The Back of Beyond (42 page)

Chapter 33

David Ritchie couldn't get home fast enough. He and his pals had been, not exactly rampaging through the woods between Forvit and Bankside, just giving vent to their youthful high spirits by racing about and yelling at the tops of their voices. That, of course, had led on to acting out a Tarzan film they'd seen – there had been a film show every Friday and Saturday in the village hall for a few months now. The boys took it in turn to be the hero, yodelling, or trying to, the famous call as he swung on a low branch, while the others were either ‘baddies' or apes … or, most reluctantly, Jane.

None of the fourteen/fifteen-year-olds wore watches, but being winter, the onset of dusk told them when it was time to go home, and they made their way back to where they had left their bicycles. This was the point at which they split up and went in various directions, David and his best friend, Eddie Mearns, younger brother of Barry, wheeling their bikes back to Forvit. They preferred to walk to Eddie's house, because it gave them time to talk over anything they felt was worth discussing, just the two of them. As soon as their friends had left them this particular evening, Eddie said, ‘They've dug up another body.'

This was much more interesting than the usual kind of titbits he gleaned from his father, whose job as postman let him in on many little secrets, and almost dropping his cycle in surprise, David asked, ‘Do they know who it is?'

‘One of the workmen told my Dad it's Alec Fraser, Lexie from the shop's father. He run off with a young girl, or somebody else's wife, years and years ago … or everybody thought he run off, but he couldn't've, could he? I'm nae supposed to tell anybody, mind, for the police havena made it public yet, so you'd better keep it to yourself.'

It was a meaty topic, however, and the two boys made the most of it, speculating on why this man – a man who had disappeared long before they were born – had been killed, and more exciting still, who had done the dirty deed. By the time they came to Eddie's house, they were agreed on one thing – the murderer must be somebody from the village or quite near to it. Who else would want to kill the man who had just been the local shopkeeper? But neither of them could come up with any kind of motive.

‘My Mam says Alec Fraser was a decent man,' Eddie remarked, as they stood at his gate for a few moments, ‘and my Dad says he was well respected, for he took the kirk choir and that, but there musta been something bad about him afore somebody'd want to murder him.'

‘That doesn't follow,' David pointed out. ‘He could have found out something bad about the murderer, and he got killed to stop him telling the police.'

‘It's like that picture we saw a few weeks back. James Cagney, or was it Raymond Massey? I canna mind the name o' it, though.'

‘Neither can I, and I'd better be going, Eddie, or my Dad'll be yelling his head off at me for being so late. See you on Saturday, usual time?'

‘Aye, it's a Western wi' Joel McCrea, and it's a Boris Karloff next week.'

‘Good, I like creepy pictures better than Westerns.'

As David swung his leg over the bar of his cycle, his mind returned to the more fascinating business of the murder … a real murder! This, then, was the reason for his haste as he pedalled hell for leather along the road in his anxiety to get home and tell his news. He hadn't actually promised Eddie that he would keep it to himself, and his father was friendly with Lexie Fraser, so he'd be pleased to hear the latest about her father.

Throwing his bicycle down, he burst into the house. ‘You'll never guess, Dad!'

His father and sister had been reading quietly by the fire, so Alistair looked up in some annoyance at the noisy intrusion. ‘Must you come barging in like that? And you haven't left your bike outside, have you?'

Only then remembering the strict instructions he'd been given when he got this new Raleigh three-speed for his birthday, David dashed out again to put it under cover in the shed. It didn't look like it was going to rain, but he didn't want to chance it getting rusty. In his excitement, his fingers fumbled with the lock before managing to get it back in the hasp and snapping it shut, then he darted back inside to impart his red-hot scoop.

Closing the door quietly behind him, he said, as nonchalantly as he could, to see what the effect would be, ‘They've dug up Alec Fraser.'

His father's first reaction did not disappoint him. Leaping to his feet, Alistair cried, ‘What? When? Who told you?'

‘One of the workmen told Eddie's Dad …'

Before David could give any further details, not that there were any more to give, just his and Eddie's speculations, Alistair was hauling on his jacket and going through the door. ‘Poor Lexie, she'll need me.'

