Chapter 23

 

   Jock and Jimmy were busy in their workshop putting the finishing touches to a new coffin when they heard the dreaded crunching of tyres on loose stones on the driveway outside again. They looked at each other for moral support but found none.
   There was a rap at the workshop door and Holmes ducked as he stepped inside.
   'You're back,' greeted Jock between clenched teeth. 'Have you found Roddy yet?'
   'I'm here on a rather unpleasant matter,' stated Holmes humourlessly.
   'Indeed.'
   I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to open that coffin.'
   Jock stared at him.
   'You what?'
   'This is a police investigation, please understand, and I have to follow every lead, however tenuous.'
   'Have you lost your marbles?'
   'No, I've lost Roddy Morrison.'
   'Have you been talking to those rascally scoundrels John and Dugal?'
   Holmes cocked his head to one side.
   'You two are up to something. I've known you both since we were at school and you are both acting very suspiciously. Where is it?'
   'Where is what?'
   'The coffin!'
   Jock and Jimmy exchanged puzzled looks and then glanced around the workshop.
   'Did you have any particular coffin in mind?' asked Jock. 'There are three on the shelves over there. You're welcome to inspect them.'
   'Don't get smart with me Jock Thompson, you know very well which coffin I mean. The experimental one that was lying over there the last time I was here.'
   Jock and Jimmy exchanged glances again.
   'Oh, that one,' said Jimmy solemnly. 'Um, I'm afraid that won't be possible.'
   'Indeed, and why not?'
   'Well, we had concluded our experiments and because the coffin was of no further use to us, we burned it.'
   'You did what?'
   'Yes, we took the chainsaw to it after you left, carted it to the dump and burned it. Why are you so interested in our coffins all of a sudden?'
   'You must be hard up for clues,' added Jock, 'if it is looking into our coffins for them you are.'
   'Was it John and Dugal putting this nonsense into your head?' asked Jimmy.
   Holmes didn't reply.
   'If I were you,' said Jock, 'I would go and question them about Roddy.'
   'Hmmmm,' said Holmes, somewhat mystified. 'They said the same thing about you two.'
   He cast a troubled gaze around the workshop and kneaded his eyes as if in pain. None of this was making any sense to him.
   'What is it?' asked Jimmy. 'Are you okay?'
   'If you'll excuse me,' he said quickly. 'I must be going. I have things to attend to.'

   'Well, I must say,' muttered Jimmy darkly when Holmes had left. 'This is all getting a bit too much for me.' He chucked his tools onto the workbench and glared at his brother. 'Do you think Holmes will actually go to the dump to check up on our story?'
   'He's a policeman, isn't he?' replied Jock. 'I'll bet he's on his way there right now.'
   'It was a good idea to make sure everyone there saw what we were doing and where we burned the thing.'
   'I'm full of good ideas.'
   'You're full of something, that's for sure.'
   'Watch your mouth brother.'
   Jock creaked open the door to their workshop a crack, and had a quick peek outside.
   'It's okay, he's gone.'
   Jock then lifted his jacket from the back of his chair, checked the pockets and turned pale.
   'What is it?' asked Jimmy.
   Jock checked the pockets again, then looked around the workshop.
   'Where is the flask?' he asked in a hushed voice.
   'What are you talking about?'
   'The flask! Where is it?'
   'I don't know,' said Jimmy, his heart sinking. 'I've not seen it. Have you lost it?'
   Jock rolled his eyes.
   'You had it last,' he said.
   'Me?'
   'Yes, at the gravesite.'
   Jimmy put his head in his hands.
   'I think I left it lying by the grave.'
   'We had better go and get it back before someone finds it,' said Jock, putting his jacket on.
   With that, they jumped into their car, the tyres crunched gravel, and they were off in a cloud of exhaust smoke.

   'Careful, you idiot!' barked Jock from the passenger seat.
   'Oh shut up,' replied Jimmy calmly, keeping his steely gaze on the road
    'I can't believe you lost the flask.'
   The next corner was a tight one and Jimmy had to judge it just right. He kept his foot down until the last minute and then slammed on the brakes.
   'Watch out!'
   Jock hung on grimly to the door as the car careered round the tight corner. They were going so fast that neither of them noticed Sergeant Holmes's car parked off the road behind a few trees. They didn't see Holmes either, crouched as he was behind a stone dyke, watching them with interest as they sped by.

   When they reached their usual clandestine parking spot, Jimmy pulled off the road and killed the engine.
   'Hurry up,' snapped Jock irritably, jumping out and slamming his door.
   'My, aren't you the bossy boots today.'
   'Is it any wonder?'
   'Let's be quick, it's broad daylight.'
   'It is no crime to be walking the moors for some fresh air.'
   'Perhaps not, but we don't want to be seen.'
   'Will you hurry up!' barked Jock curtly, heading off into the moor.
   'Being mad at me isn't going to help anything.'
   'Maybe not, but it's making me feel better.'
   'Don't you think we look a bit suspicious?'
   'Oh, suspicious is it you're worried about?' said Jock with disdain, 'and I suppose someone finding our flask lying beside a dead body in a coffin hidden in John's grave isn't going to look suspicious at all?'

