The Crow Road (1996–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Rory - full transcript
You'd have to say that my family's
had more than its fair share of misfortune.
Aunt Fiona killed in a car crash.
My grandmother dead
after a collision with a conservatory.
Uncle Rory missing without trace.
And now my father.
He's not up here! There's nobody up...
Aah!
Something's up with my family.
We keep dying
and taking our secrets to the grave.
I was just curious as to whether you'd read
those papers of Rory's that mentioned me.
Oh, about Lachlan Watt
Lachlan Watt?
Why do we always love the wrong people?
Are you sending these?
It's all there, Prent
You know who's sending them.
- Is the taxi there?
- Yes, Rupert, it's waiting for you.
- Enjoy your, uh... holiday.
- Oh, yes, thanks. Bye, Louise.
Bye-bye. Oh, Mr Paxton-Marr? There's
a young lad there who's been waiting for you.
- We couldn't reach you in the studio.
- Oh.
- Mr Paxton-Marr, I hope you don't mind.
- I've got a taxi waiting.
It won't take a minute. It's just that I've
been waiting for you to get back from Bosnia.
You've been leaving me
all those messages in the newsroom.
That's it. Prentice McHoan.
I just wanted you to have a look at these.
- So?
- Ah... airport, please.
I think you've been sending them to my father
to make him believe something.
Sonny, I've got better things to do than deal
with your fantasies. I never met your father.
- Kenneth McHoan.
- Whoever. I've got a plane to catch.
- I know you. I've seen you at Lochgair.
- I don't think so.
Years ago. I saw you shoot a kestrel.
That's illegal, you know.
Listen, son. Fuck off, OK?
This was getting silly. Nobody
knew what the hell I was babbling on about
Come to that, neither did I.
Perhaps it was time to move on.
Yo, Prentice.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- They let you out of London, then?
- I'm going over the wire.
I've got an interview for a network controller's
job in Canada in 1 hour 37 minutes.
Nice one.
- Come in.
- Cheers.
I thought you might like to keep me company
while I get ready to smash the glass ceilin'.
Come in and have a coffee.
You don't want to be over-prepared.
- Wow, nice place.
- It's not all mine.
Jesus.
Lewis said your new place was different
He wasnae exaggeratin'.
Used to belong to a Mrs Ippot, a collector.
One of the Gallanach Glassworks'
best customers over several decades.
You're not kiddin'.
When we went to Blawke's office
to sort out Dad's will,
I mentioned I was looking for a place
and he found me this.
Apparently old Mrs Ippot pissed off
so many of her relations when she was alive,
they've spent five years
squabbling over her loot.
He reckons I can rent the place indefinitely.
And this way, I don't have to listen to Gavin
shagging Auntie Janice in sensaround all night.
And exactly how much did Ken leave ye?
Come on, how much?
Something over £50,000 cash.
About 20 thou a year in royalty from his books.
Lewis got the same. Mum got the house
and about a quarter of a million.
Shit, I never knew he was doing so well
- What you doing?
- I'm makin' it sing.
Listen.
There you go.
So, this must be a great bed for shaggin' in.
Huh? Probably.
Still stuck on Verity?
Well, I... I dunno.
I suppose.
It's pointless now.
- And you're... I mean, you're all right?
- Aye.
I'm fine. They've let me back on my course.
I'm trying not to mess it up this time.
- I'm trying not to mess up anything.
- Good.
- You were gonnae make me a coffee.
- Aye, right.
No problem.
And Paxton-Marr, would he speak to you?
Nah, he said he was going on holiday.
I don't think he knew anything.
- No sugar, right?
- Right.
- So what you gonna do?
- I don't know.
Perhaps there's nothing to find out
and Rory just made the whole thing up.
Used characters from the family
to try and hang a story on.
The stuff on the discs just end
as if he couldn't make sense of it.
Was there anything more
about my Uncle Lachlan?
Well, only tangentially.
It just stops dead.
You want to read it?
I might as well
I've got about an hour to kill
Right.
They're numbered one to four.
Three's missing. This is the last one.
So, my Uncle Lachlan
shags your Auntie Fiona after a party...
... and her husband sees them at it.
What happens next?
Well, he jumps forward a couple of years
to when Fiona died.
Fiona?
Oh! Fiona!
Oh, Christ!
Oh, Christ! Jesus Christ!
Oh, God!
Ferg, sorry.
Well...
I came straight over.
Ken and Mary are on their way down.
How you feeling?
- Have you seen Fiona?
- Yeah.
Yeah, they had to ask me
to do the... you know, the, um...
the identification.
What happened, Ferg?
I can't remember.
I can't understand...
why she wasn't wearing her seat belt
I was sure...
sure she had it on.
You're making
such a big thing out of this.
People get smashed at parties.
I mean, maybe Julie has had
a bit of a crush on me in the past
Oh, God! You think you're such a great actor,
don't you, Ferg?
It was so sodding obvious!
Out of her brains, and all she seemed to
remember was how to take your trousers off.
God knows why, but she seemed
to associate that with pleasure.
Fergus.
Fergus, I'm talking to you!
Getting in the way a bit there.
Don't you push me, you bastard!
Don't you dare push me!
I am trying to drive!
I really don't understand you.
One minute you're at me
because I'm... not all over you...
Not fucking me.
Is that what you're trying to say, Fergus?
Well, why don't you fuck me any more?
Not that I'd let you near me, you bastard.
God's sakes! Julie McKean!
Let's not make a fuss,
let's just get on with the cocktail parties...
with the McKeans and the Frasers,
bridge with the bloody Gordons!
Let's just get on with it.
And you can keep on shafting Julie.
I wouldn't screw you if you paid me!
Fergus.
Fergus, look...
Look out!
So...
what, he's saying that Fiona died cos
your Uncle Fergus was driving carelessly?
I suppose.
And that's it? That's the secret at Gallanach?
Yeah.
It's kinda disappointing, isn't it?
Well, it's very sad, but...
Oh, shit! I'm gonna be late.
D'you want to come back later?
I can't. I'm booked
on the last flight to London.
- Good luck with the interview.
- Cheers.
When I look back into my own memories...
I realise that at least once
Rory included me in his story
and came close to telling me everything.
It's all right for us to go for a walk here
on a Sunday, Uncle Rory?
Aye. Why no'?
Dad says there's bits of Scotland you can't go
for a walk on a Sunday. It's against God's law.
Ah, that's in the islands, Lewis and Harris.
They're heavily Protestant up there.
About walking?
Aye, about a lot of things. I think
you're allowed to walk to church and back.
Big deal. I suppose you could
always go a long way round.
Then you would get your walk
and you wouldn't have broken the rule.
- Aye, I suppose you could.
- I'm Protestant about fish.
