Out of control (26 page)

I hauled open the bedroom door and discovered that the stairwell was impassable. We couldn’t risk jumping through the flames because I’d no idea what was on the other side. “The stairs are blocked,” I shouted at Maggie. “Is there any other way down?”

Maggie grabbed my arm, a look of horror on her face.

“Back stairs. Come on.”

We blundered our way towards the back stairs in the dark and through the smoke, which was now starting to permeate the upstairs, and somehow stumbled down to the ground floor.

By now the passage and the kitchen were ablaze. It wasn’t only the heat and the smoke that I remember but also the noise. The crackling of burning paint work, the noise of the wind being created by the flames. Explosions were coming from the bar and the kitchen which I presumed were due to brandy and whisky bottles and cans of cooking oil. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Our way to the back door was blocked.

I held Maggie tightly trying to keep us both as calm as possible. “Is there any other way out?”

“The cellar,” she sobbed. “Through there.”

I grabbed the handle of the door that she was pointing to and wrenched it open, scalding my hand on the red hot metal of the old- fashioned brass handle.

I cursed but pushed her in front of me. “How are we going to get out of the cellar?”

“It’s an old coal cellar. There’s a hatch up to outside. That’s how they delivered the coal in the old days. ‘Down the hatch’ you know.”

I hadn’t a clue if that was the origin of the expression but at least it told me that Maggie wasn’t panicking.

It was pitch dark. Maggie tried a light switch but nothing happened. “Here, give me your hand,” she said and started to feel her way along the wall, pulling me behind her.

“Here it is. Here’s the chute. It’s about eight feet long, angled at about forty five degrees. You’ll have to lean forward and flatten yourself out. If I get on to your shoulders I should be able to reach the bolt and push open the lid.”

My mind told me that we were fairly safe here. Flames, as far as I knew went upwards. As long as this hatch could be accessed we should be able to get out into the open air. If I was right we had a little time.

I bent my back down to the slope of the chute and Maggie managed to clamber up until she too was lying at full stretch, one foot on each of my shoulders.

“Shit! I can’t reach it.”

“Hold on.”

I stretched my right hand up and told her to lift her foot. Now with the sole of her foot resting in the palm of my hand I pushed upwards. “Let your knee bend. Now we’ll do the same again with the other one.”

It was awkward for the second or two when almost all her sixty kilos were pressing down on my right hand but I managed to push her further up. I was at full stretch, straining to hold her there until eventually there was a cry of satisfaction. “Done it! It’s unbolted.”

There was a metal rod attached to the cover which Maggie pushed upward and the lid fell back onto the ground with a crash and I could suddenly see the darkening sky and the soft illuminations of the stars starting to become visible.

She managed to scramble out and soon found a ladder which she lowered down the shaft so that I could clamber wearily out. We were at the back of the hotel but safe for the moment.

We allowed ourselves a moment or two to get our breath back and to appreciate the fact that we were out of danger - of the fire, at least, I thought to myself, but said nothing.

“We’ve got to get away from the hotel but keep out of sight of the people round the front. This way. Follow me.”

Fortunately she didn’t ask questions. We ran across to the garage and climbed over the wall. “Now, sit down here and don’t move.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be back in a minute.”

I kept below the level of the wall and crept along to the corner where I could get a view of the front of the hotel. Risking a glance I looked over. The two men had by now disappeared. Dugain – because I was certain that’s who it was - was standing having a last look at the blazing bonfire of the hotel, probably with a look of satisfaction on his face, although in the dusk I couldn’t tell. The third man – Macek?- was presumably also in the car.

Dugain turned slowly on his heels, climbed into the car and they drove off. I ran to the road hoping to get its number but I’m not as fast as I used to be and by the time I got there it had already disappeared round a bend.

As I ran back to Maggie I let out a string of curses worthy of an encyclopedia of bad language.

“You fucking idiot,” I yelled out loud to myself. “They must have followed you. They knew you lived in Letham. They must have followed you. Shit! Shit!”