In another few moments, brother and sister heard an engine being started and the noise of the car's tyres crunching down the stony track. ‘Is something going on between Dad and Lexie?' David asked sadly, wishing that his father had at least stayed long enough to pass some kind of comment on what had happened – his bombshell had fizzled out.

Leila shook her head. ‘I don't think so. They've been friends since they were at school, that's all it is.'

‘But he goes racing off to her every time anything goes wrong. He went there after the row with Mum, remember? That's where Uncle Dougal found him, and there's been other times.'

‘He needs somebody to talk to.' Although only a little over a year older, Leila could look on things from an adult point of view, whereas her brother's outlook was still that of a child. ‘Mum always said he was never the same after he came home from the war. We were too young to remember how he was before, but she said he was even-tempered and full of life whereas after he came back she never knew how he'd be, fine one minute and grumpy and short-tempered the next. Mind you, after what he told us he went through as a prisoner of war, it's not surprising he changed. I'm sure there's nothing between him and Lexie Fraser, though. He still loves Mum, I know he does.'

Neither of them feeling the need of anything to eat or drink, Leila made David tell her exactly what Eddie Mearns had said, and felt somewhat let down when he couldn't tell her anything more. They went to bed about a quarter of an hour after their father had gone out, but when, in their separate rooms, they heard him coming in just minutes later, they each decided against going down to ask him why he was home so soon.

Earlier that same evening, Lexie Fraser was making herself some cheese sandwiches as she listened to the end of the six o'clock news on the wireless, but she was interrupted by the bell shrilling on the shop's small telephone exchange. Laying down the knife, she ran through, plugged in and put on the headpiece. ‘Forvit Post Office.'

‘It's Nancy, Lexie. Listen, this is going to warm the cockles of your heart. You know I told you Mrs McLeish said she never reported Margaret missing because Tom had said she'd run off with another man? And you said that's what he'd told the police, as well, but now they're looking for him again?'

Utterly mystified, Lexie murmured, ‘Yes, I know all that, but what …?'

‘Well, I've just had a phone call from Mrs Chalmers in Aberdeen, the other daughter, remember, and speak about blinking coincidences!'

‘Nancy!' Lexie felt exasperated by the other woman's habit of spinning out any information she had to give. ‘Will you just tell me what she …'

‘Sorry, I get carried away. She's just back from a touring holiday on the west coast, and on their way back, they stopped in Inveraray to take a look round, and who do you think they saw coming out of a shop? This is where the coincidence comes in – it was Tom Birnie himself – he's her brother-in-law, remember. She said her first thought was to confront him there and then, but she knew he'd have bluffed it out and spun her some weird story, so she went into the shop and asked where the nearest doctor lived, because her husband had cut his foot on a piece of glass.'

‘But … but …' Lexie was absolutely mystified. ‘That wasn't true, was it?'

‘Of course it wasn't true. She made it up on the spur of the moment, and I think it was pretty clever of her. Anyway, the shoplady said that Doctor Balfour had been in just a few minutes ago, and he was on his way home, so she gave Mrs Chalmers his address.'

‘So it wasn't Tom Birnie …?'

‘Lexie, would you use your brains?' Nancy sounded disappointed with her. ‘He must have moved from Glasgow after the police spoke to him that second time, and changed his name to make it more difficult for them to find him again. He'd likely have got away with it if Mrs Chalmers hadn't been in that particular place at that particular time. It was fate, Lexie, and don't you see? Tom Birnie must have something to hide, or he wouldn't change his name and hide away in a wee place like Inveraray. And now I'm surer than ever that we'll find Alec, even if he's changed his name, and all. Somebody's bound to see him somewhere and recognize him.'

Despite her head still being in a whirl, it occurred to Lexie that Nancy had omitted one vital factor. ‘What'll happen now, then? Has Mrs Chalmers given Tom's address to the police …?'

‘I asked her not to. I thought you'd like to tell your detective friend yourself.'

‘I don't know when I'll see him.'

