Let’s face it, no one at the castle had any need to break into the cabinet when they could have helped themselves to the key which hung in Angus’s office. Unless, of course, they wanted to make it appear to have been someone else. There were two under-ghillies: the older of the two, Gordon Soutar, was in his late forties or early fifties, and would one day be taking over from Angus. The younger was called Tom Hamilton, who Ally had never met but who set the hearts of the local female teenage population into frenzy mode apparently. She’d heard that he was friendly with Micky and Bobby McConnachie, so either of them could have visited the castle and sussed out the whereabouts of the gun cabinet. Unlikely, but they couldn’t be ruled out. Then the Armstrongs had all visited Angus the day before Archie was killed. Was Patti perhaps having an affair and fancying her freedom? Then there was Greg, who appeared all too keen to point the finger at both Angus and the earl. Furthermore, according to the girls, Greg hadn’t been getting on too well with Archie. All these thoughts were whirling round in her head. It could have been any of them.
Ally supposed she couldn’t exclude Angus from the suspects, but she’d place him as low as possible at six o’clock, right down atthe bottom of her ‘clock’. Then she decided that, due to a lack of any other likely suspects yet, she’d place Patti up there at twelve o’clock because of her connection to Angus and the likelihood of her being able to get a gun from him, and Greg at three o’clock, mainly because of what the girls had told her about him not getting on with their father. After all, he’d gone up with the family to see Angus, so perhaps he’d sussed out the whereabouts of the gun cabinet while he was there. And then there was Wendy Watson, but how likely was it that she would want to kill her own brother? That left the competitors at the games, none of whom had been exactly delighted at the prospect of competing against this Canadian champion. But surely none of them felt strongly enough to attempt tokillthe man! It was, after all, only a sport!
Ally wrote the names on her Post-its: Micky McConnachie, Bobby McConnachie, Forby McKinnon and Ivan the barman. She placed Micky at four o’clock, his brother at eight o’clock, and Ivan at five o’clock. Forby she placed at seven o’clock. After some thought she placed Tom Hamilton, the young ghillie who was friendly with the brothers, at seven o’clock too. She had no further suspects yet. She’d seen the girls watching the caber tossing, and she was pretty sure she’d seen Wendy nearby somewhere. Or had she? To be on the safe side, she’d place Wendy at five o’clock, alongside Ivan.
As she placed the picture back on the wall, the painting facing outwards again, she gave it a good dusting. If Morag espied a cobweb anywhere around, she’d have the thing down and would see her two sons as prospective suspects, in Ally’s estimation at least.
She stared at the oranges, lemons and grapes in the picture for a moment and then decided that what she really wanted was to have a chat with Angus. But what excuse could she have for going up there to see him? Angus wasn’t someone who you might call on for a cup of tea and a chat – far from it! He was acurmudgeonly old fellow who viewed most people with suspicion. And he must be feeling extremely guilty that anyone could have broken into the gun cabinet without him hearing or seeing something.
Ally decided to take her mind off it all by visiting her friend, Linda.
Linda was an Englishwoman who’d married a Scotsman, came to live in Locharran and, a few years back, had been widowed. She then had to decide whether to head back south of the border or make a life for herself here in the village. Fortunately, she’d chosen the latter option and, thanks to her considerable culinary talents, was now the proud owner of The Bistro. All summer, her five tables were continually booked, but in the quieter season, she concentrated on making desserts for the Craigmonie Hotel. Which was how, earlier this year, she and Callum, the manager, had begun dating. ‘For years,’ she’d told Ally, ‘we only lived about three hundred yards away from each other but never really seemed to be in the same place at the same time!’
When Ally arrived at The Bistro, Linda had just made a coffee cake, a recipe which included Baileys and goodness knows what else, and was one of the most delicious cakes Ally had ever tasted. It was difficult to ration herself to just one slice, but she had her figure to consider and she was trying hard to be careful.
As she sipped her coffee and valiantly refused that second, delicious slice, Ally asked, ‘Has Callum said anything to you about Ivan since Archie Armstrong died?’
Linda refilled their coffee cups. ‘Are you sleuthing again?’ she asked, grinning.
‘I suppose I must be,’ Ally replied. ‘I guess I’m just nosy! Besides, the family are living under my roof, so I’m naturally interested.’
‘Apparently, the bullet was fired from the rifle that came from the castle,’ Linda said.
‘I think I should be having a chat with old Angus, up at the castle,’ Ally said, ‘but he’s not very sociable, and I’m trying to think of an excuse to visit him.’
‘Isn’t he the wife’s uncle?’
‘Yes, he is Patti’s uncle,’ Ally confirmed.
‘Perhaps that’s your cue. You could say you’re a bit worried about her or something. Perhaps suggest he calls in to see her?’ Linda said.
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ Ally admitted. ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’
Linda shrugged. ‘Perhaps you don’t eat enough cake.Sureyou won’t have another slice?’
‘Oh, go on then!’ Ally said. ‘Just atinypiece.’
‘It was Linda’s idea,’ Ally told Ross later as she prepared their evening meal.
‘Which idea was this?’ Ross asked as he shoved a log into the stove.
‘About trying to approach Angus by saying that I’m rather concerned about Patti and that perhaps it might be a good idea for her dear uncle to visit her. What do you think?’ Ally asked. ‘It would give me a reason for going up there, and if we got into conversation, he might then open up about who he thinks might have been prowling around.’
Ross sighed. ‘Ally, you must realise that anyone in the village could have access to any of his keys because he never locks his office door – the keys are hanging in there, and so why would they need to break in to get a rifle?’
‘But he might have some idea who’d been lurking around, mightn’t he?’
‘Well,’ Ross said, ‘Hamish and the under-ghillies would bethe only people who would normally be up there, so it stands to reason that they, the earl and Angus himself are the main suspects.’
‘But if Angus and the other two were out and about, feeding the dogs for instance, then anyone could have gone in and helped themselves surely?’ Ally was beginning to realise that this was far from being as simple as she’d hoped.
‘That’s about it,’ said Ross. ‘And young Tom Hamilton spends his free time down in the village. He’s a great friend of both of Murdo and Morag’s boys. I’ve often seen them in the Craigmonie Bar playing darts together.’
‘I told you about Greg’s little chat, didn’t I?’
Ross nodded. ‘Yes, and he was supposedly in the hospitality tent when this happened, but he could have popped out for a moment – as could anyone.’
‘But surely someone might notice if you arrived at the games carrying a rifle?’