- That right?
- Aye, I hate it.
It should be against God's law
to eat fish ever.
I'm afraid it's only things you enjoy
you get to be Protestant about
- That's stupid. God must be stupid.
- You wouldnae be the first to say that
Ah! Ah! Ah!
- What is it?
- My foot.
- Stepped on something.
- Hang on, let me see it.
- Oh, it's sore. Is it a snake? Is it a snake?
- No, no.
Keep still
It's out. It's just a wee pin.
I thought it was a snake.
I think that's clean enough.
We need a tetanus jag.
I wanted to see the standin' stones.
Come on, then. Hop on.
I think we've got time
before lockjaw sets in.
Was it not awful heavy, Uncle Rory?
Ach, you're too slow anyway.
Do you think I'm being punished?
- For what?
- For saying Gods stupid.
Uncle Hamish says bad things happen
because God gets us back no matter what
Nah, you're not being punished.
So... So you don't believe in God, like Dad?
I don't know.
Everybody needs explanations for things.
You see things around you. You want
to know how and why things happen.
There's no real evidence,
so you have to fall back on conjecture.
- Conjecture?
- Ah, you know, a theory.
People make up theories about things.
Then the trouble is
they go around rearranging the world
to fit in with their ideas.
You see these stones?
Clever folk have been arguing about what
they are and how they got here for centuries.
But the fact is
nobody really knows.
I think they're a kind of church.
- Aye? What's your evidence?
- Well, it's a kinda nice walk up here.
Fair enough.
It's all a question of perception.
You know what perception is, Prentice?
It's how you see things.
Can play tricks on you.
Like everybody thinks
I'm a successful travel writer.
You are, Uncle Rory. They've got your book
in the library van. I seen it.
Aye, well, I haven't written anything
worth reading for almost three years.
- Why not?
- Dunno.
I don't trust myself.
I see things then I think,
"Perhaps they're not really there."
Like what?
A friend told me something once
and it sounded like it had really hurt him.
He'd seen something that had made him feel
betrayed by someone he was very close to.
But when I thought about it,
he'd been asleep again afterwards,
and it occurred to me that perhaps
he dreamed the whole thing.
I still wonder.
Why don't you tell him that?
Maybe I should.
Don't know if it'd make any difference now.
One day, someone's gonna come up this hill
to wonder how these stones got here...
and they'll just make a leap of imagination
and stumble on the truth.
That's all you need.
A leap of imagination.
- What's that for?
- That's for being the best uncle in the world.
Oh, shit.
- Where have you been, man?
- Getting on with my life.
No problem.
- Are we making progress?
- No, we are not.
I've got a degree to get
A mother to look after.
And I've got to write
an amusing best man's speech
to be delivered to an audience
of the country's finest alternative comedians.
I always liked that Ben Elton.
Does he still do gags about living in a squat?
No.
Look, I found out as much as I can,
but it just doesn't go anywhere.
- Won't that do?
- You've got to see things differently.
Make a leap of imagination.
That's surely not beyond you. You're a McHoan.
Tree.
- What?
- Tree.
Shit!
- No sign?
- No, it's all a bit mysterious.
- Let's go in, Lew.
- Yeah, in a minute. I'm intrigued.
- What exactly did your dad say, Di?
- He had a surprise for us when he got back.
We're to wait up here for him.
Promised it'd be good.
Don't worry, Lew, Dad never disappoints.
Whatever it is, it'll be worth it.
Yeah. By the way, it was very nice of him
to let us have the castle for the wedding.
He's a big teddy bear.
Dae anything for you and Verity.
Yeah, he's all right, even if he is a Tory.
Aye, and you're such a dangerous
socialist revolutionary, Lew.
Me? I'm lethal, darlin'.
Total die-hard.
Look up there.
Over the loch. The fir tree on the hill
- Where?
- You see it? Look.
- Looks like a MIG on a bombing run.
- What is tha...
Look. He's got a plane! He's flying a plane.
- I can't believe it.
- Oh, God!
- Hey, Fergus!
- Hello!
Over here!
Hey!
- Hey, Prent! Prent!
- What?
Get out here!
Here! Over here!
Hey!
Hey, Dad!
No, really, all I said to him was, "Can we book
the honeymoon suite and breakfast for three?"
Guy says, "We don't do Mormons"
and slammed the phone down.
Anyway, I've got to thank you all on behalf of
me, my beautiful wife, our beautiful baby,
for coming today,
and I'm gonna hand you over to my little
brother and best man Prentice. Um...
Ladles and gentlemen,
my name is McHoan, Lewis McHoan.
Good night.
Um...
Hey, this is no time to admire the view.
Gotta dance, gotta dance!
A speech to remember.
Well, it was among friends.
I hope so.
What are you sayin'?
Well, what if your friend is your enemy?
Never mind my wee turn.
I was sick before that
You've lost me, my man.
Come on, there's something
I want to show you. Come here.
- The switch, switch...
- It's here, it's here, I've got it.
Right.
Here, look.
Cool.
- D'you think that's it?
- Don't know. Could be a 50-foot drop.
Express lift to the dungeons.
Let me see if I can just...
- Give me a push up.
- OK.
- Ah!
- Oh!
I see you're wearing your kilt
according to tradition, friend.
- Shit! Don't look.
- Can't help it, son.
You're sort of in my face.
- Come on.
- OK.
Mm, nice beaver.
Shut up.
Shit, I don't feel so well
Just let me know, OK? This isn't
exactly the place for projectile barfing.
- Somebody sabotaged that lobster.
- Och!
Lewis when he realised
how hilarious my speech was gonna be.
Believe me, Prent,
it really couldn't have been funnier.
- Is it through this way?
- It must be.
- D'you think that's it?
- Looks about right.
Here it is.
Venue for the dirty deed.
Maybe Fergus wasn't dreaming.
- Come on, darlin', we're gonna miss the plane.
- I want another dance.
We haven't got time.
Hey, come over here
and I'll show you my military two-step.
All right.
Now there's a girl
who knows her country dancing.
Right.
All right.
- Hello?
- Christ
- Is there somebody there?
- Quick.
Prent, over here. Prentice, hurry up.
Over here, quick.
Ah. Hello.
Prentice, it's you.
I'd, uh... I'd rather you didn't go up
into the observatory.
Telescopes a bit delicate.
Ah... sorry, Uncle Fergus. We just...
No, no, it's all right.
Just, um... turn out the light, OK?
OK, fine.
We'd better go down.
All right.
- Are you all right?
- Yeah. You?
Yes, I'm fine.
Too many folk missing.
- I know.
- Christ
What's happened to us all?
Oh, Prent
Oh.
I know when to give my boys up.
Don't worry. No one'll have me.
