Free Against a Dark Sky by Katherine Pathak Page B

detectives.
                  ‘Excuse me, but are you the police officers working on the case of the woman killed up on Ben Lomond?’ The man asked politely.
                  ‘Yes, that’s correct,’ Dani replied. ‘I’m Detective Chief Inspector Bevan and this is my colleague, Detective Constable Calder.’
                  The man nodded and gave a faint smile. Dani thought he was probably in his early sixties. His hair was almost completely gone, just a few wisps at his temples remained. ‘We’re staying at the Carraig and have seen you both in there. You always seemed in such a hurry. My wife and I used to live in Ardyle. Now we just come back to visit every so often.’
                  Dani invited them to take a seat, sensing there was something the couple wished to talk about. She ordered coffees for the table. ‘When did you move away from Ardyle?’
                  ‘Twenty years ago now,’ the woman replied. ‘My name is Joy Hutchison, this is my husband Bill. We lost our son here in 1983. It became difficult then for us to stay.’
                  ‘Was he one of the schoolchildren lost on the mountain?’ Dani enquired gently.
                  ‘Aye,’ Bill continued. ‘Neil Hutchison. Ten years old. When we heard about the woman found dead on Ben Lomond on the local news, we decided to come and stay nearby. We aren’t ghouls Detective Chief Inspector, but it somehow felt appropriate.’
                  Joy added a dash of milk to her coffee. ‘We were upset, you see. It will sound very odd, but we like to think that Neil and the others help to protect people who climb the mountain. There hasn’t been a single death out there in the National Park since that terrible night. People have got lost, certainly, but they’ve always been located alive and well. This time it was different, which is why we needed to come back.’
                  ‘This case is quite unlike the situation with your son, Mr and Mrs Hutchison. Joanna was murdered by somebody. It wasn’t simply a case of getting into difficulties on the mountain. Sadly, there wasn’t a great deal that anyone could have done to save her. I can assure you both we are doing everything we can to catch her killer.’
                  ‘Oh, we know it’s not the same,’ Bill responded quickly. ‘But we believe we may be needed, nonetheless. I think we could help you in some way.’
                  Dani desperately wanted to make this poor couple feel as if they could contribute something to the investigation. ‘Did you take part in the original search – when the schoolchildren first went missing?’
                  ‘Yes,’ said Bill. ‘As soon as we heard they were in trouble we headed out. The mountain rescue chaps were in charge. We couldn’t fault them. The conditions made the landscape almost unrecognisable. It was frightening how altered everything was by the weather. People don’t realise the dangers. It was impossible to get your bearings in the thick fog.’
                  ‘The records indicated that your son’s teacher led his group in the wrong direction?’
                  ‘That is true,’ Joy said. ‘But we were out there too that afternoon and could never possibly have blamed him for it. You could barely make out the hand in front of your face. Mr Ford did the best he could. If we were going to attribute blame, Bill and I would have looked to the Headmaster at the time, Samuel McAlister. He was the one who planned the expedition and was in overall charge.’
                  ‘Although, we never harboured any grudge,’ Bill swiftly clarified. ‘The schoolchildren had been out on the hillside before. We’d taken Neil and Louise to the National Park often enough ourselves. If we’d felt it was too risky, we’d never have given