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Chapter 29

Mac the Dentist is a formidable sight on the very rare occasions when he gets angry. Prim and I had called in at Anstruther after leaving Ellie and Jonathan in St Andrews. He had listened with mounting fury as I had told him Colin’s story.

‘What sort of animal would shove a wee boy down a twelve-foot drop?’ he barked. ‘If I could get my hands on the bastard, I’d give him a free root canal job — no anaesthetic, though.

‘What did the police say?’

‘Just about what I expected, Dad. I blew out the sergeant; I insisted on dealing with CID, and made a formal complaint to a Detective Inspector. He took it seriously — by which I mean that he didn’t just write it off as Colin’s imagination — but he was honest with me too. He took a look at the original report, then he told me straight out that unless the janitor turns out to have been lying about being on his break, they’ve got bugger all to go on.

‘There are no witnesses, none of the other visitors reported anything, and they’ve lost contact with them now; no one thought to take their names and addresses. The guy promised me that he’d put out appeals on Radio Tay, Kingdom Radio, and in the local papers for anyone who was in the Castle at the time and who might have seen something, but he didn’t hold out any hope.’

‘Okay,’ said my Dad. ‘Don’t you worry about it any more. You get off to Glasgow; I’ll keep on top of the police. The Head of CID’s a patient of mine and he’s coming in on Thursday. I’ll make bloody sure he pulls out all the stops.’

He turned as Prim came into the room carrying a tray laden with four mugs and a plate of biscuits. ‘Hello lass,’ he boomed, ‘and how are you? Bloody silly question though. I can see damn well how you are; you’re looking great.

‘How are the wedding plans coming along?’

She grinned. ‘They’re taking shape. Oz has a quiet week ahead, before he goes to London to finish his part in the movie, so I’m trusting him to go up to Gleneagles and make the final arrangements — taking my mother with him, of course.’

I looked at my father. ‘Did you know that “Mother in law” is an anagram of “Woman Hitler”?’ I asked him.

‘No, I did not; but I’ll grant you that it’s an interesting concept. A bit like, “Ascend in Paris” being an anagram of “Princess Diana”. Coincidence can be remarkable sometimes. Look at you, for example; everywhere you’ve gone lately, disaster seems to dog your footsteps.

‘Anyway, what about the date of this union of yours? Christ, here you are planning it, and I don’t even know whether Mary and I’ll be free or not.’

‘We’ll give you a clue,’ Primavera laughed. ‘It’ll be within the next two months and it’ll be on a Saturday.’

‘That’s fine,’ said Mary, coming into the room after tidying up in the kitchen. ‘I’ll keep them all free. Give us enough notice so that I can shop for a new outfit. Gleneagles demands it, I think. Don’t you agree, Mac?’

If my Dad had been wearing glasses he’d have peered over them at her. ‘Frankly, my dear,’ he answered, disdainfully, ‘I doubt if Gleneagles gives a stuff. But if I’ve learned one thing in this life, it’s never to get in the way of a woman when she’s set course for a frock shop — not unless, as sure as twelve plus one is an anagram of eleven plus two — you want to end up with footprints on your chest.’