No way, no way!
You don't understand women, do you, Prent?
- No.
- Oh...
Prentice.
Dear boy.
Hello, Uncle Hamish.
I like to come here from time to time.
Mary doesn't mind.
Sure.
I've been foolish, Prentice.
Vain.
- Vain?
- Mm.
It was vanity.
My theories about the hereafter.
I've renounced them.
No more anti-creates?
No.
That was my mistake.
We're all supposed to be God's children.
What I can't understand is,
why he's such a strict father.
Terribly, terribly strict
Perhaps there's no system to things,
Uncle Hamish.
Dad was just unlucky.
Maybe it's all just random chance.
Coincidence.
What, you think...
He isn't there?
There's no... underlying truth?
I don't know.
No, I... I don't know either.
- Janice! Gav! Come on in.
- Hiya, Prent No, look, we won't.
It's all right.
Were just heading back for Glasgow.
- Come in and have a drink before you go.
- No, ta. Just came to give you this.
Came in the post
They found it in a depot in Shettleston.
Been stuck there for months.
It's Rory's book.
I suppose so. What else have you lost recently?
- Well, d'you not want it?
- No.
Um... I'm moving out
of the Crow Road, you know?
Janice is coming to the flat, Prent
I mean, well,
we figured you weren't coming back.
Oh, right, no.
I don't think so.
I just want to leave it all behind, you know?
Rory's been gone a long time.
We'd better get going.
- Sure you don't want that drink?
- No, but ring me when you get back.
Right.
Later.
Aye. See you.
Hello?
Anybody here?
Hello?
Oh, Master Rory!
I'm sorry.
I can't hear the bell in the kitchen.
- Hiya, Mrs M. is anyone in?
- Mrs Urvill's up in the observatory.
Ta.
It's nice to see you, son.
Fi?
Fi, what's up?
I can't stand it.
I can't stand it here any longer.
Oh, God.
Well, when the girls went away to school,
I didn't realise.
I'd had so little time to think until then.
But...
I'm married to a man who...
He just wants to parade me in front of his...
awful fascist friends.
To keep quiet, keep running his house.
And...
he disgusts me.
I can't bear to let him touch me.
Not that he wants to.
I'm sure he's having an affair.
- Have you asked him?
- Oh, we don't talk.
So what do you want to do?
I don't know.
Christ, I don't know.
I'm...
I'm sure that if you and Ferg
got things out into the open...
I mean, he's not such a terrible...
Oh, you don't know him.
- He'll get rid of me one way or another.
- Oh, come on.
He gets so screwed up and angry.
Smashing up the place. Sometimes I'm scared.
Honestly, Rory, when he gets
in that black mood, he is capable of anything,
anything.
Sometimes things
only come to you gradually.
I can't understand
why she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
I was sure...
sure she had it on.
They say she didn't.
Sometimes things
only come to you gradually.
Fergus, look... look out!
Come on.
Sometimes things only come to you gradually.
It's uncomfortable, feeling this knot
of suspicion slowly tightening.
Takes time.
But eventually
you just can't help it any longer.
You know.
You just know.
Shit.
You're crazy, Prent
You read a couple of things Rory wrote.
Next you're accusing Fergus of killing his wife.
- I mean, really.
- I'm tellin' ye, it's perfect
Does it say on the disc that Fergus killed her?
- No.
- No. Well, then.
Rory probably stopped writing
when he realised.
It shocked him. He had to speak to someone,
find out if it was true.
- And then?
- So he went to Fergus.
- And then?
- And then Fergus killed him too.
What in God's name
are you talking about, Prentice?
Maybe he didn't mean to.
Maybe he was overcome by his emotions.
He got Paxton-Marr to send matches to Dad
to make him think that Rory had just run off.
Jesus. That's some imagination
runs in your family.
No.
Look, Rory spent years trying to come up
with a story. Something really worthwhile.
He's playing about,
experimenting with family history.
He makes a leap of imagination
and stumbles on the truth.
OK, Prentice, so tell me,
how did Fergus kill Fiona? It was a car crash.
I'll show ye.
- Ouch!
- Shit. God, you all right?
- What the hell was that for?
- I'm sorry.
- I didn't actually mean to hurt you.
- Well, you actually did, you idiot.
- I'm sorry. Ash.
- Oh, shut up, Prentice.
Stop saying sorry.
Just drive, OK?
I've got a ferry to catch.
Ash, really, I'm sorry.
I was just trying to show ye.
I've said it's OK, haven't I? Just tell me what
you're gonna do with this amazing revelation.
- I don't know. There's gaps.
- You're bloody right, there's gaps.
There's kind of a proof gap, wouldn't you say?
You know, you might pay better attention
to things that really are happening in your life.
- What?
- You've gone too far.
You havenae got a scrap of evidence.
This is your family, and mine too, actually.
Does it matter if my Uncle Lachlan
screwed your Auntie Fiona?
And so what if Fergus saw them?
Doesnae mean he's a murderer.
- What are you gonna do?
- I don't know. I can't help it.
No, you can't, can you?
Listen, thanks for the lift.
Ash, wait.
Listen, save it for when you've got
something to say to me. To me, hear?
- What?
- I'll see you around, Prentice.
Ashley was my only ally.
If she didn't believe me then nobody would.
And she was right about the proof,
I didn't have any.
Perhaps I really had made it all up.
I tried to imagine what my Uncle Rory must
have done when he got to where I was now.
After he worked out what had happened
to Fiona, he had to speak to someone.
He couldn't let it just drift away.
He could have spoken to Janice, but he didn't.
My father would surely have been
the next person he thought of.
Maybe he set out to seek Kenneth
and changed his mind up the road,
because he knew in his heart
that in the absence of real evidence
there was only one way to find out the truth.
Mum?
- I'm just going up to Uncle Fergus's.
- I'll come with you.
No. I mean...
uh... I'm going down the pub
afterwards to see Dean.
- Probably not your scene.
- Oh.
OK.
I just wanted a quick word with Fergus.
Ask him about the vase
in my bedroom in Glasgow.
All right, love.
I just wanted to make sure
you knew where I was going.
Fine.
Right, then.
Prentice! What a surprise!
Uncle Fergus.
Where's Mrs McSpadden?
It's her day off.
I'm all on my own.
How's the new flat?
Fine. It's beautiful.
Lots of lovely stuff in.
Dear old Mrs Ippot.
A customer straight from heaven.
- So what can I do for you?
- I thought you might know where Rory is.
Rory?
- What, your uncle?
- He disappeared. Yes.
Why would you think that I know?
Because you got a man called Paxton-Marr
to send match book covers to my dad.
Rupert? To... To send what?
To make Dad think that Rory wasn't dead.
You do know Rupert Paxton-Marr.
