Ben brought him some tea and mock-slapped him across the top of his head.
As he was enjoying his breakfast, stretched out in front of the fire, his phone buzzed. Harry.
‘Ah, Mr Rider-Mikkelsen? Is this a convenient time for my report?
‘Perfect. How are things?’
‘Very good indeed. No problems at all. The house is secure. We had some heavy rain but there are no leaks at all now I’ve replaced the rotten frame in the scullery. It’s not quite an exact match, but it will weather in.’
‘I was told about an incident on Benhar. Have you heard about that?
‘I’m in the Slippery Slope now. Everyone is rather shaken up, as you can imagine. The police aren’t releasing all the details. She was a well known figure on the island. Kept to herself apparently. And I think that’s considered a bit of a crime in close-knit communities like Scilly. But she started to go a bit downhill this year, so they’ve had a time with her. And now this.’
‘Do they have any idea who did it?’
‘Ah, well, here’s the thing, son.’ Aleksey could hear some voices in the background and Harry thanking someone and the sound of china and a spoon being clinked. ‘Do you mind if I call you back on the phone you gave me? I’ll just pop out to the quay. I think I can remember how to use it. Timothy showed me how to charge it, which I was very grateful for.’
‘Of course.’ He waited, thinking about the pretty little village and an old woman slowly losing her mind.
He answered when it rang again. ‘Hello? Is that you, son?’ Aleksey smiled and assured the slightly anxious voice that it was.
‘Ah, good, well, I thought it better to be away from prying ears. Mrs Slippery-S is a good sort, but gossip central, if you know what I mean.’
‘I met her, yes.’
‘Ah, well, that makes things clearer for me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘About who killed the elderly lady here. Apparently you did.’
‘What!’
‘Yes, well. Her neighbour saw someone leaving her house and gave a description, and Mrs SS then realised she’d served him tea. He was with three other men and two enormous dogs. One of the dogs she described quite charmingly, and I think Radulf, at least, has to own up to that.’
‘Radulf didn’t do it.’
Harry chuckled. ‘That’s what Snodgrass assured me. And if there’s one thing that young chap knows it’s a good heart and an honest soul when he meets one.’
Aleksey closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the sofa.
‘So, I’ll be in contact next week as usual. Anything special you want me to do this week, son?’
‘I think I will be coming down. We had an incident too—a car accident yesterday. I don’t know why, but I can’t help but feel these things are somehow related. That they are to do with me. Or the island.’
‘Ah. I am sorry to hear that.’ There was a pause, and Aleksey wondered if Harry had managed to press the wrong button and disconnect them, but he continued, ‘Have you ever encountered a whirlpool, sir?’
‘Fortunately not. My previous line of work rarely took me to sea.’
‘They are unfathomable and beastly things—more from superstition and fear perhaps than anything else. But when you see one you cannot help but picture a swirling mass of helpless beings being pulled into an unknowable centre from which they cannot return.’
Aleksey found himself biting his lip, so stopped. ‘And you think that is me now? That I am being pulled down into the centre of something.’
‘Maybe, maybe, but Michael talks a great deal about you, and there’s one thing he has told me more than once—you are an exceptional swimmer. If anyone can go to the heart of the swirling waters and return unscathed, I suspect that man would be you.’
‘I will see you in a couple of days. And, Harry? Take care of yourself and the dog before the island or anything on it, yes? Things can be replaced; people can’t.’
‘People who have already come back from death don’t fear dying quite the same as other men, do they, son?’
