Surprise on the Links

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

His desire to strangle Angus Murray became stronger. But then, he thought that, probably, a club to the head would make it faster and more satisfying. Anyway, regardless of the method, Angus would finally shut up, blessing him with silence.

Lachlan MacDonald pushed his hat back and wiped his sweaty forehead with a swift gesture. It might have been early in the day, but the man had already had enough. MacDonald looked at his companion sideways and shook his head with dismay.

It was high time that someone had stopped the running mouth of that fellow. Angus Murray had always had the reputation of a dour man, but then, he had been getting grumpier with age.

Like a bear with a thorn in his paw, Murray had been grumbling since the two of them started their usual game of golf at six-thirty that morning. Far from being shy, Murray complained about everything under the sun. Mostly, he griped because MacDonald moved like an old woman with arthritis, overthinking everything too much and making him waste precious time. As always, Angus did not care that his attitude drove Lachlan mad in the process.

Lachlan wiped his forehead once more, pursing his lips and scrunching his nose with displeasure. His brows had knitted above his thick, beck-like nose long before the two men had reached the first hole.

Now, getting closer to the twelfth hole, MacDonald was already mentally exhausted. The man yearned for a place in the shadow to down a cold beer and to lean back and kick off his shoes in a manner of speaking. He could already hear people clamouring in the distance. Soon, the green would be overwhelmed with players, and that would anger Angus more.

Angus and Lachlan had been friends since the beginning of time, some sixty years before, so Lachlan knew the cantankerous elderly man better than the back of his palm. Why, just the other day, a new brownish spot had appeared on his hand, and Lachlan did not remember to have seen it before.

After over forty years of shaking his head and trying not to pay too close attention to his companion, MacDonald had finally reached his breaking point. The pressure inside his skill threatened to erupt, and the impulse to hurl insults to Murray at his turn became so intense that it was painful.

Angus sent his ball near the bushes with a long shot, and another array of curses sputtered off the lips of the grumpy old man. With heavy steps, he followed the ball to the shrubbery.

There, Angus leaned forward for a few seconds and then stumbled back a couple of steps. The cap flew off his head because of the sudden recoil, and then, he threw the club to the ground. He started spewing the nastiest curse words he had ever uttered.

Wide-eyed, Lachlan watched Angus from afar, not understanding what had gotten into the man now. It was not the first time that Angus had to play his ball from the shrubs.

It was not an easy shot, but Lachlan knew that Angus could do it. The old man was an accomplished golf player. It would have been hard not to be after so many years of practicing on the green.

Lachlan took a step in the direction of his friend with the thought to calm him down. However, his preservation spirit stopped him in his tracks almost immediately. Angus behaved like a raging lunatic. It was far from wise to get into his space right then.

A few moments later, to his surprise, Angus hurled the contents of his early breakfast into the scarce grass that outlined the patch of bushes and sands. The retching noise prompted Lachlan to press the back of his hand to his lips, afraid that he would follow his friend’s example.

When there was nothing else left to throw up, Angus wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and then he put his hands on his hips, shaking his head in disbelief. Only afterwards, the man shoved his fingers through his hair with a nervous gesture and turned toward Lachlan.

“Have you got that damn mobile phone of yours with you, Lachlan?” he inquired, watching his friend sideways.

“Aye,” the man replied after a brief hesitation. Lachlan remembered well that Angus showed a raging mistrust of mobiles, and that morning, he did not feel like listening to another lecture about them from his friend. It might have amused him in the beginning, but that show had grown old after a while.

“Then show me that you know how to use it and call the police. There’s a dead guy in there,” the man tilted his head towards the shrubs.

For a few seconds, Lachlan stared at the man with confusion. He noticed that Angus had lost any colour in her face, and his fingers shook on his hips.

Lachlan had heard his words quite well, but that did not mean that he had also grasped their meaning. With some apprehension, he took two steps in his friend’s direction again, turning his right ear towards Angus. Lately, Lachlan had experienced some loss of hearing in his left ear and now needed to make sure that he did not imagine things.

“What do you mean?” Lachlan asked Angus with dread, wiping off his wet forehead with the back of his hand.

“What I’ve just said, mate,” the man retorted in a heated tone of voice. His brows curved up onto his forehead, and he tilted his head towards the shrub once more. “It’s a stiff in there. Call the damn police,” Angus raised his voice, rebuking his friend, and the steel in his eyes glinted with anger and fear.

Angus had recognised the body in the bushes, even though it missed half of the face. Someone had taken a club to the dead guy’s face and had not stopped until they were sure that they had done a b****y good job.

Angus swallowed hard as his throat suddenly dried up. He had no doubt about the questions the police would ask him.

There had not been any lost love between the dead man and Angus Murray, and anyone would vouch for that. If the man pondered the relationship between the dead man and himself better, quite the opposite, in fact.