Because I’d got my car back they would have recognized it. It must have been easy. When I drove up the day before yesterday I hadn’t been in a state of mind for checking that I wasn’t being followed. And they’ve had a couple of days to organise it.

When I got back to Maggie she was curled up in a ball shivering and in tears. I helped her slowly to her feet.

“Bob, I’ve lost my hotel,” she sobbed. “What’s happened?”

I held her tightly until she quietened down a bit. “First things first. Is there anywhere we can get a bottle of brandy?”

She nodded tearfully. “The back-up stock is in the garage.”

“How can I get the fire brigade and the police?”

“Archie MacPhail’s - fifty yards down the road on the left. He’ll have a phone.”

The building was an inferno. There was no way it could be got under control. By the time the fire brigade arrived it would be just a shell. Nor was there any hope of saving anything.

“Right. Brandy first. Come on.”

We went to the garage and found the stock. I grabbed the first bottle I could find, ripped it open and handed it to her. She took a long pull, gasped, shuddered and handed it back. While I took my share she put her arms round me and collapsed onto my chest, sobbing.

“My hotel. It’s gone – and everything in it. What am I going to do?” I folded my arms round her and held her tightly.

“Who were these men?” she sniffed.

I turned her face up to mine and kissed her. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s my fault. These men are the people I’ve been after. They must have followed me up here and they’ve just tried to get rid of me. And you’ve got caught in the cross fire.”

“My God,” she said. She was still for a moment and then I could feel her metaphorically straiten her shoulders. She broke away from me, dried her eyes on the sleeve of her jumper and with a determined look on her face, grabbed my arm and said “Come on. There’s still a chance we can get them if we tell the police straight away they can maybe stop them getting away. Come on. Let’s get to a phone.”

She was heading at a trot down to the village dragging me with her.

Although the hotel was on the edge of the village someone must have seen the blaze and raised the alarm. Several people were out on the street making their way up towards us, some running, some shouting. “Whit’s happened?” “Maggie, are ye a‘right?” “Goad whit a mess!”

We calmed everyone down. “We’re fine. There was nobody else in the hotel. We don’t know what happened. Has anyone phoned the fire brigade?”

Someone had. “They’re oan thur way.”

Archie’s wife came running up to Maggie in tears. “C’mon lassie, you’d better come in tae us”.

“Archie, I need a phone – fast.”

He didn’t hesitate. ”Follow me.” and led me into his hallway.

I didn’t have the number in my head and I hadn’t had time to grab anything. My mobile would be completely destroyed.

“I need the number of the police station in Stirling.”

“Stirling?”

“Aye. As fast as you can.”

He dialled the emergency police and they gave him the number right away.

A familiar voice answered the phone. ”Sergeant Maclean?” I asked, surprised, “it’s Bob Bruce and it’s an emergency. I need Inspector Ross as fast as possible.”

Although Maclean was on night duty it seemed that Ross wasn’t. I explained as quickly as I could what had happened.

“I am absolutely certain that it was Dugain. I recognized him. It was definitely a case of arson, if not attempted murder.”

He didn’t mess about. “Give me your number. Ross’ll call you back in a minute or two. Which way were they headed?”

“South from Lochbervie.”

“Right, I’ll see what I can do. Hang up. Ross will call you back.”

I hung up.

“Arson? Murder?” said Archie in a shocked voice.

“Yes,” I replied, but didn’t have time to go into details. “Could you go and tell Maggie that I’m getting in touch with Inspector Ross? She’ll know what you mean.”

As he disappeared I called after him, “And any chance of a cup of tea?”

“Don’t worry. Maisie’s fixing it,” as he disappeared through to the front room.

Ross called back within two minutes. He told me that Sergeant Maclean had immediately alerted the various police stations on the road south but he didn’t hold out much hope of stopping them.

“They’ll leave the country as soon as they can. Can we alert the Border Agency at the airports?” and, as an afterthought, “and the port at Rosyth? They might take the ferry.”

“We’ll do all we can, Bob,” he assured me.

I went through to check how Maggie was. She seemed to be in control. I reported my conversation with Ross and told her that the police would be checking all the airports.

