White Nights - Ann Cleeves [49]
‘Why did he go?’
Kenny wasn’t sure how much to say. ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t there when it happened. He was besotted with Bella. Whatever she asked he did. He always had plans to marry her. That’s what I think. It was always a dream at the back of his head. No one else would live up to her. He saw other women from time to time, but you could tell he wasn’t serious about them. Bella kept him hanging on a string all the time the Herring House was being built, then once it was finished, I think she made it clear he had no chance with her. She was too selfish to settle down. She’d got what she wanted from him.’ Kenny knew he sounded bitter but he didn’t care. Whenever he thought about it, he was angry.
‘When was this, Kenny?’
‘It was that summer I was in Fair Isle working on the harbour. They’d asked Lawrence to do it, but he was tied up with the last finish on the Herring House and he put the work my way. He knew I was looking to expand the croft and the money would be useful. I never had the chance to say goodbye to him.’
‘He didn’t ask your advice about leaving?’
Kenny smiled to himself. When had Lawrence ever asked anyone’s advice? ‘That wasn’t his style,’ he said. ‘He was kind of impulsive. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone off without telling anyone. When he was nineteen he disappeared; he just left a note for my parents. That time it was backpacking round Australia.’
‘What did he intend to do this time?’
‘I think maybe the Merchant Navy. He was always talking about that. The way to travel and get paid for it. He was always easy in a boat. You know the kids in Biddista, they’re out in a dinghy almost as soon as they can walk. It was natural for him.’ Kenny stopped speaking for a moment. He was thinking of one of those still summer evenings. Him and Lawrence out after mackerel. The boat at anchor, moving with the swell. Lawrence on his feet, balanced, and laughing at some joke Kenny had made.
Perez looked at him, waiting for him to continue.
‘Besides,’ Kenny went on. ‘It was a great romantic gesture, wasn’t it, running away to sea? Lawrence would be one for the big romantic gesture.’
‘When did you last hear from him?’
‘I never have. He left a message with Bella to say he was leaving and he was never in touch with us again.’ He turned to Perez. ‘He could have phoned me at the hostel, couldn’t he? To say goodbye. We didn’t have mobiles then, but he could have tracked me down somewhere. Maybe he was frightened I’d persuade him to stay.’
‘Will you recognize him, do you think?’ Perez asked.
‘I’ve been thinking about that. I got out some photos.’ There’d been one of him, Lawrence, Edith and Bella standing on the jetty grinning into the camera. He couldn’t remember who’d taken it. Aggie maybe. Though surely she’d have been married by then. She wouldn’t still be living at home. But she’d come back to Biddista whenever she could. She’d never been able to stay away.
‘All the same, it’s been a long time. And people look different when they’re dead.’
‘He had a birthmark on his right shoulder,’ Kenny said. ‘However he’s changed, I’ll know him by that.’
‘We could check that for you. If you don’t want to look at the body again.’
But Kenny shook his head. If this did happen to be Lawrence, he wanted to identify him for himself. This was his brother.
Then, it seemed, it was time to look at the body. Kenny couldn’t tell why suddenly they decided the time was right. Nobody came in to tell them. He thought the delay had probably just been an excuse to get him talking.
The body was lying on a steel table. There was no