Where the Heart Belongs (13 page)

‘Shona, you've come,' she said with pleasure, struggling to a sitting position.

‘Don't get up,' said Shona pulling forward one of the wooden chairs. ‘Didn't I say I would? Or did you expect Jack to lock me in my room on a diet of bread and water so I couldn't escape?'

Liz laughed, but there was a wary expression in her eyes. ‘You never did tell me why you had reservations about me working there,' Shona said as she settled herself comfortably. ‘Did I? I'd forgotten.'

‘When I first called in here on the rainy afternoon. Don't you remember?'

‘I suppose I was anxious about the feud Jack's got with Tamsin's father. It's local knowledge you see and I didn't know whether to tell you or not.'

‘I see.'

‘I don't know Jack well. I suppose I thought he might be a difficult man to work for.'

‘He's a perfectionist,' said Shona, gazing out over the calm water of the estuary. ‘Hardworking himself and expecting the same of his staff. And I can't believe he's dishonest.'

‘Well no, perhaps not,' Liz conceded.
‘Tamsin
came in here yesterday. At a loose end I suppose.'

Shona frowned. ‘I had no idea she was still at home. She said she was fine when I spoke to her on her mobile.'

‘Something will have to be done about her before she lands herself in more trouble.'

‘And I'll have to do it,' said Shona leaping up.

Liz pulled her fluffy cardigan round her more closely. ‘What now?'

‘I promised Felix I'd look out for her.'

‘You'd interfere at this time of night?'

Shona dropped back on to her chair. ‘I worry about her.'

‘Felix will have to sort something out with the school. He may already have done so for all we know.'

‘Of course,' said Shona. ‘I over-reacted as usual.'

‘You're a caring girl,' said Liz affectionately. ‘Better to be like that than hard and selfish.'

Shona smiled. ‘And you're a good friend to me, Liz. Now tell me how things are going with you.'

*   *   *

Shona drove back to Ferniehope Castle with much to think about. Should she take it upon herself to use the house phone at the cottage and ask about Tamsin and where she was? Or
would
Felix think she had taken too much on herself? He might well feel she was hounding him when it was none of her business.

But she had promised Felix she would look out for the girl.

She was still engrossed in the problem as she undressed later and slipped into bed.

Felix had confided in her about his frustrations in dealing with his daughter. She thought of his touching gratitude for her taking Tamsin back to school and his entertaining company at Bessie's Kitchen. Surely he would welcome her concern?

Afterwards they had gone out to the cars and he had greeted Toby as a friend. He considered a Toby jug a real person . . . amazing! But she did exactly the same thing too and this was a bond between them. The only bond? With pain she was beginning to think that it was.

Now she switched on the bedside lamp to reach for Toby, wanting to smooth the china of his ugly shape because Felix liked him.

He wasn't there.

She sat up and stared at the empty space where he should have been. Conscious of her beating heart, she lay down again. Had she taken him out with her this evening when she drove to Bessie's Kitchen? Perhaps needing him for company? Tired as she was after an exhausting day, she might well have done so and forgotten.

Midnight.
Too late to check now.

No one knew that Toby lived on her bedside table. No one except Tamsin. Tamsin? But no, not for an instant could she think of Tamsin taking him. She was sure she could trust her implicitly. And yet . . . But definitely not.

Two important things to do first thing tomorrow then . . . check the car for Toby and phone Felix's cottage to enquire about Tamsin's welfare.

Falling asleep at last the two things merged in her dreams and she woke next morning unrefreshed.

A STARTLING REVELATION

At eight-thirty the next morning, a coach drove slowly up the drive to the castle, coming to a halt at the front of the building just as Mags carried the tray containing the teapot and coffee pot into the dining room.

‘Listen!' said Jack, getting up from the breakfast table. Shona had heard the sound of tyres on gravel and the squeak of brakes too. ‘They can't be here already,' she cried.

Jack, controlling his annoyance with obvious difficulty, strode to the front door.

