Page 35 of The Boathouse By the Loch

‘In London on another assignment.’

‘Oh, right. Another assignment.’ Duncan slowly shook his head from side to side. ‘A likely story. David obviously doesn’t believe that either.’

Jake stole a glance at Duncan’s deepening frown. He was just wondering how long he’d have to stand there, listening to their personal problems, when the young couple walked over. The woman sheepishly said, ‘Um, we’ll come back later.’

Annie said, ‘No, don’t go! I’ll be right over.’

‘Nah, it’s fine.’ The young couple exchanged a glance. ‘We’ll, um … pop back later. Promise.’

Jake guessed they probably would not.

Annie folded her arms and threw Duncan a black look as they walked to the shop door. Jake heard one of them say, ‘The door’s stuck.’

‘Just give it a yank. I want to go.’

Annie said, ‘Did you lock the shop door?’ looking at Duncan in surprise.

Jake caught her looking around the shop floor. ‘Where did all your customers go?’

Before he could answer that question, she held out her hand. ‘I can’t believe you chucked your customers out. For goodness’ sake. It’s no big deal. They’re just going through a little rocky patch, that’s all. You’re making a drama where there isn’t. I can’t believe you shut the shop over this.’

Jake bit his bottom lip, really hoping that Duncan did not correct her and tell her the real reason he’d got rid of his customers and locked the shop. Jake did not want to get drawninto talking about his personal issues with a total stranger.

Duncan glanced at Jake and kept his mouth shut as Annie took the keys. She unlocked the door, and the young couple hurriedly exited the shop. As soon as they were out of the door, the customers who’d been in the middle of shopping when Duncan had unceremoniously kicked them out stepped straight in and picked up their shopping baskets. They’d obviously been waiting outside.

Jake took that as his cue to leave.

Duncan called after him, ‘Remember, have a word with David. Perhaps he can tell you who was up there.’

Jake paused at the door and nodded. He was just stepping outside when he heard Duncan call after him, ‘And Jake – welcome home.’

‘I’m not—’ Jake turned around to find the door closed and Mr Gillespie standing inside the shop, his hand still on the doorknob, having words with Annie. Jake heard him say, ‘All these trips to London … do you think she’s meeting someone from her past? Is that what David thinks?’

Jake couldn’t have heard Annie’s response or the rest of the conversation even if he’d wanted to. Another customer had walked up to the door. Jake stepped aside and walked back to his car, thinking about what Duncan had said about Robyn:She appears out of nowhere on Christmas Day …

Jake shook his head. That was none of his concern.

He deposited the sledgehammer on the back seat and drove home.

Chapter 14

Jake took off his jacket, folded it once and placed it beside him on the stone bench. He picked up the roll of bandages – he had come prepared – and rolled up his sleeves. He wound a layer of bandages first around his left hand, then his right hand, making sure to secure them tightly at the wrist. The cuts to his hands were healing nicely, and if he opened them up, then so be it – this had to be done. Jake was ready. He stood. He picked up the sledgehammer and took five paces forward. He stopped.

He swung.

The memorial stone shattered.

The date went first, then her name,Eleanor, and finally that word –Chosen. Three more swings and it was down to a mere stump; the rest would have to be dug up. But it was good enough for Jake. He’d done exactly what he’d gone back to do. He stood there for a moment, looking at the debris of the memorial stone he’d had erected in the small side-garden of The Lake House and thinking of his state of mind soon after the accident, when he’d convinced himself she was dead.She might as well be, thought Jake again. But even so, she wasn’t, and it was a terrible thing to have erected a memorial. It was why Marcus had followed himthere. Marcus was worried about him. Why wouldn’t he be, after he’d found out about the stone? Jake shook his head. This was part of his journey to acceptance of what had happened. The memorial stone was gone, and with it the delusion that Eleanor was gone too. And when he got back to London, as soon as Marcus had cleaned himself up, and was out of rehab, Jake knew he’d have to face up to the next challenge, which was going to be an awful lot harder than taking a sledgehammer to a piece of granite – facing Eleanor for the first time since the accident.

How could I have left visiting her all these months – not seeing her once?

Jake didn’t want to go on that guilt trip right now. He still had one more thing to do before joining Marcus in London – find Martha’s son. He hoped her son had been adopted locally, if that was what had happened, and that David knew him. He hoped it would be that easy; needed it to be so. He was going to get the photo of the little boy called Ralph, which he had left in his room at Lark Lodge, and meet David at The Winky to show him the photo. David would tell him, ‘Hey, that’s a kid I went to school with. And do you know, he still lives and works in Aviemore.’

Jake sighed. He didn’t think there was a chance he would be that lucky. It occurred to him that he could have asked Mr Gillespie if he knew Martha. It was another long shot, but he had obviously lived in the area for years and years. Their paths might have crossed. He resolved to return to Mr Gillespie’s store to find out. In the meantime, perhaps when David had loosened up after a few drinks, he might be ready to talk. Jake just hoped he didn’t spend all night talking about Robyn, rather than what Jake was going to be there for – finding Martha’s son.

Jake was still holding back from asking the one person whowas closest to Martha – her brother – the question that was still on his mind. What if Aubrey had never known that Martha had a son – that he had a nephew? It still wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have with Aubrey over the phone.

Jake’s thoughts were interrupted by someone shouting his name from the main garden. He dropped the sledgehammer, rolled down his sleeves, picked up his coat and noted with some satisfaction that the bandages were still clean.

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