Blood in the Water: A DCI Keane Scottish Crime Thriller by Oliver Davies (book club books .TXT) 📕

had quite an exciting year of it so far.” Annie MacLeod appeared at my side and deposited a tray of empties from our table onto the bar. She hadn’t dressed up or put any makeup on. Annie was wearing jeans and a nice, well-worn art print t-shirt. Her long dark hair was messily bound up in a scrunchie, loose strands escaping everywhere, and she couldn’t have looked or smelled better to me if she’d tried.

“More like a few exciting days and a lot of humdrum routine, actually.” I hoped I’d managed to match her friendly, casual tone. “Which is pretty much a good description of what the job usually entails for all of us.”

“I suppose so. Nobody’s ever deliberately tried to kill me yet, though.”

“I’m glad to hear it! Look, I’d really rather not talk about work if you don’t mind.”

“No, I think we all gathered that.” She smiled up at me cheerfully. “I doubt you always drink that fast. Don’t worry. Even Trish can take a hint that obvious. So, change of subject, right? What do you think of Stornoway? And be honest, I can take it.”

“Honestly? It’s a lovely place to visit, but I’d go mad within a year if I had to live here.”

“Oh, you’re one of those, are you?” She laughed. “We’re not exactly trapped here nowadays, you know.”

“I know. It’s easy enough to get over to the mainland now... at certain, scheduled times of the day, and if the weather allows it. That’s not the same thing as being able to jump in your car whenever you feel like it and drive wherever you want.”

“True,” she admitted, “and it’s too small a pond for a lot of fish to be happy in. Quite a few of the people I was at school with left as soon as they could. They come back to visit regularly enough, but most of them have no intention of ever moving back here.”

“I thought the population was growing?” The pub had been gradually filling up as more people drifted in but Erica, managed to get around to serving us at that point.

“Same again all round Annie?” she asked.

“Aye, thanks.” Annie turned back to me. “A lot of new people have moved here to settle too. It more than evens out. Not everyone’s delighted about it, but overall it’s a healthy thing. It’s good to introduce some new blood to the place. I sometimes get a bit sick of hanging out with the same people all the time myself, during the offseason.” She looked away shyly. “Especially the local lads, you know. A lot of them are awfully traditional types. They seem to think we girls ought to jump at the chance of settling down. You can imagine how awkward that can get in a place this size.”

“I can.” Annie was the type of girl a lot of young men might easily fall for. I doubted all of them took it well when she told them she didn’t want to get serious with anyone. “You must really love it here to put up with all the disadvantages.”

“I do.” Her smile broadened as she met my eyes again, “The pros outweigh the cons by a mile. We have a great community here.”

Erica had filled up our first tray, so I went over to distribute the drinks and gather up some more empties to deliver back to the bar. That seemed to be what most people were doing, which made sense if they wanted to keep the staff serving fresh drinks instead of wasting time collecting empty glasses. Annie took the second full tray away, and I fished out my wallet and paid up.

As I sat down again, I was pleased to see that everyone was listening to Ewan and Maggie MacLean, Annie’s friend, relating a funny story about trying to herd some farmer’s cranky old ram back into its pen with a couple of patrol cars and an unusually reluctant sheepdog. Neither of them had fancied chancing it on foot. Happy to have the group’s focus engaged elsewhere, I sipped at my second pint, feeling very glad I’d decided to come here tonight. I wasn’t harbouring any expectations, but I didn’t think that Annie and I had our signals crossed. The interest was definitely mutual.

The night’s singer was greeted with cheers and foot stamping as she settled herself behind her microphone and gave her guitar a last-minute tuning before plugging in the jack. I think she must have been a local, regular favourite. Her first, half-hour set was pretty good, although she wasn’t a patch on Liam as a guitarist. Then again, Liam might fall apart if he was asked to perform in public. He just enjoyed playing, for himself and for his friends.

This girl knew her crowd and what they liked. She gave them acoustic covers of old and new folk and rock favourites, and just about everyone in the pub cheerfully sang along with the obligatory choruses when she gestured encouragingly.

“We’re away, Conall.” Trish leaned over to tell me after the first set had finished. “You’ll call in to see me before you head off tomorrow?”

“Of course,” I assured her. “You’re working again?”

“Just for a few hours. I won’t go in early, and I won’t stay late. Saturday’s usually a good day for getting through some paperwork without constant interruptions. Enjoy your night.” Everyone chorused cheerful goodnights as her little family group edged their way out.

“There’ll be another set in half an hour or so,” Ewan leaned across the table to tell me.

Ed and Freddy had gathered up our empties and gone to the bar to get more drinks in. I think I understood the system now. The highest ranks got the first rounds in, and by the time it was the turn of the constables, the numbers would have thinned out enough to make it more affordable for them. Annie and Maggie got up to move around to the bench, and I slid along to make room for them.

“Oh,