His greeting was muted and Shona recognised the undercurrent of exasperation in his voice that the history group booked in for
this
week had ignored the request to time their arrival after eleven o'clock. Fortunately the rooms were all prepared. All that remained was for her to produce the list of rooms and all would be well.

Jack turned to her. ‘They can unpack their luggage before they do anything else,' he said. ‘The coach can then leave.'

This would mean an overcrowded entrance hall, Shona thought, but a glance at Jack's set face made her hesitate to suggest that room keys should be allocated first. People and luggage hustled round her.

The names on the list were blurred and running into each other in a way that made her dizzy. Then Toby's ugly features superimposed themselves. She gasped and let the paper fall. The noise round her grew in volume.

‘What do we do now?' someone shouted. ‘This isn't good enough.'

She heard Jack's sharp tones. ‘One minute, please.'

The crowd parted to let him through. ‘What's the matter, Shona? Can't you cope with something as simple as this?'

‘Well yes, I . . .'

‘Here, let me. I'll see you in the office. Wait there.'

Ashamed, she did as he said.

*   *   *

‘So
what was all that about?' he asked five minutes later. ‘Early as they were, you should have been up to the job. What happened to you?'

‘Toby's gone,' she said in desperation.

Jack's eyebrows shot up. ‘Toby?'

Just before the coach arrived she had checked her car and was dismayed to find Toby was still missing and had gone in to breakfast. Jack, smart in his dark suit, white shirt and grey tie was already there. And then Mags carried the tray in and there was the bustle of people arriving.

‘I left him on my bedside table and he's not there anymore. It sounds crazy . . .'

‘Sure does. Explain, please.' He glanced at his watch. ‘I'm due at the bank at nine-thirty.'

‘My toby jug . . . I brought him with me. He's vanished.'

‘Valuable?'

‘To me.'

‘You're not suggesting someone stole it?'

‘But how can he be gone?'

‘He couldn't have walked away on his own. You'd better make some enquiries. Mags might know something.' He looked at her closely and his voice softened. ‘You're really upset about this, aren't you, Shona?'

His unexpected sympathy was nearly her undoing. She took a deep breath to stop herself dissolving into tears. ‘He meant a lot to me.'

‘Then
do what you can,' he said, sounding businesslike once again. ‘I'll see you when I get back. If there's been a theft I need to know about it. Do your best to cope with the arrivals, Shona. They've already eaten. Now they're unpacking. The leader knows you're in charge.'

The history group planned to visit Whithorn to see the finest collection of early Christian stones in Scotland. Free of responsibilities for an hour or so Shona returned to her apartment hoping that a miracle had happened and Toby was back in his usual place.

He wasn't, of course.

Sitting on her bed with her back turned to the empty space where he should have been she dialled Crag Cottage on her mobile.

The ringing tone stopped and a slurred voice muttered something.

‘Tamsin?'

‘Go away. It's too early.'

‘Tamsin, is your father there?'

‘Of course he's not. What do you want him for?'

‘It's Shona here, Tamsin. I need to know. Are you all right?'

More muttering. ‘I'm always all right.'

She didn't sound it.

‘Tamsin, listen. I take it that Felix isn't there. Is he coming back soon?'

Silence. She was cut off. She tried Tamsin's
mobile
but without success.

Frustrated, Shona went down to the office and tried the phone there with the same result.

She wasn't having a good day.

*   *   *

The track that led down to Crag Cottage was so rutted that Shona's car rocked from side to side even though the speedometer showed slower than walking pace. She should have left her vehicle at the top and walked down. Too late now.

And there was the cottage, picturesque in sunshine that trickled through the branches of an oak tree and made patterns on the grey roof. Nearby was a low wooden shack with a notice outside that told whoever was brave enough to negotiate the track that this was Langholme Studio and visitors were welcome.

Shona parked the car and a few moments later was knocking on the open door of the cottage. ‘Anyone at home?' she called.

‘Who's that?' came a suspicious voice from somewhere above.

‘Tamsin?'

‘Wait a minute. I'll be down.'

Encouraged, Shona went inside.

Tamsin joined her in the passage. ‘Why are you here?'

