’d been siphoning it off over the years. Funny, though,’ said Gloria. ‘He had one hell of a salary. But he was secretive and nasty. He probably
enjoyed ripping them off.’

Jimmy got a statement typed up and told her to sign it, then got a police officer to escort her back to the hotel.

‘There are too many women in this case, and all of them seem to be covering up for something,’ said Jimmy. ‘The forensic lab promised us the DNA results fast. Meanwhile, keep
asking around the village if anyone saw anything. I know you’ve done it over and over again, but folks are funny. Sometimes they come out with something amazing that they never even thought
of telling us at the time.’

‘Who first?’ asked Robin outside.

‘I’ve got a salmon in the freezer.’

‘So what?’

‘So we’ll go back and see Angus.’

The seer invited Hamish in but grumbled that the salmon was frozen, saying he liked it fresh-caught.

‘Have you thought of anything, Angus?’ asked Hamish.

The seer leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. ‘Women everywhere,’ he said. ‘Manipulating women.’ He opened his eyes and looked at Robin. ‘You were out to
ruin a marriage. Just thank the stars you didnae succeed.’

‘Forget about Detective Constable Mackenzie,’ said Hamish impatiently. ‘I know all about that.’

Robin’s face flamed.

Angus settled back in his chair again and closed his eyes. If the old sod goes to sleep this time, I’ll strike him, thought Hamish. I want one salmon’s worth.

‘Strong sexual urges and bad, bad jealousy,’ crooned Angus. ‘You’re looking for a woman.’

‘Which woman?’

Angus opened his eyes. ‘The spirits have left me.’

‘I expected more for a whole fish,’ exclaimed Hamish.

‘So who
have
we got?’ asked Hamish as he and Robin walked down to the police Land Rover. ‘We’ve got Caro Garrard, Gloria Addenfest, Dora Fleming
and Betty Barnard.’

‘My money’s on Dora,’ said Robin.

‘I thought you suspected Betty.’

‘I think it’s Dora now. She’s had a rough, coarse life. I bet she was in a lot of fights when she was on the streets.’

‘But what would Dora have to do with the murder of Effie?’

‘Maybe Effie’s death was suicide.’

‘Hal phoned his wife to say he was getting married,’ said Hamish. ‘One of the women must have been seen with him. We’d better go up to the hotel and start
again.’

‘All that stuff about me trying to break up someone’s marriage was rubbish,’ said Robin. ‘You said you knew.’

‘I don’t think you planned to break up a marriage, more to sleep your way to the top.’

Hamish’s phone rang before Robin had time to reply. ‘Get back here immediately,’ Jimmy ordered. ‘They’ve phoned over the DNA results.’

‘Whose is it?’ demanded Hamish as soon as he and Robin walked into the police unit.

‘Jock Fleming. They’ve gone to fetch him,’ said Jimmy.

‘Where’s Mrs Fleming?’

‘We had to let her go for the moment. That night, she says, she wanted to go down to the garden at the back for a bit of fresh air. She said if she’d gone out the front, the sound of
all the locks being unlocked would have woken Mrs Dunne. Mind you, I’ve sent some men to go through that room of hers again, looking for the least little thing. That sounds like Jock arriving
now.’

The artist was brought in. He looked at them wearily. ‘What now?’

‘Sit down,’ barked Jimmy.

Jock slumped down in the chair in front of him.

‘A used condom was found in the back garden at Sea View. We found your DNA on it. Now your ex-wife says that on the night Addenfest was murdered, she went out through the fire door and
down into the back garden for a bit of air.’

‘It’s all very simple,’ said Jock. ‘She wanted to talk about more money. One thing led to another. We had a quickie up against the garden wall.’

A policeman who had just walked in interrupted them. ‘Sir,’ he said to Jimmy, ‘sorry to interrupt, but this was found stitched into the hem of the curtains.’ He held out
a glassine envelope full of white powder. ‘I tested a bit. It’s cocaine.’

‘Get Dora Fleming along here.’

Jimmy glared at Jock. ‘Do you know what I think? I think you wanted that notebook of Addenfest’s because you were frightened that there was something in there that would incriminate
you. I think you miserable pair – you and your ex-wife – got high. I think one of you lured him to the beach, and you both killed him to cover up the murder of Effie Garrard.’

‘This is rubbish,’ blustered Jock.

‘And why should you want sex with a wife you divorced?’

‘She’s got certain interesting tricks.’

I am slipping, thought Hamish ruefully. I had thought he was such a nice ordinary man.

Dora was brought in. Jimmy waved the envelope of cocaine in front of her. ‘This was found sewn into the curtains of your room.’

‘That’s naethin’ tae dae wi’ me!’ she shrieked. ‘You lot must ha’ planted it there.’

‘Enough of this,’ said Jimmy. He turned to his waiting police officers. ‘Take them over to police headquarters. I’ll interview them separately.’

As they were led out, volubly protesting, Hamish said, ‘That’s odd.’

‘I’m off,’ said Jimmy. ‘What’s odd?’

‘Dora Fleming shows no sign of being a drug user. Someone
could
have planted those drugs.’

‘Why?’

‘To muddy the waters.’

‘Go back to Mrs Fleming’s room and see if you can see anything that might have been missed.’

Robin felt uneasily that as the superior officer she should be taking the initiative, not Hamish. But Daviot’s rejection had thrown her, and she was sure he would do
everything in his power to block any promotion. She wished these murder cases would get solved quickly now so that she could put in for a transfer.

Mrs Dunne was furious. She followed them up the stairs to Dora’s room protesting that she kept a decent house and somehow it was all Hamish’s fault. Hamish and Robin went into
Dora’s room, and Hamish shut the door firmly in Mrs Dunne’s angry face.

There was a sour smell in the room. ‘She doesn’t believe in washing much,’ said Robin, wrinkling her nose, ‘and her dirty clothes are lying everywhere.’

‘Let’s see these curtains,’ said Hamish. He knelt down on the floor and studied the unpicked hem. The curtains were acid green and of a cheap synthetic material. They were
short, and when he drew them closed, the light shone through them. ‘That’s how they saw the envelope of drugs,’ he said. ‘They would look at the curtains and see it outlined
against the light. And look. The stitches are very neat. I cannot imagine one such as Dora Fleming being a good needlewoman.’