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first place.’ Weir nodded. ‘What about the murder charge?’
    â€˜I think at a gut level a jury would buy it. There’s clear physical evidence of deliberate homicide, the way the wound looks. There’s motive: the Murchisons were behind in their payments and the victim was getting lippy about it. He’d complained to people at the pub, he’d made scenes at various times in front of others. It’s a small town and people have a mind for other people’s business. If the town witnesses stand up, then none of that’s going to be too difficult. There’s opportunity—the accused have got access to a boat. The phone records show some contact during the day between accused and victim, and then again about an hour before the fire’s first spotted from shore, so that all ties in. Neither of the accused has got much of an alibi, and one of them, I think McVean, can be placed at the wharf; he accessed the security panel at exactly the right time. Murchison is by all accounts slightly smarter than McVean, but he was silly enough to answer a few questions in his police interview—made a bit of a mess of it. McVean’s dumb, but different kind of dumb. Knows enough to give a no-comment. Anyway, the police version is very plausible: they arranged to meet at sea, either for the accused to provide more product to the victim, or so they could set up an ambush. There’s a disagreement out there, or the whole thing was prearranged. They shoot him then and there on board the Murchisons’ boat, throw him over into his own boat and set fire to it in the hope it’ll burn to the waterline and—’
    â€˜Why? Why not weigh the body down and dump it at sea? Why not sink the boat with the body in it?’
    â€˜I guess because that area’s not very deep, according to the local coppers, and someone would eventually come across the boat. You know, snag it on a net or a craypot or something.’
    â€˜All right. Why not tow it out to sea and then do it?’
    â€˜Yeah, why not? That’s the best of all worlds. Take it ten miles out and do it…you’ve got sonar so you can make sure it’s deep. Maybe they just panicked, but if they set the killing up from the very start, why would they fall at the last hurdle like that?’
    â€˜What do the cops say about that?’ Charlie could see Weir laying out a matrix of thought that stretched well ahead of the question.
    â€˜They’ve got no problem with calling it panic—they reckon these boys are both a bit thick. They’re also pretty fond of the idea that the gun only came along for intimidation. Whichever of these two was holding it, he’s just lost his composure momentarily and bang. Course, that makes it a felony murder for the other, so it doesn’t much matter who was who at the time. Everything just unravels for them after that and they decide to torch the boat without thinking. Too late once it’s alight.’ Charlie slapped his hands onto his knees and exhaled.
    â€˜What about the weapon?’
    â€˜Search and rescue picked it up easily enough. They drew a straight line between the area where the witnesses place the boat on fire and the harbour mouth, then they just dived a grid both sides of that line, and there it is in about ten feet of water. Bolt-action twenty-two. Ballistics are a match. Silly bastards didn’t even think to go and dump it somewhere else.’
    Weir had the glass paperweight under the end of one finger and was rolling it on his desk blotter, firing sparks of refraction at the walls. ‘So what’s the problem?’
    â€˜The brother.’
    â€˜What, the, er…’ Weir lifted a volume from the shelf behind him and leafed through it. ‘…Patrick?’
    â€˜Yeah. Firstly it doesn’t make sense that he’d spend the day with his brother doing business with Murchison and McVean, they get into a dispute with them,