Yes, of course. We're old schoolfriends.
We go shooting together from time to time.
But I really don't think
that I could possibly...
You'd better tell me what all this is about
Sit down.
I'm lost
If Rory's dead and you're saying that
I know where he is, well, that would mean...
that would...
Prentice?
I found it all, Uncle Fergus.
Everything Rory wrote about ye.
About Lachlan and Fiona.
What you told Rory in the bothy.
The car crash.
And this is all in things
that you've read on Rory's computer?
Well, not exactly.
- Some of it's my interpretation.
- You've made it up, you mean.
No...
You never saw Fiona and Lachlan
from the roof above your bedroom?
I've checked.
You can get in from the observatory.
They were makin' love,
and then afterwards you...
What?
You...
punished her.
So you're saying...
that I...
Prentice.
I was quite close to Kenneth.
He was a friend.
We never saw eye to eye on anything, really,
but... we got along, you know?
So I can imagine
how you feel to lose your father.
What I'm trying to say...
is that...
It isn't easy to cope
when somebody that close dies so suddenly.
Everything can look very black.
It's not true, Prentice.
You've... made it up.
I mean, I... I hope it helps you, I really do,
but none of these things happened.
None of these things
happened the way you see it.
Rory went away because
he was jealous of Kenneth. You know that
And Kenneth knew it too.
That's why he was so bitter at the end.
Hm?
Don't you be bitter too, Prentice.
It poisons you.
- Look, if...
- I'm... I'm sorry.
I'm very sorry I came here.
I don't know what I was thinkin'.
I haven't been getting a lot of sleep.
OK, OK.
Now, let's go and get a drink.
You need to talk, old son.
No.
I've gottae go.
I'm so sorry, Uncle Fergus.
Prentice!
You haven't mentioned this
to anyone else, have you?
I mean...
It's just incredible.
No.
I need to get back. Mum's expecting me.
Y...
OK.
Hello, this is the answering service
for Ashley Watts.
I'm not available right now,
but leave a message.
Ash, this is Prentice.
I'm at the flat
Feeling a bit low.
Anyway, I've been sitting here
thinking about what you said.
I want to speak to ye.
There's some things I want to say.
Maybe you could give me a ring.
What a mess.
Maybe.
- Did you believe him?
- I don't know.
Don't know.
I think he thought I was mad.
Perhaps I am.
I'm not searching for truth any more.
It screws ye up.
OK.
OK?
You're lettin' me off the hook?
Aye. You did your best, kid.
- Where are you goin'?
- Up the Crow Road.
She's not there any more, Uncle Rory.
- She moved in with Gavin.
- I know.
Ow!
Uncle Fergus!
He was dressed in dark clothes.
That's all
Sorry.
That's OK. Just come down to the police station
in the morning. Give us a full inventory.
Yeah. All right.
You sure you'll be OK here tonight?
Perhaps you should...
No, I... I can't leave the place
with no lock in the door.
It... It's not my stuff.
- Right, then. That you, Norrie?
- Right.
- Thanks.
- No problem, hen.
Good night. We'll see ourselves out.
Why didn't you tell them?
What is there to say?
The discs are gone. There's no proof.
Shit.
Maybe it wasn't even him.
What did you want to say to me, Prent?
Eh?
I got your message on my mobile
when I called in.
- What did you want to say?
- Oh, in the morning.
- We'll talk in the morning.
- No.
Now.
I think I love you.
All right, lover man?
Yeah. You?
Top hole.
But I gotta go.
- Where?
- Canada.
What?
Hang on. You can't be serious.
I'm afraid so.
Remember job of a lifetime?
You got it?
- But you... you can't...
- I've got to.
I promised.
I don't believe this.
Look.
Get to the end of term,
then we'll see.
- You promise?
- I promise.
My taxi's waiting.
Hey.
That's your New Year's kiss five months early.
Now don't be asking for another one.
Ash.
I love you.
Well, hell,
I love you too, kid.
Events were moving fast elsewhere too.
It turned out later that that same busy
morning, Uncle Fergus left Gallanach
to drive to Connel Airport,
where he said he was going to fly himself and
his new toy to Belfast for a business meeting.
On the other hand, I was still moving slowly,
but eventually I reckoned I'd better get up
and start coping with the mess
left by my attacker.
There was debris everywhere but in amongst it
were things worth hanging on to.
These were still the fragments
of my Uncle Rory's life,
and I needed to save them.
I didn't know that I was about to find out
where Rory had been all these years.
The same morning, Strathclyde police
received an anonymous tip-off
that a drug ring was using Loch Coille-Bharr
in Argyll as a hiding place for cocaine.
When they trawled the loch,
no drugs were found
but late in the afternoon, a boat snagged
on wreckage at the bottom of the loch.
It turned out to be a motorbike
which had tied to it
the remains of a young man in his 30s.
Database and dental records
revealed the name of the deceased
as one Roderick McHoan,
a writer of Lochgair, missing for seven years.
He'd been killed
with repeated blows to the head
with a smooth, spherical,
or near-spherical, object,
approximately nine centimetres in diameter.
My Uncle Fergus never reached Belfast
That same afternoon at 15:16 GMT,
an RAF Nimrod rendezvoused
with the Cessna over the Atlantic.
The pilot had not been responding to radio.
At 15:45, no contact having been made,
the Cessna started to lose altitude
and fell into the sea near St. Kilda at 15:46.
Ah. Ehm... Prentice.
Did you not go in?
- They're all in there.
- I didn't want to.
Look, Mr Blawke,
I think there must be some kind of error.
Oh, there's no error.
I was present when Mr Urvill
changed the provision.
You're named.
It's all very specific.
Oh, Prentice, isn't this just awful?
Now, then, ladles...
Uncle Fergus had left me, to quote the will,
"my car and its contents".
I wondered if there was some sinister
significance to this weird bequest
But all I found was
a harmless Gallanach paperweight,
like thousands of others,
smooth,
spherical, or near spherical,
and approximately
nine centimetres in diameter.
Oh!
I drove for hours.
I thought about who was left behind
guarding their memories.
My mother, sad and oblivious.
Helen and Diane proud of their father.
Mrs McSpadden, glowing with
a lifetime of family service.
And I thought about my father
and what he would have done with
this attractive murderous lump of silicate.
The police held Rory's body for three months
before closing his file
without discovering the identity of his killer.
- What's that, love?
- Oh, just some things of Rory's.
Thought he might like them.
OK.
Let's have a cup of tea.
Any time you like, Droid.
Aye, Mrs McHoan.
Kenneth Prentice Roderick McHoan.
You sure about this?
Yeah, sounds good to me.
I'm the only one in the list that isn't dead.
- Right.
- Cheers.
