Death of Yesterday Read Online Free Page B

disappeared.”
    “Morag did not complain,” said Hamish quietly. “In fact, she consulted the local doctor to confirm the pregnancy.”
    “But we were mates. I loved her!” wailed Freda. “She said she loved me. She said we’d be together always.”
    “Are you by way of being a lesbian?” asked Hamish.
    “Yes. So what?”
    “So nothing,” said Hamish sharply, thinking that Morag could not have been much of a friend. “I have to ask you what you were
     doing on the evening of the fourteenth of July.”
    “I was here, working on some designs.”
    “And you didn’t go to the pub?”
    “I didn’t even know Morag went there. Why did she go there?”
    To sketch the locals and feel superior to them, thought Hamish.
    “Did she talk to you about men?”
    “No, we had better things to talk about. Someone must have raped her to get her pregnant.”
    “I’m afraid that can’t be the case or she would have reported it. Now, did she tell you that she was to consult a hypnotist?”
    “Yes, she was very excited about it. She spent the night with me and then went off that Saturday morning to go to her digs.
     She said she was going to the factory to work on something.”
    “Do you have any of her sketches?”
    “I did have a lot. But that last time she was here, she said someone was interested in buying them and took them all away.
     Do you mind leaving now? I’ve had a bad shock.”
    “I’ll come back when you’re feeling better.”
      
    Once back in the Land Rover, Hamish phoned Jimmy and reported his conversation with Freda.
    “Now, there’s a motive at last,” said Jimmy. “Thwarted lover. Feels betrayed.”
    “Do you have to tell Blair she’s a lesbian?”
    “Sure. That’s the whole point. Why?”
    “He’s going to jump all over her soul, that’s why.”
    “Sorry, Hamish. Too good a motive. Oh, Dick Fraser phoned from Lochdubh. Seems you abandoned him. He had to hitch a lift back
     to the police station.”
      
    Once back at the police station, Hamish locked up his hens for the night, furious with himself for not phoning up someone
     earlier to do it for him. His wild cat, Sonsie, purred like a steam engine and tried to climb on his lap as he typed out his
     report. His dog, Lugs, lay across his boots.
    He could hear the noise on the television set coming from the living room.
    When he had finished his report, he went into the living room and switched off the television.
    “You forgot about me,” said Dick. “And I’ve had a fright.”
    “What frightened you?”
    “Angela Brodie, the doctor’s wife, called when you were out. She says Olivia and Charles Palfour are back in Braikie.”
    Charles and Olivia were two teenagers involved in a series of murders. The murders were proved to be the work of a Russian
     mobster, Andronovitch. But when his body was found in a pool in the Fairy Glen, Hamish felt sure the Palfour brother and sister
     were somehow responsible.
    “Where are they staying?”
    “With Mrs. Mallard, her that fostered them.”
    “I’d better go and see her in the morning. Thon pair are poison. Why are they back here? They had a new life in the States.”
    “God knows.”
      
    Hamish awoke next morning with a feeling of anticipation. Usually the thought of even going anywhere near Cnothan depressed
     him. But he had a picture of Hannah Fleming in his mind and he was already rehearsing excuses to call on her brother.
    He was just leaving Dick to man the police station and look after his pets when the phone rang. It was Blair. Blair was furious
     that Hamish had elicited such new information.
    “You stay where you are the day, laddie,” he said. “Water your sheep or whatever it is you teuchters do. There’s enough of
     us over at Cnothan and I don’t want you getting underfoot.” And without waiting for a reply, Blair rang off.
    Hamish whistled to his dog and cat. He called to Dick. “That was yon scunner, Blair. I’m banished from Cnothan. Going out
     for a