Cass laughed. ‘Are you offering to read me a bedtime story? I’ll just message Rosa, to make a plan, then I can’t wait to get to bed.’ She hugged her mother. ‘I know you only want what’s best for me, but I think it’s time I decided what that is.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Cass arrived on the Scottish island a few days later. It was late afternoon.
‘Cass!’ said Eleanor, with her hands on Cass’s shoulders. ‘You look beautiful! Dicing with death on a daily basis obviously suits you.’
Howard, coming up behind Eleanor, laughed. ‘I don’t suppose you were dicing with death, were you? I would never have suggested you go if I thought that.’
‘There were a few hairy moments, I admit, but most of the time I was perfectly safe.’
‘Now, what would you like? Tea, or a proper drink?’ Eleanor seemed very much the lady of the house now. ‘I think you should have a meal and a bit of a rest before we grill you. Although your father is dying to.’
Cass smiled. ‘The hop up here from the Cotswolds was easy compared to coming back from Dominica. A cup of tea would be welcome—’
‘And then a stiff drink,’ said her father. ‘Come on through.’
Eleanor insisted that she should be given time to visit the bathroom and to make herself tidy but herfather seemed very impatient by the time Cass joined him and Eleanor in the sunroom.
Eleanor handed her a mug of tea and her father a large whisky.
‘Thank you so much for the business-class ticket,’ Cass said when she was settled in a comfy chair overlooking the Atlantic. ‘If the air steward hadn’t pointed it out to me, I wouldn’t have believed I’d be turning left instead of right when I got on the plane. I would never have found my seat.’
Howard smiled expansively. ‘You deserved business class! I’m just surprised that Ranulph didn’t take advantage of it. He’ll have to pay for his own plane ticket now.’
‘So, you bought him a business-class ticket too?’
‘I offered it to him but he declined.’ Howard regarded his daughter. ‘Why might that have been, do you think?’
Cass sipped her tea and shrugged. ‘He said he still had work to do.’ She cleared her throat. ‘He met someone he used to know, when he was in Dominica before—’
‘An old flame?’ suggested Eleanor tentatively.
‘Probably. Anyway, the hurricane uncovered a really interesting archaeological site. It showed that the Kalinago people and Dutch pirates cohabited, which has never been seen before. So they were both well into that.’ Cass was glad that this unexpected fact stopped Howard and Eleanor looking at her so intently. ‘And on the plane, the crew were terribly nice to me, in spite of me looking so scruffy.’
‘That’s really interesting about the pirates and the Kalinago,’ said Howard, who always behaved if he belonged wherever he was, unabashed by the wrong clothes or anything else.
‘It was. Bastian said it had never even been suspected before. He discovered some shards of very early delft pottery next to Kalinago artefacts. He felt it could only have belonged to pirates who landed to escape the law, or indeed the weather.’ She smiled, hoping to move on. She hadn’t paid very close attention to the archaeology at the time because she’d had other things on her mind. She picked up her tea.
‘Eleanor? Is it all right if I ask her about the petroglyph now?’ said Howard.
‘Of course,’ said Eleanor. ‘She’s had an opportunity to wash her hands, she’s had most of a mug of tea. Now you can give her the third degree.’
Everyone was laughing now. ‘Please! Put an old man out of his misery. Tell me about how you found the petroglyph? I want all the details.’
‘Although,’ said Eleanor, ‘dinner is ready. Let’s go through and Cass can tell you while she eats. Otherwise there’s a danger of her starving to death halfway through her story.’
‘It won’t take that long,’ said Cass. ‘But I am hungry.’
‘Now will you tell me!’ said Howard, when everyone was seated and had plates of Chicken Marengo in front of them.
‘Put him out of his misery, Cass,’ said Eleanor.
Cass took a breath. ‘Well, it was only by chance Iwas on the expedition to find the petroglyph really. Ranulph would have been more use than me—’
‘I don’t think so!’ said Howard. ‘But why didn’t he go?’
‘He’d cut his leg, really quite badly. It was a good thing we had those first aid kits.’
