‘Of course they would,’ Ross replied, struggling with the corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. ‘But it would have been pre-planned. Whoever it was would have hidden the rifle in the bushes or the bracken in front of the trees above and behind the portable toilets. And bearing in mind that most of the guys in the village would have had a few pints of beer beforehand, most of them would have needed to have a pee!’
Ally had a thought. ‘But if you were going to shoot someone, aiming for their head, you’d need a very steady hand, wouldn’t you?’
‘You certainly would,’ Ross agreed.
‘So you wouldn’t be doing much drinking beforehand, would you?’
‘Very true,’ said Ross. ‘Hamish is an excellent shot, of course, and so is Angus. But so far as we know, Angus wasn’t there.’
‘So far as we know,’ Ally repeated.
Ross handed her a glass of wine. ‘Cheers!’
‘Cheers!’ Ally took a sip. ‘The girls said something quite interesting when they were in the garden with Flora. They hinted that Greg hadn’t been getting along too well with their father.’ She paused. ‘Did I tell you that Archie and Greg were in business together, making log cabins?’
‘Yes, you did,’ Ross replied. ‘Maybe it’s not a very good thing to go into business with an in-law. Who knows?’
‘Well,’ said Ally, ‘my mind is made up. I’m going to walk up to the castle tomorrow afternoon and have a chat with Angus.’
Ross rolled his eyes. ‘Good luck with that then! Make sure you’re wearing your bulletproof vest!’
‘You don’t mean that!’
Ross smiled. ‘OK, I don’t, but be careful anyway. Don’t forget you are now known to have this talent for sleuthing, and there’s a crack shot around!’
SIX
The following morning, Morag had a lot to say after breakfast.
‘You wouldn’t believe how many times that detective has been round to our house,’ she said as she sat down with her mug of tea, having just completed cleaning the bedrooms.
‘I suppose he has to question everyone who was there,’ Ally said as she brought a tray of empty dishes in from the dining room and set it down on the kitchen table.
‘He’s even questioning Murdo,’ Morag went on. ‘Maybe Murdo did use those toilets, but not whenthat manwas shot! And as for my boys…’ Words seemed to fail her for a moment. ‘He must have spent half an hour on our Bobby, and Micky says he spent ages on him too. For God’s sake, they didn’t have anythin’ to do with shootin’that man, did they? They’d only just thrown their own cabers and was dryin’ the sweat off therselves.’
‘He has to be thorough,’ Ally remarked in what she hoped was a comforting tone.
‘Aye, well he’s certainly that!’ Morag sniffed and took a large gulp of her tea while Ally began to load the dishwasher.
‘I was chattin’ to Forby yesterday and he’s been through thesame. And poor Ivan was tellin’ everyone in the bar last night that it certainly wasn’thim! He was sayin’ that he’s never fired any kind of gun in his life and wouldn’t know where to start.’ Morag took another gulp.
‘Well, he would say that anyway, wouldn’t he?’ Ally replied.
Morag ignored her. ‘And ye don’t need me to tell ye that Ivan’s never proper sober, is he? So how would he go shootin’ a target like that? Last time we had a funfair here, he couldn’t even hit a bloody thing at the duck-shoot stall. And why would Ivan want to kill him anyway?’
Ally wanted to reply that none of the competitors thought that Archie should be there at all, so any one of them might have been sufficiently incensed to take a shot at him. But that would be unlikely as it would have to have been planned in advance, in such a way that would necessitate getting and positioning the rifle. Instead, she shrugged and shook her head.
Morag wasn’t finished yet. ‘And Angus wouldn’t do it but, mind you, he was a champion caber tosser in his day – near fifty years ago.’ She chuckled, then narrowed her eyes. ‘And what about the earl, eh?’
‘Knowing Hamish, he would have had a few drinks, so his aim wouldn’t have been too good. And what possible motive could he have anyway?’
Morag ignored the question. ‘And where was that wife of his whenthat mangot shot, tell me that? Why wasn’t she there cheering him on? Was she havin’ a cup of tea maybe? Did you go for a hot drink?’
Ally shook her head. ‘No, neither Ross or myself went in the hospitality tent.’
‘Aye, well there was the hospitality tent and all those stalls selling shortbread and the like; it’s hard to be sure where anyone was.’ Morag drained her tea and stood up, making her way towards the porch outside the kitchen door where she removedher pinny and donned her purple anorak. ‘See you tomorrow! If the good Lord spares me!’
Ally smiled. This was fast becoming Morag’s catchphrase.