I found him, Gran.
Found him.
had more than its fair share of misfortune.
Aunt Fiona killed in a car crash.
My grandmother dead
after a collision with a conservatory.
Uncle Rory missing without trace.
And now my father.
He's not up here! There's nobody up...
Aah!
Something's up with my family.
We keep dying
and taking our secrets to the grave.
I was just curious as to whether you'd read
those papers of Rory's that mentioned me.
Oh, about Lachlan Watt
Lachlan Watt?
Why do we always love the wrong people?
Are you sending these?
It's all there, Prent
You know who's sending them.
- Is the taxi there?
- Yes, Rupert, it's waiting for you.
- Enjoy your, uh... holiday.
- Oh, yes, thanks. Bye, Louise.
Bye-bye. Oh, Mr Paxton-Marr? There's
a young lad there who's been waiting for you.
- We couldn't reach you in the studio.
- Oh.
- Mr Paxton-Marr, I hope you don't mind.
- I've got a taxi waiting.
It won't take a minute. It's just that I've
been waiting for you to get back from Bosnia.
You've been leaving me
all those messages in the newsroom.
That's it. Prentice McHoan.
I just wanted you to have a look at these.
- So?
- Ah... airport, please.
I think you've been sending them to my father
to make him believe something.
Sonny, I've got better things to do than deal
with your fantasies. I never met your father.
- Kenneth McHoan.
- Whoever. I've got a plane to catch.
- I know you. I've seen you at Lochgair.
- I don't think so.
Years ago. I saw you shoot a kestrel.
That's illegal, you know.
Listen, son. Fuck off, OK?
This was getting silly. Nobody
knew what the hell I was babbling on about
Come to that, neither did I.
Perhaps it was time to move on.
Yo, Prentice.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- They let you out of London, then?
- I'm going over the wire.
I've got an interview for a network controller's
job in Canada in 1 hour 37 minutes.
Nice one.
- Come in.
- Cheers.
I thought you might like to keep me company
while I get ready to smash the glass ceilin'.
Come in and have a coffee.
You don't want to be over-prepared.
- Wow, nice place.
- It's not all mine.
Jesus.
Lewis said your new place was different
He wasnae exaggeratin'.
Used to belong to a Mrs Ippot, a collector.
One of the Gallanach Glassworks'
best customers over several decades.
You're not kiddin'.
When we went to Blawke's office
to sort out Dad's will,
I mentioned I was looking for a place
and he found me this.
Apparently old Mrs Ippot pissed off
so many of her relations when she was alive,
they've spent five years
squabbling over her loot.
He reckons I can rent the place indefinitely.
And this way, I don't have to listen to Gavin
shagging Auntie Janice in sensaround all night.
And exactly how much did Ken leave ye?
Come on, how much?
Something over £50,000 cash.
About 20 thou a year in royalty from his books.
Lewis got the same. Mum got the house
and about a quarter of a million.
Shit, I never knew he was doing so well
- What you doing?
- I'm makin' it sing.
Listen.
There you go.
So, this must be a great bed for shaggin' in.
Huh? Probably.
Still stuck on Verity?
Well, I... I dunno.
I suppose.
It's pointless now.
- And you're... I mean, you're all right?
- Aye.
I'm fine. They've let me back on my course.
I'm trying not to mess it up this time.
- I'm trying not to mess up anything.
- Good.
- You were gonnae make me a coffee.
- Aye, right.
No problem.
And Paxton-Marr, would he speak to you?
Nah, he said he was going on holiday.
I don't think he knew anything.
- No sugar, right?
- Right.
- So what you gonna do?
- I don't know.
Perhaps there's nothing to find out
and Rory just made the whole thing up.
Used characters from the family
to try and hang a story on.
The stuff on the discs just end
as if he couldn't make sense of it.
Was there anything more
about my Uncle Lachlan?
Well, only tangentially.
It just stops dead.
You want to read it?
I might as well
I've got about an hour to kill
Right.
They're numbered one to four.
Three's missing. This is the last one.
So, my Uncle Lachlan
shags your Auntie Fiona after a party...
... and her husband sees them at it.
What happens next?
Well, he jumps forward a couple of years
to when Fiona died.
Fiona?
Oh! Fiona!
Oh, Christ!
Oh, Christ! Jesus Christ!
Oh, God!
Ferg, sorry.
Well...
I came straight over.
Ken and Mary are on their way down.
How you feeling?
- Have you seen Fiona?
- Yeah.
Yeah, they had to ask me
to do the... you know, the, um...
the identification.
What happened, Ferg?
I can't remember.
I can't understand...
why she wasn't wearing her seat belt
I was sure...
sure she had it on.
You're making
such a big thing out of this.
People get smashed at parties.
I mean, maybe Julie has had
a bit of a crush on me in the past
Oh, God! You think you're such a great actor,
don't you, Ferg?
It was so sodding obvious!
Out of her brains, and all she seemed to
remember was how to take your trousers off.
God knows why, but she seemed
to associate that with pleasure.
Fergus.
Fergus, I'm talking to you!
Getting in the way a bit there.
Don't you push me, you bastard!
Don't you dare push me!
I am trying to drive!
I really don't understand you.
One minute you're at me
because I'm... not all over you...
Not fucking me.
Is that what you're trying to say, Fergus?
Well, why don't you fuck me any more?
Not that I'd let you near me, you bastard.
God's sakes! Julie McKean!
Let's not make a fuss,
let's just get on with the cocktail parties...
with the McKeans and the Frasers,
bridge with the bloody Gordons!
Let's just get on with it.
And you can keep on shafting Julie.
I wouldn't screw you if you paid me!
Fergus.
Fergus, look...
Look out!
So...
what, he's saying that Fiona died cos
your Uncle Fergus was driving carelessly?
I suppose.
And that's it? That's the secret at Gallanach?
Yeah.
It's kinda disappointing, isn't it?
Well, it's very sad, but...
Oh, shit! I'm gonna be late.
D'you want to come back later?
I can't. I'm booked
on the last flight to London.
- Good luck with the interview.
- Cheers.
When I look back into my own memories...
I realise that at least once
Rory included me in his story
and came close to telling me everything.
It's all right for us to go for a walk here
on a Sunday, Uncle Rory?
Aye. Why no'?
Dad says there's bits of Scotland you can't go
for a walk on a Sunday. It's against God's law.
Ah, that's in the islands, Lewis and Harris.
They're heavily Protestant up there.
About walking?
Aye, about a lot of things. I think
you're allowed to walk to church and back.
Big deal. I suppose you could
always go a long way round.
Then you would get your walk
and you wouldn't have broken the rule.
- Aye, I suppose you could.
- I'm Protestant about fish.
- That right?
