The van started up, and moved off.
I’m leaving Lauren behind, alone and on the run, thought Jake, feeling sick to his stomach. He hoped that Rona would tell her what had happened.
I’ll come back for you, Lauren, he vowed. We’ve been in worse situations than this and survived them.
But, handcuffed as he was, heading away from the south of the island, he could feel that his words had a hollow ring to them. On an island, there really was nowhere to run.
Chapter 16
Once they reached the police station, Jake was put in a cell.
‘Just until someone from CID arrives from the mainland,’ the constable informed him, removing the handcuffs. He gave a rueful smile. ‘Luckily for us, we don’t need a regular detective presence on Mull. There’s not that much crime.’
The door clanged shut, and Jake settled down to wait.
It took two hours for the detective to arrive. Or, at least, for Jake to be taken to the interview room where Detective Sergeant Stewart was sitting at a table waiting for him. Stewart was a calm-looking man in a rumpled brown jacket. He gestured for Jake to sit down, and the constable left the room to return to his duties guarding the reception desk.
‘So, Mr Wells. Do you want to tell me what you are doing on Mull?’ asked the detective.
‘The same as I told your colleague before: I came to meet an old friend.’
Sergeant Stewart consulted the notes in front of him.
‘Ah yes, this so-called Helen Cooper.’
‘She is not the “so-called” Helen Cooper. She is Helen Cooper.’
‘Not according to Mr Manvers of Immigration. He seems to think she’s actually someone called Lauren Graham.’
‘She’s not.’
‘Interestingly, when we tried to track down details about this Lauren Graham, we were referred to the intelligence services in London. Why would that be, do you think?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ Jake shrugged. ‘Particularly as I’ve no idea who this Lauren Graham person you’re talking about is.’
‘That’s interesting,’ said Stewart, ‘because their records show that once upon a time you shared an address in London with a Lauren Graham. Which Lauren Graham would that be?’
That would be the Lauren Graham I fell in love with, and who I moved in with for a whole month, before I messed things up and she kicked me out, thought Jake. Aloud, he said: ‘That would be a girl I had a relationship with once, about a year ago. She is nothing to do with Helen Cooper.’
Stewart regarded him quizzically.
‘Very well,’ he said at last, ‘we’ll come back to that.’
‘Have you found her yet?’
‘Who?’
‘Helen,’ said Jake. ‘She went missing just before you brought me up here.’
‘Or did she disappear of her own volition?’ asked Stewart.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Jake.
Suddenly Stewart’s expression became hard, and Jake could see cold anger in his eyes as he looked directly into Jake’s.
‘I mean that for years — no, decades — we’ve had no major crime on Mull. And then you and this “Helen Cooper” arrive, and within a day Dougie MacClain is found dead. His body is found by you and this mysterious Helen Cooper, who later vanishes. Then another guest at the guest house where you are both staying is murdered. His throat’s cut, and in his hand we find a piece of your clothing.’
‘None of it is anything to do with me,’ insisted Jake.
Stewart gave a sarcastic laugh.
‘Oh, please!’ he snorted.
‘Shouldn’t I have a lawyer?’ asked Jake.
‘We’ve arranged one for you,’ said Stewart. ‘He’s coming from Oban. It’ll take him a while to get here. Until then, we’re just having an informal chat.’
‘In that case I’ll wait to say anything more until he gets here,’ said Jake.
Stewart shrugged.
‘As you wish,’ he said.
He got up and went to the door, opened it and gestured to the uniformed constable standing outside.
‘Put him back in the cell,’ he said.
‘On what charge?’ demanded Jake.
‘Suspicion of murder,’ said Stewart.
As the cell door clanged shut on him for a second time, Jake’s spirits sank even lower. He had to get out of here. He was no use to Lauren, sitting here in this cell. He wondered how she was. Was she safe, hiding in the boat hut? Or had Manvers and Webb found her? He wondered if the book was still on the island, or if the Russians had removed it already.
And he’d been framed for murder, and Lauren was on the run from immigration. What a mess! He groaned. Who had killed Gordon? He guessed it was the same people who had killed Dougie MacClain, and for the same reasons: to stop the opposition. It has to be the Russians, he thought. But there had been no sign of any of the Russians anywhere near the guest house when Gordon had been killed.