Page 80 of The Midnight Secret

‘There are some mountains further along the road I thought you might like to see,’ he said, following her gaze.

Effie glanced towards the low rolling hills that brought the horizon forward here. Since coming back to Lochaline, she hadn’t gone further than a mile’s radius from the cottage. She was like a spider on a web, tracking between the far points of the factory, neighbours’ houses, the shops and her cottage. After a brief, exhilarating moment of expansion with Sholto, her world had become small again, scarcely larger than she had known in St Kilda.

‘I want you to teach me to climb. After all, I’ve taught you to fish and sail. It’s about time you returned the favour,’ Archie quipped, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his trousers. He had a raffish, boyish quality, teasing and playful, and it crossed Effie’s mind that he was like herself in male form.

She heard footsteps approaching up the lane, just beyond the trees, and wondered what the neighbours would think about this gentleman and his blue sports car stopped on the lane. Word had already begun to circulate in the village about her ‘Saturday outings’.

Was it Mhairi, coming for a morning chat over a cup of tea? Since her dramatic – and brave – return, the villagers had enfolded her in a protective embrace; it was now commonly held that she had already paid ‘too high a price’, and the two girls had become closer in the past few weeks than at any time since last summer.

‘G’morning,’ she heard the person – a man – say as he came past the trees up to the car.

‘Good morning,’ Archie replied jauntily.

‘Norman,’ Effie said in surprise. He looked rough – unshaven and unkempt, his clothes crumpled – and he was heading back towards his cottage, not from it. Effie felt her stomach drop at what it implied.

She saw the subtle understanding in Archie too. From everything the Dupplin girls had implied, he too was a man who had spent many nightsnotat home. The difference was, he wasn’t married.

‘Effie,’ Norman nodded, throwing her a suspicious look in return, as if it was her behaviour that was questionable. He had always been good at turning the tables. ‘Going somewhere?’

‘Climbing lesson, for me,’ Archie said, cutting in as if he recognized Norman’s game. ‘Archie Baird-Hamilton, how do you do?’ He offered his hand.

‘Norman Ferguson, Robert and Effie’s neighbour.’ His eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot; Effie could only guess at the amount of whisky he’d had the night before.

Archie looked at him more closely as their hands pumped. ‘...I say, have we met?’

‘No.’

‘You look very familiar.’

‘...Hmm, no.’ Norman shook his head thoughtfully. ‘I’d remember a car like that.’

‘Actually, it’s new. I only took delivery of it yesterday...But I definitely feel I’ve seen you.’ Archie was regarding him closely. ‘I’m good with faces.’

‘Y’ must be confusing me for someone else,’ Norman shrugged, looking keen to move on.

‘Norman’s the deputy manager at the Forestry Commission,’ Effie supplied helpfully. ‘Perhaps you’ve seen him there?’

‘No. Never been there.’

‘Well, I’m afraid I don’t get out much. Now, if y’ll excuse m—’

‘Oh but, Norman, what about your business trip?’ Effie said, a thought suddenly occurring to her. She knew of one place where the three of them had been – unwittingly – gathered before. She looked back at Archie. ‘He’s being modest. Norman’s got a big job; he was sent all the way out to Skye a few weeks ago.’

She felt Norman’s stare land upon her like an iron sword, heavy and cutting.

‘Skye? Is that so?’ Archie asked with renewed interest and scrutiny.

‘Aye, he consults to the big estates.’

‘Of course, that’s it! I saw you at Dunvegan!’

‘No—’ Norman rebuffed.

‘Yes, yes! I remember – I saw you talking with MacLeod on the steps.’

There was a long pause, Norman’s red eyes still andunblinking in their sockets. ‘Oh, aye, MacLeod...that’s right,’ he said slowly. ‘I’d forgotten about that. I did stop in, now y’ mention it...I was passing and—’

‘Just passing? You weren’t working there?’ Effie asked innocently, even though her curiosity was fully piqued.

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