Page 67 of Highland Games
‘Do you have any documentation to prove that?’
Zoe stared at them wildly, her laughter now coming out in heaving gasps. The two PCs looked at each other. ‘Are you okay, Zoe?’
Zoe shook her head violently and stood, the chair falling back behind her to the floor with a crash. The PCs came around the table towards her. She held up her hands, and staggered to the sofa, curling up in a ball, until her cries ended in tears. PC Ballantyne crouched down beside her.
‘Zoe, we’re going to search your property and vehicle now. Please could you give me your keys, phone, laptop and other electronic devices?’
‘Why?’
‘Because they may contain evidence to support the allegations. When we’ve done our search, and removed the property you’re alleged to have stolen, you’ll accompany me back to the station and we can discuss this further. Our Scene Examiners may attend the property later.’
An hourlater it was dark, and Zoe left the cabin with the officers. She had made sure Basil had enough food and water, and banked the Rayburn, but there was no way she could contact anyone, tell them what was going on. It was like inhabiting an alternate reality. She was starring in a TV show, which would all end happily in an hour and she could then go and make a cup of tea and move onto other entertainment.
The police officers had taken photos of the chairs Rory had given her from the castle, then put them in the back of the van. They had searched the cabin and her truck from top to bottom, and also photographed the bull bars and taken a sample of paint from the front which had scraped off the side of Rory’s truck. They had then searched her, and by the time she got into the back of the police car to follow the van into Inverness, she didn’t even have the keys to her own front door.
Would she ever get them back? Had he done this? Had his betrayal run this deep? The pain was overwhelming. Her love for him had expanded to fill all of her body, and now it had been ripped away, leaving a gaping hole. She desperately wanted her parents. Each time they came to her mind she flinched as if punched. She imagined what they would go through when they found out. The thought of their pain was worse than what she was going through. She had put them through enough by her sudden move up here. She knew how much they worried and how much they wanted her back home. Well, it looked like they were going to be getting their wish sooner than they had hoped. If she wasn’t banged up for the foreseeable future.
She just couldn’t reconcile what she knew of Rory with the accusations against her. Squatting? He’d been furious when she’d shown him the planning application for the cabin. He had promised the other copy of the lease agreement was with the lawyer. He’d said she could have the chairs from the castle. Had he been so furious that she’d driven into his truck he’d called the police? Had she been that wrong about him? Attempted murder? Had he lost his mind? She hugged her arms across her heart, trying to find some comfort as she stared out into the darkness, the spots of rain on the window illuminated by passing cars.
When they arrived at the station, PC Ballantyne told her that due to the high volume of people they were currently processing she would have to wait in the back of the car until they were ready for her. Whilst the officer sat in the front of the car writing up her notes, Zoe took off her seat belt and lay on the back seat, running every conversation she had ever had, each encounter through her mind with a new lens. The lens that showed Rory was the Earl of Kinloch, Lord MacGinley.
Why had he lied? What was the point?His future will never contain someone like you. His mother’s words echoed around her head. Was that it? He was using her brains without having to publicly admit he knew her? But nobody seemed to know who he was. None of it made any sense.
She forced herself to go through every moment she’d spent with him, seeing his reticence to be with her, how he had tried to talk to her, how increasingly agonised he had been.I’m not the man you think I am. I’m sorry. You deserve more than me.She couldn’t believe he would then go back on everything he’d said, call the police? Accuse her of trying to kill him? But if it wasn’t him that had done this, then who? She thought back to the library car park, his mother’s grip on her arm, the look of hatred in her eyes. She remembered sitting outside the bothy with Rory, watching the sun rise, hearing the pain in his voice describing a mother who put his bullying father first. This was his mum. The woman who waved her son off to boarding school in England aged seven. The woman who wanted her son to marry someone better.
Zoe wrapped her arms tighter around her body. It must have been her who told the businesses in Kinloch not to use her as an accountant. You didn’t say no to the Countess of Kinloch when she was such an ice queen. She had to get the police officers to call Rory. He would explain everything. Or would he? Would he betray his own mother to save her?
Two hourslater Zoe was brought into the overly bright police station, breathalysed, searched again, and taken to the custody suite. The custody officer, a woman half Zoe’s height, with short black hair, sat her down and detailed the charges against her.
According to the accuser, Zoe had broken into the castle, stolen three priceless antique chairs, was squatting in the cabin that belonged to the estate, and had tried to murder the Earl of Kinloch by driving into his truck when he was sitting in it. Zoe shook her head in disbelief. This was insane.
‘Ms Maxwell, I’m reminding you you’re still under caution. Do you understand why you are being detained?’
Zoe nodded.
‘Do you have anything you want to say?’
Zoe roused herself. ‘Yes, yes I do. This is nuts. The cabin is mine, I swear, and the chairs were lent to me. The only thing I did was drive my truck twice into the side of Rory’s, but he wasn’t sitting in it. You need to ring him. He’ll tell you this is all a mistake.’
‘Rory? Rory who?’
‘Stuart something something something Rory MacGinley. The Earl of Kinloch,’ Zoe replied, the words tasting like sawdust in her mouth. ‘His number’s in my phone.’
She paused, remembering what she called him. ‘He’s not in my contacts as that,’ she said, sinking her head.
‘What name will we find him under?’
‘Man-bear, yeti, mutant-redneck-hobbit, hobo,’ said Zoe with a whisper.
The officer made a note. ‘Okay, we’ll do that shortly. Now, before we take you to your cell, you are allowed to contact a solicitor.’
‘I don’t know any solicitors.’
‘Do you want to use the duty solicitor? It’s a busy night so you’ll have to wait a while but he will be available.’
Zoe nodded.
‘Okay, Ms Maxwell, I’ll let him know. Now, if you could remove your shoes, we’ll take you to the cells.’