   When they reached the gravesite, the Thompsons had a hasty look around to make sure they were alone and then started rooting around for the flask.
   'It has to be here somewhere?' muttered Jock.
   'Here it is!' exclaimed Jimmy jubilantly, prising the flask from a tractor tyre rut where it had been squashed into the peat.
   Jock ran over and wrapped an arm round his brother's shoulder and hugged him.
   'We're safe! We're safe!'
   'Not yet, we're not,' said Jimmy, nodding in the direction of John's croft. 'I think I can hear a tractor.'
   'You're right.'
   'It's getting louder, it's coming this way.'
   'Quick! Hide!' shouted Jock, and promptly jumped into the grave.
   Without really thinking about it, Jimmy jumped in after his brother and the two of them took a seat at either end of the hole, facing each other.
   'Why did we jump into the grave?' asked Jimmy after a few moments.
   'Why do you think? To hide, silly.'
   The tractor growled closer and the Thompson's hearts sank as it parked up nearby.
   'Oh shit,' hissed Jimmy, 'they're coming here.'
   A moment later two shadows blocked out the sun. There was a rather lengthy silence as John Brown and Dugal stared down at the Thompsons sitting at either end of the grave. It was Jock who spoke first.
   'Yes, can we help you?'
   John blinked a few times.
   'What are you two bleggards doing in my hole?'
   'Oh, so it's an owner of holes you are now?' retorted Jock.
   John and Dugal exchanged glances.
   'Get out of my hole!'
   'What on earth are you doing down there anyway?' asked Dugal, dumfounded.
   'What business is it of yours?'
   'It's my grave!' said John.
   'Oh, and since when do you own all the holes in the moor?'
   'I told you John,' said Dugal. 'I told you it was them heading out here. It's those two who murdered Roddy and buried him here.'
   'Why you lying scoundrel!' exclaimed Jock, getting to his feet and climbing quickly out of the grave.
   Dugal gripped the shovel with both hands and raised it above his head.
   'You know damn well it was you two who buried Roddy here!' shouted Jimmy, climbing out after his brother. He grabbed his brother's shoulder and pointed at Dugal. 'That's probably the shovel they used to smash in poor Roddy's head.'
   'What!' spluttered Dugal, waving the shovel threateningly.
   'Put that shovel down, or I'll ram it up your arse,' hissed Jock, taking a step towards him.
   'Oh listen to you,' retorted John, 'and who was it I saw scuttling off into the moors with a coffin between them the other night, like the damnable graverobbers you are?'
   'Why you . . . you . . .'
   Back down in your hole you murderers!' hissed Dugal, stepping forward waving his shovel.
   In all the confusion and high tempers, no one had noticed Holmes approaching.
   'What the hell is going on here!' he barked, striding down to the gravesite from the trees.
   Everyone froze.
   'Bob!' said Jock in dumfounded surprise.
   'Bob!' echoed Dugal, his face white as a sheet.
   Holmes looked at them one by one and waited patiently for an explanation.
   'What are you doing here Bob?' asked Jock.
   Holmes cocked his head slightly to one side and his eyes narrowed. Dugal threw the shovel onto the ground and stepped backwards away from it.
   'I don't think my being here is the question,' said Holmes gently. 'What are you all doing here?'
   'We were simply having words with John and Dugal,' said Jock.
   'Oh, and being threatened with a shovel is having words is it?'
   'Those two murdered Roddy,' whispered Dugal suddenly, his face red with anger.
   Everything then went very quiet.
   'Roddy is dead?' asked Holmes, with great sadness in his voice.
   'Don't listen to Dugal, he's a lying bastard,' hissed Jimmy. 'It was those two who murdered Roddy.'
   'Roddy is dead?' asked Holmes again, his voice heavy.
   'Yes Bob,' said John quietly. 'Roddy is dead.'
   'This is not the news I was hoping for. Where is he?'
   None of them answered him and none of them could look him in the eyes. With a sigh, Holmes glanced around the moors, then rested his gaze on the waters of the salmon loch and the craggy rockface of the hill resting its feet in its waters. Suddenly, he felt very old.
   'Let's go to the house,' said John. 'Roddy is at the house.'
   'Are you going to arrest those two now?' asked Dugal, picking up the shovel again.
   Holmes didn't reply. For the first time in his life, he wished he wasn't in the police force.
   'Jock,' he said quietly, holding his eye. 'We have been friends since we fought over Mary McLeod at school. Do you remember that?'
   'It was me you fought,' said Jimmy.
   'Oh yes, so it was,' said Holmes, 'but at the time I thought it was Jock, and I'm sorry for the bloody nose I gave you.'
   'Listen Bob,' said Jock, understanding what the man was going through. 'We didn't kill Roddy, it was those two.'
   Dugal waved the spovel again.
   'Watch your mouth Jock,' he barked. 'You know fine well we didn't do it.'
   'None of you killed Roddy,' sighed Holmes, looking around the site again. 'Let's all go back to the house. I need to sit down and think.'

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