Stormtide by Bill Knox Read Free Book Online

that’s all.’
    ‘You’ve a man named Benson.’
    ‘A boy,’ corrected Rother sharply. ‘Still in his teens – and he swears he didn’t touch her.’
    ‘So?’
    Rother gave a fractional shrug. ‘Laddie, when I want to let off steam I head back to civilization. Up here I work. I keep my nose reasonably clean and the same goes for my men if they want to draw their pay … booze and the odd brawl excepted.’ He emptied his glass at a gulp. ‘We’re the outsiders, we want to keep on good terms with the locals … though they’re a difficult shower at the best of times.’
    ‘No trouble before the girl drowned?’
    ‘None that mattered.’
    ‘That’s what I thought,’ Carrick finished his own drink, signalled a passing barmaid, and waited till she brought two fresh glasses of whisky. Paying, he leaned closer over the table as she left. ‘Dave, the way MacBean was alone on that boat isn’t going to help.’
    ‘They’re blaming us, yes.’ Rother set his glass down angrily. ‘All right, but how did that fight last night start? MacBean’s men caught young Benson on his own. They were thumping sixteen different kinds of hell out of him and starting to put in the boot when some of my lads showed up.’
    ‘I saw Benson this afternoon,’ mused Carrick. ‘He said you’d fired him.’
    ‘That’s right. For his own sake – and mine,’ said Rother grimly. ‘I didn’t like doing it. Right now he’s over on the island, and he stays there till he leaves. This afternoon’s trip here was so he could telephone a man he knows down south who’ll maybe give him a job. Even then I had to send Yogi along as a ruddy bodyguard. Otherwise someone else might have decided to take up where Lucas and his pals stopped last night.’
    ‘But he doesn’t see it that way?’
    ‘Would you?’ Rother pursed his lips. ‘There have been other things. Like the fire we had on Camsha. Nearly a thousand pounds’ worth of equipment lost and it was no accident. But I can’t prove a damned thing.’ He glared at the fishermen clustered along the bar. ‘Any one of that bunch could have started it.’
    ‘What about the girl’s uncle? Any trouble from that direction?’
    Rother shook his head. ‘None I know about. I went to see Graham after Helen’s body was found – just to say she’d been a nice kid, that sort of thing. Nobody knew then she’d been pregnant. I’ve seen him a couple of times since, just passing – he hasn’t saidanything.’ He grimaced slightly. ‘The Harvest Lass may have changed that. He’s going to lose money.’
    ‘How about the MacBean brothers, then?’
    ‘I almost liked John. As long as he had beer money he was happy.’ Rother’s face hardened. ‘Alec MacBean is someone else. He works with Graham up at the distillery as charge-hand – and he has a reputation for being a trouble-making bastard.’
    ‘And now his brother is dead …’ Carrick didn’t finish. ‘Dave, I’d like a talk with young Benson.’
    ‘Any time. He won’t leave till the end of the week.’ Rother took a long drink from his glass then his mood changed as if he’d flicked a switch. ‘Yogi told me you met Sheila. Like what you saw?’
    ‘I wouldn’t complain,’ Carrick grinned at him. ‘She’s wasted on a low-living sharker.’
    ‘There’s not much dividend in it for me,’ sighed Rother sadly. ‘She’s a girl who sets her own pace. I found that out.’
    ‘Does she know about Helen Grant?’
    Rother shrugged. ‘It was all over before she came. But knowing Portcoig, she’ll have been told a few times since.’
    ‘But she hasn’t mentioned it?’
    ‘Not to me,’ answered Rother curtly, then suddenly frowned past him.
    Shoving through from the door and past the crush along the bar, Yogi Dunlop reached their table a moment later. The big harpoon-gunner’s face was angry as he bent over Rother and murmured in his ear. Rother’s eyes widened a little then he swore softly and shoved his chair