- Aye, I hate it.
It should be against God's law
to eat fish ever.
I'm afraid it's only things you enjoy
you get to be Protestant about
- That's stupid. God must be stupid.
- You wouldnae be the first to say that
Ah! Ah! Ah!
- What is it?
- My foot.
- Stepped on something.
- Hang on, let me see it.
- Oh, it's sore. Is it a snake? Is it a snake?
- No, no.
Keep still
It's out. It's just a wee pin.
I thought it was a snake.
I think that's clean enough.
We need a tetanus jag.
I wanted to see the standin' stones.
Come on, then. Hop on.
I think we've got time
before lockjaw sets in.
Was it not awful heavy, Uncle Rory?
Ach, you're too slow anyway.
Do you think I'm being punished?
- For what?
- For saying Gods stupid.
Uncle Hamish says bad things happen
because God gets us back no matter what
Nah, you're not being punished.
So... So you don't believe in God, like Dad?
I don't know.
Everybody needs explanations for things.
You see things around you. You want
to know how and why things happen.
There's no real evidence,
so you have to fall back on conjecture.
- Conjecture?
- Ah, you know, a theory.
People make up theories about things.
Then the trouble is
they go around rearranging the world
to fit in with their ideas.
You see these stones?
Clever folk have been arguing about what
they are and how they got here for centuries.
But the fact is
nobody really knows.
I think they're a kind of church.
- Aye? What's your evidence?
- Well, it's a kinda nice walk up here.
Fair enough.
It's all a question of perception.
You know what perception is, Prentice?
It's how you see things.
Can play tricks on you.
Like everybody thinks
I'm a successful travel writer.
You are, Uncle Rory. They've got your book
in the library van. I seen it.
Aye, well, I haven't written anything
worth reading for almost three years.
- Why not?
- Dunno.
I don't trust myself.
I see things then I think,
"Perhaps they're not really there."
Like what?
A friend told me something once
and it sounded like it had really hurt him.
He'd seen something that had made him feel
betrayed by someone he was very close to.
But when I thought about it,
he'd been asleep again afterwards,
and it occurred to me that perhaps
he dreamed the whole thing.
I still wonder.
Why don't you tell him that?
Maybe I should.
Don't know if it'd make any difference now.
One day, someone's gonna come up this hill
to wonder how these stones got here...
and they'll just make a leap of imagination
and stumble on the truth.
That's all you need.
A leap of imagination.
- What's that for?
- That's for being the best uncle in the world.
Oh, shit.
- Where have you been, man?
- Getting on with my life.
No problem.
- Are we making progress?
- No, we are not.
I've got a degree to get
A mother to look after.
And I've got to write
an amusing best man's speech
to be delivered to an audience
of the country's finest alternative comedians.
I always liked that Ben Elton.
Does he still do gags about living in a squat?
No.
Look, I found out as much as I can,
but it just doesn't go anywhere.
- Won't that do?
- You've got to see things differently.
Make a leap of imagination.
That's surely not beyond you. You're a McHoan.
Tree.
- What?
- Tree.
Shit!
- No sign?
- No, it's all a bit mysterious.
- Let's go in, Lew.
- Yeah, in a minute. I'm intrigued.
- What exactly did your dad say, Di?
- He had a surprise for us when he got back.
We're to wait up here for him.
Promised it'd be good.
Don't worry, Lew, Dad never disappoints.
Whatever it is, it'll be worth it.
Yeah. By the way, it was very nice of him
to let us have the castle for the wedding.
He's a big teddy bear.
Dae anything for you and Verity.
Yeah, he's all right, even if he is a Tory.
Aye, and you're such a dangerous
socialist revolutionary, Lew.
Me? I'm lethal, darlin'.
Total die-hard.
Look up there.
Over the loch. The fir tree on the hill
- Where?
- You see it? Look.
- Looks like a MIG on a bombing run.
- What is tha...
Look. He's got a plane! He's flying a plane.
- I can't believe it.
- Oh, God!
- Hey, Fergus!
- Hello!
Over here!
Hey!
- Hey, Prent! Prent!
- What?
Get out here!
Here! Over here!
Hey!
Hey, Dad!
No, really, all I said to him was, "Can we book
the honeymoon suite and breakfast for three?"
Guy says, "We don't do Mormons"
and slammed the phone down.
Anyway, I've got to thank you all on behalf of
me, my beautiful wife, our beautiful baby,
for coming today,
and I'm gonna hand you over to my little
brother and best man Prentice. Um...
Ladles and gentlemen,
my name is McHoan, Lewis McHoan.
Good night.
Um...
Hey, this is no time to admire the view.
Gotta dance, gotta dance!
A speech to remember.
Well, it was among friends.
I hope so.
What are you sayin'?
Well, what if your friend is your enemy?
Never mind my wee turn.
I was sick before that
You've lost me, my man.
Come on, there's something
I want to show you. Come here.
- The switch, switch...
- It's here, it's here, I've got it.
Right.
Here, look.
Cool.
- D'you think that's it?
- Don't know. Could be a 50-foot drop.
Express lift to the dungeons.
Let me see if I can just...
- Give me a push up.
- OK.
- Ah!
- Oh!
I see you're wearing your kilt
according to tradition, friend.
- Shit! Don't look.
- Can't help it, son.
You're sort of in my face.
- Come on.
- OK.
Mm, nice beaver.
Shut up.
Shit, I don't feel so well
Just let me know, OK? This isn't
exactly the place for projectile barfing.
- Somebody sabotaged that lobster.
- Och!
Lewis when he realised
how hilarious my speech was gonna be.
Believe me, Prent,
it really couldn't have been funnier.
- Is it through this way?
- It must be.
- D'you think that's it?
- Looks about right.
Here it is.
Venue for the dirty deed.
Maybe Fergus wasn't dreaming.
- Come on, darlin', we're gonna miss the plane.
- I want another dance.
We haven't got time.
Hey, come over here
and I'll show you my military two-step.
All right.
Now there's a girl
who knows her country dancing.
Right.
All right.
- Hello?
- Christ
- Is there somebody there?
- Quick.
Prent, over here. Prentice, hurry up.
Over here, quick.
Ah. Hello.
Prentice, it's you.
I'd, uh... I'd rather you didn't go up
into the observatory.
Telescopes a bit delicate.
Ah... sorry, Uncle Fergus. We just...
No, no, it's all right.
Just, um... turn out the light, OK?
OK, fine.
We'd better go down.
All right.
- Are you all right?
- Yeah. You?
Yes, I'm fine.
Too many folk missing.
- I know.
- Christ
What's happened to us all?
Oh, Prent
Oh.
I know when to give my boys up.
Don't worry. No one'll have me.
No way, no way!
You don't understand women, do you, Prent?
