He drank some more coffee. "So I had a really good look around. There was nothing downstairs that told me anything, but upstairs, in a couple of attic rooms…" he whistled '… that was different. They told me the whole story. One was like a photographic studio, with a bed and various cameras, masks, costumes, props… it reminded me of a street in Amsterdam. The other room was full of computer equipment; a couple of desktops, one newer and a lot faster than the other, scanners and the like. I switched them on… no security at all. Probably figured they didn't need passwords. They were running a porn website, Oz; bloody hardcore too."
Jay seemed to wince at the memory. "Anyway, I wasn't interested in that. I wanted their diary, and it didn't take me long to find it, on the newer computer. There was an entry for the day before and it said "19:00. M. Blackstone. Lesser Saltgate Farm, Arncroach". So I let myself out… I took a key with me, so I could get back in through the door if necessary… and headed for that farm."
He looked at me, sadly. "People should not be allowed to keep animals that way, Oz. The place was deserted and it didn't look like anyone goes there very often. The poor bastards were filthy. They were penned in, and they were fed in troughs from these bloody great hoppers that were filled with this horrible stinking swill. There were dead piglets lying about too, and some of them…" He broke off.
"I found the bodies easy enough. They were in one of the troughs, but they hadn't been covered up properly. They'd been shot, him in the chest, her in the chest and head, close range, with a shotgun, not sawn-off, though, or the spread would have been wider and the wounds would have been worse."
"What did you do?" I asked him quietly. I was struck by the fact that he had been a lot more distressed by the state of the pigs than that of the Neiportes. Me too, I'm sure, had I seen them.
"I covered them up properly, that's all, then I got out of there before the farmer or one of his hands turned up." He held his mug close, in both hands. "Let's just say, boss, that I reached certain conclusions, and I acted accordingly. I went back to the cottage and I stripped it as best I could. I found a couple of suitcases and I packed all the stuff from the studio into them, then I made it up with clean sheets and covers to make it look like an ordinary bedroom. Then I had another look at the computers. I wiped them clean of all the porn stuff, all the databases, all the addresses, all the client information: and when I say clean I mean really clean. There's nothing in any wastebaskets or anything like that. I spent half the night deleting and removing all traces of what had been there, and then, just to make sure, I reinstalled the system software in each of them.
There's nothing left there to connect that place with what had been happening there. I sold the cameras to a bloke with a stall at Barrowlands in Glasgow; they'll be untraceable by now."
"What about the money?" I asked. "The Neiportes were collecting through credit cards."
"That all went into a bank account in Jersey, with a false name. The police won't find that, not by accident at any rate. I found the records in a filing cabinet, and a lot of other stuff too. When I was done, there was nothing left in the house other than purely domestic papers. Everything else is ashes."
"And the tabs? The ecstasy? What about that?"
"I got them through Mark," he replied. "I figured that I needed to send the CID off on a false trail, so I called him and asked him if he could get me a supply of something or other to plant on a bad guy. He sent me somewhere up in the Highlands. I picked up the gear, went back to the house again and hid it for the police to find when the bodies were discovered. Then I headed home."
He looked into his mug intently, as if something was swimming in it.
"You don't have to worry, Oz. Your old man's safe."
"I know he is. He didn't do it. He was up to his elbows in Rotarians when the Neiportes got it; as alibied as you could get."
"Eh?" Jay had been as convinced as me of my father's guilt. "But that only leaves…"
I nodded. "Exactly; me. I sound just like my father on the phone."
"You mean you sent me up there to clear up the mess?"
I winked at him. "Sorry. I didn't know there would be so much work. I didn't know about the porn site until today."
"What happens to me, now I know?" he asked, quietly.
"Nothing. You're as guilty as me in the eyes of the law. Accessory after the fact. All that happens to you is that you live long and prosper, like Mr. Spock."
He laughed. "You doing a Star Trek movie next?"
"Some day, mate, some day."
I glanced at him again. "How am I paying you for all that stuff? The gear must have cost more than you got for the cameras."
"I've been looking for a way your accountants won't spot," he said.
"You'll be paying me extra for the installation work on Janet's playground."
I smiled. "As much as you like. See you later."
He stood and walked back towards the house. The smile left my face as soon as he had gone. As I've said, I've been in some personal danger in my life, but I've never felt scared; it's all happened too fast for that, I suppose. Yet as Jay's footsteps crunched on the gravel behind me, I sat there feeling more frightened than at any moment in my life.
Forty-Two.
When I went back to the house myself, Ellie and the boys had just arrived. She greeted me like a long-lost brother… which I was to an extent, as it had been weeks since I'd seen her, and she and I have always been very close.
"Hey," I asked her, 'would you fancy putting up the junior branch of the family for a couple of nights? I've been thinking, it's daft to come all the way back to Enster after the dinner. And I thought that Sunday will give you a chance to get to know your niece better."
"That'll be great, Oz; as long as I can cook for you on Sunday night."
I grinned. "I can live with that." I turned to Jonathan, who was standing quietly behind her, Colin having gone crashing off to the garden. "Young man," I began. He looked up at me, but not far up. I still wasn't used to his eye level being so close to mine. "Do you fancy a ride in a genuine Lotus sports car?"
"Right now?" he exclaimed, a child's reaction in a man's tone.
"Sure, we've got time."
My nephew and I headed outside. As he slid easily into the passenger seat, I thought of Wylie Smith and smiled. As I started the engine he looked around the cockpit. "When you're finished with this, Uncle Oz," he asked, cheekily, 'can I have it?"
"I'll tell you what," I told him, as we slipped out on to the main road and turned westwards. "When I'm done with it, I'll put it away for you. But you won't drive it until you can afford to insure it yourself. If that isn't an incentive to get your head into the books I don't know what is."
"Who said I need an incentive? Has my Mum been talking about me?"
"Actually, she's been singing your praises. She says you're just like me when I was your age. What bigger compliment could there be? It's not quite true, though. When I was your age I wasn't your height and I still spoke with a bit of a squeak."
"Do you think I'm too young to have a girlfriend, Uncle Oz?" he asked me, seriously. I guessed that he and Ellie had been in a confrontation, and I knew automatically that he'd lost.
This was the chat I'd been meaning to have with him. "I think you're too young to have sex with a girlfriend," I told him, slowly, 'especially if she's under sixteen too, however arbitrary you may think the law is in this matter. I don't think you're too young to have a special friend who is a girl, as long as you keep the physical side of it under control. The danger is, when your manhood is pointing skywards most of the time, that can be very difficult. I remember that all too well."