‘To see you, of course. You're here on your own. When will Felix be back?'

Tamsin
shrugged her thin shoulders and opened a door that led into a back room. Shona followed.

‘He thinks I'm going back to school,' Tamsin said.

‘And you're not?'

‘I'm sixteen now, aren't I?' Tamsin said defiantly.

‘You've had a birthday? You mean . . . today?' Shona, horrified, looked about her at the signs of neglect in the dim room. No cards, no presents, no anything to show that the day was special.

For a moment she couldn't speak.

‘Aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?'

‘I'll do more than that, Tamsin. You'll have the best day out I can manage.'

Tamsin looked down at her grubby T-shirt and ragged jeans.

‘Then I'll have to change.'

While she was doing so Shona sat gingerly on an upright chair and thought hard.

A special lunch out somewhere, but where? Tamsin, in newer jeans and white T-shirt, was back before she decided.

‘So where are you going? Ferniehope Castle?' she asked.

‘Hardly.' Jack wouldn't approve of that, Shona thought with a shudder. In fact he wouldn't approve of what she was doing at all. But with luck he wouldn't be back for a while
yet
and Ingrid wasn't there to make trouble.

‘You'll need some sort of jacket, Tamsin,' she said. ‘We'll head west, shall we? See where we land up?'

‘A mystery tour?' Settling herself in the passenger seat Tamsin looked cheerful.

*   *   *

Jack drummed his fingers on the table as he waited for Mags to come back into the kitchen from hanging a row of pristine-white tea towels on the line in the back yard to blow merrily in the wind. He had been back all of twenty minutes before he realised that Shona wasn't where he expected her to be. So where was she?

Mags' broad face flushed with pleasure to see him. ‘I'll get some coffee on,' she said, dumping the empty clothesbasket on the draining board.

‘Have you seen Shona?' he asked.

She looked surprised. ‘Och no, not since breakfast.'

‘Her car's not in the yard.'

Mags shook her head. ‘So she'd gone out. Maybe an emergency somewhere?'

‘She'd have told you, wouldn't she?'

Mags pursed her lips. ‘Ingrid wouldn't have.'

‘I need Shona to get some forms off since Ingrid's not here to do it.' He frowned. ‘I'll
have
to do it myself then. No coffee thanks, Mags.'

In the end he phoned Liz at Bessie's Kitchen. It was mid-afternoon now and he was seriously worried.

‘Shona?' Liz's voice sounded relaxed. ‘They were in earlier. Off somewhere for a day out they said. They didn't say where they were heading. Have you tried her mobile?'

‘Several times. Out of range, I think, or the battery's down.'

‘Sorry I can't be more helpful.'

‘Not to worry. Thanks anyway.'

It wasn't until he'd replaced the receiver that he remembered he hadn't asked who Shona's companion was. He lifted the receiver again but then replaced it. What sort of a suspicious fool would he sound if he dialled Liz again to ask?

*   *   *

She couldn't dump Tamsin back at Crag Cottage knowing she was on her own, Shona thought as they sat eating ice-creams on the picnic bench overlooking the Leck River.

‘Problems,' she said.

‘What me?' said Tamsin, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

For the first time Shona wondered if she had done the right thing taking Tamsin off the way she had. Suppose Felix phoned the cottage
expecting
his daughter to be there? Well, what if he did? Wasn't it his fault in the first place for going off somewhere on his own. But he wasn't on his own.

‘You said “they” Tamsin. Who is Felix with?'

‘Don't you know?'

‘Should I?'

‘That woman, of course, from your place.'

Shona stared at her. Ingrid had taken time off. ‘You don't mean . . . ?'

Tamsin shrugged. ‘Like I care.'

Shona felt herself turn cold and then hot with a huge flash of anger on Tamsin's behalf. ‘Ingrid left yesterday morning. When did Felix leave?'

Tamsin shrugged. ‘I don't want to talk about it.'

Shona didn't either. She knew in a sudden flash of self-knowledge that Tamsin's welfare was of prime importance at this moment. The shock of her discovery brought her to her feet. ‘Come on!'