Page 15 of The Secret Christmas Library
‘Where were you before?’
‘Edinburgh,’ said Jamie. ‘I worked in the Botanic Gardens.’
‘You’re a gardener?’ said Mirren. She thought that was quite cool but it came out as if she was being sarcastic, and Jamie frowned.
Theo tutted at her. ‘He was biding his time,’ he said to Mirren, as if she should have known this, and then gestured towards the huge grounds. ‘Bringing back your expertise?’
Jamie grimaced slightly and didn’t answer.
‘And you live here now?’ went on Mirren, embarrassed that he thought she’d called him the gardener.
Jamie pulled the Land Rover to a halt. ‘Well. Yeah. It was . . . ’ He looked awkward. ‘I’m the heir. I have to.’ He jumped out on to the gravel. ‘We spent all our time here when we were children. And now it’s mine.’
He didn’t sound remotely happy about it.
11
The front door creaked as if someone were streaming a sound effects playlist, a proper horror film screech. Mirren laughed rather nervously; Jamie didn’t seem to notice.
They entered a vast hallway, with grey flagstones on the ground and a huge crevasse in the wall to their right. Above them, a minstrels’ gallery, a long mezzanine space that ran the entire width of the hallway. The room itself was huge, triple-height. Mirren smelled the slightly fusty but not unpleasant air and glanced upwards. The ceiling held a vast chandelier, shrouded in cobwebs. It was hard to see all the way up, but it looked as though, once upon a time, the ceiling had been painted a deep blue, and there were still the faintest traces of painted-on stars that must once have been bright gold.
‘Wow,’ Mirren said again, then told herself to stop doing that. She closed her mouth; she was not a codfish.
A small side door opened, and a young woman came through, beaming. She was short and round and naturally pretty, with a large bust, pink cheeks and masses of soft russet-coloured hair. Her huge brown eyes looked amused.
‘Master!’ she said happily, then, at Mirren’s shocked look, laughed.
‘Don’t, Bonnie!’ said Jamie. ‘It’s not funny.’
‘I know,’ said the girl, but the smile still played around her lips. ‘I’m just trying it out for size.’
‘Please don’t,’ said Jamie. ‘It’s already weird enough.’
At this her face turned sad, and she went and stood beside him. ‘I know,’ she said softly. ‘I was just trying to lighten the mood.’
She was wearing a plain black dress and had a tea towel slung over her shoulder, Mirren noticed. Did she work here? She seemed extremely confident if she did. Was she staff? Were there lots of staff? Maybe they hadn’t noticed the windows.
Bonnie turned round with a slightly forced smile. ‘Welcome! Are you the crack discovery team?’
Theo, charming as ever, stuck out his hand. ‘Lovely to meet you,’ he said, smiling.
‘I’m not sure if we’re exactly a team,’ said Mirren, which came out as rather peevish and awkward, particularly as at the same moment Jamie said, ‘Yes!’ Bonnie just looked confused.
‘Well, welcome to McKinnon House,’ she said. Her voice was a lovely musical burr. ‘Did you eat on the train?’
They both nodded.
‘Then I won’t make a second breakfast unless you’re really hungry. But come, bring your bags in. I’ll show you to your rooms and then I’ll put the kettle on.’
They followed her through the side door, and down a long passageway, with doors off the left-hand side, and several large, square white shapes on the walls. Mirren looked at them curiously.
‘Sold off?’ said Theo, sympathetically. Jamie nodded, looking sad.
‘They were just all your face, going back four hundred years,’ added Bonnie cheerfully. ‘We’ll simply take a new picture of you with a wig on. There’s a wig box in the East Attic. If the mice haven’t got to it,’ she added, thoughtfully.
‘Let us assume,’ said Jamie heavily, ‘that the mice have got to it.’
Mirren wondered what their relationship was. The girl was obviously informal, almost sisterly. But she appeared to be working here? A girlfriend? Surely not, with the tea towel. But it was very difficult to tell.
