Page 99 of The Midnight Secret

Jayne shifted her weight apprehensively. She could feel the tingling growing more vigorously throughout her body, and she knew that soon she wouldn’t be able to move at all. The vision wouldn’t be denied; she would have to submit...get out of here. If anyone were to realize what was happening to her, they would understand immediately what it meant. A party would never disband so quickly...

‘But what’s to stop Mary disappearing again? What’s to stop her getting on another boat?’ Effie asked with concern.

‘James has struck a deal with her. A financial one. Without Lorna, Mary has no one to look after the baby and no way to earn. She has the ambergris money she took from Donald, but that won’t last for ever – so James is going to pay her a very generous wage to live beside us. Without proof or witnesses, we can’t change the paperwork saying the baby is ours; and Mary won’t let us adopt him back either. So our only option is to pay for her to stay in our lives with him. James is going to buy her a flat in the same square as us in Glasgow, and we’ll have daily access and visitation rights to Struan; but we can’t call him ours or have him actually live with us.’

Colours splashed in front of Jayne’s eyes: Grey. Red. Green...She saw a hand upturned, the fingers curled.

She took a step back.

‘And...is that going to be enough for you?’ Mhairi asked, looking appalled.

‘What other choice do we have? We can have some of him or none of him.’ Flora shrugged. ‘On the boat back here, we upgraded her to a first-class suite and gave her a taste of the kind of life we could offer her and the baby.’

‘I’ll bet she bit your arm off, did she?’ Mhairi sneered.

‘Aye. Once we made her see she had no other viable options.’

Jayne felt her panic growing as the edges of the room began to blur. ‘Won’t you excuse me?’ she murmured. ‘I just need to see to something...’

She turned away from the group quickly, pushing through the crowd. She needed to get outside – gulp down some fresh air, find somewhere she could be alone. But there were so many people, bodies everywhere. Was that why the force seemed stronger than usual – because the victim was here, close by? She had wondered why she hadn’t envisaged Lorna’s death. Jayne’s gift had always encompassed their community members, and she had only been able to conclude that the distance between them at the time had been too great.

By that same reckoning, someone here was going to be dead within days.

She staggered outside, around the back of the house. Everyone else was in the front garden, which enjoyed the sunset views, and she leaned against the wall, dropping her head back as she felt the vision unfurl now, unimpeded. It was so clear and bright—

‘There you are!’

God, no.She was pulled back into the moment.

‘What are you doing out here? What’s wrong with you?’

She opened her eyes to find Norman bearing down on her.

‘Nothing. I just needed some air,’ she mumbled. ‘...A little too much sherry.’

The face began to bloom in her mind’s eye, the eyes still black sockets.

‘And people wonder why I’m embarrassed by y’,’ he tutted, looking disgusted. ‘Get home before you make a spectacle of yourself.’

‘Aye...I will,’ she murmured. How could she get him away from here? The consequences of her last vision had beensevere for her. If he realized what was happening, he would want to know whom it concerned, and that was a boundary she would never cross. ‘What...what is it you need?’

‘From you? Nothing,’ he snapped. ‘I just came to tell y’ I’ll be going to St Kilda after all.’

She frowned, confused. ‘But the wages...’

‘My salary’s good enough that I can forgo a day’s work, and I don’t know when the next opportunity will come up. I’m going to take the chance, seeing as they’re offering the trip for free.’

It made no sense. He had shown absolutely no interest in returning home when the idea of a wider village return had first been suggested by the men in the pub. But this wasn’t the time to discuss it. She just needed him to go.

‘I agree...’ she slurred. ‘You should go.’

‘I wasn’t coming to ask y’ permission, woman! I’m telling y’ as a courtesy. That’s all.’

A courtesy? As if he were a gentleman? The very idea made Jayne want to laugh, but she was beyond that point now. Besides, he had already gone.

Her body slumped as the image finally bloomed in her mind, with or without him. It offered no time, no place, no why, no how. But she had a face.

And another terrible secret to keep.

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