Running Bones: An MIS Alasdair Scottish Detective Mystery by Duncan Wallace

Author:Duncan Wallace [Wallace, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“Oh,” he mumbled after a few minutes. “I thought he had just had an accident.”

He looked up slowly and stared at the wall behind us.

“I’m sorry,” Elspeth said. “For your loss.”

“Well,” he said slowly. “I suppose that’s life.”

“Yes,” I hummed. “Unfortunately, it does happen.”

“So, is that all you’ve come here to tell me?” he asked.

“If we could have a few words, too, then that would be brilliant,” I said.

“Just a formality, of course,” Elspeth jumped in. “You aren’t being officially questioned or anything.”

“Alright,” the man agreed.

He stood up slowly from his spot behind the desk and walked over to the set of three chairs that formed the makeshift waiting area in the reception. “Please take a seat.”

I could see what Mrs. Wallace meant when she said there wasn’t much to him. Cunningham might have been smiling, but I wasn’t sure. Yet another person in this investigation that was hard to read.

He sat down in one of the green chairs and waited for us to take ours.

“I would offer you a coffee, but the kettle isn’t working,” he told us. “There’s a water cooler if you’re thirsty, though.”

“It’s quite alright,” I smiled.

Usually I would accept the drink, but I could tell that the man we were questioning was not interested in the role of being the host. He had pointed to the cooler rather than offering to fetch us a cup, and I could understand why Wallace had been reluctant to let his partner spend too much time alone.

“I’m okay, too, thank you,” Elspeth said.

“It’s tepid anyway,” the man shrugged. “Probably best if you didn’t, if I'm being honest.”

“We’re here just to discuss your relationship with Jack, the business, those kinds of things really,” I said.

“Oh,” the man though. “Um, okay. So, like what? Shall I start with my name? It’s Robert Cunningham.”

I pulled out my notepad, and Elspeth followed suit.

“You don’t mind, do you?” I asked and held up the pad and paper.

“Not at all,” he said.

“Why don’t you tell us about yourself?” I suggested.

There aren’t many people who aren’t happy to discuss their lives, and for me, it was a useful tool to uncover how someone worked both mentally and physically. There was no such thing as too much information in my book, especially in a murder case.

“I’m fifty-seven years old,” he replied after staring at the wall for several moments. “I’m a Taurus, umm...”

He raised his eyebrows as if to say that was all the information he could give us.

“And are you married?” Elspeth prompted him. “Do you have any children or anything?”

“No,” he mumbled. “I’m not married, and I don’t have any children. I live alone.”

He wasn’t a bad looking man, and neither did he seem to have a personality that would warrant being alone.

“Out of choice?” Elspeth dared to ask.

“Well, I am a homosexual male,” he stated. “So I would have obviously never had a wife.”

“Sorry,” she corrected herself. “I should’ve been more inclusive,”

“Not your fault,” he smiled. “People tend to assume that someone over a certain age has to be straight.

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