Written in Bone Read Free Page A

most likely.’
    ‘Wallace told me a retired DI had found it. Who is he?’
    ‘That’s Andrew Brody,’ Duncan piped up. ‘My dad used to work with him on the mainland, before we moved to Stornoway. Said he was a damn good police officer.’
    ‘Aye, “was”,’ Fraser said. ‘I was asking about him before we came out. Too much of a loner for his own good, apparently. Didn’t like being a team player. I heard he lost it completely after his wife and daughter ran off; that’s why he retired.’
    Duncan looked embarrassed. ‘It was stress, my dad said.’
    Fraser waved away the distinction. ‘Same thing. Just so long as he remembers he’s not a DI any more.’ He stiffened as the boat suddenly shuddered and yawed over another mountainous swell.
    ‘Christ, of all the bloody places to get sent to…’
    I stayed in the cabin for a while, wondering what I was doing on a small ferry in the Atlantic instead of on my way home to Jenny. We’d been arguing more and more lately, and always over the same thing–my work. This wasn’t going to help, and with nothing to occupy me I found myself fretting over whether I’d made the right decision, and how I could make it up to her.
    Eventually, I left the policemen and went on deck. The wind blustered against me, peppering my face with rain, but it was a relief after the sour, overheated cabin. I stood in the bow, welcoming the spray on my face. The island was visible now, a dark mass rising from the sea as the ferry chugged towards it. Staring at it, I felt the familiar tightening in my gut, part nerves, part anticipation of what was waiting there.
    Whatever it was, I hoped it was worth it.
    A flash of red caught the corner of my eye, and I turned to see the young woman unsteadily making her way across the deck towards me. A sudden dip sent her running the last few steps, and I put out my arm to steady her.
    ‘Thanks.’
    She gave me a gamine smile as she joined me at the rail. ‘It’s a rough one. Iain says it’s going to be fun trying to dock in this.’
    Her accent was a softer, more lilting version of Fraser’s. ‘Iain?’
    ‘Iain Kinross, the skipper. He’s an old neighbour, from Runa.’
    ‘Is that where you live?’
    ‘Not any more. My family moved to Stornoway, except for my gran. We take it in turns to visit her. So you’re here with the police, then?’
    She asked the question with an innocence I didn’t entirely trust. ‘More or less.’
    ‘But you’re not one yourself? A policeman, I mean?’
    I shook my head.
    She grinned. ‘Thought not. Iain said he heard them call you Doctor. Is there someone injured out here, or what?’
    ‘Not as far as I know.’
    I could see that only piqued her curiosity even more.
    ‘So what’s a doctor doing coming out to Runa with the police?’
    ‘You’d better ask Sergeant Fraser.’
    She grimaced. ‘Aye, that’ll happen.’
    ‘You know each other?’
    ‘Sort of.’ She didn’t enlarge.
    ‘So what do you do on Stornoway?’ I asked.
    ‘Oh…I’m a writer. I’m working on a novel. I’m Maggie Cassidy, by the way.’
    ‘David Hunter.’
    She seemed to file the information away. We were silent for a while, watching the island gradually take form in the fading light: grey cliffs rising from the sea, topped with featureless green. A tall sea stack, a natural tower of black rock, thrust up from the waves in front of its cliffs.
    ‘Nearly there,’ Maggie said. ‘The harbour’s just behind Stac Ross, that big rock thingy. Supposed to be the third highest in Scotland. Typical Runa. Its only claim to fame is being third best.’
    She stood up from the railing.
    ‘Well, nice meeting you, David. Perhaps see you again before you go.’
    She made her way back across the deck to rejoin Kinross and his son in the wheelhouse. I noticed that she seemed much steadier on her feet than she had when she’d come out.
    I turned my attention back to the island we were approaching. Beyond Stac Ross, the cliffs fell back