Death of a Sweep - M. C. Beaton [77]
The next day, Hamish felt he should call on Elspeth. He had stood her up so many times that her anger was understandable.
He was about to go to Strathbane and buy a bunch of roses when the post arrived and, with it, his bank statement. He had gone into the red. With the statement came a letter from the bank manager asking him to do something about the overdraft.
He went along to the offices of the Highland Times, seized a paper, and looked at the local events. There was the Highland Games at Braikie in a week’s time. It was a big event, sponsored by a building society and a bank. The prize for the hill running event was five thousand pounds.
Hamish drove to Braikie and entered his name. Then he returned to Lochdubh and changed into shorts and T-shirt and began to run up over the moors to the slopes of the mountains.
Elspeth went into Patel’s to buy some midge repellent. ‘Aye, they’re bad the day,’ said Mr Patel. ‘What’s our Hamish up to?’
‘I’m sure I don’t know,’ said Elspeth coldly, and the curiosity overcame her. ‘Why?’
Mr Patel grinned. ‘The greater red-legged Hamish has been seen running through the village like the wind and then up into the mountains. He must be in training for the hill race at Braikie.’
Elspeth felt low. These days she was a celebrity. The only person who did not want her company seemed to be Hamish Macbeth. Of course, he had turned up at the restaurant but in such a state! And to think how carefully she had dressed.
Luckily for Hamish, there was no crime during the week of arduous training that he put in.
He was expected to police the games so, on the great day, he put on his uniform, put his running gear in a bag, nailed the cat flap shut because he knew if he took his pets they would try to run with him as they had when he was training, and set out for the games.
It was a fine day with only wisps of cloud across the blue sky. He was alarmed at the number of people who stopped him and said they had put money on him. Willie the game-keeper was running a book and Hamish was tempted to arrest him for illegal gambling, frightened of all the money people would lose if he did not win, but he had never done such a thing before and decided to turn a blind eye.
At last, it was time for him to change and get to the starting line. As the pistol went off, he set off at an easy pace. Suddenly he did not care if he won or not. He was enjoying the beauty of the day and the exercise.
Up on the slopes of the moors, the Harris brothers rose from the heather and shouted, ‘Murderer! We’ll see you after the race.’
That night when he had pushed Prosser’s body up to the gully flashed into Hamish’s mind. If that evil pair had seen anything, then his career was over, not to mention his life in Lochdubh. Fuelled by a spurt of fury and anxious to get the race over and find out what they knew, he began to run like the wind.
When he approached the finishing line, he was deaf to the cheering crowd. He realized he had won. He looked around for the Harris brothers, but they were nowhere in sight. He changed back into his uniform and began to patrol the games again, stopping here and there to accept congratulations.
At the end of the day, he stood on the platform with the other prizewinners and accepted his cheque and a small silver cup.
As he finally stepped down from the platform, Ian Harris and Pete Harris suddenly appeared in front of him.
‘You’ll chust cash that cheque on the Monday morning and gie us the cash,’ said Ian, baring broken and blackened teeth in a grin.
‘Come with me,’ said Hamish. He walked quickly outside the field to his Land Rover.
‘Now, why should I do that?’ he demanded.
‘We saw you, that nicht,’ said Ian, ‘up at Fraser’s Gully, pushing thon dead man ower the edge.’
‘Aye,’ said Pete, ‘there didnae seem much point in mentioning it afore because everyone knows you havenae any money.’
Hamish surveyed them, his hazel eyes hard as agate. ‘So that’s where you keep your still,’ he said.
They both looked at him in alarm.
‘I’ve been looking for it. You murmur one word o’ this and I