Too Good to Be True

13 The Stranger

Perez chased the man who’d been following him. He was certain that this stranger held the answer to the mystery of Anna Blackwell’s death. The man took a road that Perez hadn’t explored yet. It led quickly out of the village and rose into dense woodland. Perez thought these must be the woods he’d seen at the back of Sarah and Tom’s house. They were conifer trees, planted very close together, and they blocked out most of the light. It was as if night had come early.

The man left the road and took a path through the woods. Perez was fit, but the stranger seemed to run without effort. He knew just where he was going and Perez soon felt lost. He was out of his comfort zone. He was used to Shetland with its open hills and big skies. There were few trees in the islands and he’d never been in a forest as dense and dark as this before. All he could see was a glimpse of a shadow heading into the undergrowth. Then even that was gone and Perez knew that the man had escaped him.

Despite the cold, Perez was sweating after his run. He stood still for a moment and tried to figure out the way back to the road. The little light that was left was fading, and he knew he’d have no chance of finding his way back to the village in the dark. He stumbled through the trees, hoping to see lights from houses or cars.

And all the time his mind was working. He’d figured out who he’d been following. A glimpse of the stranger’s face had shown a family likeness to a person Perez had come to know well. The man must be Sandy Kerr, Gail’s brother. He’d been one of the people in the wedding photo at the farmhouse. This case was all about family secrets, Perez thought. That was why it had been so hard to find out what had been going on, to find out what had led to Anna’s murder.

Perez lost his footing and slid down a steep bank, landing on a hard surface that scraped his hands. Tarmac. At last, and quite by chance, he’d found the road.

Jimmy started breathing more easily, and the panic he’d felt when he was surrounded by trees slowly left him. He just had to follow the road back to Stonebridge and his hotel. He knew that Sandy Kerr lived with his sister. It shouldn’t be hard to find him and see what he had to say. Perez had the feeling that Sandy wanted to explain what had happened to Anna. He was ready to talk.

Perez had walked a few hundred yards when he heard the sound of an engine behind him. He moved to the side of the road. He was tempted to flag down the car and get a lift into the village. Now that he had an idea what might have happened here in Stonebridge, Perez wanted the case finished as soon as possible. He longed to be on the ferry back to Shetland. He was missing his daughter, Cassie, and his house by the water. He could never be truly happy when he was away from the sea.

Perez put out his hand to wave at the car. In Shetland people were used to giving lifts, and in more remote places they always stopped for walkers. Surely it would be the same in a village like Stonebridge, a village that claimed to be friendly?

But the car showed no sign of stopping or even slowing down. Perez thought perhaps the driver hadn’t seen him, and resigned himself to walking back to the hotel. After all, it couldn’t be that far. He stood on the verge to allow the car to pass safely. The road was very narrow here.

Then he saw that instead of passing carefully by, the car was heading straight towards him.

All Perez could see was the glare of headlights as he jumped from the grass bank into the ditch that separated the road from the trees. There was a screech of brakes as the car careered away from him. It all happened so quickly and it was so dark that he couldn’t even make out the type of car. There was no way he could see who the driver was.

Perez stood shaking by the side of the road. He felt angry, not just because the unknown driver had tried to kill him, but because he’d been foolish enough to put himself in danger.

He had Cassie to look after now, and he should be more careful. He’d bruised his leg jumping into the ditch. It was full of snow, his feet were soaking wet, and his hands were still bleeding from the fall onto the road. He thought his dis-comfort served him right and he started limping back to the village.