Page 107 of The Midnight Secret

‘...Almighty God, Father of all mercies and giver of all comfort...’ the minister began.

Jayne closed her eyes, aware of the proximity of the island girls, closer now than she had ever allowed them to get when Norman was alive.

Was it over?

Was it really over?

‘...casting all their care on you, they may know the consolation of your love...’ the minister intoned.

She opened her eyes to find David watching her. She had walked through the valley of the shadow of death. But a light was shimmering on the other side.

It was over...

Almost.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jayne stood in the small garden that fronted the guesthouse. She had been invited in, of course, but what she had to say wasn’t for just anyone’s ears.

‘You wanted to see me?’

She turned, facing the figure silhouetted against the porch light. ‘Aye.’

There was a pause as she waited for the inevitable.

‘I was sorry to hear of your loss.’

‘Thank you,’ Jayne replied.

She hadn’t come here straight from the yacht. She had known that news of Norman’s death would spread like wildfire – another St Kildan tragedy, another scandal on the tiny outer Hebridean outpost – and she had wanted to let it get ahead of her. ‘I know you’ll be wondering why I’m here, so I’ll get straight to the point...I wanted you to know that I changed my witness statement two days ago.’

‘...Oh?’

‘Aye. I went down to Oban and told them Norman never came home the night Frank was killed.’

There was another pause. ‘And why should y’ do that, after all this time?’

‘Because it wasn’t fair to Donald that he should continue to be kept under suspicion when I knew he hadn’t done it.’

‘I see.’

‘I was afraid of Norman for a long time, you see, but I realized there was no longer any reason to give him an alibi. Not once I’d had the dream that he was going to die.’

A silence stretched as her intimation was absorbed: she had foreseen Norman’s death.

Of course she had. She always did. Everyone knew that – they just didn’t always remember it.

‘...Well, it’s just a pity we didn’t see what he was capable of till it was too late.’

‘Aye,’ Jayne sighed, her gaze never wavering. ‘We think, because we’ve lived cheek by jowl all these years, that we know each other so well. But everyone can hide a secret. Even out there.’

‘I suppose that’s true enough.’

‘Flora did it. Mhairi too. Lorna, God rest her soul – and you, of course...I know what you did, Mary.’

The older woman’s eyes flashed. ‘Everyone knows!...It’s not a crime to want a child and not be able to bear one—’

‘But it is to steal one.’

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