Free Raven Black by Ann Cleeves Page B

after that. . .'
    'Aye: Perez said. 'After that, it would be difficult to trust anyone.'
    The fire cracked and spat sparks.
    'Did she have a boyfriend?'
    'I don't know.'

    'Come on. She'd have talked to you about stuff like that, even if it wasn't common knowledge. She'd have wanted to tell someone.'
    'She didn't tell me.'
    'But?'
    She hesitated.

    'This is confidential: he said. 'I'll not tell anyone and if it gets back to your parents Morag gets the sack’.
    They all laughed, but there was enough of a threat in his voice for Morag to take it seriously. Sally could tell that.
    'New Year's Eve: she said. 'Yes.'

    'I wasn't allowed into town. My parents disapprove of bars. But all my friends would be there. I told them I was at Catherine's house but we both went to the market cross. Catherine's father never seemed to mind what she did. We got a lift back. I thought maybe ,Catherine knew the lad who was driving.'

    'Who was it?'

    'I couldn’t see. I was sitting in the back of the car.

    There were four of us, all crushed in. You couldn't see a thing. They were all off to a party except Catherine and me. Catherine was in the front with the driver. They weren't talking but it seemed like they knew each other.
    Perhaps because they weren't talking. There was none of that polite conversation you get with strangers. Maybe that's silly.'

    'No: he said. 'I know just what you mean. Who else was in the car?'
    She named the student and the nurse.
    'And the fourth person?'

    'Robert Isbister.' She didn't need to say anything else. Everyone in Shetland knew Robert. His family had made a shedload of money when the oil first came ashore. .His father had been a builder, ended up with most of the construction contracts, still owned the biggest building firm in the place. Robert had a pelagic fishing boat - the Wandering Spirit - which went out of Whalsay. Tales of the boat were told in every bar on the island. When he'd first bought it he'd brought it into Lerwick and thrown it open for people to look round.

    The cabins had leather seats and televisions with Sky TV. In the summer he took groups of his friends to Norway. There were wild parties as they sailed up the fjords.

    'Robert wasn't Catherine's boyfriend?' he asked. 'No: she said, too quickly.
    'Only, I've heard he has a taste for younger lasses.' She knew better than to answer.

    'Maybe you fancy him yourself?' His voice was joky and she could tell he didn't mean it, but still she felt herself blushing.

    'Don't be daft,' she said. 'You don't know what my mother's like. She'd kill me.'

    'You really can't remember anything about the car or the driver?'

    She shook her head.

    'Catherine was supposed to be at a party the night before she went missing. Were you there too?'

    'I've told you.' Her voice was bitter. 'I'm not allowed at parties.'

    'Did you know anything about it?'

    'I wasn't invited. People have stopped bothering to ask me. They know I'll not be going.'

    'Didn't anyone mention it at school today?'

    'Not to me.'

    He sat looking into the fire. 'Is there anything else you think I should know?'

    She didn't answer immediately, but he waited.

    'That night we came back from Lerwick,' she said.

    'Early New Year's Day.'

    'Yes.'

    'We went up to see the old man. Magnus. We'd both been drinking and his light was on. It was a sort of dare, to knock on the door and wish him happy new year.'

    Perez showed no surprise. Perhaps she'd been hoping to surprise him. 'Did you go in?'
    'Yes, for a while.' She paused. 'He seemed obsessed with Catherine. He couldn't stop staring at her. It was as if he'd seen a ghost.'

Chapter Eleven

    When he left the school at Ravenswick Perez set back towards Lerwick. He thought he might just fit in a visit to Robert Isbister before the plane arrived from Aberdeen. There'd been delays at the airport and the Loganair people weren't sure when it would get in. It seemed he'd spent all day driving backwards and forwards down the same bit of road, but