Hearing a trace of wistfulness in the words, Nancy said, ‘Friend Birnie won't be going anywhere – he doesn't know he's been spotted – so a few days' wait won't matter.'

A sudden strength surged up in Lexie now. ‘I'll tell him as soon as I can, he comes in quite a lot. Um, Nancy, do you think Tom Birnie would know where my father is?'

‘He might, but don't bank on it, Lexie.'

‘I won't. I don't suppose he'd tell anybody, anyway.'

‘Not likely. Now, you'll let me know what happens?'

‘Of course I will, and thanks for what you've done, Nancy.'

‘My pleasure. I'd like to see that lying devil get his come-uppance for what he did to me, and to other girls, as well, for all I know. Speak to you soon.'

Lexie had just got back to her sandwich-making when Roddy Liddell knocked on her kitchen window, and she signed to him to come in. ‘I've got news for you …' she began, but stopped when she saw how grave his face was. ‘Has something happened? What have you come to tell me?'

‘Let me get you some brandy first, Lexie.'

‘No! Tell me now! It's about my father, isn't it?'

‘I'm truly sorry. The excavators turned up another body first thing this morning, but I was under strict orders not to tell you until we learned a bit more about it. The police surgeon's report on his first examination was that it's male, probably about five feet eleven in height and around forty years of age …'

‘Oh, God! It
is
my father, isn't it? Will I have to … identify him?'

Liddell's eyes rested on her pityingly. ‘There's little hope of positive identification, as you might understand after so long, but they kept searching for something that could either point to it being your father, or rule him out altogether, and they were ready to stop for the day when one of the men saw this.' He took a gold pocket watch from his pocket and held it out to her.

She took it with trembling hands, opened the back with some difficulty and looked at the inscription through a mist of unshed tears. ‘To AWF with all my love CRS, and the date 18.6.1907,' she read out. She gulped to hide her emotion, but her voice broke several times as she added, ‘My mother gave it to him on their wedding day. His full name was Alexander William Fraser and … he was twenty at the time. Her name was Caroline Ross Shewan and she was nineteen.' She stopped to clear her throat, but was overcome with the tears she could contain no longer.

Gathering her into his arms awkwardly, he let her weep, murmuring gentle words of comfort against her hair, and when the dreadful heaving sobs eased, he kissed her cheek, the salt taste of her tears making him ache with pity for her. ‘I feel as if I'd betrayed you, Lexie,' he murmured. ‘If it had been up to me, I'd have come straight here when I was told they'd found him, but my Super was there, and God knows who else, and they watched me like a hawk so I couldn't slip away. They said they weren't sure whose body it was, but I knew right from the start, and I'm so sorry, my dear.'

Her thoughts were so concentrated on the news he had given her that the endearment was lost on her. ‘It's all right, Roddy. I know it wasn't your fault, but I'm so mixed up I don't know what to think about anything.'

The exhaustion of her torrent of weeping sounded in her voice, and he said, ‘Don't think about it yet, Lexie. Wait till you're …'

‘I can't help thinking about it. I'm glad they found him, it proves he didn't kill Mrs Birnie, but on the other hand … well, he's my father, and he's dead, and …'

‘Isn't it better to know for sure than to keep on wondering? At least, as you said, we know he's innocent, but we still have to find Birnie. He's the only suspect now.'

Her head snapped up. ‘I forgot! That's what I was going to tell you. Nancy Lawrie rang up and gave me his address.'

He listened, amazed, as she told him how Mrs Birnie's sister had accidentally run him to ground, and then he said, ‘Well that's good news. Thank goodness we've got something positive on him at last. We'll get the bugger now. I'm sure it was him. I felt it all along. May I use your phone to let my Super know?'

‘I'll put you through.'

Once she connected him, she left him to pass on the most important piece of information they'd had so far, and went back to sit by the fire. It was a mild evening so she wasn't cold, but the heat gave her some comfort, and as her feelings metaphorically thawed out, she was ashamed for having broken down so completely in front of Roddy, though he'd been like a rock to her. She wouldn't have been able to stop crying at all if he hadn't been there.