I could hear that the fire engines had arrived and told her to sit tight. I’d go and see them and see if anything could be saved.

“Bob,” she called as I was leaving, “There are two cabinets and a safe in the office which are supposed to be fireproof. See if they can save them at least.”

I asked Archie if he’d give me a hand and we went back up to the hotel. By then the roof was already ablaze. The firemen were pouring water onto the flames but the building was practically completely destroyed. I could do nothing but watch their efforts – desperately sad and very, very angry. Why had I been such a fool as not to have thought of revenge? I hadn’t been thinking straight. I was furious with myself.

They managed to save the cabinets and the safe and I told them to put them in the garage. Fortunately the fire hadn’t spread to the outbuildings. After an hour or so we left and went back to Archie’s.

There was no more we could do that night. The MacPhails had a spare room and Maisie insisted that Maggie take a sleeping pill and go to bed. I said I’d be up in a few minutes but I had one other phone call to make.

I rang Mike and told him what had happened. His reaction was much as mine – shock and anger. I just told him that there was nothing to be done tonight but I thought he should perhaps be on his guard.

“You never know. Maybe they’ve managed to connect us and follow you as well but I doubt if they’ll do anything tonight. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“We’ll be OK,” he said.” Don’t worry. I’ll put Oscar out in the garden for the rest of the night and he’ll warn us if anyone comes snooping round here.”

Maggie had been knocked out by the sleeping pill which was probably a good thing. I lay in bed reliving the experience. I couldn’t help it. When I thought of what might have happened it was almost too much. And then I thought once again of how stupid I had been not to have considered the possibility of revenge.

Eventually I fell asleep but I almost wished I hadn’t. Dreams of flames, falling beams, screams and burnt flesh don’t exactly make for a peaceful night.

I woke around nine feeling totally washed out and quietly got up, leaving Maggie asleep. We had slept in our clothes because we had nothing else. Everything had been in the hotel. Maisie told me that she could fix us up with something temporarily until we were able to kit ourselves out again.

All Maggie’s clothes would have been destroyed. Everything she owned. For me it wasn’t so bad because I had only lost what I brought up for the weekend.

After some breakfast I called Mike.

“No visitors in the night,” he reported.

“Thank God for that.”

He wanted to know chapter and verse of what had happened which I gave him.

“And you’re sure it was Dugain?”

“Positive.”

“And the others?

“I don’t know. My guess would be Macek and a couple of accomplices.”

We chatted a bit more about it. Sophie came on to commiserate with us and asked me to send her love to Maggie then handed the phone back to Mike.

“What are you going to do now? Do you want me to come up?”

“I’m not sure. Maggie’s not awake yet. I’ll wait ‘til she comes down and let you know. I’ll call you back.”

There were practical matters to attend to. I went up to the hotel to recover my car. It was fine. Fortunately it had been parked far enough away not to have been damaged. The building wasn’t a building any more – just a heap of blackened beams and lumps of concrete. Here and there you could see the sorry remnants of things familiar that had not been totally obliterated. A half-burnt photo frame, blackened pieces of cutlery, the remains of a few tables and chairs. I could even identify the frame of the picture of the Queen’s View that I had given Maggie for her birthday.

I didn’t want her to see any of this but I knew she would have to. There were still a couple of firemen on watch in case anything flared up again and I wasn’t allowed to go too near.

Luckily I had the keys for the car in the pocket of the trousers I had flung on the night before so I was able to drive it down to the MacPhails’.

When I got back Archie informed me that Inspector Ross had called and would I call him back as soon as possible.

I was put through to him immediately.

“Bob, we’ve got them,” he announced triumphantly. “Edinburgh Airport. This morning. Dugain and two other men were checking in for a flight to Paris. The Border Police have held them and I’m going through right now with Maclean.”

“Fantastic,” I cried, with relief. “Do you think you’ll be able to hold them this time?”

“I’ll make bloody sure I can. And you’ll be very interested to know who the other two were.”

“Who?”

“Two Romanians by the name of Dumitru.”