He was not the first Westerly Wellness ‘acolyte’ this had happened to, and he almost certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was so common, in fact, that André had created a special ointment designed to help alleviate the discomfort.
“A couple of dabs, and you shall be right as rain, oui?” he’d promised, as he’d handed Dave the tub.
Not one to do things by halves, Dave had elected to scoop out half the tub’s contents, and smear the greenish-white gunk liberally over the affected area.
The relief was instantaneous.
And then, a moment later, it wasn’t.
“Shit. Shit, shit, fuck, ow!” he hissed, scratching furiously at his sun-ravaged anus.
“Everything alright?” André called from just outside the tent.
“It stings. It’s fucking… Ow! Jesus! What is this stuff?” Dave asked.
“It is made from nettle leaves,” André replied.
“Fucking nettles?!” Dave yelped. “Why?!”
“It should not sting if you just dab.” There was a moment of silence from beyond the tent flaps. “You did just dab, like I instructed, oui?”
Dave stared at the half-empty tub in horror. “Erm…” he began. “Define ‘dab.’”
Logan and the others sat back, tea in hand, while Sinead went over everything they’d pulled together in the past twenty-four hours.
There were now two main threads to the investigation—the identity of the body, and the whereabouts of Alan Rigg, aka Bernie the Beacon. One of those threads was far more developed than the other, although neither seemed to be nearing any sort of resolution.
“We’ve gone through Alan Rigg’s history. No criminal record. No social media presence. Lots coming up on Google, but nothing so far that looks like it’s referring to him. It’s quite a common name, it seems,” Sinead explained.
“If he’s been hiding out here for a decade or more, it’s hardly surprising he’s no’ all over the internet,” Logan said. “Have we been able to track down any family?”
“We have, sir,” Sinead confirmed. “His wife. She lives in Leeds. They both did, apparently, until he had what she describes as, ‘a total fucking breakdown,’ and upped and left. They’re technically still married, though she says she hasn’t seen or heard from him since.”
“And she never reported him missing?” asked Ben, helping himself to a Rich Tea from a plate of biscuits that Tyler had brought in with the tea—entirely of his own free will, the DC had stressed.
“She did about ten years ago, but nothing was done,” Sinead continued. “He’d basically told her he was leaving and wasn’t coming back, so it wasn’t seen as a priority and was never really followed up on.”
“What prompted the breakdown, do we know?” Logan asked.
It was Hamza who fielded that question. “She didn’t say, sir. No history of mental illness though, from what I can gather from his records. To be honest, his wife wasn’t very forthcoming. I got the impression that she’s moved on and didn’t like having it all dredged up again. I didn’t get a whole lot out of her. Thought it best to end it there and try again later.” He shot a hopeful look in Sinead’s direction. “I thought maybe someone else might have more luck…”
“I can follow up after this,” Sinead confirmed, and the DS gave her a double thumbs-up in appreciation.
“Nice one, ta.”
“Any other family?” Ben asked.
“The last his wife knew, his mother was still alive, but she’s got no idea where she’s living these days. We’re trying to track her down, but it could take time.”
“OK. Fine. Right, moving on. We been out to see the seller of that van yet?” Logan asked.
Ben told him that they hadn’t, but it was on the agenda. Hamza had done a quick scroll through the lad’s social media profiles and ran a check on his background. He had a handful of cautions for various minor but annoying offences, and a couple of charges for supplying Class B drugs. He lived over the water in Ballachulish, and was well known to the handful of Bobbies based in the station at Glen Coe.
“I can see him being difficult,” Ben said. “Might have to slap him about a bit to get answers out of him. Metaphorically, I mean.”
“I’ll go,” Logan announced. “You stay here.”
Ben, who did not relish the thought of driving all that way, was quick to take up the offer.