- No.
- Oh...
Prentice.
Dear boy.
Hello, Uncle Hamish.
I like to come here from time to time.
Mary doesn't mind.
Sure.
I've been foolish, Prentice.
Vain.
- Vain?
- Mm.
It was vanity.
My theories about the hereafter.
I've renounced them.
No more anti-creates?
No.
That was my mistake.
We're all supposed to be God's children.
What I can't understand is,
why he's such a strict father.
Terribly, terribly strict
Perhaps there's no system to things,
Uncle Hamish.
Dad was just unlucky.
Maybe it's all just random chance.
Coincidence.
What, you think...
He isn't there?
There's no... underlying truth?
I don't know.
No, I... I don't know either.
- Janice! Gav! Come on in.
- Hiya, Prent No, look, we won't.
It's all right.
Were just heading back for Glasgow.
- Come in and have a drink before you go.
- No, ta. Just came to give you this.
Came in the post
They found it in a depot in Shettleston.
Been stuck there for months.
It's Rory's book.
I suppose so. What else have you lost recently?
- Well, d'you not want it?
- No.
Um... I'm moving out
of the Crow Road, you know?
Janice is coming to the flat, Prent
I mean, well,
we figured you weren't coming back.
Oh, right, no.
I don't think so.
I just want to leave it all behind, you know?
Rory's been gone a long time.
We'd better get going.
- Sure you don't want that drink?
- No, but ring me when you get back.
Right.
Later.
Aye. See you.
Hello?
Anybody here?
Hello?
Oh, Master Rory!
I'm sorry.
I can't hear the bell in the kitchen.
- Hiya, Mrs M. is anyone in?
- Mrs Urvill's up in the observatory.
Ta.
It's nice to see you, son.
Fi?
Fi, what's up?
I can't stand it.
I can't stand it here any longer.
Oh, God.
Well, when the girls went away to school,
I didn't realise.
I'd had so little time to think until then.
But...
I'm married to a man who...
He just wants to parade me in front of his...
awful fascist friends.
To keep quiet, keep running his house.
And...
he disgusts me.
I can't bear to let him touch me.
Not that he wants to.
I'm sure he's having an affair.
- Have you asked him?
- Oh, we don't talk.
So what do you want to do?
I don't know.
Christ, I don't know.
I'm...
I'm sure that if you and Ferg
got things out into the open...
I mean, he's not such a terrible...
Oh, you don't know him.
- He'll get rid of me one way or another.
- Oh, come on.
He gets so screwed up and angry.
Smashing up the place. Sometimes I'm scared.
Honestly, Rory, when he gets
in that black mood, he is capable of anything,
anything.
Sometimes things
only come to you gradually.
I can't understand
why she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
I was sure...
sure she had it on.
They say she didn't.
Sometimes things
only come to you gradually.
Fergus, look... look out!
Come on.
Sometimes things only come to you gradually.
It's uncomfortable, feeling this knot
of suspicion slowly tightening.
Takes time.
But eventually
you just can't help it any longer.
You know.
You just know.
Shit.
You're crazy, Prent
You read a couple of things Rory wrote.
Next you're accusing Fergus of killing his wife.
- I mean, really.
- I'm tellin' ye, it's perfect
Does it say on the disc that Fergus killed her?
- No.
- No. Well, then.
Rory probably stopped writing
when he realised.
It shocked him. He had to speak to someone,
find out if it was true.
- And then?
- So he went to Fergus.
- And then?
- And then Fergus killed him too.
What in God's name
are you talking about, Prentice?
Maybe he didn't mean to.
Maybe he was overcome by his emotions.
He got Paxton-Marr to send matches to Dad
to make him think that Rory had just run off.
Jesus. That's some imagination
runs in your family.
No.
Look, Rory spent years trying to come up
with a story. Something really worthwhile.
He's playing about,
experimenting with family history.
He makes a leap of imagination
and stumbles on the truth.
OK, Prentice, so tell me,
how did Fergus kill Fiona? It was a car crash.
I'll show ye.
- Ouch!
- Shit. God, you all right?
- What the hell was that for?
- I'm sorry.
- I didn't actually mean to hurt you.
- Well, you actually did, you idiot.
- I'm sorry. Ash.
- Oh, shut up, Prentice.
Stop saying sorry.
Just drive, OK?
I've got a ferry to catch.
Ash, really, I'm sorry.
I was just trying to show ye.
I've said it's OK, haven't I? Just tell me what
you're gonna do with this amazing revelation.
- I don't know. There's gaps.
- You're bloody right, there's gaps.
There's kind of a proof gap, wouldn't you say?
You know, you might pay better attention
to things that really are happening in your life.
- What?
- You've gone too far.
You havenae got a scrap of evidence.
This is your family, and mine too, actually.
Does it matter if my Uncle Lachlan
screwed your Auntie Fiona?
And so what if Fergus saw them?
Doesnae mean he's a murderer.
- What are you gonna do?
- I don't know. I can't help it.
No, you can't, can you?
Listen, thanks for the lift.
Ash, wait.
Listen, save it for when you've got
something to say to me. To me, hear?
- What?
- I'll see you around, Prentice.
Ashley was my only ally.
If she didn't believe me then nobody would.
And she was right about the proof,
I didn't have any.
Perhaps I really had made it all up.
I tried to imagine what my Uncle Rory must
have done when he got to where I was now.
After he worked out what had happened
to Fiona, he had to speak to someone.
He couldn't let it just drift away.
He could have spoken to Janice, but he didn't.
My father would surely have been
the next person he thought of.
Maybe he set out to seek Kenneth
and changed his mind up the road,
because he knew in his heart
that in the absence of real evidence
there was only one way to find out the truth.
Mum?
- I'm just going up to Uncle Fergus's.
- I'll come with you.
No. I mean...
uh... I'm going down the pub
afterwards to see Dean.
- Probably not your scene.
- Oh.
OK.
I just wanted a quick word with Fergus.
Ask him about the vase
in my bedroom in Glasgow.
All right, love.
I just wanted to make sure
you knew where I was going.
Fine.
Right, then.
Prentice! What a surprise!
Uncle Fergus.
Where's Mrs McSpadden?
It's her day off.
I'm all on my own.
How's the new flat?
Fine. It's beautiful.
Lots of lovely stuff in.
Dear old Mrs Ippot.
A customer straight from heaven.
- So what can I do for you?
- I thought you might know where Rory is.
Rory?
- What, your uncle?
- He disappeared. Yes.
Why would you think that I know?
Because you got a man called Paxton-Marr
to send match book covers to my dad.
Rupert? To... To send what?
To make Dad think that Rory wasn't dead.
You do know Rupert Paxton-Marr.
