Perfect Dead: A gripping crime thriller that will keep you hooked

‘You’re right. I need to try harder.’

‘If you ever want a weekend away, I’d be happy to look after them. I could rope Frank in. They love running him ragged.’

‘Thanks, Kate. I might take you up on that!’

‘I hear they’ve found some remains out at Dundrennan?’

‘Frank and Mhairi are down there now, to secure the scene with SOCO. Given where the remains are located, I suspect foul play has been involved. It’s on MoD property, the firing range. They’ll no doubt be sending a couple of officers to breathe down our necks.’

‘Another body, though, in that general area? Could be pertinent to the forgery ring?’

‘Could also be that missing girl from three years ago, Ailish Kerrigan. I had to phone her sister and warn her of the possibility.’

‘That can’t have been an easy call.’

‘No. Her family have been to Hell and back. Anyway, no point in speculating until the pathologist has had a chance to inspect the remains. What with Monro Stevenson and now this? We’re keeping him busy.’

‘I’ll get off then,’ she said. ‘Take as long as you need.’

Chapter Sixteen (#ulink_198f8463-2f43-52bf-97ae-547a597a9d70)

Farrell sat in the car fuming beside an equally twitchy McLeod, with her mobile clamped to one ear. In front of them was a barrier with the words:

No entry by order of Ministry of Defence. Danger. Unexploded Ordnance.

Behind them was a car containing a couple of officers from Kirkcudbright.

‘This is ridiculous. We need to get in there now and secure that scene. How long are these jokers going to be?’ said Farrell.

‘You’re not going to like it,’ she said, ending the call.

‘Tell me anyway.’

‘The MoD are sending someone down from Glasgow. It’s going to be around two and a half hours.’

‘Well, there’s no point hanging about here for that length of time. Did you get the details of who discovered the remains?’

‘Yes,’ she said, scrolling through her phone. ‘Ted Jarvis, tenant farmer. Lives down a track beside the range. As such, he’s authorized to go on the land at his own risk for farming purposes.’

‘Right, that settles it. We’ll head off there first.’

Farrell got out and approached the car behind. It was being driven by the officer who had attended the death in Kirkcudbright, PC Calum McGhie.

‘I’m sorry but we can’t advance any further until the MoD arrive, which won’t be for another couple of hours. I’m going to need you guys to wait here until then.’

‘Yes, sir,’ PC McGhie responded, looking glum.

They made a U turn for the second time that day and headed back out to the main road, with Farrell keeping one eye on the satnav. It was so incredibly remote out here that it was nothing short of a miracle the remains had been discovered at all. It was a vast area and ran right alongside the rugged coastline. A thought occurred to him.

‘That forgery case you’re working on with DI Moore, Mhairi, if they’ve disappeared off the radar they may be using this land to smuggle the forged pieces out. It’s so desolate they would have virtually no chance of detection.’

‘It’s possible. Look, there’s the turning there!’

The road was so narrow, Farrell had almost missed it. Little more than a dirt track winding down to a whitewashed farmhouse that had seen better days. A sheepdog ran out barking followed by a wizened old man clad in so many layers he could have passed for a scarecrow. He bade the dog come to heel and stood waiting for them while they parked in his yard, taking care to avoid the clucking disapproval of the hens. A cockerel that reminded Farrell of DS Byers strutted in front of them.

‘Mr Jarvis?’ Farrell said, taking the old farmer’s wrinkled hand in his own. The man’s grip was strong. He wasn’t as frail as he looked.

‘Aye, that’s me, lad. Gave me a fair turn, seeing what I did. Best come in. I’ll stick the kettle on. You too, lass.’

Once they were settled at the kitchen table with mugs of hot sweet tea, he began.

‘I was out with Jess,’ nodding at the dog lying by his feet, ‘looking for a stray sheep, when she raced up that yonder hill into a bit of woodland and stood there barking. I shouted at her, but she wasn’t for budging, so I hauled myself to the top to see what she’d found, thinking it was a dead deer or a fox.’

He paused, relishing the telling of it. This told Farrell that the remains weren’t much more than bones, or he would have been more upset. He figured the old man was lonely, didn’t get the chance to talk often, so let him continue at his own pace instead of trying to hurry him up. He could see Mhairi’s foot jiggling impatiently on the worn tiles, but she too bit her lip.

‘Well, I got up there and could immediately see that the bones were human, so I called off the dog, fetched back here and called you lot. Seemed an odd place to dump a body. Giving yourself all that work slogging up the hill? Didn’t make sense when you could’ve heaved it over the cliffs. It wasn’t even as though the bones were dug up. Just sitting on the surface they were. Mind you, they might have been buried at one point. We had some mighty wild storms this winter.’

Farrell stood up, followed by Mhairi.

‘Can you take us to the remains?’

‘Aye, lad, that I can. It’s a fair way mind. Might be best to take the tractor?’

Farrell ignored the pleading look from Mhairi. He couldn’t run the risk of destroying any trail of evidence. Shanks’s pony it was then. They set off, struggling to keep up with the farmer, who was as fit as a flea. The land was very exposed to the elements, but with spectacular sea views. They could hear the roar below as the waves pounded into the cliffs.

‘What about the unexploded ordnance?’ asked Mhairi, looking as though she expected to be blown to smithereens at any moment.

‘Och, never you mind about that, lass,’ the farmer chortled. ‘More likely to be hit crossing the road.’

After a couple of miles, Jarvis stopped, pointing to a straggly copse of trees on top of a hill.

‘Straight up there. You can’t miss it. Will you be able to find your own way back? I’ve got plenty of stuff to do at the farm.’

Farrell thanked him. He handed a pair of plastic shoe covers to Mhairi and put on some himself. They climbed cautiously up the hill trying not to dislodge any stones or rocks as they went. On reaching the summit, they were breathing heavily. It had been steeper than it looked from a distance. As they moved carefully through the trees they could see the exposed bones lying in a small mossy clearing. They had clearly been placed in a shallow grave.

‘That’s odd,’ said Farrell, frowning. ‘The soil seems to have been turned over recently, but the bones are old.’

‘Look at those marks,’ said Mhairi, pointing to some indentations in the soil.

‘Someone has been up here not long ago, which means the bones were either brought here from elsewhere …’

‘Or someone wanted to take a little trip down memory lane,’ finished Mhairi. ‘About three years ago a girl went missing from this area, an Ailish Kerrigan. It was one of DCI Lind’s cases. He always felt that something bad had happened to her.’

They retraced their steps carefully back down the hill and sat overlooking the sea, while they waited for SOCO. Mhairi perched on a rock and turned her white face up to the winter sun, which was now beating down on them with more fervour than normal for a January afternoon. A buzzard looped lazily around, silent and deadly. The seabirds squabbled endlessly on the cliffs.

Farrell sat awkwardly on another rock. There was something rotten in this sleepy little town. Evil had burrowed under its skin and he was going to have to excise it using all means at his disposal. Comfortable in the silence, he closed his eyes for a few moments and prayed.

‘Sir!’ Mhairi shook his arm, startling him. He should have known better than to think she would give him five minutes’ peace.