Chapter 1
Abigail Fenton lookedaround the hotel lobby one final time. Mentally, she ran through her checklist. She’d put the out of office message on her emails. She’d let housekeeping know about the delivery of new sheets arriving tomorrow. She’d spoken to the chef about getting the menus back from the printers in time for the weekend. She’d arranged for Stuart to help Sian out while she was away.
That was everything. Wasn’t it?
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” she asked Sian. Again.
The deputy manager, a petite blonde woman with a wicked sense of humor, rolled her eyes. “Will you just get out of here? I’ve told you, everything will be fine. The hotel won’t fall apart if you’re not here for a few days. When did you last take a holiday? Ever? Get going and don’t give this place a second thought. I promise it will still be standing when you get back.”
Abi smiled. “Sure. Thanks, Sian. But you’ve got my number if anything goes wrong? You know how to get hold of me?”
Sian turned her head and called over to the security guard on the door. “Ian? Will you get over here and throw this woman out? I think it’s the only way we’re going to get rid of her!”
“Okay! Okay!” Abi said with a laugh. “I’m going.” She grabbed her case and began wheeling it towards the door. “Look, this is me leaving,” she called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
She gave Sian a last wave, said goodbye to Ian as she passed him, then walked out the door of the hotel and over to her car, which was waiting in the parking lot. Flinging her case onto the backseat, she climbed in and drove away from the hotel before she had a chance to think of the million things she no doubt had forgotten.
Layla reckoned Abi was a workaholic. With how hard it was to leave the hotel behind, even for a few days, Abi was beginning to suspect her friend might be right.
Layla.
A pang went through her.Where are you, Layla?she thought.What’s happened to you?
Everyone at the hotel thought Abi was off for a holiday. A much-needed holiday in most people’s opinions. But this wasn’t true. Abi hadn’t taken a holiday in years and nothing as frivolous as a few days’ relaxation would pull her away from her job. No, she was off to Scotland for another reason entirely.
Why haven’t you called, Layla?she asked her friend silently.Why haven’t you answered any of my messages?
It had been over a month since she’d heard from her best friend. Layla Croft had gone to Scotland for some downtime after some problems with her career as a police officer. Since then, Abi had heard nothing. This was highly unusual. The two of them had been friends since they were children, and they usually spoke several times a week. When she’d been unable to get hold of Layla, Abi had called the company who Layla had rented an apartment from up in the Scottish Highlands. They’d said Layla hadn’t been seen for several days.
This had set alarm bells ringing so Abi had called the police, but they weren’t interested. Layla had gone AWOL before and they knew she’d been having problems. They were sure she’d turn up in her own time.
But Abi wasn’t convinced. Some instinct deep in her gut told her that something was wrong.
So, she’d broken a habit of a lifetime, booked some time off from her job managing one of the most prestigious hotels in Manchester, and decided to follow her friend to Scotland.
No doubt I’ll find her in some cozy pub drinking whisky and talking to the locals,she told herself.And she’ll wonder what the hell I’m doing there.
The thought comforted her a little as she drove through the busy roads of Manchester and out onto the motorway, leaving everything she knew behind.
It was a long, long drive, but finally Abi found herself entering the Highlands of Scotland. The traffic faded away. The shops and houses were replaced by wide open-vistas of snow-capped mountains and heather-coated glens, and Abi got the strange impression she was entering another world. Wow. This wassodifferent to the busyness of the city.
No wonder Layla came up here to escape,she thought, looking around as she drove.It’s so...peaceful.
The sat nav on the dashboard told her she was only a couple of miles from the village where Layla was staying. She began to relax a little. She wasn’t sure whether it was the fact that she was nearing her destination, that she had left the stress of running the hotel behind, or in fact the open, beautiful landscape around her. Either way, it felt good to have a little headspace for a change.
When was the last time she’d not been thinking about guest complaints, staff shortages or marketing strategies?
Something at the roadside suddenly caught her eye. Squinting through the windshield, she realized it was a person, and the figure was waving her down.
A hitchhiker? All the way out here?
Abi pressed the brake and slowed the car as she came abreast of the hitchhiker. Maybe it was a walker who’d gotten lost. Or perhaps another traveler whose car had broken down somewhere nearby.
But as she pulled the car to a stop, Abi blinked in surprise. The figure certainly didn’t look like a hiker. It was a short, round old woman with hair the color of storm clouds pulled back into a severe bun.
Abi wound her window down. “Are you okay?” she called. “Do you need a lift?”
The old woman waved, gave Abi a broad smile, then shuffled over and leaned down to the window, although she was so short she didn’t have to lean very far.
