especially their first childbirth – are intensely vulnerable, often physical and emotional wrecks. Their bodies are weakened, thrown into confusion by the trauma of delivery and by rampant hormones, racing round all over the place. Feeding at all hours, they soon become exhausted. Plus, they’re often reeling from the shock of the overwhelming connection they feel to the tiny life they’ve just produced.
There are good reasons why new mothers look and act like zombies, why they burst into tears at the drop of a hat, why they so often think normallife will be, for ever more, beyond them. To take a woman in this state, pin her down and carve up her flesh was the most unspeakable act of callousness I’d ever imagined.
He shushed me and held me close again. We stood, not talking, for what felt like a long time. Then, almost out of habit, I raised one finger to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck. It had been cut recently and was very short. It felt like silk.
He shivered. Well, he had been away for four days.
‘The police will want to talk to you,’ I said, straightening up. I was hungry and needed a bath.
Duncan’s arms dropped to his side. ‘They already have.’ He walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He squatted down, peering inside, more in hope than expectation.
‘When?’ I asked.
‘Did it all over the phone,’ he said. ‘Dunn said he shouldn’t need to bother me again. She was almost certainly buried before we came here.’
‘They were asking about the previous owners.’
‘Yeah, I know. I said I’d drop the deeds off at the station tomorrow.’ Duncan stood up again. He carried a plate on which sat a half-eaten chicken carcass. He crossed to the table, put it down and returned to the fridge. ‘Tor, we need to try and forget about it now.’
Twice in two hours someone had told me that. Forget about the fact that you dug up a corpse – minus heart, minus newborn baby – in your back field this afternoon.
‘Dunc, they’re digging up the field. They’re looking for more bodies. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to find that a bit difficult to ignore.’
Duncan shook his head, the way a fond parent does when his child has become over-excited about something. He was preparing salad and I didn’t like the way his knife was slicing into a red pepper.
‘There aren’t any more bodies and they’ll be finished by the end of tomorrow.’
‘How can they possibly know that?’
‘They have instruments that can tell. Don’t ask me exactly how it works. You probably understand it better than I do. Apparently, decomposing flesh gives off heat and these gizmos can pick it up. Like metal detectors.’
Except any bodies out there were buried in peat. They weren’t decomposing. ‘I thought they’d have to dig up the whole field.’
‘Apparently not. The wonders of modern technology. They’ve already done one sweep and found nothing. Not even a dead rabbit. They’ll do another tomorrow, just to be sure, then they’re out of here. Do you want something to drink?’
I filled a jug with water from the tap and added ice from the freezer. One benefit of living on Shetland was that we were saving a fortune on bottled water. Oh, and the local smoked salmon was pretty good. Apart from that, I was struggling.
‘That wasn’t the impression Detective Sergeant Tulloch gave me. She thought they’d be here for some time.’
‘Yes, well, reading between the lines, I think the sergeant has a tendency to get a touch overenthusiastic. Bit too anxious to make her mark and not afraid to set a few hares running in the meantime.’
Which hadn’t been the impression I’d had of Dana Tulloch. She’d struck me as someone who played her cards quite close to her chest.
‘You seem to have got very chummy with DI Dunn on the strength of one phone call.’
‘Oh, we know each other from way back.’
I should have known. I felt a touch of annoyance that Duncan, who’d played no part in
There are good reasons why new mothers look and act like zombies, why they burst into tears at the drop of a hat, why they so often think normallife will be, for ever more, beyond them. To take a woman in this state, pin her down and carve up her flesh was the most unspeakable act of callousness I’d ever imagined.
He shushed me and held me close again. We stood, not talking, for what felt like a long time. Then, almost out of habit, I raised one finger to stroke the hair at the nape of his neck. It had been cut recently and was very short. It felt like silk.
He shivered. Well, he had been away for four days.
‘The police will want to talk to you,’ I said, straightening up. I was hungry and needed a bath.
Duncan’s arms dropped to his side. ‘They already have.’ He walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He squatted down, peering inside, more in hope than expectation.
‘When?’ I asked.
‘Did it all over the phone,’ he said. ‘Dunn said he shouldn’t need to bother me again. She was almost certainly buried before we came here.’
‘They were asking about the previous owners.’
‘Yeah, I know. I said I’d drop the deeds off at the station tomorrow.’ Duncan stood up again. He carried a plate on which sat a half-eaten chicken carcass. He crossed to the table, put it down and returned to the fridge. ‘Tor, we need to try and forget about it now.’
Twice in two hours someone had told me that. Forget about the fact that you dug up a corpse – minus heart, minus newborn baby – in your back field this afternoon.
‘Dunc, they’re digging up the field. They’re looking for more bodies. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to find that a bit difficult to ignore.’
Duncan shook his head, the way a fond parent does when his child has become over-excited about something. He was preparing salad and I didn’t like the way his knife was slicing into a red pepper.
‘There aren’t any more bodies and they’ll be finished by the end of tomorrow.’
‘How can they possibly know that?’
‘They have instruments that can tell. Don’t ask me exactly how it works. You probably understand it better than I do. Apparently, decomposing flesh gives off heat and these gizmos can pick it up. Like metal detectors.’
Except any bodies out there were buried in peat. They weren’t decomposing. ‘I thought they’d have to dig up the whole field.’
‘Apparently not. The wonders of modern technology. They’ve already done one sweep and found nothing. Not even a dead rabbit. They’ll do another tomorrow, just to be sure, then they’re out of here. Do you want something to drink?’
I filled a jug with water from the tap and added ice from the freezer. One benefit of living on Shetland was that we were saving a fortune on bottled water. Oh, and the local smoked salmon was pretty good. Apart from that, I was struggling.
‘That wasn’t the impression Detective Sergeant Tulloch gave me. She thought they’d be here for some time.’
‘Yes, well, reading between the lines, I think the sergeant has a tendency to get a touch overenthusiastic. Bit too anxious to make her mark and not afraid to set a few hares running in the meantime.’
Which hadn’t been the impression I’d had of Dana Tulloch. She’d struck me as someone who played her cards quite close to her chest.
‘You seem to have got very chummy with DI Dunn on the strength of one phone call.’
‘Oh, we know each other from way back.’
I should have known. I felt a touch of annoyance that Duncan, who’d played no part in
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