Yes, of course. We're old schoolfriends.
We go shooting together from time to time.
But I really don't think
that I could possibly...
You'd better tell me what all this is about
Sit down.
I'm lost
If Rory's dead and you're saying that
I know where he is, well, that would mean...
that would...
Prentice?
I found it all, Uncle Fergus.
Everything Rory wrote about ye.
About Lachlan and Fiona.
What you told Rory in the bothy.
The car crash.
And this is all in things
that you've read on Rory's computer?
Well, not exactly.
- Some of it's my interpretation.
- You've made it up, you mean.
No...
You never saw Fiona and Lachlan
from the roof above your bedroom?
I've checked.
You can get in from the observatory.
They were makin' love,
and then afterwards you...
What?
You...
punished her.
So you're saying...
that I...
Prentice.
I was quite close to Kenneth.
He was a friend.
We never saw eye to eye on anything, really,
but... we got along, you know?
So I can imagine
how you feel to lose your father.
What I'm trying to say...
is that...
It isn't easy to cope
when somebody that close dies so suddenly.
Everything can look very black.
It's not true, Prentice.
You've... made it up.
I mean, I... I hope it helps you, I really do,
but none of these things happened.
None of these things
happened the way you see it.
Rory went away because
he was jealous of Kenneth. You know that
And Kenneth knew it too.
That's why he was so bitter at the end.
Hm?
Don't you be bitter too, Prentice.
It poisons you.
- Look, if...
- I'm... I'm sorry.
I'm very sorry I came here.
I don't know what I was thinkin'.
I haven't been getting a lot of sleep.
OK, OK.
Now, let's go and get a drink.
You need to talk, old son.
No.
I've gottae go.
I'm so sorry, Uncle Fergus.
Prentice!
You haven't mentioned this
to anyone else, have you?
I mean...
It's just incredible.
No.
I need to get back. Mum's expecting me.
Y...
OK.
Hello, this is the answering service
for Ashley Watts.
I'm not available right now,
but leave a message.
Ash, this is Prentice.
I'm at the flat
Feeling a bit low.
Anyway, I've been sitting here
thinking about what you said.
I want to speak to ye.
There's some things I want to say.
Maybe you could give me a ring.
What a mess.
Maybe.
- Did you believe him?
- I don't know.
Don't know.
I think he thought I was mad.
Perhaps I am.
I'm not searching for truth any more.
It screws ye up.
OK.
OK?
You're lettin' me off the hook?
Aye. You did your best, kid.
- Where are you goin'?
- Up the Crow Road.
She's not there any more, Uncle Rory.
- She moved in with Gavin.
- I know.
Ow!
Uncle Fergus!
He was dressed in dark clothes.
That's all
Sorry.
That's OK. Just come down to the police station
in the morning. Give us a full inventory.
Yeah. All right.
You sure you'll be OK here tonight?
Perhaps you should...
No, I... I can't leave the place
with no lock in the door.
It... It's not my stuff.
- Right, then. That you, Norrie?
- Right.
- Thanks.
- No problem, hen.
Good night. We'll see ourselves out.
Why didn't you tell them?
What is there to say?
The discs are gone. There's no proof.
Shit.
Maybe it wasn't even him.
What did you want to say to me, Prent?
Eh?
I got your message on my mobile
when I called in.
- What did you want to say?
- Oh, in the morning.
- We'll talk in the morning.
- No.
Now.
I think I love you.
All right, lover man?
Yeah. You?
Top hole.
But I gotta go.
- Where?
- Canada.
What?
Hang on. You can't be serious.
I'm afraid so.
Remember job of a lifetime?
You got it?
- But you... you can't...
- I've got to.
I promised.
I don't believe this.
Look.
Get to the end of term,
then we'll see.
- You promise?
- I promise.
My taxi's waiting.
Hey.
That's your New Year's kiss five months early.
Now don't be asking for another one.
Ash.
I love you.
Well, hell,
I love you too, kid.
Events were moving fast elsewhere too.
It turned out later that that same busy
morning, Uncle Fergus left Gallanach
to drive to Connel Airport,
where he said he was going to fly himself and
his new toy to Belfast for a business meeting.
On the other hand, I was still moving slowly,
but eventually I reckoned I'd better get up
and start coping with the mess
left by my attacker.
There was debris everywhere but in amongst it
were things worth hanging on to.
These were still the fragments
of my Uncle Rory's life,
and I needed to save them.
I didn't know that I was about to find out
where Rory had been all these years.
The same morning, Strathclyde police
received an anonymous tip-off
that a drug ring was using Loch Coille-Bharr
in Argyll as a hiding place for cocaine.
When they trawled the loch,
no drugs were found
but late in the afternoon, a boat snagged
on wreckage at the bottom of the loch.
It turned out to be a motorbike
which had tied to it
the remains of a young man in his 30s.
Database and dental records
revealed the name of the deceased
as one Roderick McHoan,
a writer of Lochgair, missing for seven years.
He'd been killed
with repeated blows to the head
with a smooth, spherical,
or near-spherical, object,
approximately nine centimetres in diameter.
My Uncle Fergus never reached Belfast
That same afternoon at 15:16 GMT,
an RAF Nimrod rendezvoused
with the Cessna over the Atlantic.
The pilot had not been responding to radio.
At 15:45, no contact having been made,
the Cessna started to lose altitude
and fell into the sea near St. Kilda at 15:46.
Ah. Ehm... Prentice.
Did you not go in?
- They're all in there.
- I didn't want to.
Look, Mr Blawke,
I think there must be some kind of error.
Oh, there's no error.
I was present when Mr Urvill
changed the provision.
You're named.
It's all very specific.
Oh, Prentice, isn't this just awful?
Now, then, ladles...
Uncle Fergus had left me, to quote the will,
"my car and its contents".
I wondered if there was some sinister
significance to this weird bequest
But all I found was
a harmless Gallanach paperweight,
like thousands of others,
smooth,
spherical, or near spherical,
and approximately
nine centimetres in diameter.
Oh!
I drove for hours.
I thought about who was left behind
guarding their memories.
My mother, sad and oblivious.
Helen and Diane proud of their father.
Mrs McSpadden, glowing with
a lifetime of family service.
And I thought about my father
and what he would have done with
this attractive murderous lump of silicate.
The police held Rory's body for three months
before closing his file
without discovering the identity of his killer.
- What's that, love?
- Oh, just some things of Rory's.
Thought he might like them.
OK.
Let's have a cup of tea.
Any time you like, Droid.
Aye, Mrs McHoan.
Kenneth Prentice Roderick McHoan.
You sure about this?
Yeah, sounds good to me.
I'm the only one in the list that isn't dead.
- Right.
- Cheers.
I found him, Gran.
Found him.